Outings with new baby

[Hookturn]

We have a 4 mo old Jenday and I expect his harness to come today. I would like to take him out in the world as much as possible and expose him to as many people, places, and experiences as is safe. From what I've read this type of socialization can be very beneficial. I'm just wondering whether there are safety or other issues that I should be concerned with. The sort of outings I envision are trips to the park with my daughter, to the sidewalk cafe, walks around the neighborhood, and just hanging out in the yard. Are there places or activities I should avoid? Thanks for any input you might have.

[Pajarita]

I firmly believe that taking pet birds out is terribly stressful for them but, most especially, babies. A four month old conure would not have left the nest in the wild and nature always knows best. I think the current trend of taking birds out is going to backfire big time as these birds become older.

[Exitos872]

Hey there

I disagree with Pajarita, but thats not new news. I think socialization, while young with conures yields fantastic results.

Best advise i can give is do it the right way. Dont force any participation with anything.

[Hookturn]

Does anyone have experience with adult birds that they took out as little ones?

[Wolf]

Actually, I can see both sides of this to some degree. I think that for at least the first few outings I would take them to places where they are not likely to run into more than just a few people. Pajarita is correct about this being stressful for them as nothing in their lives has prepared them for what they will encounter in a human society outside of your house. So if you are going to take them with you then you need to consider this and go slowly so as to minimize the amount of stress on them.
If you take them out to where there are a lot of people, it could get out of hand very quickly as several people here have learned. This is mostly because of other people not knowing anything about your birds and everyone wants to handle them and they can get rather rude about it. And while this would prove to be stressful for you it is much more so for your birds.
So if you do this bear this in mind and go slowly.

[Emma]

it may be pin feathers- there seems to be a lot now. i might take him to the vet just to be on the safe side.........

[Pajarita]

The reasoning behind my position on outings and the stress they cause is as follows:

1. Parrots hatchlings in the wild stay in their nest weeks and even months after we wean them and sell them to new owners so this changing of hands so early in life is already stress that nature never took into consideration.

2. Parrots stay their entire lives from birth to death with their family and never interact with any other animals.

3. Parrots find safety in numbers, pet parrots don't have a flock around them to make them feel safe.

4. Parrots stay in their known and familiar territory all their lives and this is one of the reason why most species will become extinct because of global warming (they can't adjust to living a new territory).

5. There are myriad studies that show that when birds are stressed out as babies, they remain high-strung and nervous the rest of their lives.

6. We now know that single parrots suffer from chronic stress and live less than parrots that live with other parrots.

7. Captivity, even in the best of circumstances and under the best possible husbandry, causes physical and emotional stress.

My point is that taking into consideration how damaging stress is to their health and that they will live under undue stress all their lives simply because they are pet parrots and there is nothing we can do about that, it makes no sense whatsoever to add unnecessary stress to their lives.

Will the bird become used to it? Sure it will. Will these trips eventually cease producing high stress? Sure they will. But there will be high stress at the beginning and for many trips until the bird gets used to going out and, even though the stress will be reduced in time, there will always be a level of stress for them to be exposed to the unfamiliar. So why risk it? It's not as if a trip outside is actually going to provide the bird with anything that cannot be given indoors because all they want out of life is to hang out with us and that doesn't have to be outside.

[Wolf]

All valid points and good ones as well. I live on 6 acres and I really enjoy taking my birds outside for fresh air and sunshine. In my particular circumstance they are only outside with me for an hour or usually less, and never just one bird at a time. Mine seem relaxed in their cages, they aren't frozen in fear and climb about same as when in the house and even climb down to walk on the grass and pull out dandelions.
I am not interested in taking mine to town just in my yard.

[Exitos872]

I dont know. I'm definitely not an expert. Never claim to be. I don't take my bird to a rock concert, or anywhere else I would expect a lot of people to be. I do take him for rides on my bike down the bike path by my house. He sits on my handle bars soaks up the sun and absolutely LOVES it. He actually starts squawking and flapping his wings in that silly sun conure way when ever he sees me pulling out the bike. Now his hatch date was April 14th and I spend a TON of time with him. More so probably then most do. I do spend more time bonding and playing with him and faithfully do a 15 minute training session daily to work on fun little tricks. I also take him like once or twice a week to go visit the pet store he came from as I became friends with the owner because I was there so often when Niko was hashed. And again Niko squawks and flaps his wings in excitement every time we go. Pajarita makes some great points. However she is talking about birds in the wild. Not what I have. I have a captive bird. I do the best I can to make his captivity as tolerable as possible for him. I sometimes push him to learn stuff. But I force nothing. If I push too hard he just will fly away inside. And if I'm outside with him, he's so exited to be there I don't really try to push anything. We just kinda enjoy each others company. He doesn't really seem stressed he gets very exited. Sure I get people to ask to hold him. He knows step up very well. Some people he will some he wont. I put my hand close to their still hand and if he goes fantastic, if he doesn't go then I simply say . "I'm sorry, he doesn't want to go to you" and that's that. I don't try to force him on anyone's hand. That might hurt hehe. My bird is a captive bird. And will need to tolerate human presence his whole life. Like I said. I don't take him to rock concerts, but I've had fantastic results with the socializing I have done. Anyone in my family can hold Niko, my neighbors too, and id say he steps up to 9 out of 10 people we meet. And in his harness he's 100% capable of flying away from someone he doesn't want to be near. He has only ever done that once.

[Wolf]

Actually, I have been to Pajaritas house and I have seen her birds and bird room and I can tell you for a fact that she is speaking of companion parrots, the same as you and I have and not wild birds.