getting a baby?

[Brittney]

My husband has decided that he needs to have a bird of his own. We decided to get a baby as a Christmas gift. Right now the breed is an African grey or cockatoo. We want to get a bird that will hopefully like us all. Any help choosing or telling me a different breed would be great.

 

[mtdoramike]

First off, breed is for dogs, species is more for birds. If your looking for a family bird, I wouldn't look at Cockatoo's. African Greys can be a family bird if they are socialized properly with everyone in the household. The same can be said for Amazons. Have you thought about an Eclectus. Eclectus aren't so much a one person bird as a cockatoo, nor do they seem to prefer one sex over the other like other parrot species do. If you have a busy or noisy household, a female would suit you best, but if you have more of a quiet less active household, a male would be best as far as Eclectus goes.

 

[wenz2712]

A grey is a good choice or how about a Male Ekkie?

 

[Brittney]

We have a very active house I'm always home we have a 6 year old 2 dogs, and 3 cats. Do you think pet store or finding a breeder is better? I prefer the grey because they seem to fit more in what our house. And thanks for correcting me I grew a blank when i was writing this on the proper words LOL I do that a lot normally I just use the word thingy to fill blanks

 

[KatherineI]

I'd have to disagree on the Too thing - unless you're getting species specific. My Goffins is good with everyone living in our home, including our 7yo daughter. While she definitely shows preference, she likes the company of all three of us. I know a few others with Goffin Too's that say similar things.

The larger Too's, however, can be a different story. That's the problem with generalizations - it doesn't necessarily fit for every sub-species

That said, I wouldn't do a Grey either, but maybe that's from my own bad personal experience. Grey's also seem to be very "one person" birds.

I second an Ekkie. Similar in size to a Grey (as is a Goffin's ), but they tend to be less one-person birds.

 

[Brittney]

Seems I will need to do some more research!

 

[wenz2712]

I wouldn't recommend a Too! They are very demanding and very destructive birds! As Mike said a Grey is a good Family Bird if properly socialized... You already have a Zon, so you know how they are Would your Hubby not consider another Zon ?

 

[paulhanlon]

I would say a sennie grey or a male ekkie even tho sennie's are ment to be quiet ours spends all day mimicing the phone lol she's so cute tho

 

[Molcan2]

Hmmm... What kind of Too in particular were you looking at? If I were getting a Too I would go with the smaller ones: the Goffin, Ducorps, Bare eyed (excellent choice if you can find one), or the Galah (i.e. Rose breasted). I would stay away from any of the larger Toos, Galah is the largest I would go, IMPO.

I love Greys, well socialized they may go to more than one person in the house but the typical grey is a one person bird.

Now others suggested the Ekkie... IMPO - an excellent choice! I LOVE my Ekkie. Ekkies have the same mimicking ability that the grey has. We have a male who loves being apart of everything we do. The female is often over looked because of their sometimes 'dominant' personality but they can make good birds for the experienced bird handler. I would stick with the males though. Our male doesnt seem to mind it when it gets busy around our house. The one thing with Ekkies is that in the wild they are one of the few parrots that don't bond with just one mate. Usually Ekkies live in large social flocks where they will mate with multiple members of the flock. Also cousins, sisters, borthers, aunts, uncles - all help raise each others chicks. With the Ekkie you are more likely to have a bird that will go to everyone in the house because of how they live in the wild. The females are dominant over the males and call the shots so the males are typically more docile/submissive. If you look around you will see tons of Toos in rescues, quite a few Greys but only occasionally will find a male Ekkie. There is a reason for that, it is because they are amazing birds.

 

[Brittney]

Rick and Malcolm do not get along lol Mal is always trying to bite or destroy Rick and his stuff. Mal is the first of our pets that prefer me over him. I think he now thinks all zons will like me better lol we were at a store the other day and a 'too really took to Rick and if it was not already sold I am pretty sure he would have left with him. He says he wants a better bird then mine always a competition with men Rick just wants to get a young bird that will not have the trust issues we are dealing with Malcolm. I do not know much about the sub-speices when it comes to the 'too I don't really want a 'too from what I have heard about them. There is a male baby ekkie at the pet store maybe we will go check him out just to see what he is like.