New member here! First birb, Green Cheek Conure!

SlyBirbMama

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Where my GCC parronts at?? Lol Seriously though, we’re first time bird owners getting our daughter a GCC for her birthday next month and would love to hear tips and family bonding ideas! We are very ready to bring this baby home and couldn’t be more excited! We’re going for a visit to the breeder’s house on Sunday and hope to learn a lot there as well. Attached a picture of the babies we’ll been picking out of, would love to see pics of your babies too! Thanks for accepting us as newbie bird nerds! ❤️

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Scott

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Aug 21, 2010
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Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Welcome to you and future GCC birb! I am not experienced with conures but they are among the most represented species within our forums!

You may be attracted to specific features and personalities, consider letting the bird choose you (from a qualified group) for ideal bonding.
 

Flboy

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Welcome to you! Such excitement!
Something to keep in the back of your mind as the bird matures- there will be a short period of hormonal confusion! Not a definite, but! He comes home, is a complete goofball, loves everyone! He then becomes a teenager and hates everyone, constantly biting! "Well, we must have gotten a bad one!" And away he goes! And for the new family? (If he’s lucky enough to find one) he is a model conure!
Why? Because he’s through his very difficult teenage phase! It is terribly important that you don’t set bad patterns during this difficult time!-he hates me—I can smack this mean streak out of him—etc!
It really parallels human teen years! Girls can be worse. It can start as early as 1 year, closer to 1.5-2 years old.
Remember, just like a good meal, In time, this too, will pass!
 
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SlyBirbMama

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Welcome to you and future GCC birb! I am not experienced with conures but they are among the most represented species within our forums!

You may be attracted to specific features and personalities, consider letting the bird choose you (from a qualified group) for ideal bonding.
Scott, thanks so much for that! I’m very much looking forward to hearing the experience of others here and being a part of the community! :)
I’ve heard in families no matter what the bird will have a favorite person and just kinda accept everyone else. Lol I’m totally ok with this but I really hope his favorite turns out to be my daughter, since she’s only 6-7 years away from leaving our nest to make her own and will be taking him with her. But I get the feeling from the bird community that when that time comes I may not want her to take him! LOL
 
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SlyBirbMama

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Welcome to you! Such excitement!
Something to keep in the back of your mind as the bird matures- there will be a short period of hormonal confusion! Not a definite, but! He comes home, is a complete goofball, loves everyone! He then becomes a teenager and hates everyone, constantly biting! "Well, we must have gotten a bad one!" And away he goes! And for the new family? (If he’s lucky enough to find one) he is a model conure!
Why? Because he’s through his very difficult teenage phase! It is terribly important that you don’t set bad patterns during this difficult time!-he hates me—I can smack this mean streak out of him—etc!
It really parallels human teen years! Girls can be worse. It can start as early as 1 year, closer to 1.5-2 years old.
Remember, just like a good meal, In time, this too, will pass!
David, thanks so much for all that awesome information! I’m definitely tracking the hormone stuff and we’ll certainly be understanding and work through it as a family, because since starting our bird research I’ve learned that birds are so much more than mere corner cage trophies! They deserve so much more from us and now I’m super saddened by all the rehoming situations that truly don’t have to happen if people would just put time into their animal! Loved your analogy too, perfect explanation of how we should handle developmental stages of our birds! We’ve been preparing ourselves with training materials from BirdTricks.com and feel very ready for this, it’s amazing what realistic expectations and proper knowledge can do when welcoming a new pet into your home! :)
 

Scott

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Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Welcome to you and future GCC birb! I am not experienced with conures but they are among the most represented species within our forums!

You may be attracted to specific features and personalities, consider letting the bird choose you (from a qualified group) for ideal bonding.
Scott, thanks so much for that! I?m very much looking forward to hearing the experience of others here and being a part of the community! :)
I?ve heard in families no matter what the bird will have a favorite person and just kinda accept everyone else. Lol I?m totally ok with this but I really hope his favorite turns out to be my daughter, since she?s only 6-7 years away from leaving our nest to make her own and will be taking him with her. But I get the feeling from the bird community that when that time comes I may not want her to take him! LOL


So many variables, bird personality and level of socialization. Some birds readily bond with several or all members of household, you just never know. If your daughter leaves the nest for remote location college, housing may pose a challenge. Otherwise, if she's planning to begin a family in her own home, acclimation may be less dramatic.
 
