Species suggestion

[swooneytoad]

Hello everyone,

I am new here and I have a 3 year old Lineolated Parakeet named Birb. Here are the things I love about him and I have a question at the end. Thanks in advance for reading.

Good
He is a three year old Linnie that I got/rescued from a friend who did not want him anymore. The said friend bought him on an impulse and left him alone in his cage without any social interaction. He came to me fearing hands and toys. Now, he steps up readily for me, he plays with his bell and he flies to my shoulder (or hair, but I have a buzz cut now, poor thing could not get a traction on my head anymore).

He is also an expert forager; I put a few feeding stations for him in his cage. Each station has a different location and a different challenge; crumpled paper, shredded paper, paper cover, palm leaf, empty station (no food) but has cover, beads, and a hanging station. He could solve all of these challenges and get to his food. It amazes me, how smart and strong he is. I felt so proud when he reduced the strong palm leaf into dusts just to get to his pellets. He has this foraging toy that hangs from the roof of his cage and sometimes his pellet is too far away from the edge of this toy and he could not reach it, and you know what he does? He bites the toy, he shakes/vibrates it, and all his pellets moved to the edge and he could eat them. Genius!

He also imitates my laugh or TV laughs, or cries. He could not tell the difference. There was one time a character on a TV show was crying, he imitated him, but it sounds like he is laughing, how insensitive. Haha. He imitates my gulping sound, the microwave and the squeaky sound of his cage.

Bad
I love this bird. I love spending time with him, interacting with him, whistling to him and preparing his foraging challenges. But, he also left me longing for more.

Unlike other parrots, he is completely hands off; he steps up for me, he loves perching on me, my shoulder or my finger, but I cannot give him scritches. Not even once. He would move back if I try.

He is not food motivated. I tried training him, for almost a year, with both millet and apple slices. He did not respond to those. He is simply not food motivated enough to do positive reinforcement training with.

He still does not play well with his toys. He really likes bells, but he ignores everything else. I think I have a total of $100 worth of toys that I bought but remain untouch.

Future
I would like to add another bird to my 1 birdie-1 human flock, in around 1 to 2 years time. There is no bird rescue around me, so it is difficult for me to interact with other birds. Apart from watching some birds in the vet office, and the birds owned (not for sale) by the nearby pet store, I have limited real life experience with birds.

I would like to find one that is more hands-on and interactive than my Birb; I would not want a velcro bird like Cocaktoo, but I want a species that would let me give scritches occasionally. Enough to be independent.

Superficially, a species that is larger than my Linnie. It is also a plus if it is a longer lived-species.

About me; I am 27, single, probably not getting married soon, live in apartment, have a stable job (9 to 5/6-ish job), 2 weeks of vacation every year (1 week in summer and 1 week in winter where birdie has to be boarded), and I love parrot (at least the one I have). I have done a lot of readings on the Internet (Avian Avenue), and books on parrots. I would believe I have some experiences with bird/parrot due to my current companionship with Birb.

Here are my potential choices and the cons (I prioritize the cons because I think that is a better criteria than just looking at the pros). I think all these birds have what I am looking for and will provide a good complement to my mellow, hands-off expert forager, Birb.

Senegal/Meyers - Cons: Potentially aggressive to my current bird and may develop 1 person syndrome, since I live alone.

Dusky Conure/Conures in general - Cons: Less than 40 years life span, on record. Could be loud.

Timneh African Grey - Cons: Prone to plucking.

Hahn's Macaw - Cons: Is loud.

So, thoughts, suggestions, debates? Thanks for reading.

 

[Tsali]

Toad, welcome to you and Birb. You have definitely come to the right place to learn. I'm still a newbie and I have learned so much! The folks here are awesome.

I don't know how much help I can be, the ONLY parrot I have experience with is Tsali, my Congo African Grey. He is almost 1 1/2 and we are his the only family he has ever had - well except for his breeder. I believe that Timnehs and Greys share the same basic personality traits so here goes....

Tsali came from a fantastic "hands on" breeder who spent a lot of time with the chicks. We started visiting him when he was only a few weeks old and visited him regularly until he was ready to come home -- so we weren't entirely strangers.

I read all the yaddi yadda about Greys being one person birds, being phobic, and being prone to plucking. Well I was/am determined that Tsali will be a well socialized brave little parrot with a full set of beautiful grey and red feathers. Since he has been with me I have taken him anywhere and everywhere that is pet friendly (and a few that aren't). He has gone on vacation to my daughter's very busy household and has happily interacted with her family. Although I am definitely his favorite (for now), he still likes to spend time with my hubby and really loves all three of our grown children and teenage grandkids.

