Finding the right parrot

[Sixwing]

I have a Senegal, and while "unpredictable" is an adjective I've applied to him, he's also very intelligent, very sweet, and generally willing to work with people rather than being a hyper-vigilant evildoer. He's generally just a bit feisty, and a bit of a prankster.

He has bitten me and others. He learned to screech (we think, from a cockatoo who was his roommate for who knows how long) but even his screech isn't terribly loud. His "peep-peep" contact call is shrill enough to be painful at close range, but he doesn't do it all the time, and certainly isn't as loud as a conure.

When he gets going at full volume, my neighbors have occasionally heard him (they were so excited the first time they heard him - let's see if it lasts), but I've not had any noise complaints on him.

He does NOT share well, though - he'll get jealous at my handling, or even feeding, the other birds. He doesn't have his own tree - but nobody gets to be out at the same time. He's gotten the "I'ma get you" look too often when looking at the budgies and Genji (dove) for my taste, and I definitely wouldn't trust him to be out with another bird. Whether that's a Senegal trait, or just Jetty, I don't know.

[CinnamonParrots]

There are actually tons of scientific studies out there when it comes to the effects of hand feeding, done both on parrots and other animals, both birds and mammals. They all show the same results though no matter the species; parental depravation increases the risk for psychological problems, inhibits the developement of normal behaviour and increases the risk of stereotypic behaviours, this is known in everything from rats to macacs and chimps. For example, one study of African greys showed that these birds were much more likely to suffer from different kinds of behavioural problems and agression when hand fed.
(Here is the abstract: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 9105002947)

One of my senegals are parentfed, she's 9 years old now, has never drawn blood from anyone as far as i know, and is the biggest cuddle-bug there is. She gets along with- and loves everyone, both birds and people. This of course has a lot to do with both genetic predisposition and how the bird has been socialized/handled as well. Still, generally, even though anecdotes are not the same as evidence, my experience with parent fed birds (mostly senegals, but i've dealt with everything from macaws and cockatoos to parakeets) is that they are generally much more well behaved, gentle and healthy birds as pets and over all when raised by their parents.
Based on my knowledge and experience i would never even consider buying a hand reared bird.
(And lucky for us, it looks like it will soon be illegal to handfeed birds here in Sweden!)

This is awesome stuff! It is hard to find research on parrots regarding hand-rearing at least I didn't look the right way I guess, swamped with too much other stuff and punching in those key words in my university's data base is annoying sometimes! My question is that no doubt are parent raised animals better, but the taming process is I guess what people aren't aware of. So I'm wondering how you tamed your senegal after he/she was parent raised? I mean my mouse was parent raised and after a few months of work, she now does not rest until I give her scratches behind the ears and on the head - I know they are very different animals, but I can't imagine what it would be like if one was to acquire a parent raised macaw or cape for example and tame it from there.

[Avialae]

Molly, my senegal mentioned above, was an adult when she came here and so was already tame.
However, i am currently documenting the taming process of my never before handled parent fed Jardines. She's abot 5 Months old, i've had her for six days today and yesterday she was already hopping on to my hand for a treat! (She is of course fully flighted). When i got her less than a week ago she threw herself screaming at the cage bars. It doesn't have to be super hard and take 2 years if you just think about what you're doing and use a few good tips and tricks.
I'm getting my camera back today, and i've thought about filming when i work with her a bit, and maybe wright about some good things to keep in mind. I'll let you know when i upload it.

And speaking of macaws,
Just a month before i got my jardine, a friend of mine got his 5 Month old military macaw. Also parent fed and never handled. He wasn't scared at all, i'd say both because young macaws are generally less wary than young poi's or grey's, and the breeder had seemed very calm around the birds. The parents weren't scared of humans either, but the breeder apparently never handled the birds.
That little guy, Dino, actually hopped on to my friends arm in the car on their way home!
Today, despite living with other birds in an 8m2 indoor aviary, he absolutely loves my friend, and everyone else that comes to visit. He cuddles, plays on his back in his lap and flies to him when called. He even came flying straight to my arm when i visited the first time, and by that time he'd only been there for about 2 weeks. Pretty awesome bird!

[CinnamonParrots]

Molly, my senegal mentioned above, was an adult when she came here and so was already tame.
However, i am currently documenting the taming process of my never before handled parent fed Jardines. She's abot 5 Months old, i've had her for six days today and yesterday she was already hopping on to my hand for a treat! (She is of course fully flighted). When i got her less than a week ago she threw herself screaming at the cage bars. It doesn't have to be super hard and take 2 years if you just think about what you're doing and use a few good tips and tricks.
I'm getting my camera back today, and i've thought about filming when i work with her a bit, and maybe wright about some good things to keep in mind. I'll let you know when i upload it.

And speaking of macaws,
Just a month before i got my jardine, a friend of mine got his 5 Month old military macaw. Also parent fed and never handled. He wasn't scared at all, i'd say both because young macaws are generally less wary than young poi's or grey's, and the breeder had seemed very calm around the birds. The parents weren't scared of humans either, but the breeder apparently never handled the birds.
That little guy, Dino, actually hopped on to my friends arm in the car on their way home!
Today, despite living with other birds in an 8m2 indoor aviary, he absolutely loves my friend, and everyone else that comes to visit. He cuddles, plays on his back in his lap and flies to him when called. He even came flying straight to my arm when i visited the first time, and by that time he'd only been there for about 2 weeks. Pretty awesome bird!

That is fantastic!!! I would never have imagined military macaws to be like this! It puts a whole new perspective on co-parenting and parent raised chicks! I sometimes feel like if all the parrot enthusiasts got together, we'd be amazing breeders and parrot parents! But if I think about it, that is true, I tamed my new budgie Nigel within a few months but not working with him everyday because I wanted him to bond to my lovebird (not really working out as I planned Lol!) but he steps up no matter what and now he'll fly onto my shoulder so that is indeed progress! And I've tamed many budgies, and when they arrive at pet stores, they are usually parent fed anyways, it just never occured to me to link the two together! (Duh!)

I would love if you could make a video and hand out some pointers about taming your Jardines!

[liz]

The only actual babies that I have delt with are tiels. The parents are tame and the babies automatically come to me. Pets produce pets. Wild animal babies have to be tamed.

That is also a reason I don't like breeders. They have breeder birds that they treet like livestock in the field. If they had more contact withthem they would take better care of them. The babies who are parent fed would be tame by example.

[CinnamonParrots]

I highly agree! Many breeding parrots don't have any type of enrichment, or large enough cages. That is what I mean, co-parenting or not even if parents are friendly

[Crimson_Shadows]

I will tell you what I told everyone else. budgies all the way! they are fabulous little birds, very cute and very unique in colouring unlike most parrots. they're small and inexpensive, but just as capable as any other parrot. they're pretty quiet if you only have one. and yeah they are simply adorable. I would totally recommend them to anyone