Looking at adding to my flock - need advice

[josiahdham]

First off, I’m going to apologize for this entirely to long post but I’m a very dedicated parent to my little animal family and don’t want to miss any details.

Hey all, I’m sorry I didn’t know where to post this but, I have of course gotten to the point where I am thinking about adding to my flock. Linda my GCC is now officially a year old and is just a little stinker. Her favorite past times are torturing my bigger dog(Felicity a dachshund mix) and of course being a curious adventurer. I am officially looking at adding to my flock but am conflicted on what type. I’m currently looking at Quaker’s, Pionus or a Meyers. And I am of course always open to other suggestions.

First a little about what I am looking for and my household. My household consists of me, my SO(significant other) my 2 dogs felicity and duke(dachshund mix and Maltese mix), my cat duchess and of course my GCC Linda. I do live in a duplex so noise is somewhat of a concern to me but most of the family time is spent in the living which is on the opposite end of the shared wall of our house.
Linda is definitely a vocal little lady when she wants to be(typically when a phone rings on the TV) but most people don’t even know I have a parrot until they come inside my house. In fact when my parents came to visit they forgot she was even there until I would go and talk to her. Linda is definitely bonded to me but she tolerates my SO(will let him get her off of her playstand or furniture but not her cage as an example). It took some training on his part to avoid the nips . Currently, Linda is out of her cage about 7-9 hours a day and pretty much all day on the weekends.

I guess my question is what type do you think would be the most suitable for my household? Given the shared wall noise is somewhat of a concern but as we all know parrots can be noisy . We are definitely a relaxed household but a lot can be going on when the dogs get to playing. I am not concerned about the ability to talk at all as Linda just mimics noises(especially kissy noises). We are definitely a routine household that everyone knows exactly what is going to happen and at what time. Linda is not a big cuddler but she likes to be talked to and carried around on my hand from time to time and wants to be where the action is(playstand in the dining room so she can see me while cooking but from a safe distance). I guess my biggest wants/concerns are noise level(we all know it’s going to happen just how often but again the noise would be traveling through 3 walls to reach my neighbors) personality is my biggest thing and the ability to communicate a want/need(Linda displays different behaviors for different needs such as tapping on the side of her water dish when she wants to take a bath).

Based on what my concerns and wants are, does anyone have any concerns with the 3 types I mentioned(Quaker, Pionus and Meyers) or any other suggestions?

 

[ChristaNL]

I am sooooo going to be the party-pooper here. <sorry about that>


First: there is this forum-rule about NOT showing parrots in potential lethal situations because it gives newbies a false idea of responsable parrotkeeping.
Having your parrot in the killzone of a cat as wel as a dogs is not a good thing anyway.

You probably trust your animals not to harm the wee little feathered snack dangling in front of their faces... I dont!. Hunting instincs eventually always win out over domestication and/ or training.
(It is always the favorite tiger that mangles and kills the liontamer!)

-
so far the pictures, now back to your question...


Your bird probably has not gone through puberty yet, and trust me, you will have your hands full, and your undivided attention will be needed when that happens.
(If she is an early bird and that is already happened - my appologies of course)
I always recommend waiting with getting another one (you probably want another baby instead of a rehomer?) till the first one has grown up and is a stabile character.


So wait another year (or two) before getting a second bird.

 

[josiahdham]

My apologies! Didn't realize it was in the rules but totally understand! These are rare situations as they usually don't let her close enough.


She has gone through puberty. Firm No's were a common theme. I'm more of looking to add a new member in at the very least 6 months. Just trying to narrow down my search so I can be better prepared for when the time comes.

 

[Allee]

Thank you for removing the photos, ChristaNL is correct, we do not allow photos of predators and prey animals to be posted on the forums. We’ve all seen the videos and cute pics of canines, felines, rodents etc. playing with parrots, I’m guessing these photos make a lot of people smile but those people probably have never offered condolences to a forum friend after a family pet killed the family bird in a horrific way. It happens more frequently than you can imagine and it happens to the nicest people and pets. If you allow your bird to freely roam the house with your dogs and cat you are extremely lucky to still have a bird. It’s easy to believe the dogs we adore would never, ever do such a terrible thing or that a cat is too well trained to disobey a verbal command, they will, they are hard wired to go after prey animals, it has nothing to do with how gentle and intelligent they are and everything to do with what they are. Chaos is often a contributing factor in a tragic event. The doorbell rings, barking ensues, the cat jumps and runs, the bird flies, five minutes later an accident has occurred that can never be undone. I know that sounds harsh and I’m sorry for that but I’d be a lot sorrier to see one of your posts in the bereavement section.

