birds and babies

[getwozzy]

So, most of you know I have a zon, but I also have an 11 month old baby boy. I know it'll be a while before it might be safe for them to interact... But does anyone have any tips or advice? My husband asked me this morning if Jackie would fly down and attack J... I said pffffttt!!! Yeah right!! Lol
But it got me thinking...

 

[Sherry]

Before you read what I write please note I have very little experience, however I have 12 children in my daycare who are in constant contact with my birds. I know things could happen (to both the kids as well as the birds) quickly. I supervise to the millionth degree, but still there are no guarantees. My parents have all signed a waiver from harm (that's for me). I will tell you they all seem to enjoy eachother. They are used to eachother. The don't like my father in law whom only comes over to work on the house. They don't see him often and when they do its construction time. So I would recommend to have your bird and child become used to eachother.

 

[henpecked]

The real issue is socializing your amazon. A well socialized amazon can do great in almost any situation and there's nothing but problems with a cage bound male and unsupervised kids. I've raised my kids with many pet/breeder amazons and my kids had few problems with the pet birds and quickly learned to leave the breeders alone. There's nothing that can compare with a well socialized zon.

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm kind of in the opposite position. I have had birds for nearly 13 years now, and recently, my 2 year old nephew came to live with me, along with his parents.

My nephew, Hugh, does ok with dogs. Cats on the other hand? Well, not so well. It takes a very tolerant cat to ignore him. The cats he grew up with tolerate him far better than my cats do, and it's been just over 2 months since he's known my cats. Hugh likes to lay on his cats, strangle them, shove them, poke them in they eye. My cats can barely stand Hugh touching them. I know Hugh probably doesn't do those things to be mean, he just doesn't understand yet that you can't behave that way with animals.

I am reluctant to allow him to interact with the birds, although only one might allow it (most aren't tame). He enjoys seeing them and watching them, but until he learns to behave better with the cats, I take more caution with the birds.



That said, he does seem to take after his aunt (me) a lot! Even though an ocean separated us for most of his two years, he seems to behave more like I did as a toddler than my sister! LOL

 

[getwozzy]

Before you read what I write please note I have very little experience, however I have 12 children in my daycare who are in constant contact with my birds. I know things could happen (to both the kids as well as the birds) quickly. I supervise to the millionth degree, but still there are no guarantees. My parents have all signed a waiver from harm (that's for me). I will tell you they all seem to enjoy eachother. They are used to eachother. The don't like my father in law whom only comes over to work on the house. They don't see him often and when they do its construction time. So I would recommend to have your bird and child become used to eachother.

Wow! Sounds like you have a busy house!! Do the birds get to come out when the daycare kids are there? My house isn't as busy as yours, but we do have a few nieces and nephews that come over a couple times a month who enjoy hanging out with the animals.

 

[getwozzy]

The real issue is socializing your amazon. A well socialized amazon can do great in almost any situation and there's nothing but problems with a cage bound male and unsupervised kids. I've raised my kids with many pet/breeder amazons and my kids had few problems with the pet birds and quickly learned to leave the breeders alone. There's nothing that can compare with a well socialized zon.

I plan on doing my best at socializing Jackie! I would love for her and my son to become buddies at some point... and it would be nice for anyone to hold Jackie since we have a lot of family she could interact with. I just wonder if I should wait for my son to have "hands on" access to Jackie until he's not so grabby. Right now he doesn't know his own strength and he can hurt the cat if he gets all grabby and yanks on him. Even our German Shepard will get up and move somewhere else if she knows he can grab her lol

 

[getwozzy]

I'm kind of in the opposite position. I have had birds for nearly 13 years now, and recently, my 2 year old nephew came to live with me, along with his parents.

My nephew, Hugh, does ok with dogs. Cats on the other hand? Well, not so well. It takes a very tolerant cat to ignore him. The cats he grew up with tolerate him far better than my cats do, and it's been just over 2 months since he's known my cats. Hugh likes to lay on his cats, strangle them, shove them, poke them in they eye. My cats can barely stand Hugh touching them. I know Hugh probably doesn't do those things to be mean, he just doesn't understand yet that you can't behave that way with animals.

