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Buying a parrot! Help

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Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Hirro8 » Tue Oct 13, 2020 2:59 pm

Hello everyone!

I’ve been reading a lot of posts from this webpage and finally now registered an account to join the conversation and get more specific help, if needed.

I now need help. I’m going to try to write this as clear and clean as possible.

I’ve done some research on the Internett on pet birds, because I’m looking to get myself a parrot or two. I then have some criteria to what type of parrot I want.

-Playful
-Social (but also independent, NOT needy)
-Calm
-Fairly quiet (In parrot terms)
-Family bird (not jealous/one person bird)

My research have narrowed it down to a Pionus parrot, but to me there isn’t that much difference between the most common species (Blue Headed, White Capped, Maximilian and Bronze Winged)

NB! I'll probably buy two birds from the same clutch, then they have company if they’re alone.

I have read some “negative” things about each of the spices, but I have no clue if this is true at all:

The WhiteCapped are maybe the most aggressive of them?
The Maximilian is the best talker and the one which makes the most noise during the day?
The BronzeWinged is the most shy and the most difficult to get really tame?
The BlueHeaded is the one who has a chance to become the screamer?

Despite these “negative” things I've read a lot of good things about them and I think Pionus is the parrot for me, but I’m not sure which one to go for. I know that the personality has everything to say on what type of bird I get, but I mean in general. Today I’m leaning more towards the BlueHeaded.

Is any of my research true?
What parrot will suit my criteria?
Is Meyer’s Parrot, Caique or a BrownHeaded Parrot better choices?

-EJ
Hirro8
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 7
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Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Pajarita » Wed Oct 14, 2020 9:17 am

Welcome to the forum and thank you for doing research before you make your decision. But I am afraid that expectations on how a baby parrot will turn out are useless. The descriptions of the species are all VERY general and, unfortunately for them and us, you can't really go by them. See, the thing is that babies are, pretty much, a lottery. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and the final result has to do A LOT with how the baby was raised ( ALL breeders tell you they love their birds to pieces and that they do the best job ever raising them - but they are merchants selling a merchandise and, of course, they won't really tell you the truth) and the conditions in their new home. And, again, unfortunately for them and us, all the books and internet advice and articles we might read translate into very little knowledge at the end of the day. Now, given excellent husbandry, all species end up being 'good' birds that are only noisy at twilight, are affectionate and not aggressive, interact nicely with a number of people (limited, mind you, to the people who are familiar to them and have proven to 'treat' the bird properly) and are able to 'entertain' themselves without us having to have them on top of us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Now, of the species you mentioned, I have or have had pionus (a bronzewing female), and two caiques (both males, one a blackcap and the other a yellow thigh white belly). The pinous was very shy but then she had had a terrible life before she came to me. The two caiques are both funny and independent but they can both make a noise that can drive you crazy when they are not happy (sounds like an alarm, one note, loud and constant - and I do mean CONSTANT). Javi says his name and 'Come on' while Epuish does not say a single word but understands everything and is actually quite obedient (Javi not so much). Epuish does not like strangers and I doubt he will go with anybody but me and my husband but as long as you don't bother him, he won't bother you while Javi is only 'nice' to me (my husband needs to use a stick to make him step up), goes after strangers and has a looooong memory for people he considers unacceptable (my grandson being one of them because he bothered him once insisting he walked -they have a very funny walk, like a little soldier- so he bit him HARD).

Any of the species you mentioned can be quiet (as far as parrots go), independent (as far as parrots go), and relatively friendly to its flock mates (your family) but they will have only one human (there is no species of parrot that is a real family pet -they simply do not exist) and jealousy is impossible to eliminate. I don't know what you mean by playful but parrots don't really 'play'. People say they play when they see them interacting with a toy but, in reality, there are only three behaviors and one of them is for mere entertainment (which is the definition of play, right?): breeding (when they chew or shred), redirected aggression (when the beat the crap out of a toy) and foraging (when they need to figure out how to get treats out of the 'toy').

