Live alone with parrot

[seye]

I live alone with my young indian ring neck and african grey. I am also very busy in the day time. I leave home at 9am and come back 9pm where I then spend time around the birds till about 2am when I switch off the lights. Is this enough time for them to get acquainted with me and properly tamed?

[Eric&Rebecca]

Firstly, this isn't enough room for one brid let alone two. Secondly, they aren't getting enough sleep and this is a bad routine for the parrot.

I'm really very sorry but no this is not enough time or a good environment/ routine for a bird. Birds need 10-12 hours sleep and plenty of contact time. My husband works from home most days so he is there all day. I come home at lunchtime when he isn't there and I'm always in by 6pm at night and don't leave until 9am.

Birds need more appropriate contact time within their schedule so that 10-12 hours has to happen at certain times too. Its no good saying oh well they sleep during the day because this mucks up their hormones and endochrine system which leads to many illnesses and behavioural problems.

If you plan on having tame and loving birds you will unequivocally have to spend wayyy more time at home and at appropriate times for the bird.

[feathermum]

first I have a few questions.... why did you get these parrots?
how old are they?
are they alone this WHOLE time?

next I have to say that your parrots are not getting enough love, attention, training & over all CARE that they NEED. when u read these stupid books & online blurbs that say "1 -2 hrs a day is enough handling time" it's a LIE. think of parrots like a toddler or puppy. would you leave them alone for this long??? I should hope not! sorry for being so "blunt" but you need to hearf the truth, or those poor birds will end up in a bad place....if they'r not there already! looks like u have 2 choises, change your hrs,so u have the REAL time to dedicate to your fids or find them a new home. not just any home so u can make $$ of them, but w/ caring ppl/person that have knowledge & experience needed for these 2 amazing creatures. PLEASE do NOT keep them the way they are living now. it's crule.

[Pajarita]

If you continue keeping your parrots like this, you will end up with a plucking gray and a bitey ringneck because the grays need hours of attention or they get depressed and the IRN's need to be handled for hours every day or they revert to wildness.

[Khaiqha]

Wow, you guys sure are quick to jump on the attack.

To begin with, unless the OP edited his post, I don't see where he says the amount of room he has, so I don't see how someone can say it's not enough room for his birds. Secondly, let's start with some questions.

1) How long have you had your birds?
2) What is the history of your birds? How old are they, and how did you get them?
3) What are their habits? How are they acting now?

[seye]

Thank you all for the comments. I have taken all as positive feedback though. However, I will reply to Khaiqha first.

The Indian Ringneck, Bubbles, is 1year old. He's more tame and playful. When I'm home, I let him out of his cage to play around my workstation while I check emails etc. He's quite a strong personality except he won't let me touch him.

Zizu, the African Grey, however is not tame. He's 1year 3 months. He growls when I open his cage to feed him. From my investigation, he was wild caught.

About my own lifestyle, I got the while I was still spending more time at home. My work just took a drastic turn. So I have 7-10am daily to spend with the birds and then 9pm till I sleep for 'presence time' with them.

There

[truste]

I don't have any personal experience or specific knowledge of Greys or Ringnecks, but I know many people who work full time and own birds. I don't see any reason why it would be a large problem - from your posts, it seems like you're home (and awake) for around seven hours a day. Plus, it depends on the birds. Those who are used to spending a lot of time with their owners will obviously not do well if their time is suddenly limited, but I don't see it being a problem for birds who are accustomed to it.

What IS a problem is if you don't provide entertainment for them while you're at work. Be sure to provide plenty of toys of various types (shreddable, chewable wood, plastics, etc) and foraging/enrichment. I know someone who works away from home who takes time to put together simple foragers for her birds with paper, cardboard, etc to give her birds more to do while she's away. You can even switch on a radio or TV for them while you're gone.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Actually its not about how much that time is but when. Birds are meant to rise at dawn and rest at dusk. I work full time job but my partner is at home all day as he works from home (and highley ikely he always will). If he does happen to be away I come ghome at lunchtime.

I also get up at dawn to uncover my birds and cover them at dusk. I still have plenty of time to interact with them and so does my partner. Its incredibly important for their endochrine and hormones, particularly in grey's who i've learnt have a more delicate psychology and more susceptible endochrine system which can cause problems in bad routines.

Its not an attack but a well researched and thought out process. Ok some of us don't have wierd routines like mine but we still give our birds a relatively close to normal sleeping pattern. the routine that's here is not healthy for the bird and being as though biting can be a result I purely say this out of concern for the original poster.

Birds should have between 10 -12 hours sleep, mine are on less at the moment because its summer and there's more daylight so they are on 10 but in winter that will be longer. Ever since taking advice on changing my birds routine from another poster I have seen great results, less hormones, better eating patterns, healthy and lively birds and amazingly, great plumage even during molting!

The same goes for fresh air, I now do this as often as possible and the difference in my birds has been amazing.

Please don't take our advice as an attack but more a critical opinion which we feel is best for your birds and ultimately for you as the owner.

[seye]

Thank you so much.

What will you think should be my next action?

[Pajarita]

Your next action? I don't really know what to tell you... a wild caught grey on his own all day long and kept up at night is not good and your IRN is fine now because it's a baby but it won't be in another couple of years... Toys won't do it, they both need living company, preferably of their own species, and a solar schedule. The problem with that is that you won't be able to interact or even see them awake and that's not good either. Not because they will miss you because, if you give them bird companions of their own and not keep them caged so many hours, they won't miss you at all but because you need to observe them both in the morning and in the evening to see if their behaviors are normal, if they are eating/pooping/drinking/flying OK, etc. Parrots (all birds actually) hide their symptoms so you need to watch them very carefully and twice a day (feeding times) to catch the first different thing about them because, by the time you see the bird actually sick (fluffed up, lethargic, etc), the bird is VERY sick. I know somebody who having the same problem you do (only he had ekkies), made a birdroom out of a guest bedroom and hired a housekeeper (whom he trained) to stay with the birds but I don't know if that is an option for you.