free living bird

[steenmillinder]

Hi

I need to nerd what bird is best for me... I love the coloration of the red machaw, facinated by the gray's intelligence and adore the affection of the cocatoo, but i live in an appartment and i have a job ...

I love what the Wizard can make the senegal do i 2 minutes! and addore the colours of the sun conure, and the size is more realistic.
I read that the pineapple conure is less noisy and more dosile then the sun conure, but i have no experiance.
I also heard that the caiques have an awsome personality and love birds could also be a good choice.
I (hmm all my sentences start with "I") currently have a budgie or my girlfriend has one(I normaly have a reef tank), and in a foreseeable future im gonna get a bird(i'm a pilot AND my pet can FLY!!! ).

I (hell im gonna keep the I's comming) want my bird and I to get along, what i'd want most is not having an actual cage, i'd happily give it more room than a cage would require, i'd just love having him/her free in the appartment, come join us or feel free to chil in your corner with your toys . But effective potty training whould be nessesery, and i wouldent want to lose my buddy out the window when we need some fresh air.

A friend(more a friends friend) has a macaw living free in his house, but is it possible to have a smaller species like that?
I'd love a gray, but cant commit for 50+ years right now, so i'm thinking one of these:

conure sun
conure pineapple
senegal
caique
agapornis

How big is the personality difference with in a certain species? Any links with nerdy info?(I promise I'll read them all!)...

Problem is i dont know how outgoing i want my bird to be, they make noise and its ok, but i still have limits, our budgie can test them a bit, and if it crosses my limits i but the cage in a different room for i while(and it has stopped screeching!! well 90%, now i churps and sings witch i apprecieate). I like them affectionate but i must be able to be away from home most of the day some days. Id love to have it free, so if im home it can get a lot of attention if it wants it. That is also one of the reasons id love to have it free, so its not time-out-of-the-cage but more of a companion like a dog og cat(i realise birds and mammels are quite different). I have no scale to compare with anything, hope you can help me out a bit.

Happy landings... steen

[Michael]

Yo, fughetaboutit. Strictly on the basis of your experience with a budgie and some stuff here and there does not prepare you one bit to make the jump to a big cagefree parrot. You have no idea the kinds of destruction and problems that they can get into (both to their own danger and your possessions). I know it sounds fun on a simple wishy washy level, but from a practical standpoint, these animals are far too wild and difficult to manage without caging. Remember, they are not domesticated so they have absolutely no reason to like humans or even tolerate them except through learning. By managing when they get food, interaction, and out of cage time, we can teach them to behave more like a pet. Still instincts drive a lot of their behavior that is highly undesirable for us. Sorry to rain on your parade but your expectations are pretty unrealistic. You're only looking at positive traits so it seems good. Familiarize yourself with the kinds of problems each species comes with, the costs, the mess, the destruction, the noise... and you might not think so. Don't think for a second that caring for a Grey, Macaw, or similar is anything like for a budgie. Some things are similar but the problems are infinitely worse.

[GlassOnion]

I think it's awesome that you're doing your research. Too many people buy parrots and shove them into the tiniest cage possible. My Cockatiel and Budgie are cage free until they go to bed. I'm all for the idea of cage free, it's great! What I do suggest is a BIRD ROOM, which would serve as a huge cage basically. I have a bird room with the actual cage, swings, playstands, etc and my guys hang out in it during the day. When I'm around, I open the bird room and they can fly into the main living room as they wish. At night, I put them in the cage and cover it for their safety and comfort.

I would highly suggest AGAINST a Caique because they become very, very aggressive after puberty, and Sun Conures as well because they develop severe screaming problems so easily.

In my opinion, your best bet would be a Cockatiel or a Green Cheek Conure. They are easier and quieter. And finally... DON'T even think about the fancy, huge birds like Greys, Cockatoos and Macaws. All parrots are wild, but those big guys are not for even the most bird loving people.

[Pomlover2586]

Glass Onion- Caiques are not extremely aggressive after puberty. They become more dominating and can be beaky and require a strong owner who can handle the jackle/hyde temperment. While nippiness is a factor I think labeling them very aggressive is a bit much. I own a Caique and he is past puberty. is he the most affectionate bird ever? No. But not once has he ever done more then a strong pinch when truly angry.

SteenMillinder- I have to agree with glass onion and Michael about Greys, Cockatoos, and Macaws. WAY too much bird for someone stepping up from a budgie or cockatiel. Conures may be a good choice for you. they can be nippy, and vocal- Sun's being one of the most vocal. But they can also be very affectionate as well. You may also think about lovebirds or canaries though i don't know as much about those species. Good luck and good for you for doing your HW first!

