MoonToon
New member
- May 26, 2023
- 7
- 8
Hi!
TL;DR version is " There's a whole lot of info swirling around about bird species. Would love to hear from people about the behavior of IRN/ GCC/ Cockatiels/ Amazons/ Sun Conures. What have been your experiences with breeders/ rehomes/ adoptions?
Just came across this forum recently in my search for researching info on this lil dinos for both my mother and I in the future. And BOY is there a lot of different stances and conflicting views out there. Amazes me that smart people take on this journey now that we have the web and I see so many different takes.
For example, just trying to figure out with species you want your feathered family member to be is MASSIVE. Unlike dogs, they're not "breeds" in the way that you could have a bird that takes the appearance of this and mixes it with the general disposition of that. But much like dog breeds, they all are known for certain behaviors, even if every member is an individual who has their own personality. And on top of that, they're heckin SMART and emotionally complex beings.
And on top of THAT, it's confusing on how you could have 2 at the same time. Some are ok with being with a different species of bird, but that seems to be generally not recommended. So if you pick a species, unless you have a huge home, you maaay want to stick to that species for any future 2nd from what I hear. Then you have to make sure they're sexed right if you want to avoid the problems of becoming a back-alley breeder and wrecking your bond and progress in taming either when they bond to each other as mates.
Watching vids about XZY parrots can be all types of confusing because of this. Like Tuber A can have 12+ birds in her flock (as she lives in a mansion) and say "Don't let the tik toks and youtube vids fool you, those are the exception to the rule. IRN is NOT cuddly. At best, they're a hands off bird ... nastiest one I have in my flock is the female IRN" followed by many comments in the comment section combating that by saying how sweet theirs are. I'd expect the people with tons of different birds to have the best knowledge on how each type is different, as they have the most experience with different birds to compare them to, so I was confused.
But then I watched a vid of a woman with tons of birds unfortunately getting a nasty bite to her face because she was being too reckless with an Amazon Parrot play date. Her commenting on that bite opened my eyes a bit on why there seems to be such a difference in opinion on SOME birds compared to "Bird Reviewers" with 22 birds or who just barrow a bird for a vid. She said something along the lines of "the more birds you have, the less tame they will be and the less they will bond with you. There's only so much of you that you can give, most will just bond with the other birds more".
Makes a ton of sense to me in that contest, whereas someone with 10 breeds of dogs can have a good understanding of how different they each of them are.
Then there's the question of how you get them. Rescue/ Rehome/ Breeders. I've had dogs from each of these paths.
Rescued pup that was a Black Lab ... she was sweet before we took her home. Right away was a nasty biter, only listened to my dad and died of some kinda illness 2-3 months post adoption. Dad went to give them a piece of his mind and apparently the other 4 pups from the litter she was in also died in that time with the same symptoms. Told a friend this a year ago, and she protested my decision to not trust adoption agencies again. Told her I understand her view that this was a rare situation, and it prob is a very rare case, but I stand by my decision to not trust "rescue orgs" again. That's with dogs, animals these types should know far more about. Just glancing at the bird rescues sites shows bios that list a ton of problems that may not be able to be overcome to a newish person (Like sad stories about birds that end with "Missy really prefers women/ men/ Blonds ... " giving you a clear hint that this bird will be a hard time unless you check off these boxes because of any number of events from their past.)
Got a Rehome dog and Breeder dog, and they were both healthy sweethearts. Knew the breeder (he was family) and the rehome was a mutt from a friend of my mother who told her exactly why she needed a new home (Nothing behavioral, kids just didn't want to take care of her).
Those paths ALSO seem to have problems with birds. Rehoming seems like a mixed bag, as it seems many don't know how to take care of these dinos and may have given them massive life long issues from trauma or shorter life spans from trash diets ("African Grey after a month at her 4th home dies at the age of 3yrs old. Autopsy shows a liver problem killed her ... because even though the 4th home gave her a good diet, the others apparently didn't and she never got a vet check. Too lil too late"). If I personally knew someone with parrots, then that would be a different case, but any rehome I get will have to be from a rando online.
