What bird makes the best pet?

[jannakaye]

I had a cockatiel for seven years before she sadly passed away due to complications after having her foot amputated on a supposedly "bird safe toy". I said I wouldn't get another bird after the pain of losing my Wavy, but it's been four years and I miss having a little birdie to chirp and flutter around the house. In your opinion, what breed makes the best pet? I do not want a large bird, as I am a little skittish around them. (I visited a sanctuary called Parrot Mountain and a very large male parrot decided he liked me. Bit and hissed at me when I tried to put him on a perch that wasn't my arm.)

 

[dekel18042]

I had a cockatiel for seven years before she sadly passed away due to complications after having her foot amputated on a supposedly "bird safe toy". I said I wouldn't get another bird after the pain of losing my Wavy, but it's been four years and I miss having a little birdie to chirp and flutter around the house. In your opinion, what breed makes the best pet? I do not want a large bird, as I am a little skittish around them. (I visited a sanctuary called Parrot Mountain and a very large male parrot decided he liked me. Bit and hissed at me when I tried to put him on a perch that wasn't my arm.)

There are so many small birds that make wonderful pets. There is no one right answer to your question. Cockatiels are a lot of fun. With the males you have the possibility of a talking bird and they bond strongly to their owners. I had a boy that lived thirteen years, and he was quite a talker. My girl lived for 23 years.
Parakeets are also fun pets and are small and so are parrotlets. Love birds are small too, but I like the personality on the first three I mentioned better. Some lovebirds tend to bond with one person only. The males often have better personalities than the girls.
If you want to go up in size a bit there are the conures. Some are louder while the smaller ones tend to be more quiet, the ones like the green cheek, maroon bellied, or dusky.
I have a 26 year old nanday conure but they are one of the louder ones. We weren't the first owner. He has talked, but not much. He and the cockatiels had their cages next to each other and now he is alone.
We've been broodering our peeps in the sunroom next to his cage and he seems to like the company. He climbs down from his perch and when they go outside, he gets very quiet.
The last batch just went to the grow out pen. Then the other night, I heard what sounded like peeps in the sunroom, their chirpings and twitterings. I ran in, looked around and of course there was nothing. Just the nanday sitting on his swing looking smug.

 

[Keah]

Hi,


I believe Budgies or 'parakeets' some call them are the best bird for what you are looking for. If you get a young one around the age of 6-9 weeks old then they are easy to train. I have a male budgie and he chirps up to 12 different sayings and whistles!! (such as 'good morning pretty boy', 'you look lovely' and 'on your mat' (we say to the dog and he picked it up!! hahahah) They pick up saying you say everyday and surprise you

He is such an amazing budgie! I got him at around 7 weeks old and is now 2 years old and still flies to my shoulder when called, plays with me and helps me do my work! He has such an amazing personality and always makes me laugh.. Good on you for jumping back into getting a pet bird. I hope i have helped you make a decision.



Also here is a website i created a while ago, don't know if it will help you out....

http://petbirdcare.weebly.com/

Bye and good luck!!

 

[Twistedfeather]

A lot of the great choices have already been said but have you ever thought of getting another cockatiel? Budgies are great choices too. I would avoid Canaries and Finches because they're not really "companion birds"

 

[BittyBantamMom6]

I have a 14yr old sunconur that is the goofiest little bird I know. We still are not sure on the gender since the males and females are almost exactly the same in appearance, but we love our conur just the same. Our conur was never much into sentences but loves the sound of the wild songbirds so I get greeted in the mornings with little songs. We also always know when there is someone or something is in the yard. If it is a moving leaf, a squirrel, a deer, a visitor, or anything else that moves we get alarmed by our conur. We spend countless hours sitting on the couch watching TV and sharing a cup of water. So far the favourite show is scoobydoo. These little birds are so full of personality and bond very well. I hope this helps your decision

 

[Talithahorse]

There are lots of choices and I have had everything from an African Grey (still around after 30 years) to cockatiels, conures, etc. I say the best thing to do is visit the places that you are planning to purchase your bird and find the one the chooses you. Visit with several birds and visit them more than once. One will choose you and with that you are well started towards a great relationship. That being said, one of the best birds I had was a little nanday conure called Tuff Stuff. I rescued her from a person who left her outside in 17 degree weather. When I got her she was completely unhandled, and had some frostbite on her feet. She also had mites and had had the same size perch for her entire life leaving her unable to flatten her feet. Took me 6 months to rehab her but she loved me and would do anything I asked. Unfortunately due to the weakness in her feet, she fell and punctured herself behind the wing while I was out of town. By time I found it, infection had set in and she was not strong enough to overcome. She died in my arms.

Good luck finding a truly great bird.

 

[Nadine83]

There are many choices of birds available. Ive had and bred almost every type of bird you could think of. I personally gravitate towards budgies, doves and finches. Ive had many of them and am currently breeding budgies. It really depends on your personal preference. With budgies there a small bird, and come is several colors. There are also 2 types to choose from. American and English. Finches are tiny but compared to budgies there are more varieties available. Doves, I have ringnecks. Are larger but gentle. All are easy to care for and relatively cheap cost wise compared to other types of birds. If your unsure of what type of bird to choose you can always look around, read information on each type of bird, see what is locally sold, and decide which is better suited for you, your lifestyle, and budget.

 

[Lozuufy]

Most people don't like them, but I thought I'd mention starlings. They are curious, extremely smart and the one I had was super sweet. Plus they can talk and lots of rescue centers get them in in the spring and just euthanize them cause they are an invasive species. The only problem with mine was the poop, she pooped allot but made up for it in personality. She would sit on our shoulders and heads all the time, and she would try to pry everything apart with her beak to see what was inside LOL.


Also I love house sparrows but the one I have now is very bratty and likes biting my nose, she is also pretty smart but not as smart as my starling was. She is kinda needy though and wants to be with me at all times. But her poops are much less messy

Just thought I'd mention these.