You are definitely going about the selection process the right way - doing your research and carefully analyzing which bird species would best fit in with you and Birb. I know you will get a lot of info from folks here that are much more bird knowledgeable than me.

Good luck - will be fun reading more about Birb and your future parrot selection process.

 

[BeatriceC]

I can give you some of my experience with my Senegal. They might not be great apartment birds. I often debate who is louder; him or my macaw. And his squeal is definitely more annoying because it's so high pitched. He also has far more attitude than my macaw and my Amazon combined. But I think that's part of his charm. He's happiest when I keep him busy all day, so he is definitely hands on. I adore him, but he's not the right bird for everybody. Your concerns about bullying aren't without merit. He can bully my Amazon, but we don't give him the chance. We keep them apart (same room, different cages, and Leo is a terrible flier so we can have them out on different perches five or singer away from each other) and everybody's happy.

 

[Tsali]

About noise .... Tsali is VERY quiet unless he is talking and he does talk a lot. On rare occasions he does use his loud shrill whistle, but all it takes is for me to say, "Tsali, quit yelling" and he will go back to talking.

 

[GraciesMom]

I agree with Tsali ... Gracie can be encouraged to be super loud she has the ability but if I tell her to "shhh too loud" she'll lower. They catch on to acceptable pretty well when the direction is clear. Gracie is rarely "quiet" but her normal noises & tones aren't bad at least for me lol

She is out of cage except at bed time & has a lot of activities, exercise and socializing. She will sound off with a shrill whistle over and over if I leave but she stops after about 3-4 minutes. I have learned that if I give her a hard treat like a walnut sometimes it can distract her so I escape

 

[BeatriceC]

Another point about the potential noise level of a Senegal:

I live in a very large house on a large lot in the suburbs. I think the lots on my street are 1/3 acre. So a few weeks after we brought Leo home I was chatting with the guy next door. He's also a bird lover. I asked him if he's met the new bird yet. His response was "no, but I've heard him!" Granted my individual bird might be on the loud side. I have three teenage boys and we are the favorite house for their friends to hang out at (pool, hot tub, huge rec room, lots of electronic toys), the added noise a boy in a wheelchair makes (I should tell you about wheelchair jousting one day), and just constant activity. Without the birds my house would still be loud. So my birds meet the noise level. It's a thing birds do.

 

[Tsali]

I agree with Tsali ... Gracie can be encouraged to be super loud she has the ability but if I tell her to "shhh too loud" she'll lower. They catch on to acceptable pretty well when the direction is clear. Gracie is rarely "quiet" but her normal noises & tones aren't bad at least for me lol

She is out of cage except at bed time & has a lot of activities, exercise and socializing. She will sound off with a shrill whistle over and over if I leave but she stops after about 3-4 minutes. I have learned that if I give her a hard treat like a walnut sometimes it can distract her so I escape

Tsali doesn't mimic many household noises except for the squeaky door and the computer's message beeps. He does coughing, sneezing, and the dogs barking. But most of the time he is speaking in very plain English. Sometimes he uses parts of words to make up his own words, and he will say something and laugh. He will also praise himself by saying YEAH when he says his number (my phone number). Greys are amazing.

 

[BeatriceC]

I agree with Tsali ... Gracie can be encouraged to be super loud she has the ability but if I tell her to "shhh too loud" she'll lower. They catch on to acceptable pretty well when the direction is clear. Gracie is rarely "quiet" but her normal noises & tones aren't bad at least for me lol

She is out of cage except at bed time & has a lot of activities, exercise and socializing. She will sound off with a shrill whistle over and over if I leave but she stops after about 3-4 minutes. I have learned that if I give her a hard treat like a walnut sometimes it can distract her so I escape

Tsali doesn't mimic many household noises except for the squeaky door and the computer's message beeps. He does coughing, sneezing, and the dogs barking. But most of the time he is speaking in very plain English. Sometimes he uses parts of words to make up his own words, and he will say something and laugh. He will also praise himself by saying YEAH when he says his number (my phone number). Greys are amazing.

The bolded makes me laugh. Leo doesn't speak any English words (or words from any other human language), but he does meow. The first time I heard it I spent 20 minutes looking for my neighbor's cat, who likes to sneak in and nap in our downstairs guest room.