[steenmillinder]

thanks a lot for your replys, i'm not in any way considering a gray, macaw or cocatoo, and im not remotely close to buying a bird, this is resarch stage only!
Basically i want to narrow down the search to a smal handfull of species about wich i will read everything written. Maybe(hopefully!) if at that time my life has room for a bird I'll do it, just to ephesize I will NOT rush out and compulsively buy an animal that lives for decades and needs attention and care(a muray eel just needs food and clean water, kinda like a girlfriend).

I've also read that the sun conure can get 'loud' and caique can get temperamental, how about the senegal?

I dont have the space to dedicate an enire room to a bird(s), maybe a large cage in the livingroom that's always open when home, and closed with the bird in it when sleeping or not home(as free as possible anyway). How about the potty training, is it realistic to have it work?(even when i'm not there to give i a treat)

For now I'll read as much as possible here and google for green cheek and pineapple conure, cockatiel, any suggestions on the different species of love birds and caiques(and i havent given up on caiques yet), and if you have any links please do post!!

and again thanks a lot for your answers

[marie83]

To be honest I think if your struggling with the noise your budgie made then your not going to be able to tolerate any louder bird. Budgies tend to have a much more pleasant vocal noise than other species which can range from anything from a harsh lower pitched but annoying scream, to an ear piercing shreik that leaves your ears ringing. Birds are not an animal that can be just left in another room until you can be bothered to put up with the noise, they are social animals that need alot of attention and activities to do.

If your seriously going to consider it further though I would suggest COMPLETELY forgetting the idea of the larger species, they demand so much attention and it is only the rare bird that is quiet enough to live in an apartment.
I would also forget about taking on a sun conure, again it is a rare sun that is quiet enough for an apartment. Caiques can also be very loud, I was advised by a breeder than most of the time they wouldn't be suitable for a flat either.

I would suggest another budgie or a cockateil. Cockateils generally have one of the more plesant vocalisations, are not too much louder than a budgie (especially if you get a female) and are a species that are less prone to behavioural problems, they can be quite sweet and cuddly.
Green cheeked conure is another species I've had that are not loud. Dont get me wrong they CAN be loud but they generally aren't, they will mostly sit and chunter quietly to themselves with the odd screaming fit thrown in. They can be very sweet cuddly birds but they can also be like velcro, they demand alot of attention. These conures are also prone to biting issues if their nippy stage isn't dealt with correctly.
There are of course other species that may be suitable for a flat but unfortunately most of the ones you've mentioned I don't believe will be suitable for you.These are just some of the species I've taken care of that might be ok.

[steenmillinder]

nice to get advice from people who have had the birds them selves, excockateils i have almost not read anything about, I'll do that right away ...

About the budgie, it's not so much the volume of the sound(though loudnes is a very relevant factor), it has a special shreek that just hits some resonate frequence or something in my ear or something.
When it does(did, hasent done it in more then a week now) that a couple of times in a row it gets 15 minutes time out in the dark chamber, i wouldent leave it there, rest of the time its in the middle of the living room and it gets about 2-3 hours out-of-cage-time a day.

[RedDragon1288]

You said you can't commit to 50 plus year right now but the species you list can live up to 35 plus years. So what exactly are you looking for? Another Budgie probably is the best option, or maybe just finches.

[GlassOnion]

NOOO!!!! Don't do the dark chamber thing, that's punishment for something that's VERY natural to the bird! BIrds vocalize, and you can't punish them for that! No bird likes being thrown into darkness. If you're going to do the same to your future birds, I suggest you do not look for another one.

Pomlover, your Caique has hit maturity? Isn't he about 1yr old? That's not mature. Caiques start getting aggressive and unpredictable at about 3... and it continues on for another couple years. When they hit about 7 or 8, they start to calm down a bit but still much different from a baby. I know of a bunch of seasoned caique owners and that's what they say.

[steenmillinder]

GlassOnion: wont happen again wasnt aware that it was that harsh on the bird, i tried to just turn my back on him and make my girlfriend also not give him attention when he made 'that' noise, but i didnt help. As i wrote i havent given him a time out for at least a week becouse he has stopped his sirene alarm noise, he stil sings, churps which i enjoy, it's a single note he can make that i would apprecieate him not using to often..

RedDragon: I hate to say it but you are totally right! even a budgies lifespan is to long for now, the problem is my flying, i dont know if i live in denmark next year, a fish i can sell but a dog or a bird is different. When i 'settle down' locationwise i will be able to commit for the timespan needed if i still want a bird as a companion. As i have mentioned before i wont rush out and buy an animal that lives for decades and needs love and attention, its a life commitment(not to sound to melodramatic).

So for now i'll do what i can with 'my' budgie, amazing little gritter the personality and reactiveness is only surpassed in high mammels and he's become such a good bird latley

And thanks for giving me a wake up slap se you in the budgie section...

last quickie (from my girlfriend) how compatible whould a cockatiel be with a budgie?