Pet bird choice for a child?

[carolinagirl58]

Whatever you get, make sure it was a hand-raised one. I had a Quaker once...that was the meanest, nastiest bird I ever saw. And it was also horribly screechy. It would attack whenever the cage door was opened. I was so happy the day that demon escaped and flew away.

 

[tiki244]

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X2

 

[debilorrah]

Do NOT get love birds. They are quite the opposite. Mean, nasty little suckers.

Cockatiels are fun too. I love them.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
Now I helped petsit lovebirds that were nice...

 

[bagendhens]

ive found lovebirds can go either way, typically problems arise whn there single lovebirds, they bond soooo strongly with their people that they are incredibly clngy needy and highly prone to seperation anxiety...
if you get apair of lovebirds though they bond to eachtoeher and its a little more work to keep them people tame but they tend to be nicer overall...

in terms of kids birds...
my personal suggestions.

english budgie (or parakeet) there a little larger (and more expensive) than the american counterpart, but there well known to be wonderfull talkers, particularly the males, typically sweet and generally easy to care for. get a fully weaned hand fed baby OR a JuST weaned parent raised baby...
parakeets that are hand fed can be increidbly nippy is weaned too quickly, they are wll known as pirannah birds, not because they are mean but because they belive fingers=food and they are quite ravenous eaters lol.
a parent raised budige can be tamed down very quickly if you get them young enough and have the patients.
there RELITIVLY quiet, they do get twirpy in the morning and around dusk, whistling and tweeting...
a single budgie (american or otherwise) should b kept in a cage no smaller than 18 x 18 x 24"

Linneolated parakeet, these guys are harder to find and a little more expensive than their budgie cousins...there a south american parakeet thats relitivly new ot the us pet trade.
these guys are about the same size as the budgie over all, but have a shorter tail and a wider chest.
linnies are cute and incredibly quiet, probably the quietest of the hookbills, they have tiny little voices and make peeping noises that remind me of baby chicks and crickets.
they can talk though not as well as the budgies...and hand raised babies are incredbly sweet. great little pocket parrots, they dont like to "perch" as much on fingers, but intead prefer shoulders and arms/wrists.
linnies are TERRIBLE flyers...they instead prefer to climb and prefer a longer cage over a tall onw, a finch flight cage (18x30x18") is perfect, and plenty of toys they can hang from, they love to hang upside down.
(i have 2 linnies)

(my little slate female lokie, i also have a green male, cricket)

cockateils: these guys are great beginner birds, a little larger than the budgies and linnies, need a bigger cage 22 x 17 x 28" MINIMUM there not as good talkers, but they are excelent whistlers (i have a friend with a teil whos obsessed with starwars and the bird whistles the imperial march!.
ive personally never met a meal cockateil, handfed teils tend to be sweet, gregarious, very playfull and easily taught tricks. there also easily found, readily available, price waise not too expensive and while theire whistle can be quite loud, its nothing compared to some of the hookbills, and typically limited to morning and dusk.

the pyrrhura conures are a possible ok choice, unlike the other species the pyrrhuras are known as the "quiet" conures (now, belive you me theres no such thing as a quiet conure, infact other than linneolated parakeets i dont belive theres such a thing as a quiet hookbill) but compared to many hookbills the pyrrhura conures are definatly handleable on the noise scale.
i think in terms of a kids pet though they might be a little much, all hookbills are long lived birds, but with conures you start getting into the real long lived birds, 20+ yrs
the pyrrhura family also tend to be a little more nippy, and arnt known to be great talkers...
if your willing to do a family bird though a conure might be an ok choice, look into the green cheek, black capped, crimson bellied, firey shoulder (my fave of the group), painted, and maroon bellied conures.
some of the Poicephalus group might also suit, jardines and meyers both come to mind, very playfull swet little parrots but more bird, and again would be a better family bird than a kids bird.


my personal choice for a first time bird for your situation would probably be a linneolated parakeet or a cockateil with the budgie or am-parakeet comming in 3rd.

 

[la dee da]

I have had both budgies and a cockatiel. Unless I have a "special" cockatiel the budgies are definately better if you want a bird that's friendly to everyone.

Of the three budgies I've had the friendliest one was one I got young and was NOT hand fed, odd huh? She's a female and quite the character! She does bite, rarely, and only if you don't back off after a warning nibble and never draws blood. Whatever you get, make sure you GET IT YOUNG or already tame. One of the budgies I got was "just" mature and didn't much care for human attention, she remained that way untill her death a few years ago. The other budgie was male and he never bit, was quite friendly and made the prettiest of noises. None of our budgies talked because we never tried to teach them. Only one budgie is still alive today, and she's friendly to everyone and anyone. I was almost able to "teach" the male to like being petted before his sudden death.

My cockatiel is male, doesn't talk but will learn and make various whistles. He's not super noisy and he never bites; he nibbles, but not bites. He's a one person bird though, and will only let me pet and hold him. As said by someone before me he gives out a lot of dust. He doesn't squawk or scream, though he does make loud whistles when he really wants attention. He demands much more attention than the budgie. He was hand raised and loves to be petted. He loves to be on me and doesn't fly off unless startled or scared and will whistle softly to me when he wants a petting. He's more loving toward me than the budgies ever were, but again that comes with the price of needing more attention and being a one person bird.

Being parrot-type both breeds will chew on things (watch out for your mouse cord!) and both can/will be messy and noisy. With either of these birds you want a more horizontal cage than vertical. Most pet stores sell very vertical cages and I hate that, our birds are much happier in horizontal cages. Make sure your cage has a pull out tray! Very handy when cleaning.
Good luck choosing a bird!