Larger parrots and small humans!

[ravvlet]

Do any of you guys have younger kids (ours are 4 & 10) and large parrots? Have they ever shown interest in your kids? How do you handle it?

I tried letting Sammy, our new & fresh out of quarantine yellow-naped amazon have out time this afternoon while my youngest and I were in my office/the bird room. It took her a few minutes to be brave enough to come out, but when she did she made a beeline for the floor toward the four year old. Like - immediately climbed to the outside of the cage closest to her chair (I am going to have to move her cage I guess??). I kept showing her the playstand tree, and the toys on it etc, but she REALLY WANTS to be on or next to my little one. She refused to step up on the dowel perch and I had to call my partner in to help me get her back in the cage.

We tried putting her on the playstand away from the kiddo, but she wasn’t having any of it and threatened to shimmy down the curtains to waddle over there. Also, when we are in the room she starts with making cute noises - but eventually if we are not showering her with attention she starts yelling/projecting her voice to get our attention. I think it’s my kids attention she wants more than me, and since she’s only in preschool two days a week I usually have her with me when I’m down here.

Both of my kids have interacted with larger parrots - mostly other people’s that are trained for it. Our other Amazon Kirby does let the kids pet him (supervised of course) but is largely indifferent to their presence, which is kind of my preferred level of engagement. I would like to think Sammy means well, but she is a wild animal with a powerful beak, and I do not want to encourage her to approach the kids for attention because at best the youngest is not old enough to respect boundaries properly and also if she has a little “tantrum” moment she could do serious damage!

I’m not sure what to do here. I plan on calling a local professional who works with parrots and has parrots who interact with kids pretty regularly because like, I just don’t know Sammy well enough to trust her around the kids and didn’t anticipate she’d be so keen on it.

I guess usually people have the opposite problem - the bird hates the kids! This one loves them too much?? I am trying to avoid moving her back into my partners office but I can’t leave her locked up all day and the shouting routine while I’m down here is getting to me.

EDITED TO ADD: I hadn’t even CONSIDERED this, but I spoke to someone who also owns parrots, and said he once had a bird obsessed with his then-8-year-old daughter, and that we should take this seriously, because they had an issue where the bird considered the kid their mate, and would “defend” her from all comers and became really bitey. Yikes. Maybe I’m just borrowing problems but she is not letting me pet her when the kid is in the room, which is a new development.

 

[ravvlet]

A bump, in case anyone has any advice & didn’t see this, but also a note that I contacted a local professional who has worked with domestic and wild parrots for a behavioral consultation! She offers an in-home service, and my kids have met her birds before (and were delighted by them), so I’m hoping she will have some tips for us.

In the meantime Sammy is back in my partner’s office as she is home and in there most of the day, so she can have “out time” and we don’t have to worry about my youngest being in there or being the target of her overeager affections!

Kirby seems indifferent; he’s definitely calmer with her out of the room, and so is Sammy. He took a nasty tumble after climbing onto a rather precarious toy when frustrated with Sammy’s vocalizations so we thought it best to seperate them and let them cool off.

 

[texsize]

You have to gage how well you are able to read Sammy’s body language.

Here is an amazing video of a child/amazon relationship.

 

[ravvlet]

You have to gage how well you are able to read Sammy’s body language.

Here is an amazing video of a child/amazon relationship.

I’ve seen this, my kids love the dodo kid’s stories!

Jax was hand reared from an itty bitty baby by Wyatt’s dads! It appears in the video that she(?) is trained to recall, and trained to free fly - Sammy is not even trained to step up at this point. Also, Mexican red-headed parrots (Red Crown Amazons) like Jax are a little over half the size of Sammy, weighing in at an avg of 270 grams (Sammy is 550g). I believe they also tend to be mild mannered, not unlike our Orange Wing (who is also pretty great with our kids).

It’s a really cute and lovely story but - I would be willing to bet the reality of their situation and day-to-day life is very different; it’s probably not all heartwarming instagrammable moments. I’m hoping the expert we’ve asked to come by can help us decide what to do.

Also important to note that my 4 year old is not particularly interested in being Sammy’s BFF - she’s interested in her, sure, but mostly just to say hi, or bye, or give her treats. If any of the animals in our house was her “favorite pet” it’d probably be our pug Meatloaf.