Hello
Please be aware that when it comes to caged birds/parrots "starter" or "beginner" birds do not exist!
Unlike chickens where you're often discussing
breeds we're looking at
species here. Basically more comparing chickens and quail and ducks etc. Different species have different levels of needs and some more specialized. Parrots cover a WIDE variety of diet types, from granivores to frugivores and more.
Then within the species, every bird is very unique and may or may not come with their own challenges. I have a cockatoo but he's really quite laid back compared to others I've seen or heard about. He's also young and I've not had to deal with a whole heap of hormones, yet.
Often when it comes to birds it's recommended you interact and research as many as you'd like and more intently the ones that peek your interest and then go with that one instead of "working your way up" to it. A budgie won't prepare you for a conure and a conure will not prepare you for a macaw.
I have a strong love for one of the commonly called "starter" birds, budgies. Currently have a flock of eight. Budgies are a very social species and I advocate for minimum of a pair, unless you're
truly prepared to committing to them. Yes, you *may* lose the opportunity to have a close bond with them when there is more but in my eyes if you dont approve of keeping a social animal solitary then budgies are no different (i.e. would you keep a singular chicken?). Male vs Female stereotypes can be misleading. Girls can talk too (though speech ability should be low on your list, if on it at all). Ime the boys are often more laid back. My girls have been sassy and extremely fun and entertaining. Be careful when someone tells you budgies are "quiet", when those boys get to singing... spend some time around them beforehand, some people cannot stand the sound of budgie chatter while a macaw's scream doesn't bother them. I don't mind the budgie sounds and find it fairly pleasant, with the exception of their demanding screams I sometimes get if I disturb their sleep or something
Have you been keeping in mind lifespan? Some species have extremely long lifespans and this is something to take into account. Dont be put off from getting an older bird of a longer lived species, many have to change hands a few time in their lives because they live so long, not always by fault of them. Sometimes older birds will also be more mature and you actually skip out on bad hormonal phases
When it comes to cockatiels, i do not own or have experience with them but if there is anyone in your household with allergies or asthma, please be cautious. Tiels are one of the notorious old world species when it comes to dust.
Ah okay. So I’m kind of looking at this through the wrong lens. That’s probably why the bird store lady hasn’t really pointed us in any direction. Thank you for that. A lot of good information here to consider.
We really plan on stopping by the bird store and interacting quite a bit more before making any choices. They all have certain out of cage/play times that they come out and so we’ve been rotating through. So far I really adore the Indian ring necks. They’re soo charming but I see how they are into everything and demand all of your attention and I worry we couldn’t give one the attention it would need. I work from home, so I am home all day, but I don’t know the reality of owning a bird like that, so I don’t want to do anything unfair and jump in thinking I can give it the attention it needs only for it to be stressed out or sad and anxious from not getting enough.
We have thought about lifespan. We’re aiming for anywhere between 10-30 years max. We’re in our 30s, so I wouldn’t feel right pushing it much further than that lifespan-wise. That crosses out some species, which I’m okay with. But on the flip I would totally be alright adopting an older bird, too. It does not need to be a baby.
Good to know about the cockatiels and allergies. We do not have allergies, but I wasn’t aware of that.
Budgies are great! We have an American budgie and an English budgie. They are in the cage together, and get along very well. They are not too noisy, sing sweet little songs, and interact with my daughter. They both spend time out of the cage. The English budgie likes to ring a bell, and then expects my daughter to ring it. They will play back and forth like this. -very sweet birds. We also have a green cheeked conure. I don't recommend starting off with this. He is very vocal and very loud. -very much likes attention, and will fuss if he doesn't get it. He does enjoying sitting on my daughter's shoulder.
I know nothing about cockatiels. My mother-in-law used to have a pair of them. She seemed to enjoy them quite a bit.
Best of luck on your decision with a new bird!! Birds make delightful pets, IMO!
Thank you for sharing! I really loved the green cheeked conures at the bird store when we got to interact with them, they were so very sweet and friendly, but a bit of attention hogs, too. So it did lead me to think they’d be a breed that would take a lot of entertaining. I’m happy to hear more of your experiences with him if you’d ever like to share. Even pictures as they’re so darn cute!
Your budgies sound charming, also! It sounds like you really can form relationships with them.
Overall it really sounds like you’ve had positive experiences with pet birds, do you have any negatives? I know you mentioned the noise and the attention can be one, also, is there anything else that might make one second guess having a pet bird?
Mine were mostly pretty hands off BUT!!!!! I believe that was due to the fact that I had two of them. If you have one, they are a lot more interactive I think. But I’m not sure because I’ve always had 2 or more until I had to rehome. But they can learn to talk, especially the males, and there was even one on one of those pet talent shows years ago. And even with two, they still would sometimes step up on my finger and stuff. So they can be trained and interactive. But personally I didn’t mind the hands off ness because they have a beautiful chatter/songs they do with each other and it’s adorable LOL but it’s not super loud. I also wanted mine to have friends of their own species. But you can easily have one too. It’s just a bit more work because YOU are their friend and interaction LOL you could also start with one and add more later on once you get one tamed. I didn’t do that and probably should have lol I find the males more friendly too btw. Idk why but my females were always way more skittish/flightly and likely to bite me LOL the males were much more chill. I really liked mine. I used to let them fly around my apartment LOL
thank you for sharing your experience about budgies, truly I know nothing! Except that I agree and they are SO adorable!! Keeping a pair is something to think about for sure.
Before deciding answer some questions for yourself - which is what appears to be your aim.
How much space will the bird/s need? Do I have this much space?
What foods do the birds eat? Am I prepared to feed this and clean it up?
Do I want to breed or just keep? Stick to a single sex if the 2nd and brothers are often best.
My mothers budgies are breeders and show birds - they live in large avairies outside - but because they are handled from hatch to departure - they are mostly quiet - some of them remain fairly quiet all their lives - this is more common with the boys.
My dads cockertiels were also breeders living in large avairies outside - but they were also handled fairly often throughout their lives - so again fairly quiet - and again the boys tended to be quieter.
Remember that the space needed by a bird is not always proportionate to the size of the bird - it is more the activity level of the bird that needs considering.
Remember that the more fruit in their diet the more liquid their excrement.
Thank you for bringing these thoughts up. Our intent is to have a bird that isn’t in its cage primarily. As I said, I do work from home, but on that note I have a few meetings throughout the day, some on camera, so I can’t have a bird screaming in my ear. My better half owns a business and really works whenever ha wants at this point. The line he is in he does large jobs every few months, so he is basically home all the time, too except for the week or two of those jobs where he’ll work all day then be home in the evenings.
We have no children at home. So all of our attention would be free to go to this bird. I guess my point being we could potentially have time for an active bird and that we have plenty of space (empty rooms, large house) for a bird.
My intent is to have a small aviary of some sort outside eventually. That might not be within the first year of owning a pet bird, but we’ll see.
Definitely do not intend to breed. I do not want a breeding pair at all. I wouldn’t mind a pair of whatever we get incase they get lonely but I know some birds do okay alone, so it will just depend on the species.
Diet is something I will need to look into, but wouldn’t bother me one way or another. It’s sort of something I wasn’t thinking about until I knew what we were looking at more. But it is a good point.
Thank you for this!
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