Instincts are what we do:
Is it their carefree nature and beauty that appeals to you? Or perhaps
you’re looking for a special companion? Either way, you want a bird to share
your space and life, right? First, let me explain a bit about birds, in
general. These creatures are not like dogs and cats. They have not been
domesticated. These are still wild animals with wild instincts.
Birds that are hand-raised have a close contact relationship with humans
from a very early age. However much they integrate within your household,
natural instinct will prevail and become mixed with the associated reactions
from their human relationships. Thus, they might not always respond in ways
we feel is appropriate for a ‘pet’, and we cannot expect them to. Again,
these are wild creatures that have adapted their environment thanks to us
humans to join our flock.
Birds do not offer instant trust like a dog. It must be earned by
compassionate and gentle human interaction with them.
This doesn’t mean that they’re bad
to keep as a pet, but instead of thinking of a bird as a ‘pet’, try thinking
of one as your animal companion. Birds are extremely empathic, and once
trust is earned, they’re loyal, devoted and affectionate companions.
Kids and birds:
Perhaps you’re not looking for a bird for yourself, but for your child. I
will stop you right now and direct you to the reality of the matter; it is
YOUR bird. Your child may be allowed to interact with it, and your child may
end up to be the best thing since sliced bread to that bird. But, the fact
of the matter is that most children lose interest very quickly and the big
loser in the scheme of things will be that bird.
If you have a child that is interested in a bird, then have that child do
research and remember, just because your child shows a commitment now,
doesn’t mean he or she always will. So, in the end, it’s YOUR bird. Decide
whether YOU are ready to take care of that birds needs for the rest of that
bird’s long life. Buy yourself a companion, and let your child be a part of
its life.
Sneaky, tricksy little birds!
Parrots can be very manipulative, demanding, over-opinionated and possessive
creatures. They’re a lot like a spoiled 2 year old brat! Only, once a bird
is an adult, they are a sexually mature, spoiled 2 year old brat. They might
grow up to bond to your spouse, or child, or anyone but you! They may bond
tightly to you and consider you a mate, and chase off intruders violently!
This intruder might even be your spouse!
You cannot change their minds, they like what they like, who they like and
how they like it. …and you’d better like it too. It might not seem ‘fair’,
but birds don’t understand the human concept of fair. For the bird, it’s
making a life choice. Are you ready for this to happen? It might! Will you
still love the bird?
Mano e Birdo:
Birds are a flock animal. There is no flock leader. They live in a tight
community with other birds of their kind, and even with other species living
in the same area. There are no dominance issues with birds, and dominant
force used on them either physically or emotionally will only create a
fearful bird. A fearful bird makes a very poor companion.
As stated before, birds are empathic. We cannot even begin to understand the
level of body language a bird uses to communicate in the wild. We try hard
to understand body language off our bird companions to the best of our
ability. However, when deciding if a bird is right for you, you also have to
consider if a bird is right for your household.
If others in your household hate the idea of a bird, its’ mess, its’ noise,
then you’re setting a bird up for a lot of negative energy pointed right
towards it. Remember body language? Try this experiment:
Think of something that gets you really angry, then freeze yourself. Note
the tension in your face, the slight squint of your eyes, the tightness and
stance of your body. That’s what the bird is reading! The bird is reading
anger and aggression and for a bird, that is the signal for danger!
Now imagine your spouse or parent already pre-disposed towards hating that
bird and the active animosity that bird will read and feel. Is that a
positive environment for your bird? Would you feel happy living in a place
where you’re hated? A place where you cannot escape from?
Positive Environments are…?
Positive environments start with setting boundaries, recognizing and meeting
the physical and emotional needs of your bird and establishing a reward
system. Wow, that sounds like a lot, right? Darn right it is!
Your bird should be encouraged to be happy by providing vocal, visual and
physical interaction with you. Safe, interesting toys that are rotated out
of the cage with fresh ones regularly to stimulate play and ward off boredom
are a good start. A decent sized cage that can house those toys, provide
climbing room and flapping room is necessary. Quality, appropriately sized
perches of differing textures and materials to ward off sore feet are a
must. And, of course, affectionate interactions with you, it’s owner.
Too much can really be too much!