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SlyBirbMama

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All very true, Scott! Guess we’ll just have to see what the future holds and handle things as they happen. I’m not worried, honestly! :)
 
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SlyBirbMama

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Got to see her baby for the first time today, a beautiful little yellow-sided! Breeder thinks based on genetics it could be a girl but obviously won?t know for a while so we picked a neutral name, Kaze. We?ll be visiting once a week until she is weaned, we?re so excited! :D

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Scott

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Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Wow, that is a beautiful baby! Love the neutral name Kaze, can be artistically modified as desired!
 

wrench13

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Scott, Scott, Scott, I see what you did there - "Remember, just like a good meal, In time, this too, will pass!" :p :29: :rolleyes:

SlyBirbMom - Welcome and be Welcomed. Since I don't wanna pump sunshine up your %$$$#@, please consider a few things:

Please don't surprise your daughter with a parrot. Parrots live extraordinarily long lives for such small creatures. A well cared for conure or larger parrot can easily live 20-30 years or more!! They are life style setting companion animals (pets - hate that word sometimes). Parrot owners, good ones, modify their life arc significantly in order to give their parrot a full, enriching, safe and balanced life. Ordinary activities for your daughter, like a weekend stay over, vacations, cooking with almost 100% of non-stick cookware, using scented candles, cleaning solutions, new furniture or house/apartment renovations, Oh the list goes on and on, all will have an influence on her parrot. In getting your daughter a parrot, you are making those choices for her. Parrots really are like being a parent to a small child, that lives 40 or more years, has the emotional competence of a 3 year old, who have a buzz-saw for a face, who will, at some point, bite the hand that feeds it.

A significant number of times, especially with parrots given as gifts, the person who the 'gift' is meant for is not the person that the parrot bonds to. Hence Scott's point about letting the birb choose you daughter. WHat does that look like - trust us you or your daughter will know.

Often the actual care giver, ie the one who feeds, changes the cage papers, provides the toys, cleans the cage etc, is not the "Chosen One", be prepared.

Giving a parrot as a gift to a young child, pre-teen, teen or college age child can be a difficult road for them and for the parrot too. As children get older , their free time (ie time spent on studies, after school activities (sports, chess club, drama clb etc) and on socializing with peers and BOYS!) gets smaller and smaller, and the parrot almost always looses out. This little bird who used to be the apple of someone's eye might be pushed to the back of the attention line up. I and many on this forum recommend getting a parrot post schooling and landing that all important first job and first apartment!

But you now have US, the ParrotForums membership, to help and aid you and your daughter as she travels the road not taken by the vast majority of pet owners, to laugh, give sound advice formed by decades and decades of experience, lend a shoulder to cry on and a place to proclaim how wonderful and great your parrot is!.

Welcome and be welcomed, indeed!
 

Jen5200

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Welcome - Kaze is adorable! It sounds like you are doing tons of research (thank you!), and this forum is a wealth of information and experience.

I have 5 conures and they are wonderful, funny, challenging, and unique beings :). I look forward to hearing (and seeing) more about Kaze as you bond and they come home!
 
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SlyBirbMama

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Wrench13, thanks for the welcome and plethora of knowledge you very obviously have and definitely should share with people 100%. You are very passionate about parrots and I certainly appreciate that!
However, in Scott’s defense I think he was just giving me the benefit of the doubt and assumed I did my due diligence already, which I most certainly have. My daughter and I have been doing extensive research and training for months to get to this point and already have acknowledged everything you’ve addressed. I think that any mature child has the ability to care for a pet for it’s lifetime, even birds. The breeder we’re using actually started with her small teenager who is now in her twenties and still thriving with birds. So I think making blanket statements like children should never own a parrot are a bit excessive, it’s obviously very situational to the family and child. As for us, we’re not the kind of people that go to a pet store and buy something because it’s cool or pretty. My daughter, who is not being surprised AT ALL, and I are doing this together and are looking forward to all the changes a parrot brings into a family.
Thanks again, it’s good to know so much information is here in the forums for people who really don’t know and need the guide.
 
