Experienced Conure owners, some questions for you!

[CavySpirit]

Hi X3 I'm a senior in high school about to go to college within the next year and I've been thinking about getting myself a parrot to keep me company since I plan on moving into an apartment.

But I really would like to get a bird as soon as possible when I'm still living with my dad so I can have time to properly train it rather than bring home a young, obnoxious bird that I'll end up having to get rid of because of it disturbing apartment neighbors.

My dad won't let me get a bird because he says they're noisy, messy, dirty animals. I know they're noisy and can be messy, but the messiness I can deal with and the noisiness I can work with(with training and attention).

The bird I'm interested in getting is a Green Cheek Conure since they're small, adorable, and not as expensive as other parrots. I also like them for their shorter life span, that way I won't be worrying about what'll happen to the birdy once I'm gone XD

I already know where I can get this bird from. There's an Aviary close by and several breeders that I've looked up. What I'm needing some help on is convincing my dad to let me get a bird in the first place lol He had budgies a long time ago so I think he's basing his judgement on birds with the ones he owned in the past. Basically, he thinks they're not interesting.

Some things I'd like to know from experienced owners of Conures:

-How noisy are they even when trained to be more calm or quiet and is there anything that helps to keep your bird quiet?

-How easy are they to potty train?

-What sort of veterinary care is required for these birds in general(like check-ups and when you first get your bird).

-Would it be better to clip the wings or allow the bird to fly occasionally for exercise(in a controlled environment of course, free of hazards)?

-And are there any negative qualities Conures possess?

Also, if you can answer this, how much a month do you typically spend caring for a single Conure?

Thanks for reading and to anyone who answers questions, thanks to you too! c:

 

[jasongover]

-How noisy are they even when trained to be more calm or quiet and is there anything that helps to keep your bird quiet? Green Cheeks are pretty quiet atleast mine is but then again he is spoiled. he is almost never in his cage and also kind of demands alot of time. ALL Conures like to spend a lot of time with there humans

-How easy are they to potty train? Mine Green cheek was very easy to train just takes time

-What sort of veterinary care is required for these birds in general(like check-ups and when you first get your bird).
when you bring the bird home you should take him to a vet just to make sure you have a healthy bird. Ideally check up visits should be every 6 months

-Would it be better to clip the wings or allow the bird to fly occasionally for exercise(in a controlled environment of course, free of hazards)?
I would never let me bird be fully flighted because there are so many dangers for him.

-And are there any negative qualities Conures possess? with all birds there are negatives and it very a lot between the different breeds

Also, if you can answer this, how much a month do you typically spend caring for a single Conure?
My bird is typically out of his cage when ever i'm home. atleast 5 hrs most of the time more

 

[andrea.faerie]

Allo! I'm a full time college Junior (3rd year) with 19 credit hours of lecture on top of 12 lab hours a week and a part-time job. I also have a Black cap conure (the supposed quietest of the conures, and the smallest conure) and a blue headed pionus. My landlord agreed to me having pets and it is outlined specifically in my lease. So now that you've got some background on me... here's my answers


-How noisy are they even when trained to be more calm or quiet and is there anything that helps to keep your bird quiet?

Lucy is well trained behaviorally. She's rather quiet and keeps herself entertained on her play perch or on the back of the couch and even in her cage with all her toys. However, she screeches very loudly whenever I leave for class or if she's trying to get my attention. It's not difficult to get her to stop but when she screeches it is VERY loud. I'm inclined to think it causes hearing damage LOL She screeched on my shoulder one time and I heard ringing for another 15 minutes.

-How easy are they to potty train?

Define "potty train" haha birds and poop go hand in hand. If you don't want to get pooped on, consider a fish LOL they can be trained to go on command (which can cause some serious problems if trained to think that's the only time they're allowed to go!) and can be trained to go in a certain spot... but I think it's just easier to know your bird's signals and move him/her to a napkin or something before you get pooped on. Peroxide makes a good cleaning agent to get bird poop off a white couch I've found

-What sort of veterinary care is required for these birds in general(like check-ups and when you first get your bird).

Take your bird to an avian vet. They'll do a general check up and it's good to be established with a vet in case of emergencies.

-Would it be better to clip the wings or allow the bird to fly occasionally for exercise(in a controlled environment of course, free of hazards)?

You'll get mixed opinions with this one. Personally, my birds are clipped. I don't want to risk losing them in any way to their flight ability wether it be a freak accident that they crash into something or that they fly out the door/window. I'm considering letting them be flighted once I graduate as I've got a personal aviary in the works for when I move after I complete my degree

-And are there any negative qualities Conures possess?

They are birds? haha birds have a lot of negative qualities depending on who you ask. My mom thinks they're creepy and dirty and smelly. My dad thinks they're wonderfully intelligent creatures and make great life long friends he had 3 macaws and his brother had 2 growing up.
Conures like to bathe, which can make a wet mess out of their cage if they bathe in their bowl. It can create a smelly, bacteria filled mess of the bottom of the cage if left unattended. Lucy gets a bath daily outside of her cage. I take her into the shower with me haha. She also has a frisbee that I put on the kitchen floor for her to bathe and play in while she's out and about in the living room, I let her have free roam of the house while I'm home.
they can be VERY VERY loud, as I said before. Even though people will say "oh my conure is so quiet..." that's just because they haven't been screeched at yet I think... They're generally quiet in the aspect that they don't make noise often, however, they do make QUITE a ruckus when they're feeling that they need to be heard. The general chatter isn't too loud at all though, Lucy chatters like a whisper before bed and when she's playing, like a little kid with a new toy haha she's all over it and she wants to kill it!