Breeders? Sooo many scummy stories! Not only does it seem super rare to find one depending on your area, but there's also the fact that parrots are species and not breeds. I say that because in most cases you can't "cross breed" different types of parrots to get a different color or pattern, seems like they have to rely on mutations.
Which brings up a list of problems when it seems like some people breed some birds for color mutations over what they should be breeding for ... health and temperament.
In my short time researching this, I ran into Cockatiels. Lutinos really grabbed my eye! Click on a vid about them and ... oh, they have genetic problems because of all the reckless inbreeding breeders did to jump on this mutation. From the bald spot to the smaller size to the sudden deaths to the stories of "My lutino can only fly up, not forward ..." or "Mine's legs became paralyzed a month after getting him/ mine seems to have a neurotic disorder ..." and so on. Not all are condemned to a fate like those, but there seems to be many breeders who only care about breeding mutations without caring about making a "pug syndrome" outta the bloodline for Budgies and Cockatiels.
I figured that if I were to ever add one to my family, I'd have to find a GOOD breeder who cares and maybe avoid mutations. But shockingly, it seems easier to find Lutinos than reg Cockatiels for me. That's prob not something to worry about for every type of bird, as there seems to definitely be more-and-less popular parrots, but I do feel wary about Cockatiels now.
Then there are the stories of breeders just rushing them out when they're still on formula, or forcing clipping on babies. Many seem to just want a fast buck and don't want to take the time to raise them to be ready to be homed. ... so there are lots of bad breeders to look out for.
So yeah, that's a whole rant to say that I will have to ask and search for a lot of questions on this forum. Would love to hear from people about the behavior traits of IRN/ GCC/ Cockatiels/ Amazons/ Sun Conures. (I know my mother is interested in the talking aspect + doesn't want a super small like budgies, and I know that's not a guaranteed trait unless they already speak before you get em. Leaning on recommending she get 2 IRNs and try to rehome if she really wants one that's interested in talking.)
What have been your experiences with breeders/ rehomes/ adoptions?
TL;DR version is " There's a whole lot of info swirling around about bird species. Would love to hear from people about the behavior of IRN/ GCC/ Cockatiels/ Amazons/ Sun Conures. What have been your experiences with breeders/ rehomes/ adoptions?
Just came across this forum recently in my search for researching info on this lil dinos for both my mother and I in the future. And BOY is there a lot of different stances and conflicting views out there. Amazes me that smart people take on this journey now that we have the web and I see so many different takes.
For example, just trying to figure out with species you want your feathered family member to be is MASSIVE. Unlike dogs, they're not "breeds" in the way that you could have a bird that takes the appearance of this and mixes it with the general disposition of that. But much like dog breeds, they all are known for certain behaviors, even if every member is an individual who has their own personality. And on top of that, they're heckin SMART and emotionally complex beings.
And on top of THAT, it's confusing on how you could have 2 at the same time. Some are ok with being with a different species of bird, but that seems to be generally not recommended. So if you pick a species, unless you have a huge home, you maaay want to stick to that species for any future 2nd from what I hear. Then you have to make sure they're sexed right if you want to avoid the problems of becoming a back-alley breeder and wrecking your bond and progress in taming either when they bond to each other as mates.
Watching vids about XZY parrots can be all types of confusing because of this. Like Tuber A can have 12+ birds in her flock (as she lives in a mansion) and say "Don't let the tik toks and youtube vids fool you, those are the exception to the rule. IRN is NOT cuddly. At best, they're a hands off bird ... nastiest one I have in my flock is the female IRN" followed by many comments in the comment section combating that by saying how sweet theirs are. I'd expect the people with tons of different birds to have the best knowledge on how each type is different, as they have the most experience with different birds to compare them to, so I was confused.
But then I watched a vid of a woman with tons of birds unfortunately getting a nasty bite to her face because she was being too reckless with an Amazon Parrot play date. Her commenting on that bite opened my eyes a bit on why there seems to be such a difference in opinion on SOME birds compared to "Bird Reviewers" with 22 birds or who just barrow a bird for a vid. She said something along the lines of "the more birds you have, the less tame they will be and the less they will bond with you. There's only so much of you that you can give, most will just bond with the other birds more".
