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Postby IAmEagerToLearn » Fri Dec 21, 2018 10:27 am

Hello, I'm a new commer, but I'm not an owner, hopefully I can still be on this site since I'm not an owner. I'm here to read and gather information from previous topics and discussions about bird care, training, tamimg, etc. I'm basically doing the research before bringing someone home with me. I'm also thinking of taking college classes on the study of birds. I'm pretty much eager to learn all I can before owning a bird, I've also read that to volenteer at an avain rescue is a good way to learn more about bird behavior, habits, types of personalities, etc. I want to make sure that I know what to do and have experience before I decide an option.
Last edited by IAmEagerToLearn on Fri Feb 01, 2019 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
IAmEagerToLearn
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: First timer

Postby Pajarita » Fri Dec 21, 2018 10:37 am

Welcome to the forum and no, you don't need to actually have a bird to belong here - everybody is welcomed! I do like your attitude! It's always best to be prepared but, I warn you, no matter how much you read and learn, you will still feel that you are not prepared once you get your bird. Sheesh! I've kept birds for over 50 years, parrots for 26, do research almost every single day and I still feel that I am not prepared as well as I should be! But ask away and we will be more than happy to share what we know and have experienced.
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: First timer

Postby IAmEagerToLearn » Fri Dec 21, 2018 11:11 am

Good to know, thanks for the welcome. So I have been reading about the types of birds and how some can be more challenging than others. I had a plan of being a volunteer at a avian rescue to experience what's it's like and to see if I can withstand the work of keeping a parrot happy and healthy. I have been thinking of what parrot is right for me. What's also been on my mind is what type of job should I have to where I still have time to give a parrot attention. And will taking college classes to be a future ornithologist be a good choice? And will that help me acquire experience?
IAmEagerToLearn
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: First timer

Postby Pajarita » Fri Dec 21, 2018 3:05 pm

Well, to be honest, I believe that the only way to keep a single companion parrot happy and healthy is to stay home all the time because of the way the evolved to be always with their loved ones. A parrot that is left alone is a parrot that will be stressed out and unhappy. Not two ways about it and not my opinion but the way nature made them. But, working a few hours in the middle of the day is not too bad because they always stop for. rest in the middle of the day so if you time your absence to match the time they slow down, it should not be too bad. More than that starts messing up with their emotions and their solar schedule [winter days being so very short].

Yes, there are species that are more demanding and/or difficult than others -cockatoos, grays and GCCs coming immediately to mind.

As to being an ornithologists helping with parrot care... I don't know if that would actually make a difference. Ornithologists usually concentrate more on classification than behavior and, with parrots, that is the main problem (although one could say that the most common behavioral problems are not really behavioral but physical in terms of what cause them]. Ethology would be better suited for what you are looking for but it takes years and years and years of study...
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: First timer

Postby IAmEagerToLearn » Fri Dec 21, 2018 7:33 pm

So would you recommend an at home job? Or at least a part time one? Hm, so you don't need to be an ornithologist to be able to have experience, maybe that's going over the top. I don't mind the years of study, I'm also willing to learn about that too. Is there other ways for me to get experience other than being a volunteer? And will this help me choose which type of bird to adopt? If I want to decide to adopt a more challenging species to take care of how do I know I'm ready for the challenge? And what are the first things I need to know before being them home? (I should also probably purchase items in advance too). I'm sorry if these are a lot of questions, I was thinking of asking questions on a forum before going to a rescue to talk to foster parents. Are their any tips that you use to help you form a bond with your parrot? Also, do I have a chance to become a good bird owner as you? (I would also like to help others and give advice to others too, I'm not there yet but it must be nice to give advice to others)
IAmEagerToLearn
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: First timer

