what kind of parrot should my brother get?

[Pidgeon]

My brother has been wanting a parrot he is 10. He is relatively new to training birds and will mostly look to me for guidance on care and taming. He is responsible and will play with it certainly as the cage would be in his room he really wouldnt have a choice to interact with his feathered friend or not. We were considering a parrotlet but i don't know all too much about them. does anyone have a bird that is easy to tame and a good beginner bird? I know there is not really such a thing as a "beginner bird" as the well being of any bird is sacred and important im just wondering what would be most beginner friendly as in would the bird tame easily or warm up to kids easily hes 10 but he acts like a 13 year old (in a good way). Any help is appreciated thanks guys! P.S. my GCC is stepping up now thanks to your help.

[Pajarita]

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a beginner bird. One could say that tiels are the easiest because of their diet and very sweet disposition but I would never suggest anybody kept a single tiel as a companion bird because they do need another bird of their own species to be really happy. Plets can be REALLY mean and bitey and the greatest majority of the ones kept by themselves end up plucking - they are difficult birds to keep happy so they are definitely not good for a beginner and a child, at that.

[Wolf]

This is an area that I usually don't have a lot to say about, but I do have a pair of parrotlets and started with just one that had already started plucking, which is neither here nor there for what I wanted to say and that is that parrotlets are much too hyper for a 10 year old as any fast movements from him will result in his being bitten by the bird and they can bite surprisingly hard and they do not just bite one time, they bite several times, so a parrotlet is not a suitable bird, they really require a more experienced human.
Since I am here in reply, has this been discussed with the parents and if so what is their position about his getting a parrot and are they willing to help with the expenses such as toys, food and medical attention? Who is going to step in to feed, water and clean the birds house when your brother forgets? These are all very important questions to me.

[JessiMuse]

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a beginner bird. One could say that tiels are the easiest because of their diet and very sweet disposition but I would never suggest anybody kept a single tiel as a companion bird because they do need another bird of their own species to be really happy.

That is unless if you have the time fulfill their social needs, but that is most unlikely, since majority of people have school/work, and are unable to be home for the most of the day.

I personally think it would depend on the way that the tiel is raised, as well. For example, when I saw Alex, he was in a cage all by himself, being the only one of his clutch left alive. The only other bird in the room was a female Indian ringneck, and it was nowhere near the cage, nor did she show any interest in interacting with Alex. All of her older weaned handfed cockatiels from previous clutches were in a large outside cage (she was selling them too). I honestly doubt Alex even knows he's a bird.
Lucy on the other hand was co-raised, fed both by birds and people, so she is socialized to both, and more aware of her bird-ish identity. She does show interest in other birds, but because I am home for the majority of my day, I've been able to successfully keep her happy without another tiel.

[ParrotsForLife]

It most certainly does depend on how they are raised Tiko was hand raised but she had brothers and sisters but she thinks shes a human lol.I had Rocko single for around 6-7 months and I chose to get another to keep him company while im away but he was never lonely and he was very happy.

[Pidgeon]

This is an area that I usually don't have a lot to say about, but I do have a pair of parrotlets and started with just one that had already started plucking, which is neither here nor there for what I wanted to say and that is that parrotlets are much too hyper for a 10 year old as any fast movements from him will result in his being bitten by the bird and they can bite surprisingly hard and they do not just bite one time, they bite several times, so a parrotlet is not a suitable bird, they really require a more experienced human.
Since I am here in reply, has this been discussed with the parents and if so what is their position about his getting a parrot and are they willing to help with the expenses such as toys, food and medical attention? Who is going to step in to feed, water and clean the birds house when your brother forgets? These are all very important questions to me.

I will be the one to feed and interact with his parrot when he forgets, and yes he will not be paying for the food and such his parents will. He may not get a parrot but i just wanted to know just incase w
We have experience with budgies and thats why i thought a parrotlet would be good, as for biting we are used to it. We get bit by aggressive birds often so we are ok with taking the risk of being bit (i was bit by a macaw once). He is gentle with animals and won't get frustrated if his bird doesn't tame. He is ok with the noise too because my conure is loud so he's used to it. Thanks! - caleb

[Pidgeon]

This is an area that I usually don't have a lot to say about, but I do have a pair of parrotlets and started with just one that had already started plucking, which is neither here nor there for what I wanted to say and that is that parrotlets are much too hyper for a 10 year old as any fast movements from him will result in his being bitten by the bird and they can bite surprisingly hard and they do not just bite one time, they bite several times, so a parrotlet is not a suitable bird, they really require a more experienced human.
Since I am here in reply, has this been discussed with the parents and if so what is their position about his getting a parrot and are they willing to help with the expenses such as toys, food and medical attention? Who is going to step in to feed, water and clean the birds house when your brother forgets? These are all very important questions to me.