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SlyBirbMama

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Welcome - Kaze is adorable! It sounds like you are doing tons of research (thank you!), and this forum is a wealth of information and experience.

I have 5 conures and they are wonderful, funny, challenging, and unique beings :). I look forward to hearing (and seeing) more about Kaze as you bond and they come home!

Jen, thank you so much for that! We have come a long way to get this far and my daughter and I couldn?t be more thrilled and reasonably nervous, and I?ve had three children! Lol I am grieved by the amount of birds I see being rehomed now since doing research and learning so much about parrots! I used to think they were just a loud thing you kept in a cage and told people not to go near because they bite, which sounded super cruel and boring to me so birds never interested me as pets. I?m so glad my assumptions were wrong and my daughter and I have since become parrot advocates and try to educate people or even help them with their own birds so another rehoming situation doesn?t happen!
 

wrench13

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SlyBirbMama, you guys are doing it right, a pleasure to know that. Would that all new bird owners exercise that much due diligence! If your daughter is old enough, we would love to welcome her into the ParrotForums directly, we have a few youngsters as members.
 

Scott

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Aug 21, 2010
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Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Wrench13, thanks for the welcome and plethora of knowledge you very obviously have and definitely should share with people 100%. You are very passionate about parrots and I certainly appreciate that!
However, in Scott?s defense I think he was just giving me the benefit of the doubt and assumed I did my due diligence already, which I most certainly have. My daughter and I have been doing extensive research and training for months to get to this point and already have acknowledged everything you?ve addressed. I think that any mature child has the ability to care for a pet for it?s lifetime, even birds. The breeder we?re using actually started with her small teenager who is now in her twenties and still thriving with birds. So I think making blanket statements like children should never own a parrot are a bit excessive, it?s obviously very situational to the family and child. As for us, we?re not the kind of people that go to a pet store and buy something because it?s cool or pretty. My daughter, who is not being surprised AT ALL, and I are doing this together and are looking forward to all the changes a parrot brings into a family.
Thanks again, it?s good to know so much information is here in the forums for people who really don?t know and need the guide.

Thanks for your kind words, I saw no indication the bird was planned as "surprise" gift for your daughter. Rather, planned family acquisition with caveat you hoped for bonding with your daughter and eventual relocation in 6-7 years. That said, many folks surprise relatives/friends with extremely long lived creatures that are not exactly sedate potted plants! We naturally urge caution and share perspectives.
 

Jen5200

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2017
1,874
Media
23
Albums
2
249
Washington State
Parrots
Baby - Sun Conure;
Tango - GCC;
Bindi - Sun Conure;
Stanley - Pineapple GCC;
Screamer “Scree� - Cockatiel;
Tee - Pineapple GCC; Jimmy - Cockatiel
Welcome - Kaze is adorable! It sounds like you are doing tons of research (thank you!), and this forum is a wealth of information and experience.

I have 5 conures and they are wonderful, funny, challenging, and unique beings :). I look forward to hearing (and seeing) more about Kaze as you bond and they come home!

Jen, thank you so much for that! We have come a long way to get this far and my daughter and I couldn?t be more thrilled and reasonably nervous, and I?ve had three children! Lol I am grieved by the amount of birds I see being rehomed now since doing research and learning so much about parrots! I used to think they were just a loud thing you kept in a cage and told people not to go near because they bite, which sounded super cruel and boring to me so birds never interested me as pets. I?m so glad my assumptions were wrong and my daughter and I have since become parrot advocates and try to educate people or even help them with their own birds so another rehoming situation doesn?t happen!

Parrots need all the advocates that they can get, so glad that you are helping with that! I have 7 rescue birds whom I love to bits. I was the same as you before I got birds - had no idea what was so appealing about them :). We all start somewhere - I?m about 5 years into this now and can?t imagine life without them. I also volunteer at a rescue (which may be why I have now 7 birds instead of the two that I started with lol).
 

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