How do you decide which parrot to choose?

[Katu]

This parrot will be my last bird. I'm retired early and have lots of time. I've always had an affinity to birds and birds in general always like me. But this is such a huge lifechanging commitment. I even worry I'm too old already.

I love all birds so narrowing it down is hard. My husband is on board at least. I've shown him Quaker and Moustached Parakeet videos. He loved the little Quaker that was taught to say "I'm an eagle!". He even warmed to the idea of taking a bird on his sailboat sometimes. He doesn't have the boat yet, lol! We're just making plans we hope to have completed within a couple of years.

I think I can handle just about any bird, but I feel I'll never have enough information. Is a Pionus a good candidate? An amazon? Or should I stick to smaller birds. I have no doubt that I'll be able to form a bond. I've done it before.

I would let a parrot choose me, if I knew how to orchestrate that. Very few bird stores at all where I live. When we've visited stores, the birds all pick me. So what does it mean to let one pick you? I'm wary of bird mills.

I have things to finish in the house before it's possible to bring one home. All painting must be completed, and we have to lay an new floor on the main floor, etc. i will rearrange and get rid of furniture to fit a large cage in our family room. I will take the bird from room to room with me via my shoulder or play stands placed in different rooms. I think I understand enough about bird calls and communication although I expect to get bit, maybe a lot, and screamed at too. I hope I'm a good candidate.

I'm leaning towards Quaker, I don't know why. I love moustached and Pionus too. What more should I be doing? I read for a few hours a day, but it just confuses me more. I love all birds. I even wonder about amazons. I life to read about the good, the bad and the ugly. The more stories about the bad the better. Confused in Canada, where it's harder to find some species too.

 

[SailBoat]

There is a big mall north of the airport (multi level) and in the lower level is a Pet Store that has a long history of having great Parrots! Brampton come to mind!

Larger Parrots require larger SailBoats to accommodate a reasonable cage size. But heck, your Hubby has been wanting one of those Great Lakes 70's for years, right? I hear that Westerly is For Sale.

Letting the Parrot Choose You is fairly easy. They climb into your arms and fall sound asleep, or something like that. Leave the "I want" at home and really let the Parrot choose, you will be surprised when you really let go and just let it happen!

 

[Katu]

The sailboat is a major part of our future, but the bird doesn't have to come aboard if it's not a workable situation.

My problem is all the birds always choose me. So how do you narrow that down? This is weighing heavily on me because it's a huge lifetime commitment. I wish I could have a flock, but I want to concentrate on being the best parront to one bird and hopefully I am up for the task.

I will look for the places you mentioned. There is one breeder in Brampton who seems to have about 100 birds of all species available at a time. I thought that meant it was a bird mill, but maybe I'm wrong. I know this individual exhibits at bird shows and is licensed. Maybe that is good? Thank you for your response.

BTW, the sailboat dream is somewhere between 30-40feet, but I feel like 27-28 ft would be more reasonable to start. He's sailed before and will be taking classes locally.

 

[Lacewing]

Quakers have a reputation for loudness. If that is not an issue then great! I am retired also and chose English budgies because they have a shorter lifespan. Please consider adoption of a homeless avian companion. They are ever increasing because for so many reasons. Have you read about a Meyers or Senegal parrot? Life span is in the 20 's. Conures are very popular too.

 

[Katu]

Lacewing, I am considering adoption as well, if it's a longer lived parrot. Am I too old for a Quaker? Or Pionus, or Moustached? Eep. I realize it's pushing it, but I am in my early 50's. I wish to try what Sailboat mentioned, and try to see which bird picks me. Hoping it's not a Cockatoo or Macaw of any kind.

 

[Lacewing]

You are not old. I am old. Go for it with gusto to!

 

[Taw5106]

I took in a Green Cheek Amazon (Mexican Redhead) after my cousin and her husband passed. I was blessed he chose me and he's my clown and shower hog. He is a smaller Amazon, but my point is let the bird pick you. Before I got my Amazon I was looking for a cockatoo, and my Amazon won me over quick!


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[Katu]

Thank you Taw. I'm so sorry for your losses, and glad you were able to help adopt the amazon. I love all the birds. Narrowing it down is hard. I hope a bird chooses me. I'm trying to find a good shop to look at birds, but will still be waiting until I can clear my house of hazards. Amazons look amazing.