Personally, I do not recommend babies for first timers because people who never had a parrot can make mistakes that have consequences in the behavior of the parrot for the rest of its life and, even when they don't, the bird could already come with issues from the breeder and a first timer would not know how to identify them and correct them. Adult parrots are easier because what you see is what you get, they have already been evaluated by the rescue people and rehabilitated both medically and emotionally. And the bond as deeply with a new human than a baby would. And I know because all my birds are rescue, adoptions o rehomes and they are all wonderful. It took time with some of them because I take in the 'bad' ones, mostly - but I have taken in a few 'good' ones and those are super easy.

So, my recommendation to you is go to a rescue that has a couple of the species you are considering and look at them (and all the other birds) because you will end up in a much better position than with a baby AND you will be providing a homeless bird with a good, loving home.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
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Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Hirro8 » Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:56 am

Okay, so what I understand is that, to get a good bird you got to have pure luck? A parrot is a parrot and there’s little diffidence between Amazon’s, Macaws, Cockatoo’s, Pionus, etc? The difference people are talking about on the internet between species are when the birds already have good behavior?

Sorry for asking these dumb question, I’m just trying to understand haha!
Hirro8
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 7
Location: Norway
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Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Pajarita » Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:42 am

No, no, not luck and they are not all the same. I must have not been clear about this. How a baby bird ends up is not luck, it has all to do with the breeder's husbandry (which is something you really cannot evaluate because you cannot be a 'fly on the wall' and observe his/her husbandry for months and months - and even if you did, unless you know what you are looking for, you would not see anything) and the new owner's husbandry (set up, light schedule, housing, diet, number of birds, amount of previous experience, circadian cycle routines, etc).

And there are differences between the species. Cockatoos and GCCs are INTENSELY needy and require many, many hours of one-on-one while amazons, for example, only need to be out-of-cage for hours (same as every other species), company and just a couple of hours of one-on-one. Cockatoos and conures tend to be loud and to show their displeasure with screams while grays, for example, will not scream but, eventually, if they are not happy, will start plucking. Aviary species are never really happy when all alone with a human but companion species can be quite content in the right household. Macaws tend to be laid back while cockatoos tend to be a bit hyper. Grays get stressed out in busy households and tend to hate any change but cockatoos love hullabaloo. Conures, parakeets, caiques and all aviary birds require very little protein but African species can stand higher protein than South American species. There are lots and lots of differences but when it comes to screaming or other 'undesirable' behaviors, it all has to do with husbandry.

My point was that everybody wants a baby (based, I assume, on the incorrect assumption that babies are easier or that they bond deeper than a rehomed adult) but very few people are actually able to provide a baby a home where the baby will grow up without issues. I do not mean to belittle anybody's experience, willingness and/or ability to give a parrot a good home but the sad truth is that almost nobody can give it to them. Not me, not you, not Michael, not anybody because although we might trick them into making them believe that we are part of their family (imprinting done when the breeder steals the baby from the parent and hand-raises it) and try as hard as we can to do it, these are undomesticated species with very specialized physical and emotional needs which we cannot (not that we don't want to) fulfill. People think they do and they will insist their bird is just fine but, in most cases, you will find out that their bird is still young or that the owner simply is not reading the bird right (this is also VERY difficult to do for us because, as mammals ourselves and most of our knowledge and experience is with domesticated mammal pets, we tend to look at their behaviors and reactions as mammal ones when they are not). If you add to this the fact that a new parrot owner has no hands-on experience whatsoever (when to hand-feed or not, how to wean properly, diet and nutritional knowledge for meal preparation, how to handle and pet correctly, circadian cycle routine management, etc. etc) and that the greatest majority of people who get them work - or have a family - or are young and their lives are not yet stable - or that they almost always get a single bird, etc.), the chances of a first time owner being able to raise the baby right are very, very, very slim.

