If you think you want a pet bird...

Abbey

Spork Queen
...let me give you a few tips.

1) size does not matter in volume of the bird. If you've ever had a sun conure, you'll know what I mean.

2) if you ever get one of the more 'intelligent' parrots, be prepared for them to pick up ANY annoying sound in a 4 block radius.

3) Be prepared that they may only bond with one person in your household. This means that the multiple daily cleaning of their area and feeding will go completely unnotied by the birds, and you run around feeling really angry about that.

4) Buy hand-fed babies. Your chances of being the chosen bonded person are greatly increased, but not for sure.

5) Be prepared for an automatic alarm clock. No amount of covering them at night will negate their need to get up at the crack of dawn...very loudly.

6) If you buy an 'intelligent' parrot...watch what you say. They will pick up any word or phrase that is said with intensity. Get the hint? :nonono:

I have three African Greys. Right now I could strangle them. There is NOOOOOO peace in the house. The second you divert your attention from they, they SCREAM and cuss up a storm. (learned that from husband). It's noon and I've already done my second cleaning of the area when two of them hate me. To add to this scenario, I rescued those two boys from an abusive pet store. They have the best of 'bird world' yet don't seem to appreciate it.

Ok...I'll stop venting and put in my ear plugs.

Abbey
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
Wow sounds like your having quite the day with some difficult child birds. We very briefly tried a parakeet or the like and the darn thing ate itself to death. I was told to clean the stuff change the food daily etc. Well they didn't tell me they would eat themselves to death. It weighed three times what they were supposed to weigh. Having never had birds (and never will again I am guessing) it did not go well.

I hope they settle down for you.

Beth
 

goldenguru

Active Member
I could never deal with the fact that birds fly around the house and in the process leave their droppings where they may.

I have a friend with a cockateil (sp?) ... and he's a neat little guy ... but my friend has to go around and clean up his messes after he's been out of his cage.

I hate cleaning up the dog poo in the yard ... let alone off my dining room light.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Abbie,

I used to rescue birds - now I will rescue anything BUT. I love them, they are intelligent, beautiful and who can resist listening and making dumb human noises in an effort to get them to communicate with said dumb human.

I had a Severe McCaw, a Yellow Headed Conure, A Timneh, An African Grey, a Cherry Headed conure, a cockatiel, 2 doves (had some dumb dumb raising birds for wedding idea) hoooo hooooo ho hooooo, and a budgie. All had their own cage, playpen and food and water. I would take them from the pet shops and rehabilitate them from whatever ailed them, then find them homes.

I loved my Yellow Head - Quasar - and the African Grey was certainly smart, but the Severe bit the beak off the Cherry head in a fit of jealousy and after watching that bird die with vet help was more than I could do. I have a scar on my wrist from the last Military McCaw I befriended.

As far as the noise? I used to put them in a quiet room with a record player - NOT a CD player - I don't know if the record going around was hypnotic or there were sounds we couldn't hear that they could, but if everyone got noisy? On would go the Days of Wine and Roses and everyone's beak went closed.

Mine even had an outdoor aviary - and couldn't beak up.

The final straw came with an Umbrella Cockatoo who was so incredibly loud, so early that my neighbors politely said "We've had enough" so the bird sanctuary and rescue went to the way side, all the birds got great homes and I haven't bothered with them since. The occasional injured winged Mocking bird maybe - but no more eardrum busters.

And to have the hate of a bird? I think I'd rather deal with a difficult child.

Sorry your day is over the coo-coo's nest.

Hugs
Star
 

susiestar

Roll With It
And I thought our cockatiel was bad. Sheesh, she doesn't hold a candle to these. She bonded with husband, but will obey me if i am in a MOOD. And covering her cage is all we need to do to quiet her.

Sorry

Susie
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
After having grown up with birds, and my sis going thru a stint of raising several different varieties, plus my brother's short lived obsession with parrots........

Let's just say it's one pet Nichole has NEVER had, nor will while in my home. I can't stand the smell. (even when you keep them squeeky clean there is a smell) I can't stand the mess. (I just love it when they make it again right after it's been cleaned) And their noise grates on my nerves something fierce.

I've found I can enjoy them from afar. And the outdoor ones are best. lol :smile:

Sorry your difficult children birds are driving you up the wall today. I think I'd try the record player if you have one available.

Hugs
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
I could give a list of the various sounds the imitate. And, once they get on a role...all 3 join in.

ANY squeaking in the house. We've WD40'd every door, the dishwasher, every window.

