Birds Apartments/Condos Can it Work??? Insights?

[1CuteTiel]

Hi
Does anyone have experience living with their birds in an apartment or condo/townhouse - I am looking at options for moving but am not sure a place with shared walls and/or ceilings would work with birds. What if the neighbors use teflon pans and overheat them or they spray febreeze around their apartment everyday or what about bug spray???
If you have an experience with living in an apartment or condo or townhome with your birds positive or negative please share so I can make an informed decision!

Thank you!!!!

 

[usamimi]

We had a sun conure in our apartment before we moved back in the house. (renovations) I didn't have problems with neighbors or neighbors complaining unless the window was open and he'd talk to the other birds.

 

[antoinette]

We live in an complex that has 18 apartments. Mishka's now going onto 4 years old (had him since 6 weeks old) I have never had a problem, where anyone has complained about Mishka. Thank goodness he enjoys talking rather than screaming. As for spraying and Teflon pans, we are fortunate that our lounge is not anywhere near any of their kitchens, as we are situated at the end, on the corner. No one in our complex is allowed to braai (barbeque) on the balcony's thank goodness.

In previous apartments, where I had African Grey's, not once did I encounter a problem.

 

[noblemacaw]

I live in a end unit town home. Since I like to have my windows wide open when it is nice out the neighbors can hear my birds....umm...say things.... All my neighbors knows I have them and know to pretty much ignore what they are saying. My eclectus Joaquin was being insistent with taking him out of his cage but I was doing laundry and he said "I want out." I told him he had to be patient but he did not like my answer so he screamed "I WANT OUT NOW... OUT OUT OUT.... I WANT OUT NOW...HELP ME....HELP ME!" Needless to say a new neighbor heard this and called the cops on me. When I answered the door I was confused but when they told me they had a complaint of child abuse I let them in and told them my parrot was being naughty. Joaquin looked at the police and told them "Your WEIRD!"

The woes of living in a town home with a parrot.

Noblemacaw

 

[andrea.faerie]

I've never had a complaint about either of my fids I'm a college student with a police officer for a neighbor

 

[cnyguy]

I've lived in an apartment with both George the YCA and Ralph the Quaker, and have never had any problems or complaints. In a well-constructed building, the risk of dangerous fumes coming in from another apartment is likely to be small. In the building where I live, it's always possible to smell what other residents are cooking in the common hallways-- but the odors never come into my apartment. Likewise, I can hear Ralph's squawks in the hallway, near the apartment door, but he wouldn't be audible in adjoining apartments. A former neighbor had a very noisy DYH Amazon, and the only complaint about him came from someone outside the apartment complex, more than a block away!

 

[Remy]

I have my caique in an apartment and he's okay. Sometimes I worry if he's making loud noises late at night, but my neighbors haven't complained. I only have an upstairs neighbor though, and Puck isn't loud most of the time.

In once place I lived I would occasionally smell cigarette smoke coming through the vents... it was weird. It didn't happen very often though, and if I'd had Puck then I would have probably complained about it.

 

[Bright Star]

I live in a end unit town home. Since I like to have my windows wide open when it is nice out the neighbors can hear my birds....umm...say things.... All my neighbors knows I have them and know to pretty much ignore what they are saying. My eclectus Joaquin was being insistent with taking him out of his cage but I was doing laundry and he said "I want out." I told him he had to be patient but he did not like my answer so he screamed "I WANT OUT NOW... OUT OUT OUT.... I WANT OUT NOW...HELP ME....HELP ME!" Needless to say a new neighbor heard this and called the cops on me. When I answered the door I was confused but when they told me they had a complaint of child abuse I let them in and told them my parrot was being naughty. Joaquin looked at the police and told them "Your WEIRD!"

The woes of living in a town home with a parrot.

Noblemacaw

Oh, I'd love to meet Joaquin! He sounds like a riot

I purposely chose a 'quieter' parrot as I live in an apartment. Luckily, he is fairly quiet

 

[NatWatson]

I'm in a duplex, 2 houses joined down the middle and our only concern is that all the surrounding neighbors are close. Everyone around me is selling up, so I wonder if I should take that as a sign

No, I've never had issues and my boys love to scream along with the flocks of corellas, galahs and toos as they pass over. Un-bird people prolly dont know the difference lol.

 

[Spiritbird]

I did live in a condo and now live in a small apartment. The two birds do get lound at times but not so much to get complaints.

 

[thermodynamic]

Hi
Does anyone have experience living with their birds in an apartment or condo/townhouse - I am looking at options for moving but am not sure a place with shared walls and/or ceilings would work with birds. What if the neighbors use teflon pans and overheat them or they spray febreeze around their apartment everyday or what about bug spray???
If you have an experience with living in an apartment or condo or townhome with your birds positive or negative please share so I can make an informed decision!

Thank you!!!!

I'm in a complex - top floor, by a firewall, and the birds are kept in the bedroom.