All the parrots that end up plucking/barbering/self mutilating, as screamers, with eating disorders, with aggression, etc) were all babies that were gotten by people who simply did not know enough. Most pet parrots die before they are two years old and this is mostly due to first time owners who simply did not now enough to realize their bird was sick or from easily preventable accidents in the home that was not bird-proofed correctly, or simply wrong handling. They did not want to harm the bird... I am sure that they loved the bird and all of them thought they were doing the right thing but they were not. And that's another issue! The information that is out there in books and bird sites is not always right. Sheesh, not even avian vets give you the right info all the time. As a matter of fact, there is more wrong information out there than there is right information so how would a first-time owner know which information is correct and which is not? Things that sound perfectly logical to us are not necessarily correct. I will give you one single example (and there are lots and lots of them!): the stupid 'height dominance' theory that went around for years in the net. It stated that parrots should not be allowed to perch higher than you because this made them believe they were in charge. Sounds perfectly logical, right? If the bird is higher than you, it must give it a sense of power over you. People use this trick all the time... the chair of the person to whom the office belongs is higher than the 'visitors', soap-box preaching, the presiding body sitting on a dais, etc. etc. Problem is, parrots did not evolve to live in a hierarchical society so, to them, there is no such thing as a 'boss', a leader, an alpha role or anything to denote that one bird is higher than another. No parrot tells another parrot where to go, what to eat, what to do, etc.(and this is the reason why subservience does not exist to them, discipline and obedience are unknown concepts and punishment only makes things worse). To them, height means safety because flight is the only predator avoidance these prey species have. So, to a pet parrot, perching way up high is simply something they prefer because it gives them a sense of safety and has absolutely nothing to do with dominance over us.

Keeping parrots the right way is VERY VERY hard! You not only need a HUGE amount of research and studying (I've been doing research 6 days a week since 1994), you also need to be home all the time (no vacations, no weekenders, no sleeping in late, no sick days spent in bed, etc. etc), to have the right infrastructure, to get up before 5 am during the summer and be home at 3 pm during the winter, to resign yourself to living with poop and chewed up furniture, paintings, moldings, walls, doors, windows, etc. AND to make a commitment of doing all this for 30, 40. 50 years. No human can do it. Not even I and I have devoted the last 28 years of my life to my birds. And I am lucky because I am older (kids all grown and with families of their own), have a very patient husband who spoils me and a family and friends who love me and accept my 'good kind of crazy'.

And that's why I always recommend first timers to adopt an adult instead of buying a baby: because:
A) it's easier to deal with a proven 'good' adult than raise a baby bird because, when you have no hands-on experience, baby birds from the 'easy' species can turn out to be holy terrors, too.
B) nobody knows if they will be able to 'do it right for the duration' so, if you cannot, at least you have not contributed to the huge overpopulation problem (thousands of birds that need a home in rescues).

But you don't have to make up your mind based on what I or anybody else thinks. All I ask is that you go to a couple of bird rescues and see the birds in them, talk to the people who care for them and handle them and see if there isn't a bird in there that clicks with you. I bet there is!
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Hirro8 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:26 am

Thank you so much for helping me out! You really make me think of parrots in another way and I’m glad I have done this much research and asking for help from people who owns medium sized parrots!

Just another question. So the first couple of months after the chicks have been hatched is the time where they are most easy to shape into a “better” bird? And then the fewest of the breeders actually trying to prevent bad habits later?

Anyways, I have an idea/plan to how my “parrot project” should look like (of course not knowing if it going to be a success), but I’m dedicated to try to make it work.

Step1: I’ve already bought the “ Parrot Wizards Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots” -book and going to read it before doing any more steps. My project may end here if I find out that parrots is way, way to hard for me.

Step 2: I’ve already talked a bit to a breeder and he tells me that he’s not hand feeding the chicks, but let’s the parents do it, which make them remember to be a bird and don’t getting a too close bond to humans at a early age. This will probably make the taming a bit more work, but I’m dedicated.
I’m also planning to buy two birds from the same clutch. I’m thinking it will make them more safe and if their left alone during the day two birds will always have company in their self.

Step 3: I’m planning on making a bird room for them where they can play, fly and have some training. At the same time have a little playcenter in the living room where they can be with us, interact and socialize.

Step 4: Make the cages a fun place to be, with lots of toys and things to chew trough. At the same time have the lights on a timer which makes a more realistic day and night cycle for them.

Step 5: Eventually make them tame enough to have them outside in a harness. Maybe after a while make a outdoor aviary.

