Wanting to add another bird to our family

[mom2three]

Hi,

I currently have a 7 month old blue fronted amazon that I hand fed. I am wanting to add another bird that is more likely to interact with the whole family. My amazon only allows me to pet and hold him. He has his moments where he wont even let me pet him or get him out. I am not 100% sure what kind of parrot I would like to get. I' ve been considering the b & g macaw.I have 3 children that are 14, 12, and 9. What kind of parrot would you recommend? I 'm wanting a bird that is not known for being a one person bird and has a good ability to talk. I want a parrot around the same size of my amazon or bigger.

Misty

 

[cassiepengo]

umm i dont know much bout big birds but if you wanna get a smaller bird, then a cockatiel seems fine...... i cant help much with big birds

 

[RainbowRose]

Perhaps a Quaker? I know hand tamed they love to be pet and they are one of the best in ability to learn over 200 words. Little but smaller build than amazon but still roughly same height/length.

 

[RainbowRose]

umm i dont know much bout big birds but if you wanna get a smaller bird, then a cockatiel seems fine...... i cant help much with big birds

If trained and hand tamed correctly, yes they can be great interactive fun little birds. But sometimes they can be aggressive if not handled properly, so, just a heads up. The best interactive family birds are budgies I think, but of course these are tiny parakeets.

I am interested in other answers though because I may want a 3rd bird even though I just recently got 2 new ones after my last parrot died... However one is a turquoisine and the other a kakariki. They share a cage. Neither are going to talk. The kakariki is a female so she has little chance... I want a bigger parrot.... I might be adopting a friends senegal. But even then i have to make sure I am "accepted" by the bird first. So I'm curious because my family always want to see my birds but I know how birds can get skittish or aggressive around others!!!

 

[Sunset_Chaser]

Where are you located? I have a B & G Macaw that we rescued from a bad situation, he has been handled by children and adults, he is such a sweetheart considering what he has been through! His chest is plucked but he has started to let some feathers come back so we are excited about that. You can pm me if you would like pictures or have any questions.

 

[henpecked]

Yes, some species are more social than others. The key ( to your goal) is early socialization to make a good "family" bird, regardless of species. I have several "family" zons who grew up with my kids. Don't rule out a species just because of your one experience. There are so many personalities, even in a single clutch. Meet as many different birds as possible, even older rehomes. Adult or baby, let the bird pick your family. Personality over parentage. Just my .02 worth.

 

[Birdman666]

Yes, some species are more social than others. The key is early socialization to make a good "family" bird, regardless of species. I have several "family" zons who grew up with my kids. Don't rule out a species just because of your one experience. There are so many personalities even in a single clutch. Meet as many different birds as possible, even older rehomes. Adult or baby, let the bird pick your family. Personality over parentage. Just my .02 worth.

Agreed. Both my zons will go to anyone.

But they are pair bond birds, which means if you are the only one who handles them, they will tend to bond with you, and not want to accept other people.

Pair bond birds just need additional socialization. That's all it generally is...

Have you tried a game of "pass the birdie?"

 

[henpecked]

Have you tried a game of "pass the birdie?"

If you're asking me? Yes
The biggest mistake ,IMO , is the one person handfeeding. We always switch things up with young birds. So yes, we play "pass the birdie" especially with the weaning babies.

 

[Birdman666]

I was asking him. I know you know how to sociallize a bird...

 

[95talongirl]

I also agree... there's a ton of variants within individuals of the same species. when Mopar was young, I tried my best to have other people handle him; not just myself. Although I am his primary caretaker and do handle him more, he does go to anyone. When we have get-togethers, I'll bring Mopar out and pass him around. He is my birdie ambassador, that's for sure.

I am still working with Maverick. The first time we had people over, he hated everyone. I even got displacement bit pretty hard because he wanted absolutely nothing to do with anyone there. So I put him back, and told people if they wanted to look at him, so approach slowly and talk softly to him. Don't spook him. However, over this past weekend, we had people over for halloween, and he was being more compliant and vocalizing, acting as if he wanted to be apart of the action. So I let him out. He even let a few people hold him! (After watching his body language very closely... I also warned people who wanted to hold him that he can bite very hard and to watch him.) There was only a few people he was not fond of what so ever. So this is exciting to me, as I wasn't sure if he would ever warm up to strangers.

So yeah, I say do the whole visiting with different birds and see what kind of personalities they have. You may be surprised who ends up picking you!

 

[mom2three]

I can't send pms yets but I am located in South Carolina. We did have a blue fronted amazon several years ago and she would allow all family members to hold her but was cage agressive. She was fine once she got out of the cage. We rehomed her to a couple that was running a school for disabled children and Skittles just really seemed to take up with them when they came to buy some English Angora rabbits we were selling so we let her go with them. She is the reason we wanted another blue front. My daughter did help when I hand fed him and would get him out and have him set with her but not anymore. He tries to bite her if she goes anywhere near him.

 

[Sunset_Chaser]

Do you still raise English Angoras? I would love to talk to you about raising them. Although I'm not new to raising rabbits I've never raised Angoras before so it would be awesome to discuss them with someone who's been there, done that! ................getting one on Friday :54:been doing TONS of reading though. If you can't get private messages yet how do we talk? lol I don't want to take over your thread here. Mods?

 

[mom2three]

I don't mind talking about them here. We didn't actaully get into raising them. We had a few and was planning on breeding and showing but it didn't work out. They are very sweet rabbits. If there is anything you would like to know I will try to answer.

 

[Sunset_Chaser]

Did you find the English hard to keep? Some breeders call them finicky and tricky to keep healthy. What did you find helpful to prevent wool block? How often did you brush them to keep the tangles at bay? How often did you harvest the fiber?

 

[mom2three]

We didn't have english angoras that long but what I mainly did is make sure they had plenty of hay. That is pretty much true with any rabbit though. I also know you can give papaya tablets. We brushed ours a couple times a week and didnt harvest the fur. We had them for pets. We had a solid white one that my daughter would put dog clothes on and she looked like a stuffed animal lol. We also had english lops and I found the angoras were more docile than the lops.

 

[RainbowRose]

If you want a docile rabbit get a Dutch rabbit. Mine has never bitten me she constantly wants to be pet she closes her eyes when I pet her anywhere I always mess with her and she just loves that I'm even touching her haha and when I greet her she licks my nose and face. Like a dog would. Hahaha. I named her Sweetie for a reason, my whole family and friends loooove her. They're extremely playful and nice. I put a little dress on her and she leaps in it or lounges in it, very great family pet