I will take care of his bird when he cant i get home from school at around 2:30 so i have all day to spend time with my bird and his. He is also gentle with animals and won't get frustrated if his bird doesn't tame. He is used to the noise because my conure is loud. As for biting he can take it without flinching he has a massive pain tolerance. We also had 2 budgies that mostly i took care of because i was overly protective of them. The budgies were quite bitey, our green one could bite really hard! He may not get a parrot though he may get a cat. Im just planning ahead. Thanks! - caleb

[Wolf]

OK, ,I just wanted to make sure that everyone would be agreeable and that the bird would be taken care of if he loses interest or something else happened where he could not care for or did not want the bird any longer. There are so many birds that lose their homes in this manner and it is very hard on them. One of the big reasons for parrotlets to lose their home is that they are an aggressive little bird. By the way, may I inquire as to your age? I do understand that there are young people who are far more adult like than some adults, but it is still something that concerns me with parrots. If he were older, I would recommend that he volunteer at a bird rescue for a while to learn more about the different parrots and to give a suitable bird the chance to choose him as its special human, because, in my opinion that is the best way to find a bird that is going to want him and love him. Such a bird will be more forgiving of the mistakes that he is apt to make, they can be very forgiving to their chosen human as well as very demanding. I have parrots that chose me from the start and some that I feel have only chosen me because I was the only viable option at the time and the ones that freely chose me from the start and I have a much closer relationship, so I feel that this is the ideal way to get a bird. It is largely due to this that I do not try to tell anyone what type of bird to get, I feel that the bird should be the one that chooses the human.

Perhaps, it would be helpful for you to help your brother to tell us what he would be looking for in a bird and what he has to offer the bird. I know that this is a difficult thing to put in words for some of us, but it might help to narrow down the selection of reasonably possible birds.

[Pajarita]

I will take care of his bird when he cant i get home from school at around 2:30 so i have all day to spend time with my bird and his. He is also gentle with animals and won't get frustrated if his bird doesn't tame. He is used to the noise because my conure is loud. As for biting he can take it without flinching he has a massive pain tolerance. We also had 2 budgies that mostly i took care of because i was overly protective of them. The budgies were quite bitey, our green one could bite really hard! He may not get a parrot though he may get a cat. Im just planning ahead. Thanks! - caleb

Well, the problem with that, my dear, is that GCCs are very jealous little birds. They don't take it kindly to sharing their human with another bird UNLESS they are bonded to the other bird but that will not happen with a plet or a tiel. The GCC will bully the tiel something terrible and the plet will retaliate.. as you can see, neither situation is good for either bird.

[Pajarita]

That is unless if you have the time fulfill their social needs, but that is most unlikely, since majority of people have school/work, and are unable to be home for the most of the day.

I personally think it would depend on the way that the tiel is raised, as well. For example, when I saw Alex, he was in a cage all by himself, being the only one of his clutch left alive. The only other bird in the room was a female Indian ringneck, and it was nowhere near the cage, nor did she show any interest in interacting with Alex. All of her older weaned handfed cockatiels from previous clutches were in a large outside cage (she was selling them too). I honestly doubt Alex even knows he's a bird.
Lucy on the other hand was co-raised, fed both by birds and people, so she is socialized to both, and more aware of her bird-ish identity. She does show interest in other birds, but because I am home for the majority of my day, I've been able to successfully keep her happy without another tiel.

Well, actually, no. I can tell you that I've had many tiels (more than 50) and I've had parent-raised and kept alone, I've had hand-raised and kept as a companion bird and I've had aviary birds that were kept in flock and every single one of them, including the hand-fed that had been kept as a beloved human pet joined the flock very happily and never even looked back at the humans. Tiels are aviary birds, they are intensely flock-oriented and love, love, love to be with other tiels. It's their nature and nothing we can do will change it - well, unless we are talking a domestication process that could change the social structure they evolved to have which, in reality, would be the first because it has never been done before (none of the other species we've domesticated has ever changed this, they all remained as nature intended them, either social or territorial).

You talk of having the time to satisfy their needs but the thing is that nobody does. Humans have their life to live and they cannot be there 24/7/365 for their birds. And satisfying their needs is not all about time, either. It's about the right kind of interaction, it's about procreation from courtship to raising the young, it's about sharing their lives the way only a flock of their own species can do. Humans cannot do it. We can love them, we can feed them right, we can give them scritches, toys, a good cage, flight time, etc but we cannot be a flock of tiels.