I will need to read up on nutrition and diet for the birds, but as I said, I’m dedicated to house two bird and try to make a home that they will love.

If my understanding parrots is not a pet you can go 60% into and have a great experience and a great bird. Im thinking that the more effort and right things you do for the bird, the better well behaved bird you will get? (of course assuming one socializing and training the birds, stimulating them)

I’m thinking this approach will make the chance smaller regarding the birds developing bad habits such as screaming, feather plucking and aggression?

Is my plan worth going trough with or am I getting it all wrong? xD

-EJ
Hirro8
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 7
Location: Norway
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Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Pajarita » Sun Oct 18, 2020 9:04 am

Sorry I could not answer yesterday - my life is VERY complicated these days and I had a bit of an emergency.

Anyway, your plan is good but allow me to make a few comments:

1. It's great that you have bought Michael's book BUT you won't be able to do any formal training until the bird(s) are juveniles and, depending on the species you get, that could mean many months after you got them. Parrots brains are not programmed for obedience so, in order for the training to work, the bird needs to love you and be old enough to be able to control itself (maturity). We don't send babies to school, we don't train dogs until they are 6 months old and we don't train horses until they are about 2 years old - and the same applies to parrots. First you need them to outgrow their babyhood, bond with you, get used to the new house, the new routine, the diet, etc - then you teach them to cohabit and do simple things that the bird will want to do on its own -like stepping up and down, for example- and you can teach it to control its own strength (as in when they beak you too hard) and all along, they will be learning words, praise, etc. but you can't formally train them.

2. I don't know what species this person you talked to breeds but, if we are talking a companion species (like the ones you mentioned), parent-raised will not give you what you want. They will be healthier and much better adjusted (no identity confusion- they will know they are birds of a certain species) but they will NOT bond with you deeply. They can learn to trust and even like you but they won't develop the kind of love a companion parrot has for its human because they will not recognize you as part of their family. And yes, there will have to be plenty of taming - for which Michael's book will not help you because it's written for human-imprinted companion species (hand-fed babies don't need to be tamed at all, only parent-raised do). And it's a FABULOUS idea to get two from the same clutch but, again, it will be real hard to tame them and almost impossible to train the way Michael does because that requires the bird wanting to be with you and trusting you 100%. A bonded pair of a parent-raised companion species will not want to be with you long or calm enough for you to be able to train - they will fly away to do their own thing with their mate and the ONLY way of training them is to starve them - which is a terribly cruel thing to do and for which you would have to wait even longer because you should never deprive a baby or a juvenile of food so you can't even start until they are adults. Mind you, personally, I think that ALL parrots should be parent-raised and live in small flocks or, if that is completely impossible, in pairs but 99.9999% of people is not satisfied with keeping parrots they can just look at and love from afar - they want interactive, people-friendly, hands-on birds.

3. A dedicated bird room is something that every single keeper of parrots should have so KUDOS to you for giving them this! :thumbsup:

4. Lights on a timer is great but do take into consideration that you will have to change the settings every 2 or 3 weeks as the days get shorter or longer because they need to be fully exposed to dawn and dusk so the lights need to come on after the sun is already up in the sky in the am and off when the sun is halfway down to the horizon in the pm (to give you an idea, this time of the year, lights would go on at 8:45 am and off at 4 pm). As to stuff in the cage... well, if they have one another, they will not play with toys and they will mostly chew during breeding season. For example, the amazons, which are long day breeders, are not chewing at all right now but we had to put thick cardboard boxes and pine boards all around the perimeter of the room 'hiding' the base board, corners, furniture legs, etc. some months ago because they were chewing everything they could get their beaks around and nesting inside the boxes - they are now finishing the very last of the molt and nice and calm. But the short day breeders are chewing and nesting - big time! Besides, if they are going to have a dedicated bird room, why put them in cages? Let them live cage-free in it - they will be much happier and healthier that way because, regardless all the euphemisms we use trying to convince ourselves that they 'like' their cages (their cage is their 'home', etc), birds like to be in cages even less than people like to be in jail because humans live in enclosures (homes) but parrots, with the ONLY exception of the quakers, don't. Their home is the open sky so there is no way on this green earth that a bird would actually like being deprived of freedom.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Hirro8 » Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:41 am

There’s no need to apologize. Take all the time you need before answering my questions, I’m just glad I’m getting help from someone who knows it’s stuff!