Makes a ton of sense to me in that contest, whereas someone with 10 breeds of dogs can have a good understanding of how different they each of them are.
Then there's the question of how you get them. Rescue/ Rehome/ Breeders. I've had dogs from each of these paths.
Rescued pup that was a Black Lab ... she was sweet before we took her home. Right away was a nasty biter, only listened to my dad and died of some kinda illness 2-3 months post adoption. Dad went to give them a piece of his mind and apparently the other 4 pups from the litter she was in also died in that time with the same symptoms. Told a friend this a year ago, and she protested my decision to not trust adoption agencies again. Told her I understand her view that this was a rare situation, and it prob is a very rare case, but I stand by my decision to not trust "rescue orgs" again. That's with dogs, animals these types should know far more about. Just glancing at the bird rescues sites shows bios that list a ton of problems that may not be able to be overcome to a newish person (Like sad stories about birds that end with "Missy really prefers women/ men/ Blonds ... " giving you a clear hint that this bird will be a hard time unless you check off these boxes because of any number of events from their past.)
Got a Rehome dog and Breeder dog, and they were both healthy sweethearts. Knew the breeder (he was family) and the rehome was a mutt from a friend of my mother who told her exactly why she needed a new home (Nothing behavioral, kids just didn't want to take care of her).
Those paths ALSO seem to have problems with birds. Rehoming seems like a mixed bag, as it seems many don't know how to take care of these dinos and may have given them massive life long issues from trauma or shorter life spans from trash diets ("African Grey after a month at her 4th home dies at the age of 3yrs old. Autopsy shows a liver problem killed her ... because even though the 4th home gave her a good diet, the others apparently didn't and she never got a vet check. Too lil too late"). If I personally knew someone with parrots, then that would be a different case, but any rehome I get will have to be from a rando online.
Breeders? Sooo many scummy stories! Not only does it seem super rare to find one depending on your area, but there's also the fact that parrots are species and not breeds. I say that because in most cases you can't "cross breed" different types of parrots to get a different color or pattern, seems like they have to rely on mutations.
Which brings up a list of problems when it seems like some people breed some birds for color mutations over what they should be breeding for ... health and temperament.
In my short time researching this, I ran into Cockatiels. Lutinos really grabbed my eye! Click on a vid about them and ... oh, they have genetic problems because of all the reckless inbreeding breeders did to jump on this mutation. From the bald spot to the smaller size to the sudden deaths to the stories of "My lutino can only fly up, not forward ..." or "Mine's legs became paralyzed a month after getting him/ mine seems to have a neurotic disorder ..." and so on. Not all are condemned to a fate like those, but there seems to be many breeders who only care about breeding mutations without caring about making a "pug syndrome" outta the bloodline for Budgies and Cockatiels.
I figured that if I were to ever add one to my family, I'd have to find a GOOD breeder who cares and maybe avoid mutations. But shockingly, it seems easier to find Lutinos than reg Cockatiels for me. That's prob not something to worry about for every type of bird, as there seems to definitely be more-and-less popular parrots, but I do feel wary about Cockatiels now.
Then there are the stories of breeders just rushing them out when they're still on formula, or forcing clipping on babies. Many seem to just want a fast buck and don't want to take the time to raise them to be ready to be homed. ... so there are lots of bad breeders to look out for.
So yeah, that's a whole rant to say that I will have to ask and search for a lot of questions on this forum. Would love to hear from people about the behavior traits of IRN/ GCC/ Cockatiels/ Amazons/ Sun Conures. (I know my mother is interested in the talking aspect + doesn't want a super small like budgies, and I know that's not a guaranteed trait unless they already speak before you get em. Leaning on recommending she get 2 IRNs and try to rehome if she really wants one that's interested in talking.)
What have been your experiences with breeders/ rehomes/ adoptions?
But based on how hard he was trying to fly I think he must have fledged before he was clipped. He was and is friendly and trained to step up. Rarely bites but does not like to be touched.