Thankfully, for 5 years, the downstairs neighbor has not complained. Mine only get loud in the morning when the sun comes up. Maybe some loudness at night, but as I don't neglect them they never scream.

I have three green cheek conures (have thought about rescuing a fourth but they do take time to remain human-friendly, but one is content with humans remaining at a distance). Granted, a fourth might cause some jealousy issues, or maybe not.

I would NOT get a Caique, Quaker, Amazon, Sun/Jardines/Blue Crown conure. GCCs are by and large the only quiet conure around (and maroon bellied conures).

Pionus, African Gray, GCCs, Senegals/meyers, cockatiels, are all great apartment birds.

 

[mtdoramike]

I have a Senegal and she is not an apartment by far.

 

[Mayden]

I live in a town house and have done in the past two houses with Merlin now. I've sometimes been a bit anxious about him and the noise (especially with it being springtime now!) but I've not had a complaint, so all is well.

Merlin's a senegal, so one of the 'quieter' birds, but by no means quiet!

 

[HalfInsane]

Pixel, my senegal, is usually pretty quiet. She can be quite loud in the morning when she wants to; it is rare, but she's also young and may become more vocal as she gets older. She certainly is not a screamer but her little morning sound off can hit some high pitches when she gets really exuberant about it. I rent a whole house though, so I don't have to worry about apartment neighbors. I don't think she'd be a problem in a well insulated building; an older apartment I might have some concerns about.

The problem with generalizing certain birds as 'quiet' is that, while most members of a parrot species may in fact be quiet, that doesn't mean there aren't loud individuals. Just as there are quiet individuals of 'loud' species. It is also important to realize that screaming is a learned behavior, and can develop in any species. The good thing is you do have a great deal of control over whether your bird learns to scream or not.

And finally, one's definition of 'loud' can vary. My old lovebird didn't bother me, but plenty of people described her as extremely noisy. If your neighbors happen to be the sort that hate ANY noise, you might be in for trouble.

I'm not saying by any means don't get a bird, just take the many factors into consideration. I'd also recommend looking in to adopting an older bird if possible; an adult parrot already has a well developed personality and set of behaviors, so you'll know whether or not he/she is a quiet individual. You just never know with babies.

 

[Tswift]

I live in an apartment with two caiques who can definitely get loud during the day, but they are quiet in the early morning and at night. I have also fostered a severe macaw and I am currently fostering a very loud eclectus who loves to yell high-pitched screams (right as I typed this he yelled his "telephone" impression, haha)

I have not had a single complaint (I have lived here about a year) and my apartment doesn't even allow dogs. I'd say it just depends who your neighbors are. My landlord said they have a good amount of people living in the apartment with parrots, but I have never heard them.

As with smoke, you should fine. I smelled weed (mostly college kids live here) coming through the vents once or twice, but I just close the vents to the bird room if that happens. Plus, it gives me a great back-fire if they complain about my birds one day

 

[mcw009]

My parakeet can get pretty loud, but not very often. The budgies yammer all day but they're too little to really make a real racket. So we've had no problems in the 2 apartments I've shared with them.
The first one, I had 2 flatmates, and it was in a complex. No one ever expressed annoyance with them; the girl who shared wall with us in the apartment specifically said they never bothered her, even though she's not a bird person. I did clear getting birds with both of them beforehand, though.

My current apartment isn't a complex; it's a house retrofitted into 4 little apartments. My lease specifically forbids birds but I'm 99% sure my landlady knows I have them and doesn't mind; I think she picked out a lease with a no-pets clause more so she wouldn't end up with loose animals tearing it up (apparently you can buy leases at places like Staples). My downstairs neighbors have cats, too. I know he can hear my parakeet when the window's open but he likes him.

So there's my experience. Perhaps a little unusual, and I've possibly been lucky, but it's been fine.

 

[Wulfgeist]

I live in an apartment but it's not a complex, it's a converted garage behind my landlord's. There is a one-bedroom unit under me but it has problems and has long been used for storage so he doesn't rent it. Tico I can hear outside with the windows closed, he gets wound up when I come and go. Jasper so far chatters and whistles and doesn't shriek or scream. My landlord is an animal lover so he's pretty cool with pets as long as you take care of them and don't let them tear up the place.

On that note I tried to point out what damage had been done by previous tenents and their ferrets. Their cage was clearly in one corner of this room, the floor and baseboards soaked with urine, they had run of the lower cabinets and one of them was their toilet along with every corner in the place (as ferrets will do, back into a corner)

 

[QuackQuack]

In my personal opinion, any of the conures would not work in a traditional apartment building where you share walls unless you had permission and terribly understanding neighbors. A townhouse would be OK. Again, I say this with my conures. There are definitely more quiet specimens. Mine aren't actually that loud it is just when they do sound off for 15 mins at dusk and at lunchtime I could see someone complaining. Hope this helps! I can attest that the screeching doesn't usually come to fruition for the day if I do my computer work or something in the same room as them during the morning - then they skip the lunchtime scream