The species I’ve looked into and planning on getting is either the BlueHeaded Pionus or the BronzeWinged Pionus. I’ve heard that naturally they are more calm and some what independent birds (in parrot terms)

1. Okay, so Michael’s book is mainly aimed for a hand-fed parrot, hmm. My goal is to tame them such that they can learn step-up and easy targeting. I actually don’t want them to bond like really deeply with me. I have a feeling that’s unhealthy both for me and the birds. I picturing it like a calm and respectful relationship.
Its maybe not that common that someone would buy birds and don’t want/need to cuddle them all the time, but that’s how I’m picturing it.

2. So if I get them tame, the bird will still be shy and not bond deeply to a human, just because it’s parent fed? Is that a problem that the bird is not deeply bonded to me? I’m thinking that probably will remove some negative traits as jealousy, screaming when I’m leaving. It’s maybe going to build its independency which is a like. Maybe 99,9 of people would cuddle with their bird as often as possible, but to me that’s not the most important. That’s also why I want a Pionus. I’ve read that they rather sit on a perch close by instead of always want to be on us. This is also why I think parents fed would suit me good (If it really makes them a bit more reserved) I’m glad that two parrots can enjoy each other’s company, but my only concern is that they will bond really deeply and would start being aggressive to humans for entering their territory.

4. So a lot of chew toys as more for single birds? I will of course give them the option and the playroom will contain ropes and three branches which they can climb around. Maybe set the timer to slowly turn the light on and of, like dawn and dusk.
Hirro8
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 7
Location: Norway
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Pajarita » Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:21 am

I think it's FABULOUS that you don't want an interactive, cuddly parrot BUT when people say that a species is more independent than others, they are all comparing hand-fed to hand-fed. Not hand-fed to parent-raised. I don't know if you realize the HUGE difference between the two... I seriously doubt you will be able to teach targeting or step up to a bonded pair of parent-raised because there will be no incentive whatsoever for the bird to learn to do this and be willing to do it.

I have a parent-raised bird for sure (the breeder I got her from told me) and two more that I suspect are also (I was not told they were but I was also not told they were both handicapped - I suspect they bought them for breeding and it did not work out for them so they put them up for adoption on CL). The one I know for a fact is parent-raised is a GCC - the breeder thought he was going to make a lot of money selling babies, bought a number of pairs for breeding and, because he had no experience and ended up with 36 babies at the same time, he allowed the parents to raise them with the consequence that he couldn't sell them (he admitted this to me). And the two I suspect are also parent-raised are a bonded pair of quakers that are both handicapped and of expensive mutations (I adopted both of them off CL for a mere $500 and that would have been the price for just the cheapest mutation - which was the powder blue male, the female is a pallid green opaline which is even more expensive than the blue). These three birds were adults when they came to me (I do not buy babies) and I have managed to teach them to go back into their cage when it's time and the male quaker to step up to a stick (because he has a deformed wing and cannot fly away from me or even glide down to the floor) but that's about it in terms of any kind of training and it took me months and months to achieve consistent response to this command (and hours of waiting them out every single morning and early afternoon at the very beginning, repeating the command over and over until they got hungry and went in). A bonded pair of companion parrots, even the calmest species there is, will be VERY hard to train to do anything whatsoever. They are great for breeding because they know they are birds and learned how to care for babies (parenting skills are learned by the babies in the nest from their own parents which are also usually parent-raised) but they are not 'pets'. They simply will not stay still long enough for you to teach them anything and they will not want to step up to your hand no matter how hard you try or even a stick. They will fly away because you are a predator and they are prey. And this will be even more acute if they are an independent species because they are not so needy for company as the cuddly ones are...