 

[LeaKP]

None of my greys have ever been very loud (although they could have). Nigel has moments when he chatters and whistles. Sometimes he comes out with this awful sounding "maaaaahhhh." And I'll say, "That doesn't even sound attractive." (I hope he learns to say that!) and he returns to whistling. He loves to be with me but is ok when I leave the room. His biggest challenge has been learning to play with toys, I don't think he was encouraged to play where he came from. He's learning and starting to destroy things like a good grey.

 

[Sean21]

I would suggest a kakariki. They are very passive and get on great with other birds.When I hand reared kakarikis they were cuddley and loved being scratched. Also maybe a red rump parakeet would be good fun. Whatever bird you choose I hope it's the right bird for you and birb. All the best Sean.

 

[Firstgoatsnowthis]

Since individuals vary so much, would you consider contacting a rescue and telling them what you might be looking for? They might be able to match the right individual to you, even if the species is generally known to behave in one way or another. An adult bird is more of a known-quantity, at least to some extent (though every story on this forum of a bird who "hated men 'til she met my husband" or "was put on Craigslist for yelling all day but is quiet at home with me" contradicts this! Birbs, man!). I went to a rescue with an Amazon in mind but came home with my Patagonian. My partner went to look at a Alexandrine for his ex-girlfriend, and came home with the Alex and the girlfriend got an Amazon.

I'm not terribly experienced, but that's my best advice.

 

[swooneytoad]

Thank you for everyone's thoughtful reply.

I'm curios, as to how much time does each of your bird need for socialization?

 

[BeatriceC]

I'm a housewife and MrC is retired. It's a very rare occurrence for both of us to be gone at the same time. We literally spend all day every day, with very few exceptions, with our birds. The bird room is combined with our office, so if we're on the computer, we're with them. We have perches in nearly every room of the house, including some of the bedrooms, and outside, so we can take them with us if we're going to be working in other parts of the house. That's probably a bit more than most people, but the answer to your question for us is that each bird probably gets about two hours of individual attention each day (not all at once, 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, kind of thing) and then our near-constant presence and chatter while we're just going about our day.

Right now Charlotte is outside on a perch while my 17 year old does yard work, Leo is playing on the top of his cage behind me, Goofy is in his cage chatting with MrC and Cookie is in his cage singing to the wall (Cookie is weird...this is one of his favorite activities). Both MrC and I are at our desks in the room where the cages for everybody but Charlotte are (she's still separated because she's new to the house).

 

[swooneytoad]

I'm a housewife and MrC is retired. It's a very rare occurrence for both of us to be gone at the same time. We literally spend all day every day, with very few exceptions, with our birds. The bird room is combined with our office, so if we're on the computer, we're with them. We have perches in nearly every room of the house, including some of the bedrooms, and outside, so we can take them with us if we're going to be working in other parts of the house. That's probably a bit more than most people, but the answer to your question for us is that each bird probably gets about two hours of individual attention each day (not all at once, 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, kind of thing) and then our near-constant presence and chatter while we're just going about our day.

Right now Charlotte is outside on a perch while my 17 year old does yard work, Leo is playing on the top of his cage behind me, Goofy is in his cage chatting with MrC and Cookie is in his cage singing to the wall (Cookie is weird...this is one of his favorite activities). Both MrC and I are at our desks in the room where the cages for everybody but Charlotte are (she's still separated because she's new to the house).

Thanks for the reply Mrs. C. That is the one thing that I can't provide for my future birdy; time.

I work from 9 to 5 and I cant be around the house all the time. That's why I am looking for species that have the reputation for being hardier like Pois, definitely staying away from the Toos.

 

[Firstgoatsnowthis]

I work 40 hours a week (4x10hrs, plus commute), but the birds are out all evening and out at least 2/3rds of each weekend. If we are home and awake, birds are out (excepting special circumstances).

More time is better, but quality matters as well as quantity. We spend most evenings with birds on shoulder, giving direct attention. We also make their cages as enriching as we can by offering foraging toys and rotating toys around to make their days as interesting as possible. This would probably not be enough attention for some species - Cockatoos, I'm looking at you.

 

[BeatriceC]

You can make up for being gone for work by making sure the cage environment is happy and engaging. A bored parrot is a bad parrot, so you need to make sure that whatever bird you do get, you stock the cage with plenty of toys that will keep his mind and feet busy. Many people here with all sorts of species leave their birds to go to work, and their birds are happy and healthy.

 

[LeaKP]

I have Nigel out a lot. I am working with him to play at his cage. I think it's healthy for them to self entertain. It's a discipline having any pet. No ,after how tired I am I make sure Nigel is out as much as possible, even if I'm tired.