Save​

 

[SailBoat]

Lets switch this up a bit. Since, you are saying that they all come to you i.e., you're the Parrot Whisperer of the family - let the parrot pick your Hubby! Solves lots of possible issues and everyone is happier.

Been a Rag Bagger for near my entire life, so just my two cents here: The sub-30' range have a very different owner set that commonly didn't have the money to properly maintain them. The 35' to 41' size have /had a totally different type of owner and kept-up with the maintenance. Also the Wave sets on the Great Lakes provide this group a more comfortable /controlable ride.

The C&C 41 is a wonderful older boat that is easy to handle with two and provides a level of seaworthiness that brings confidence to its owners. Its smaller brother is a C&C 35 and provides a like level of seaworthiness. Stay away from the much older IOR period of boats as they are very heavy and have limited sail area. They are real bursars in mid to heavier winds as they demand more sail area to keep them moving. In light winds they are a on-going battle to keep moving. They may have classic lines, but life is to short to be standing around looking at the boat when the goal is to go some place.

I do not know that Breeder that you are speaking about, so I have no input on that operation. The Brampton Mall Pet Shop has over the many years that I had stopped by, always had a cross-section of healthy, well-cared for babies that clearly had been Socializes.

I would agree with the others that if you can find an older Parrot looking for a home, that is a great option. Keep your Mind and Hearts open!

 

[Katu]

I will definitely check the Brampton mall. I wasn't sure which mall you were referencing, thank you.

My husband wishes a sea going vessel. I am not in favour of this unless it is never going to sea. I'm not sure I won't get seasick. I grew up on lakes and in boats pretty much literally. My parents even brought me (close your eyes!) duck hunting as an infant. I love the water. The ocean, not so much. We used to live on the west coast, and I'd get vertigo on the ferries there. Boating was so much different on the ocean! But I digress.

My husband will tolerate a bird. I'm not sure if any would choose him, but we shall see. He does not see himself with a big Macaw on his sailboat, although I said it would be very Black Pearl of him. He is not opposed to a smaller companion though, so I guess that's a good compromise as I'm not opposed to his boat idea either.

 

[SailBoat]

The term Ocean Going sailboat is a misnomer! With few exceptions, what is built to handle the Great Lakes uses the same building standards for Ocean building. An interesting point is; after every hurricane that hits the Southern and Eastern America and damages all those boats, guess where those people target to purchase used boats? The Great Lakes!

Now, that does not mean that all Sailboats are created equal, they are not! There are brands that are no suitable for much more than a small inland lake or reservoir.

The term Ocean Going more commonly refers to size, larger rather than smaller.

Enjoy!

 

[Kiwibird]

Personally, I just "knew" when I saw my bird Something about him I just couldn't put my finger on. I of course had an idea of which species were in the right size range and general temperament, but kept an open mind and looked at numerous birds before I found Kiwi. He was already 10 years old when I got him and really needed a loving home. I know when I first set out to find a parrot, I looked at pet stores and breeders initially and had no idea so many older parrots needed adoption. A lot of people don't, so just throwing it out there as an option that there are a lot of older parrots also looking for good homes too and in a large city theres almost certainly going to be an avian rescue, so you may consider looking into that as an option too. And the neat part about adoption is most shelters really care about where there birds go (unlike many pet stores), are great about helping discover what you're really looking for in a bird, help pair you with the perfect bird and have great classes pre-adoption that teach a lot about parrot care!

 

[Katu]

I look at Kijiji several times a day, checking all areas for parrots for adoption. Most ads are actually parrots for adoption at full retail price, minus any cage. This is kind of confusing. All other ads are definitely breeders, which is fine. I will pay the going rate for whatever bird, that's fine too. I mostly only see budgies and cockatiels though, for true adoption. A few conures, and many birds listed as breeders only, not tame at all. The parrot rescues near me are not in operation right now.

I'm having a lot of difficulty finding any bird store though. There are several listed, along with aviaries, that are actually all out of business. I drove quite a way to one only to find out it was closed a long time ago. I'm biding my time though. I hadn't planned on adopting/purchasing just yet.

BTW Sailboats, seems like you are my husband like the same boat. He asks if it is for sale, lol! He dreams of inner coastal sailing, not ocean crossing. I say it would take at least 5 years just to explore the Great Lakes. Haha.