Now, if you are OK with having birds just to look at, then your plan is great (except for the training part which will not happen with parent-raised) but, if so, why get babies? People get babies because they believe that they will bond deeper with them than an adult (something we already debunked in dogs and cats but haven't been able to do yet with parrots, apparently) but you are not interested in this. So, why not get two adults that need a good home? It will be cheaper, you will not be contributing to the overpopulation problem but helping with it, you won't be putting money in the pocket of somebody who regards baby birds as merchandise (and no, regardless of what the breeders tell you, they don't love birds because, if they did, they would not breed them and sell their babies - you don't sell what you love), you will get the same kind of relationship that you will from the babies and more (because these will be hand-raised birds so, eventually, they will trust and love you enabling you to train them a bit, if you wish) PLUS you would be doing a big kindness giving two homeless birds a good home. Think about it.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Hirro8 » Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:02 pm

Okay!

Will it be easier to buy one parentfed baby and try to tame it, or is this almost impossible?
Im going to buy the bird(s) in Sweden where there's not allowed to handfeed babyparrots, so I dont have any choice. Sadly there's also very little sale of adults Pionus parrots here in Skandinavia.

I also have the feeling that most of the Pionus parrots who gets sold in adult age has some nagetive personality, like you said, why sell something you love. Thats why I probably have to buy babies. I just got I contact with a person who just bought a Maxi Pi from the same breeder I'm planning to buy from. I'll try to keep contact with her to see how the bird behave after some months!
Hirro8
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 7
Location: Norway
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: Yes

Re: Buying a parrot! Help

Postby Pajarita » Tue Oct 20, 2020 11:03 am

Nothing is impossible - I mean, you can train a snail but it's the cost to the animal's emotional and physical health that makes the difference. Parent-raised companion species should never be kept alone. It's just too cruel to the bird and the amount of stress the poor bird lives with its entire life ends up shortening its lifespan. Why? Because as much as we think we are smarter than Nature, we are not and we cannot change genetic traits just by training or suppressing behaviors. Parrots evolved to live in flocks. Period. It's not a choice, it's not a luxury, it's a necessity for them. Companion hand-fed parrots, because they imprint to humans and develop a deep bond with their human, can be kept as single pets as long as the human has excellent husbandry and is a stay-at-home person with virtually no social life - but even them do much, much better when kept in pairs. But companion parrots that were parent-raised will never find safety and love in a human and keeping them implies that the owner does not know or care about it. We are talking about giving the pet a miserable life... I am sorry that I sound so very judgmental but this is not really my personal opinion, it's a scientific fact: undomesticated, monogamous, highly social animals need others of their own species.

And I doubt that the person who bought the pionus that was parent-raised but kept as an only pet is going to be able to tell you what you need to know because the bird is still a baby (babies have no choice but to submit but babies grow and become assertive) and the fact that he/she is keeping a single, parent-raised parrot as a pet is already telling you he/she does not know or care enough about it. I mean, what kind of person keeps an animal just to give it a miserable life? Either somebody who doesn't know or somebody who doesn't care - right? There are no other options...

But you are wrong that adult birds that are rehomed have negative personality traits. Some of them do, no doubt about it - but the greatest majority don't. In my personal experience, the greatest majority of the cases when birds are given up because of 'negative traits', it's not that they actually have any, it's that people consider 'unacceptable behavior' what, in reality, is nothing more than normal, natural behaviors. Behaviors that the people who bought them were not counting on, that they thought they could train out of the bird, or that they themselves created by inadequate husbandry. But all these animals 'revert' to 'good' behavior once they are given the proper care. Biters stop biting, screamers stop screaming, picky eaters become good eaters and, although chronic pluckers do not all stop plucking completely, the ones that don't always show a vast improvement. It does not happen overnight - but it happens. EVERY SINGLE TIME. See, the thing is that everybody thinks they are going to be able to keep a parrot well when, in reality, they have no idea of what is going to entail (nobody does - I certainly did not and if I knew then what I know now, I would NEVER have gotten into parrots) and, once the baby bird grows up and becomes sexually mature and starts showing it's unhappiness at their living situation, people give them up.
Why? Because although everybody calls himself an animal lover, very few people actually are.
The truth is that most people who call themselves animal lovers are actually animal 'enjoyers'. They don't really love animals, they might love their own animal but not every single animal out there and, mostly, they just enjoy what their own animal does for them. This does not mean they are bad owners, that they mistreat, neglect or abuse the animal or that they don't give it good care, it simply means that they put things on a scale and that their pleasure/comfort/convenience comes before the animal's needs. If the animal becomes too much trouble (as in too much work, too much money, too much noise, too much mess, etc), out it goes.