The size of your GCC should be a major consideration if you are planning on both birds being out of their cages together. I don’t have conures but a lot of our members do, hopefully they’ll be along soon to offer species specific advice.

Best of luck with your future family member, please share the details with us.

 

[Laurasea]

We have all jumped on the no no no do not allow your dogs and parrots to interact. I have four dogs, they are trained to give me a out five feet of space if I have a parrot out. I never let the parrots go near the dogs either, and they are free flighted in the house when I am with them. We have had so many deaths by cat and dogs reported here.
As for a new parrot, I'm team quaker, I just love them, but they can be loud, at least mine are. And they are plunty smart and social so need lots of activities and attention. You can often find them being rehomed and still be a wonderful bird people just sometime aren't prepared for the time and commitment. When you meet an adult parrot you can often instantly tell if you both have good chemistry with each other. Read up on introductions and quarantine of new bird so as not to introduce diseases to your current parrot. Quakers are allopreener species same as green cheeck so that increases your odds of them getting along, not sure if that is true for myeres parrots. You have to really reassure your first parrot when you bring home a new one or your GCC will be mad mad mad. Do not plan on keeping the birds in the same cage, a d do be prepared that they might never get along. My flock does well except for one of my quakers and my GCC , the GCC bullies her if given a chance, but loves my other one dearly. I think if you DNA that your GCC is female, getting a male parrot increases the odds of them getting along. Though I know we have a member who has mixed species girls who are very close. Anyway I'm team Quaker , just read up on them, many are very agressive protectors of their cage but lovies once outside of the cage.

 

[RemiBird]

My dogs know not to mess with Remi, the boss. LOL

 

[josiahdham]

Hopefully I hit all of the comments with this!

I do plan for both of them to be out of their cages at the same time. Cages will be in the same room but opposite sides of the room(can easily move one to the dining room if they decide they need space). My living room is 22ft X 14ft(I have a very odd living room).

Linda’s current cage(upgraded her from her old cage)is roughly 56” tall, 36” wide and 36” deep(inside dimensions. I’m pretty sure it’s taller but can’t find my tape measure). And I plan on the new feathered buddy to be in a similar size cage unless I need a bigger one. There’s a play stand on top of her cage as well as a separate one beside my computer and another one in the dining room. I plan to add 1 more when the new feathered friend comes along(depending on how well they get along. Potentially more of them).

Linda does quite well with change(minus puberty. God forbid I would remove her swing and replace it with a new one that looked exactly like it. That was an exciting time)But, she’s never been around other birds. I have more experience with people and the like coming into the home.

Laurasea, I honestly never thought about getting a Quaker until I ran across one at petco that I wanted to rescue from the horrid place but I started looking into them more after meeting that little guy. But I’m still fairly ignorant about Quakers as I have done the least amount of research on them. I greatly appreciate your feedback on them!

 

[wrench13]

hi. firstly, why do you want a second parrot? thats a BIG question

 

[EllenD]

Okay, so all that I'm going to say that is even partly-negative (since everything else has already been said) is that NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF BIRD YOU GET, even if you were to get a second Green Cheek Conure, you need to be ready to accept the fact that they may or may not get along with your current Green Cheek, and they may or may not be able to be out of their cage at the same time as your current Green Cheek. And unfortunately whenever you're putting two parrots together, regardless of their species, gender, age, etc., doesn't matter at all, you will NEVER have any idea what kind of relationship/bond they are going to have unitl you get past the new bird's 30-day Quarantine period and then finally introduce them, and even then it usually takes a good while before you're going to know what type of relationship they are going to have. Parrots are amazingly like people in the way that they interact with each other and in all the different dynamics they have between each other. They might love each other, bond closely, and if of the opposite sex they might start mating. They may like each other very much, but not enough to mate or share their "territories' with each other. They may simply "tolerate" each other and not really bother with each other in any way at all. They may dislike each other but not be aggressive with each other unless one of them comes too close or invades the other's territory, or if they become jealous over sharing their other "Flockmates", meaning you and the other people who live in your home....And finally, they might absolutely HATE each other and become extremely aggressive and violent whenever they are allowed to be out of their cages at the same time...And you have to realize that any of these different types of relationships can also be totally one-sided as well, where one bird really likes the other and keeps trying to bond with the other by attempting to feed them, preen them, sit against them, etc., and the other bird simply hates the other bird and becomes aggressive and violent with them (this is usually a jealousy situation where a new bird is brought home in a Flock where there has been a lone bird by itself for an extended period of time, and then suddenly they have to share with another bird)...