Your bird should learn how to play independently with toys and learn that it
cannnot always be with you. Even if you’re around the house, the bird must
learn that bad behavior that’s geared towards getting it attention won’t be
encouraged. If it screams for you, the worst thing to do is run over and
give it the reward of attention. It should only receive rewards when it
isn’t screaming or acting out.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold your bird, allow it out of the cage
time or even snuggle your bird. You should, and often. But, it must only be
in a situation where it’s under your control, not your birds. By
over-cuddling your bird or rushing to it everytime it screams or squawks,
you are merely teaching it that by screaming, it gets exactly what it wants.
Once it establishes a bad habit, it takes a lot more effort to undo that bad
habit.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
Now that we’ve talked about some of the important things you should do for
your bird, we need to talk about You.
One of the biggest problems out there right now are rehomed birds. There’s
one giant reason for this; people not educating themselves enough for the
type of bird they want. People tend to look at pretty colors and forget
things like loud voices. Some people want a talking bird, and get
discouraged when it won’t talk, or worse, when that talking bird mimics
every sound out there as well! Some people impulse buy and soon grow bored
of the bird. Others will get scared of the bird when it bites or acts in a
way that is not in their mental ‘fairy tale’ of what a bird should be.
How to correct this? Be very certain about the bird you want!
-
Visit places like
www.birdboard.com and talk to owners of
birds to learn the good and bad things about
them.
-
Visit
www.youtube.com and check out the bird
species of interest. I make Sun Conure buyers go
listen to Sun Conure screaming at full volume
for a while and decide if they really want such
a loud bird!
-
Read, read, read and read more about the species
on your list.
-
Talk to breeders and learn first hand the
details of bird ownership, and of the species in
question.
-
Join a bird club!
Rock-a-bye Baby or Second Hand Parrot?
Now, you think just because I breed birds I’m going
to say ‘get a baby!’, right? Wrong. It’s true, there
are a lot of positive things about getting a baby.
However, there are a lot of positive things about
getting a rescue bird or a rehomed bird too! Maybe
you want to learn on a baby, so when you’re after a
second bird, you can be ready for the adult
mentality of a rescue bird – one who has probably
learned to manipulate owners. That’s an excellent
way to go. But, you can always start off with an
older bird too! If that’s of interest to you, there
are some awesome rescues out there.
The one rescue I recommend above all others is
www.ABQParrots.org
. This rescue is run by Anna Sloan of New Mexico and
she’s an excellent bird keeper and rescue. She is
not adverse to shipping a bird, if she feels someone
will make a good adoptive parent. So, once again,
babies are great and I’m all for selecting a
wonderful baby companion for you, but if you think
you’d like an older companion bird, please mention
it and I’ll do my best to set you up with Anna and
she can educate you from there!
While she’s not the only rescue, there are others
that are excellent, and some that are bad as bad can
be, I trust her. I will leave it in your hands to
contact her, if you’re interested and she can
clearly steer you in the right direction for picking
a quality rescue organisation.
Be Reasonable.
Simply? Be reasonable in your expectations of parrot
ownership. You are making a life-long commitment to
this bird who will live between 20 and 50 years!
Understand the mess it makes, the amount of time you
will need to spend with it, the dietary needs, the
medical needs… it’s a lot like a human child in that
aspect of care.
But! Do not try to satisfy your urge to turn your
bird into that small human! It’s not. It’s a bird.
It will remain a bird – a mature, adult bird. Accept
the bird for what it is and understand that you must
be a very flexible person to create and maintain a
loving, respectful, compassionate relationship
between you and your bird and between domestication
and natural instincts from the wild.
Appreciate the bird for what it is, and not a human
conceived impression of what you believe it SHOULD
be. You’ll forever be disappointed if you do.
Understand their likes and dislikes. Acknowledge
these things and work within them. While you set
boundaries, your bird will also. Respect that.
Learn their body language and acknowledge that it’s
a form of communication. Learn their vocalizing and
instead of automatically assuming it’s a screamer,
find out why it’s screaming and compromise. If it
bites, instead of feeling angry or hurt, think about
what that bird is trying to tell you before the
bite.
Make your house a calm and happy place to live, and
that will reflect your bird in how it acts with you.
Offer it love, compassion and friendship and you
will be rewarded for your efforts. While you learn
to read your bird, it also will be learning to read
you.
