Hello! Best Bird for Shows?

[Michael]

But here's the most important question, do you want a pet parrot for life whether it can perform or not? Will you be able to afford to take care of it and provide it all it needs regardless of whether you can make money with it? Are you interested and do you have the time even if the end result is a parrot that cannot preform? If the answers are yes, then let's talk about finding the right companion for YOU and then if the time comes, think about how to incorporate the companion for the show. If you get a bird that is right for show but not right for you, it's still not gonna work out eventually.

[KimberlyAnn]

That's good advice Michael. But no on the dog idea? I thought it would be cute! Lol

[Pajarita]

Parrots and kids simply do not go together. There are exceptions, of course, KimberleyAnn has taken her GCC to school and it has worked out but she keeps conditions VERY controlled and this is a VERY small parrot which doesn't really do any tricks on command for the kids, she just dances and vocalizes for them on her own. In a show, conditions are not under YOUR control. You are a hired entertainer and the person who pays usually thinks they can impose conditions that might not work out well with a free-flying parrot. An audience of children is, normally, an excited bunch of screaming kids that are liable to jump up, run, etc and this would stress out the poor bird something awful. Shows after sunset are a no-no for birds. And even the best of trainers lose birds when they free fly them. Michael lost both of his and was lucky enough to find both of them alive but others have not. And, through it all, the one to suffer is going to be the parrot.

[Michael]

Actually I mostly disagree with the above. My birds love kids, love showing off for them, and kids are usually better behaved than adults. I have had FAR MORE times when I was aggravated at an adult than a child over treatment of my parrots. When the birds are sitting on my shoulders, the kids can't reach. But I've had adults just try to yank them off my shoulder! Adults tend to be rude and demand unreasonable things. The kids just wanna hear it talk, see a trick, and get to touch it somewhere. All things that can be taught. Still, absolutely NO guarantee the parrot will like kids or be safe around them.

Also performing after sunset is no problem either. My birds do best in the late evening anyway. It's daytime that is the worst because all they wanna do is nap. I've had my birds fall asleep during shoots because it was midday.

I never recommended outdoor freeflight to anyone before or after Truman's episode.

[KimberlyAnn]

Yup, I keep the preschool visits very controled and Emmi won't always do her tricks when asked there. She only does four tricks anyway. Lol but still. She's much more happy just interacting with them, then being on display. She tries her best to get to them, but I won't always let her. But she can't be bothered to do her tricks for more then a minute. She's much more happy dancing with them. Lol

But I do agree, kids can be impulsive. Especially the younger ones. But the adults can be just as impulsive. You would need helper at shows I bet. Just in case.

[JaydeParrot]

My advise would be to look around for fancy pigeons such as an 'archangel pigeon', they're red and greenish and are as easy to handle as regular pigeons. If colour is what you're looking for then I'd go for a fancy pigeon, smililarly king pigeons and runt pigeons aren't generally as colourful but they are more than twice as big as normal pigeons, making them more easy to see on stage.

Figured I'd just give you an idea of the type of doves/pigeons out there that look less cliche.

If you 'really' had your heart set on a parrot, I''d go to a parrot refuge and ask to volunteer for a few months and see what it's like handling parrots. If you then still reallly need to get one I'd say adopt, at least then if you end up wanting rid, you can give it back to the same adoption place and haven't helped finance the parrot breeding industry into producing more birds for an already overpopulated animal trade.

Mine are 2nd hand (bought at six years old and very untame), they now can wear aviators (the safe alternative to free flight, and will preform a few small tricks for me. If I put them infront of an audience they'd probably get stage fright and freeze. I wouldn't want to put my parrots through that, I'd personally get a colourful pigeon and keep it on my shoulder, claiming it's a parrot (most kids will probably not know the difference).

I used to have a pet pigeon and thought it was brilliant, it was sort of like a dog, very loving and didn't seem to mind strangers at all.

[Wolf]

Jaydeparrot ;
I am ashamed that you would recommend lying to children for any reason. I know that it may seem trivial, but one lie leads to another, bigger one and it just keeps on growing. I, personally feel that there is more than enough lies and deceit in the world as it is and that the only way to reverse this growing trend is to not add to it ever.
Why could he not say that he is just a very unique pirate and doesn't want to be so ordinary as to have a parrot when there are so many beautiful pidgens such as he has that are for a pirate truly unique and different than all of the others. Or something similar that would not be a lie.

[JaydeParrot]

I don't think all lies to children are 'as' bad as that. As a child I was told that on Christmas Eve a big old man dressed in red and a white beard would somehow fit through the chimney, smash through the bricked up fireplace, put gifts under the tree, then go back through said wall, brick up the wall so there would be no trace as to him ever fitting through, then he'd climb all the way up the chimney, get out and ride his magical flying reindeer to the rest of the world's Santa believing kids without ever being seen.
This little lie did not negatively affect me and I am 'not' now a Santa fanatic desperatly waiting next to my nephews fireplace on christmas eve to ask Santa for his autograph. I am however considering cross breeding a few reindeer with my parrots to see if I can once and for all prove the Santa hypothesis, that'l show em! YEAH! That'll show em! (laughs hysterically).

Seriously though, I don't think little lies always lead to big ones, I tend to preform puppet shows for my family's younger kids, I don't worry that the kids will grow up believing all inanimate objects with sticky on eyes are real.

Fair enough, the guy probably should say it's a pigeon to prevent kids begging their parents for a parrot.

But I still think little lies are important, after all, if a little child asked how babies are made, most people wouldn't tell the full truth, imagine how many more problems that'd cause.

[Michael]

He's a magician, not like the act is all about truth. He could name the pigeon "parrot" and when a smart kid points out that it isn't, he can run a hilarious comedy act about how the guy at the store ripped him off making him think that pigeon was a parrot.

[JaydeParrot]

Lol, that sounds like a good idea! .