Also, if you can answer this, how much a month do you typically spend caring for a single Conure?
Basing 30 days in a month and 24 hours in a day... 750 hours. That's 25 hours a day haha. Being a parent to anything is a full time job. If one of my pets wakes up in the middle of the night and is making strange noises I don't ignore it because it's my "time off" They rely on me to care for and comfort them when they need it. For example, Bleu, my pionus, flew off his perch and started chattering on the floor 3 nights in a row and gawd-awful in the morning, but regardless i jumped out of bed and sat on the floor with him until he calmed down, one night taking an hour to calm him, so that I could put him back on his perch. I didn't go back to sleep until I knew he was asleep.

also, keep in mind that these birds are definitely LIFE LONG companions. Conures aren't short lived creatures. Granted, you won't have to will them to your kids, but Conures can get up there in age with the big birds, my aunt had a sun conure for 43 years.

 

[bonita]

p.s. potty training i never known anyone sucessful.Iwould say $ 40-$50 a month not counting medical cost. If you are a good parront its not that much medical.Also i left my birds flighted.Birds are meant to fly.I think clipping confuses them.Hope it helps! Bonita

 

[hiriki]

Coming from someone who adopted my conure during college, I don't recommend it for you. I RESCUED, when it comes to birds I don't recommend buying as they're frequently abandoned & the worst thing that can happen is you deciding you don't want your bird anymore and adding to the abandoned bird population.

My reasoning is this: if you're at all concerned about noisiness you need to understand it CAN'T be trained out. Birds are noisy. They tend to make noise early morning, sometime around noon, and then again when it starts to get dark out. My experience is that once it's dark they'll quiet down, but even covered my conure will get noisy if I'm keeping her up, which I guarantee as a young person (who probably has roommates) you will keep her up at night.

Covering is a good tool to keep your birds on a regular sleep schedule & nice and warm at night, I don't personally use cage covers but I know many folks do, but it's an AWFUL and abusive habit to get into covering birds during odd hours during the day just to shut them up. If you think you'd be tempted then reconsider adding a bird to your family.

Birds CAN'T be potty trained either. You can train a bird to poop on command but you can't train a bird not to poop whenever and wherever they please. It's a physiological instinct based on flight - a bird can't have "extra baggage" when flying, so they'll poop often regardless of what you attempt to train them to do. Many birds also have "nest poops" in the morning, my conure literally waits until I let her out to unload the grosses, hugest poop so that's why I've taught her to poop on command - she'll wait long enough for me to hold her above a trash can, but if I don't deliver her to a trashcan immediately she'll poop wherever.

Finally, I urge you to understand that "shorter lifespan" usually still means 20+ years for a conure. If you're counting on death to relieve you from the responsibility during the unstable housing situation young folks often deal with after college, don't get a conure. It's absolutely not fair to the bird to have that kind of expectation, and abandoning a bird at a rescue not only strains the rescue's resources (which tend to be much more limited than a cat/dog shelter anyway), it also puts the bird through trauma. It's not a minor adjustment. It means going from a single bird household to very suddenly being thrown into an environment FULL of other birds and other bird noise, often aggressive neighbors etc, and losing the person they've bonded with all at once. Parrots will remember those they love. I've seen parrots jump with joy if their old owners visit the rescue to see them several years later... they don't forget.
(Actually you might have meant in case of your death which is fair, I get that.)

I know you want a conure. But you're not *entitled* to a conure. If I could go back in time I don't know if I would do it again when I did - although my conure chose me and waiting may have cost me the chance to bring her home, I was an absolute terror to neighbors for several years & my roommates often hated me.

As for vet care, exotic (avian) vets are the only competent vets you can find for checkups, and I pay $75 for mine (near Chicago, cost of living is high here, you may find vet bills as low as $45 but no lower). Blood work is recommended once every few years and that costs me $150.

If you do get a bird, which I really think you shouldn't in case that's not evident, I personally don't clip wings. As someone else said the community is split on this one but a bird is meant to fly, you're already confining them inside so it's better to change your environment to keep them safe rather than changing their body to restrict them, in my opinion.

 

[Cycletim]

All parrots are noisy. We used to have a Jenday conure. She was a total lover. She was not noisy she was LOUD but, all birds are different. She just wanted our attention. The less attention we gave her the louder she would become. We loved her very much and miss her. As with all pets their is a tremendous commitment. Parrots are very smart and have different needs than domesticated dogs and cats. Learning their cues and signals takes some time, in other words you need time. Not sure if a conure is the best choice for a student. To be honest, a cat would be a better choice for a Young or busy person in my opinion, they are happy always. There are tons of sweet cats that need homes. My wife and I were in our mid 20's when we got our conure (out of college) and she was almost in need of more time than we could give her. Hope that helps good luck.