I mostly take in animals that, as you put it, have 'negative personalities' because I love animals and to me, keeping them is not something I do because I want a specific pet (a parrot of a certain species or a dog of a specific breed, color, etc) but because I feel for them and know I can give them a good home. This is not selfless, mind you! People talk about rescuers as if they were completely selfless angels but we are not. Some people do it because they like to be called angels and be regarded as 'special' but I and most other rescuers do it because we get a deep satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, a purpose in life and, yes! pleasure. Knowing that we helped an animal that needed it is deeply satisfying to us. And so I take in the parrots that hate humans and attack them every chance they get, parrots that scream all the time, parrots that have plucked themselves to the skin all over their bodies, etc - I also take in the old, the sick, the handicapped, etc. And they all work out GREAT! I have a male amazon that hated humanity because his second owner punched him with a closed fist every time he bit (and I know this because he admitted it to me) - needless to say, the bird would take what the military calls 'a pre-emptive strike' and would fly out to bite the heck out of anybody that was in the same room as him because, as far as he was concerned, humans were the enemy that would hurt him so he was defending himself from them by attacking them first. When he came here, he bonded to an older wild-caught female amazon that had been a pet of sorts but who had 'reverted' to wild ways when neglected for years and, although she did not fly out to attack, she could not really be handled (she would not step up to a stick or anything). It took a couple of years for Zeus to calm down enough so I could walk into the birdroom to clean, feed and water without a problem and they even learned to go into their cage on command because my husband refused to repair the birdroom when they were out. And they have been what my husband calls 'the revelation of the year' because we had to bring them out of the birdroom and into our dining room so the workers could remodel the room and, because these birds had an aggression 'history', had not lived in a cage for years and years and had never been exposed to the dogs and cats, I did it with great trepidation and not knowing how the whole experiment was going to work out - but they are behaving like a little gentleman and a little lady! Not a single attempt to bite, no screams, no nothing! They come out of their cage at dawn, chill on it, going in and out of it all day long until it's time for them to go back inside - which they do on their own and before I even have to tell them (parrots are very good at telling time and learn to anticipate actions from the sun position in the sky). Precie Zon (the older female) talks up a storm all day long and my husband, who used to be terrified of them, stops by their cage several times a day to talk to them and praise them for the good birds they are (I don't say 'Good Girl' or 'Good Boy', I say 'Good bird').

Now, these two birds, especially Zeus, are on the extreme end of the spectrum in behavior and, of course, I don't expect anybody without a lot of experience to adopt a bird like that but I have another amazon, Naida, a BF female, who was given up because of aggression toward the new wife and stepson of the original owner and this bird has never been anything but the sweetest, sweetest bird from day one! She never screams, does not pluck, eats well, bathes on her own, steps up or down without a single hesitation and, when on your shoulder, very, very gently preens your hair while making content little noises in the back of her throat - a sweetheart! Same with Zoey Senegal. I flew to California to pick her up when her owner, having been given an ultimatum by his wife (the bird or her!), put her up for adoption (I had known this bird since she was a baby, seen myriad videos and pictures of her, etc for years through a bird site) and, again, never a single problem with her. I can do whatever I want with this bird... put her upside down, touch her entire body, lift and open her wings, etc and she has never, ever, ever tried to bite me a single time (she is perching on my right shoulder right now). See? Neither Naida nor Zoey actually had 'negative personalities' even though their owners did think so. And even Zeus, who had been so severely abused and Mami (the older female he bonded with), who had been neglected for years had them either, they were just reacting to what had been done to them and mistakenly reached the conclusion that all humans were bad but, once they were shown that this is not the case, they went back to normal behaviors.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

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