Any cell phone noise, such as the alert you get from a text message.

The sound our frig makes when it fills the ice maker.

Any normal conversation you have on the phoone.

The lifting of our shutters.

The house alarm...which is VERY loud. :surprise:

The fire alarm at my school.

Any ring tone you couldl possibly think of.

Sneezing.

Coughing.

Flatulance. :smile:

Door closing/opening sounds.

Airplanes that fly overhead.

Firetrucks.

Construction equipment. That was the worst because in Vegas they start work at about 4am because of the heat. We lived in a brand new development. So, about 4am every morning we heard...beep, beep, beep, as the big equipment backed up.

The list could go on and on.

Don't get me wrong, they can be amazingly entertaining, but now that I'm home all day...they're driving me NUTS. And, they live for 80 years. My kids fight over who will not be in our will to take the birds.

They don't fly because their wings are clipped, but are masters at getting down when we're not looking. I can't tell you how many times I've spent an hour trying to find a missing bird. We try to keep every house door closed so it limits their excursions. The last one was yesterday when one got down and went into our recording studio and chewed up a good dozen albums.

Probably the best story is when we had some people over for a dinner party. We're all sitting on the sofas and from behind us we heard VERY loudly, "Shut the f* up!!! You stupid As*. Get your as* up!!" It was a tad embarrassing. :smile:

THey are very smart, indeed.

Abbey
 

bby31288

Active Member
Abbey, I am actually sitting here laughing out loud and my dog is looking at me like what??? I love the noises they make, it must drive you nuts!
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Ohh...and I forgot the really good one. $700 repair on my leather sofa, loveseat and ottoman when one got down and like a can opener chewed along the bottom of all three pieces. husband LOVED that. I had to hide them from him for a good week.

They also do dog barks and cat's meow. That's actually kind of cute.

Abbey
 

Steely

Active Member
Just what one would need - a true difficult child pet!!!! Yikes! As if we don't all have a yapping, cussing entity in our house already!!! :laugh:

Thanks for the tip.....I will avoid them at all costs :shocked:
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Wow, Abbey, so sorry! :rolleyes:

I've had parakeets. They slept at night with-no cloth at all ... it got dark, we went to bed, they did too.
They did, however, learn to imitate the microwave. Can't tell you how many times I walked over and opened the door, wondering if I'd left yet another cup of tea in there. When I finally figured it out I felt like an idiot!!!!
:hammer:


 

bby31288

Active Member
Thats funny too....hmmm, did I make tea?

A guy at work said his wife taught his parrot to call here Kitty Kitty when the cat walks by! I think I would love one!!!
 
I recommend Cockatiels for anyone who would like to consider a bird for a pet. Our baby Whistler is quite a joy. He is a sucker for any teenage girl who visits our home and will flirt with them endlessly. He is tightly bonded with difficult child and is by his side or on his shoulder most of the day. He sleeps by his bed at night.

He is unclipped and free to fly the house, but he stays mainly in three places- all of them nearby difficult child. Honestly the clean up is not bad and his whistling is quite lovely.He is very quick to pick up new melodies. All of us are very attached to him. However, he is terrified of easy child. When easy child visits, Whistler flies around the house or cringes in a corner of his perch. We've decided easy child just has way too much wild energy for Whistler's comfort level .
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
haha...here kitty kitty is cute every once in awhile, but these guys pick up on a phrase or a song and do it for an hour...then later another hour.

They do the Andy Griffith song, Bridge Over the River Kwai (sp?) (It's the Comet song...you know, Comet, it makes your teeth turn green), the ABC song...yes they know their alphabet. So, like I said before, it's cool when they learn it, but when all three do it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again :smile:

This morning at about 5:45am they started with: SHUT UP, SHUT UP, I SAID SHUT UP, SHUSH, SHUSH. All three as loud as they could. Now that was a nice thing to wake up to.

We try to ignore them when they get on these rants but that hasn't seemed to work too well.

So, I'm off for the first cleaning of the day. All three cages outside while I shop vac the house, clean any stray bird poo, then cleaning all the cages outside. Wish me luck!

Abbey
 

SRL

Active Member
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Abbey</div><div class="ubbcode-body">They do the Andy Griffith song, Bridge Over the River Kwai (sp?) (It's the Comet song...you know, Comet, it makes your teeth turn green), the ABC song...yes they know their alphabet. So, like I said before, it's cool when they learn it, but when all three do it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again :smile:
</div></div>

Sounds like having a house full of toddlers that never grow up...but who do acquire adult vocabularies.
 
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