Postby Pajarita » Sat Dec 22, 2018 10:47 am

Yes, I think that working from home or having a part time is the best for a pet parrot. I don't really know of any way to get experience aside from rolling up your sleeves and simply doing it but volunteering at the right rescue helps. Only problem is that rescues are not homes and the parrots are actually living in an environment that is not really good for them... we are talking bad light schedule, crowded conditions, no human of their own but different ones all the time, etc. So, in my personal opinion, the best situation for good learning is to get an 'easy' species to start with and wait a few years before you get a more difficult one and this is not only because reading, studying, doing research, etc does not even begin to cover the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all you need to know but also because we always think of ourselves as able to do something for the long term but then we are not. Keeping a parrot healthy and happy implies changing your entire lifestyle and establishing routines that are not 'ńormal' for people because birds and humans are completely different. Cats and dogs are easy, parrots are VERY difficult... you need to get up with dawn and always be home for dusk, you need to prepare food every single day, you need to resign yourself to living with poop and chewed up furniture, you can't have annual vacations or very long ones, you can't stay in bed when you don't feel good or get up late when you were out the night before, your partner -spouse, girl or bnoyfriend, kids, roomate, etc- need to accept that the bird might hate him-her, moving is a problem, etc. etc. I am very lucky that my family was already used to me being an animal lover by the time I started with parrots and that they accept my weird lifestyle. My entire family thinks I am crazy but they say itś a 'good' kind of crazy. My children are so used to they way 'things are' that they don't even get mad when something happens. I've been caring for a grandson that got expelled from after care (he has ADHD and is not an easy child) and, although ALL of them KNOW they are not to interact with the parrots, he tends to be a bit disobedient and was trying to get Javi Caique to step up to a stick which ended up making him mad so he bit him twice (in two different fingers of the same hand). When his mother came to pick him up, I told her what had happened and instead of getting mad at me, she scolded him for 'bothering Nana'ś bird' ' see what I mean? Not what you would call the kind of reaction any other mother would have, right?

As to me being a good owner... well, let me tell you something, there are no real good parrot owners, there are terrible owners, bad owners and owners that try. I try. And, yes, you can be an owner who tries, too. Most people want to take good care of their birds, the problem is that normal people, with normal lives simply cannot do 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: First timer

Postby IAmEagerToLearn » Sat Dec 22, 2018 11:15 am

So would recommend me getting a smaller bird like a cockatiel, before I decide I get a bigger bird? (I'll keep the cockatiel because it is always wrong to dispose a pet for a bigger one). Since I'll be living alone in a house, giving a parrot attention shouldn't be a problem. Volunteering at a shelter is probably the only option but the experience would teach me what to do and not too
do. I will be starting off small first. Cleaning, replacing damaged items, and a change in lifestyle may not be easy but I'm up for the task. I'm also willing to try all I can. So creating a schedule depends on the bird's personality and preferences, right? I'm thinking maybe I can have alarms between certain intervals, like every 5 or 6 hours. And repeat things throughout the week for the bird to get used to it. I'm excited to get a bird but I don't want to rush into this without knowing what type of position I would placed in.
IAmEagerToLearn
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: First timer

Postby Pajarita » Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:30 pm

Cockatiels are fabulous little parrots but you can't have just one if you want the bird to be happy and healthy because they are aviary. You need a pair. Schedules don't have much to do with the bird's personality but with photoperiodism and avian circadian and circannual cycles -meaning they are pretty much the same for any bird because it has to do with the way their endocrine system works - like, they wake up with dawn and come out of the cage, eat about an hour after, lights get turned on, interact, bathe, play until noon when they stop to rest, interact and play until the sun is halfway down to the horizon when the lights should be turned off, eat dinner, roost and sleep.
The biggest difference would be the amount of hours you would need to spend with it, whether this means you in the same room as the bird or the bird ON you all the time and the actual interactions ' for example, GCCs would be more than happy to just perch on your shoulder and cuddle against your neck all day long while amazons are more perch birds and cockatoos need to be entertained all the time - see what I mean?
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: First timer

Postby IAmEagerToLearn » Sat Dec 22, 2018 5:13 pm

Yes, I see the difference, so starting off small would be a good idea. So it would be better to start out with a pair of cockatiels? What other birds would you recommend me to get if I wanted to start off small (or medium)? Would a GCC be a good bird to have too? So if I decided to bring a pair home what do I start doing? At least for any bird in general. I hope I'm taking up any time by asking these questions. Also thank you for the advice you gave me so far I will definitely do my best and use the knowledge I've gained.
IAmEagerToLearn
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 24
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: No

Re: First timer

Postby liz » Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:22 am

Cockatiels are little birds with big personalities. I have 9 and each one is different. They are loving little parrots. The misconception is that if you have two they will not bond with you. Not true. Of the 9 each one has bonded to me in different ways. I let my 9 be a flock in their own room. I do not touch them but they will touch me. When I go to feed they all want to talk about their day with tweeters and little chirps. Each one wants to be the closest one to me.

Just a heads up on these wonderful little parrots.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

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