 

[SailBoat]

Which one, Westerly? She's For Sale, and a bit under $ 300,000 USD sitting on the West Coast of the USA. Could likely get her shipped to Toronto included. But those are 'crew' boats with a minimum of four on-board.

Great Lakes and Inner Coastal Sailing: Look a J-Boats in the 35 to 41' range targeting 15' years old of newer. Truly comfortable double-handed boats. Nice cruisers with a great sail area to weight ratio and they will hold their price long into the future. If you find one, get it with a wheel not a tiler, much easier for a beginner to steer.

You are correct, one could easily put five plus years into sailing just the Great Lakes. I have well over 20,000 'miles' of Great Lakes sailing under my feet and I have not seen half the the Ports and inlets on the upper Great Lakes.

 

[Kiwibird]

Keep looking, finding the perfect companion bird can take quite some time. I remember getting quite disheartened after months and months went by and no birds that "felt right" had shown up anywhere. Not in the shelter, not on craigslist, not anywhere. I had looked at other birds, but they just didn't seem like good fits or sold before I could ever even meet them. Then I got a call on a Friday night about Kiwi's prior owner wanting to get rid of him, we picked him up Saturday and he's been with us ever since! Just that fast, after a long time of no real prospects. You'll "know" too when the right bird comes along

 

[Katu]

Thank you Kiwibird, that is heartening to hear. I keep scouring the threads here trying to learn as much as possible. I hope it's healthy too, to think about all the challenges to come with bird ownership, and second guess myself daily. I guess I'll know when the right bird comes along? I need to familiarize myself with all the possible candidate species for now. Hard to narrow it down when you like them all.

 

[StChelle]

I took my time deciding and did a ton of research. Start with thinking about what qualities you want and don't want. What fits your life and situation - size, beak size, potential to talk, cuddly, huge goofy personality, quieter, hypoallergenic, one person bond or flock? A lot to think about. What happened with me is I found that in my research I kept coming back to the galah. I found a Breeder close to me with 2 males. I went to visit and while they were both 1 month old, one of them "chose" me. The first was shaking and scared of me when I held him. The other one spent all of a split second in my hand then jumped to my chest and snuggled up to my neck... that was it. He was the one. I visited him once a week and have now had him about a month. My Eclectus was a bit different. He didn't chose me and I'm slowly working in building his trust. Love both of my boys.

Just take your time and think about what you can and can't live with in terms of behaviors and what qualities you prioritize. Have fun with the search. When the bird chooses you you will know it but trust needs to be earned either way.

 

[Inger]

I needed a small, relatively quiet bird. I googled "quietest parrot" and found the cutest, tiniest little guys - Parrotlets. They can't scream and (a) I live in an apartment and (b) I intensely dislike lots of noise. Perfect.

Then I researched them. They can be territorial, aggressive, nippy, naughty little birds who have NO IDEA they are tiny and will get themselves into trouble because of it. Well - I have Chihuahuas so I understand that kind of behavior. Perfect again.

Finally, OMG they are the cutest little things I swear sometimes I can hardly start to look at her.

Connected myself with a couple of local breeders (I applaud you folks who rescue, but I don't have the patience or the skills to rehab a bird so a baby was the right choice for me) and within a few weeks brought sweet Bumble home.


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[Katu]

I'm still neck deep in research. There are so many excellent thought provoking posts here. Everything seems logical and rational.

I have taken a liking to Caiques. Haha! I think that might be an extreme choice, and not an intermediate bird. I am not looking at large birds. I have a small house. I am making a 2 hour roundtrip to a bird store I've learned about to visit a bunch of species. Who knows what might catch my imagination next! Actually, this is probably the logical approach. I won't be purchasing, just on research.

 

[Kiwibird]

As you continue your research which trait or even 3 traits are most important to you? Sounds like size is a big one for you, so it might not even be worth your time to learn too much about, for example, greening macaws because they are much bigger than you'd be comfortable with. Keeping looking into all those medium species and really learning about each one would be much more helpful. And there are a lot of medium-ish birds out there! Mini macaws, smaller amazons, pionus, poicephalus, caiques, conures, ringneck parrots and even some of the rarer species such as rosellas and don't forget larger members of the parakeet family, such as quaker parrots!