I am reluctant to allow him to interact with the birds, although only one might allow it (most aren't tame). He enjoys seeing them and watching them, but until he learns to behave better with the cats, I take more caution with the birds.



That said, he does seem to take after his aunt (me) a lot! Even though an ocean separated us for most of his two years, he seems to behave more like I did as a toddler than my sister! LOL

I'm sorry but I kinda laughed when I read how Hugh does with cats lol it reminds me of my nephew who's 16 months old... They have cats in their house, and they just let the baby do whatever to them... These cats get hauled around, grabbed, poked, and who knows what else. Lol the cats at our house- no way. They will claw your eyes out if anyone tried that with them!

But I think I'm going to wait for my son to have "hands on" access to the birds until he's a little older and isn't so grabby. They can still hang out in the same area, just no grabbing lol

 

[MonicaMc]

That sounds right! Only, in my situation, the cats are in the same house-hold and hate each other! LOL (four cats total, two that are brother and sister, two that were adopted[?] at separate times in separate countries).

It's pretty much, you can look but no touch!

I've had Casey, my first tiel, since I was 13 years old. She's going to be 12 this year! I figure that she would be more receptive to a 'little one' than any of the other birds. She's also only ever bitten once in her entire lifetime, and recently, as well. She bit because she was terrified, and no other reason. I do not consider that one incident a reason to call her a biter, because she's not one, so I feel as if I can trust her with Hugh. It's just a matter of Hugh being more trustworthy with the animals.

 

[Constantine]

i got my BFA 20 days after i got married (2005), and since then i ve had three kids, 6, 4 and 1.5 now....the bird is bonded to me, and never attacks the kids, unless they try to grab it...so, all three kids have learned (the hard way), at a very EARLY age, not to try to grab the bird out of curiosity/amusement...recently, the kids have developed an interest in feeding the zon, handing him/her (??) pieces of food, which the zon accepts gladly, this minor interaction makes me quite happy...the zon seems to be tolerant of the kids, unless feeling threatened....however, the zon will ATTACK my wife...when fully feathered, he/she always follows me around the house (flying), to perch on/around me...if i close the doors and he/she cant find me, he/she ll fly on my wife and attack her, biting her...

 

[Peeker]

I am very protective of my grandson (age 2) around my birds. I will sometimes ask him "do we touch Ruby?" and quickly follow with the truth. "NO. She will bite you." And she would too.

IF I am holding a bird and he is interested I will let him pet their back but I don't allow him free interaction with them. I have a very friendly bird, a medium and a little spitfire so judge according on who is safe for touching. Mine are in a separate room and it's gated off from the dogs and the baby. We'll play it by ear as he gets older but for now he is far too young.

On the other hand, I also have small breed dogs and he is around them most of the time. We still watch him and know that if there is food in the room the dogs will be more competitive. It gives him a chance to learn how to act around pets and time for me to gage his maturity and ability to be around them.

 

[Kiwibird]

I don't have children yet, but I was raised in a home with 3 parrots (2 zons and a too'). One of the zons' took a liking to me from the moment I came home as a newborn (there's photos of her in my crib, she apparently decided I was her baby lol). The other 2 birds weren't as fond of me, but my parents kept their eye on them and raised me from a young age on how to properly interact with them. I actually only remember getting bitten once (by the too'), but that was because I dropped him trying to pick him up (I was about 4). My parents sat me down and explained why he bit me, and made me pick him up again that day so I wouldn't be scared of him.

Honestly, I think the key is to have well trained and socialized birds and to teach the child as young as possible how to act with the bird. I would also imagine constant supervision until the child is old enough to interact with the bird by themselves is also a good idea to make sure neither one gets injured. If the bird isn't yet socialized, its probably best to not allow the kid to physically interact with the bird until he/she is socialized.

 

[getwozzy]

Thanks everyone for your input!

I know it will be quite a while before either of them are ready to physically interact with each other, but when they get to that point I will do my best to make sure baby J understands how to interact with the birds, how to handle them appropriately, and how to care for them. I will also try my hardest to socialize Jackie as much as possible, work with her, train her, and learn her aggression cues.
Baby J loves to look at them, and he waves at them, and even knows them by their names... He's also adapted to Jackie's extremely loud amazon call lol

Even if/when they get to the point of physical interaction, it will definitely be supervised!