Considering Adding a New Flock Member

[patdbunny]

Kakariki -
check- Quiet enough for an apartment (as I will be moving to the city when I go to University in the fall)
check- An independent bird, as I am going to school, and may be gone around 6 hours a day.
check- A diet similar to my birds, as it will be more economical to have all birds sharing the same diet.
check- A playful bird, as the budgies play amongst themselves, and Einstein is more of a cuddle bug.

My birds needs:
check-A non-aggressive bird
check-A small to medium size bird
sort of check -Bird with similar personality- kaks aren't as "fiesty" as budgies. They're hyper and hilarious to watch. Tame ones don't really want to sit still with you but will flit all over the place and include you as furniture. They run upside down on the ceiling of their cage which is a hoot to watch.

I don't know about the gene pool of kaks in Canada, but in the US they've been highly inbred and are prone to dropping dead (heart attacks I think). I've had some in the past and random birds dropping dead on me is not something I enjoy so I no longer breed them. But I am always so tempted to get them again because they're so cute and fun to watch.

Bourkes -
Check- Quiet enough for an apartment (as I will be moving to the city when I go to University in the fall)
Check- An independent bird, as I am going to school, and may be gone around 6 hours a day.
Check- A diet similar to my birds, as it will be more economical to have all birds sharing the same diet.
Not really- A playful bird, as the budgies play amongst themselves, and Einstein is more of a cuddle bug. They're very cute and quiet and docile, not really playful. But you don't need to entertain them. They're happy being quiet and hanging out with you.

My birds needs:
Check-A non-aggressive bird - But your budgies might pick on a bourke. I wouldn't house even a single budgie in my 10' sq. aviary with my bourkes.
Check -A small to medium size bird
Not really-Bird with similar personality - bourkes are way docile little push overs. I handfed two bourkes for my daughter's pets when she was in kindergarten. THAT'S how crazy docile they are.

OH!!!! HOW ABOUT A MOUSEBIRD! Well, maybe not. They don't quite have the scary poops that lories have, but they are fruit eaters with smushy poops.
OR A TAME HANDFED ZEBRA FINCH??? SQUEE!!!

[Brady's Mom]

I have a Blue Headed Pionus parrot and he is awesome, from what I understand all the Pionus' are similar. The only time he becomes loud is first thing in the morning (excited for breakfast) and when we come home from work (excited to sit on your shoulder). Other than that he is generally quite and chirps quietly to himself. They are not big cuddlers Brady only likes to sit on your shoulder for about 10mins and doesn't demand petting, but will happily take it if offered. We lived in an apartment when we first brought him home and our neighbors were always surprised when we told them we had a parrot because they never heard him.

I would absolutley recommend a Pionus to anyone!!

[Margaret]

Forgive me zazanomore,
Talking about Australian parrots and your latest dreams

Splendid or Scarlett-chested Parrots (Splendida)

[zazanomore]

So beautiful

I'm pretty sure they have the same temperament as the bourkes. I've handled bourkes before and they were so wonderful.

[Margaret]

This time you are gonna kill me

http://polytelismedia.wordpress.com/


...and my list of things to buy parrot-related is slowly longer than regular grocery list...

[GlassOnion]

I've seen "Parrots of Australia." Awesome documentary!

[zazanomore]

I NEED to see that documentary! Surprised I haven't heard of it before, I'm a documentary junkie.

[GlassOnion]

It's the only informative and detailed documentary of parrots I could find. Too bad it didn't show cockatiels.

[TheNzJessie]

thats is sooo unfair, you have kakarekis that are native to new zealand and are aloud them as pets and we arent! that is really unfair LOL they are an endangered species


also have you looked into parrolets and quakers?

[zazanomore]

I've met one quaker, and his scream was deafening.