Interested in Ringneck - a few questions

[Muzzy]

I know these sorts of questions can be searched, but I always like to get fresh perspectives if possible.

There is a hand raised Indian Ringneck available near me, 13 weeks old, that I am considering.

First, how different are male and female ringnecks? This prospective bird is a female. In the past I have preferred male birds, but I am not set on that.
Do the females tend to pick up speech as well as the males? Not a big deal either way, just curious.

How are ringnecks with families and bonding?
Our household is me, my wife and our 9 year old daughter. We currently have a 2 year old Green Cheek that is friendly with all of us, though he does prefer me.
Do ringnecks tend to get along with everyone if the whole family participates in handling?

Lastly, any experience with Green Cheeks and Ringnecks? I know it depends on the bird.
I suspect that this Ringneck, being so young, would be apt to accept another bird just fine. My Green Cheek would likely need some persuasion to accept another bird.

Any experience potty training Ringnecks? My Green Cheek knows the command "go poop", but he still will happily go wherever, which drives my wife crazy. I know Ringnecks are very intelligent - anyone had luck getting them to fly to their perch when it is time to "go"?

Any other thoughts you may think would be useful to a perspective owner would be appreciated! Thanks

 

[maverickbull]

IRNs are little rascals... Intelligent... Love teasing everyone in the house. They get a kick out of it I guess. My IRN teases my Grey (some 5 times his size...) So you will have a good time

M/ F - I'd say it doesn't make any difference in the speech side. They do mimic a lot so you will enjoy that. Females tend to be more aggressive compared to the males. But then this is a generic idea so individual birds might be different.

Family - IRNs do well with families if introduced to a larger group very early. My IRN will readily go to anyone's shoulder even a complete stranger. He loves kids. So just ensure everyone spends sometime with the new fid.

GCC - I haven't had any conures ever so no idea. But 2 birds bonding would depend on them. Your GCC might get jealous because the new kid is getting all the attention. So be careful there. Your introduction is very critical. There are a lot of pages here that should help you with the introduction.

Potty training - I haven't done that... But should be possible as my IRN is trained to do a few tricks. Don't forget they are naughty and might poop just to trouble you. Compared to my grey & alexandrine... my IRN's pooping is not so difficult to clean.

You gonna have a lot of fun.

 

[itchyfeet]

From what I have heard, females can talk as well as males, but I only have one confirmed male and one suspect male.

Both of my pair go to anyone. Henry was hand reared and well handled by many before I got him at just under a year old. Clarke couldn't be touched when he came to be, but was supposedly hand-reared. They are both my birds but will take whatever shoulder time they can get with whoever. Our kids are 7 & 9.

My flock get on fine. The lovebird calls the shots. No conures. All flighted so they can get their own space if they need it.

My birds aren't potty trained. Part laze, part the fear that they just might not go when required and get 'backed up'.

 

[SilverSage]

I know these sorts of questions can be searched, but I always like to get fresh perspectives if possible.



There is a hand raised Indian Ringneck available near me, 13 weeks old, that I am considering.



First, how different are male and female ringnecks? This prospective bird is a female. In the past I have preferred male birds, but I am not set on that.

Do the females tend to pick up speech as well as the males? Not a big deal either way, just curious.



How are ringnecks with families and bonding?

Our household is me, my wife and our 9 year old daughter. We currently have a 2 year old Green Cheek that is friendly with all of us, though he does prefer me.

Do ringnecks tend to get along with everyone if the whole family participates in handling?



Lastly, any experience with Green Cheeks and Ringnecks? I know it depends on the bird.

I suspect that this Ringneck, being so young, would be apt to accept another bird just fine. My Green Cheek would likely need some persuasion to accept another bird.



Any experience potty training Ringnecks? My Green Cheek knows the command "go poop", but he still will happily go wherever, which drives my wife crazy. I know Ringnecks are very intelligent - anyone had luck getting them to fly to their perch when it is time to "go"?



Any other thoughts you may think would be useful to a perspective owner would be appreciated! Thanks

Sorry, I meant to reply days ago and I got distracted! I actually raise IRNs so hopefully I can be helpful.

While females can learn to mimic, males are usually much better talkers. My females mimic other bird sounds, give kisses, wolf whistle, and one of them says “aaaaawww” but no actual words. Of course some males don’t mimic at all. I find the females to be more affectionate as a rule, and the males to be more goofy. It’s sexes make extremely good pets.

Like with any bird it really is important to socialize them properly, but because ringnecks are not monotonous, they tend to be great at bonding with a whole family rather than just one person.

Ringnecks are VERY DIFFERENT than conures, please read my article on the differences, attached here.

http://www.silversageaviaries.com/new-page-2/

As far as the two birds together that depends entirely on the individual birds and how you introduce them. Mine have never gotten along but they coexist just fine given enough space. Other people have ringnecks and conures that adore each other.

Here is a great article on potty training
https://theparrotuniversity.com/potty-training-your-bird-72-hours

As a last note; ringnecks are unique. Some of them go completely wild the instant they wean no matter how hard you worked raising them. I typically experience this with about 30%, but some breeders report this happening as often as 90% of the time. Often these completely wild babies will be sold as “hand raised just needs some work” or other LIE that suggests that the bird, even though wild, will make a good pet in time. While this is often true of cockatiels, conures, and other parrots it is almost NEVER true with Indian Ringnecks. If you want a pet bird to interact with your family, get a pet that is already tame. The bird should step up calmly and be comfortable with hands. If you aren’t meeting the bird before buying it, require a VIDEO of the seller taking her out of the cage, petting her, etc. do not accept pictures, those are too easy to fake.



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