So the bottom-line is no matter what type of second-bird you bring home to add to your family, you need to be totally prepared to not be able to allow them to be out of their cages at the same time at all, or possibly allowing them to be out of their cages at the same time but only when very closely supervised with you or someone else always close by to separate them. I'm not saying that this is how it's going to be, it might be the exact opposite and they'll bond so closely that they start to ignore you (the other possible extreem, though rare)...But that's the point, no matter what your plan is going into bringing a new bird home, you need to be ready to modify or totally change it, because otherwise you'll be risking the welfare of your birds, especially if you decide to bring home a species of parrot that is larger than your Green Cheek, as all 3 that you mentioned above are...

Now that I got all that negative stuff out of the way, I love your plan of having their separate cages both in the living-room/main-room of your home but on opposite sides of the room. That's perfect. You're keeping them both in the main-room of your home so they can always be a part of the "Flock" when you're home, but you're also going to allow them to each have their own, separate "territories" that are not even touching or close enough to cause a problem, but so they can still see each other and talk to each other all the time. It's a good plan.

Now, as far as the 3 parrot species you mentioned...I own 2 of them (well, I own a Quaker and a Senegal, and the Myers and the Senegals are very similar in size, personality, vocality, etc.)...So I can offer some insight into 2 out of 3 of them, and maybe a little into the Pionus only because I've worked with them at the Rescue over the years, though they are much, much less common than the other two, and I think that the Pionus owners will agree with me when I say that it is going to depend on exactly what species of Pionus you're thinking about, because they are not all the same, in fact they are very different in personality. So exactly what species of Pionus are you thinking about?

As far as the Quaker Parrots go, I totally agree with Laura. I'm a huge fan, and I actually pay for a yearly permit that allows me to keep my Blue Quaker Parrot, Lita, in a state that doesn't allow them as pets unless you can declare them as a source of income, just like you can with a pet Primate or a Sugar Glider/Hedgehog here. That's how much I love my Quaker Parrot. I got Lita from her breeder when she was 10 weeks old and had just finished her hand-feeding/weaning. She will turn 4 years-old in June, and I just love her to death. Quakers are extremely intelligent, they tend to be very good talkers (even my Lita, who is a female, is a pretty good talker), and they are extremelly social parrots. They need a lot of daily attention and interaction, otherwise they will let you know about it...And as Laura already mentioned, THEY CAN BE VERY LOUD! They have a pretty high volume-level when they want to, and they can be "noisy", but they still aren't anywhere near the noise/volume level of say a Sun or Jenday Conure...They absolutely love attention and are little love bugs, and they are also the little "clowns" of the parrot-world...I don't know about Laura's two Quakers, but Lita has ALWAYS loved nothing else better than DANCING! Every time ANY music comes on, whether it's a TV commercial or just me singing to myself, she immediately starts breakin' it down! She's absolutely hilarious, she will roll-over onto her back with her feet up in the air when she wants scritches (she's a weirdo, lol). And she mimics EVERYTHING she hears and everything I say...She makes the sound that my phone makes perfectly. She mimics commercials that she's heard several times...And she also apes the sounds the other birds make, so i don't know if it's her or the actual other bird calling to me! She's just a pleasure and a little sweetheart, and I wouldn't hesitate to add another Quaker to my flock at any time, she's just a joy to have...Oh, and she also does love to cuddle at night before bedtime while I'm reading or watching TV, she loves to just cuddle against my neck for hours if I let her, and she actually "purrs" like a kitten while she's doing it...So except for the fact that they do have a very high volume when they want to, otherwise I'd say that a Quaker would be a great choice...Keep in-mind that a Quaker will be a bit larger than your Green Cheek in overall-size, but a Quaker's beak is actually much larger than a Green Cheek's beak, so you may or may not have to keep them separated when they're out of their cages...My Green Cheek and my Quaker actually get along quite well, but they have their moments where they'll be snuggles with each other and one starts preening the other and BAM!, they start fighting, so I never allow them to be together when I'm not present and actually able to watch them full-time, because Lita could quite literally rip Bowie's (my Green Cheek) beak right off his face if she wanted to...But you'll have to be aware of this no matter what species of second bird you bring home...

 

[EllenD]

I forgot about the Myers Parrot, lol...I have a male Senegal, Kane, who I brought home from his breeder at the age of 12 weeks old; he was hand-raised and had a wonderful breeder. I have also had a lot of experience working with pretty much all the other species of Poicephalus Parrots at the Rescue I work at, the only one that I've never had the pleasure of working wiith, unfortunately because I'd LOVE to meet one and work with them, is a Cape Parrot (the largest of Poicephalus parrots by-far, about 3 to 4 times the size of a Senegal, Myers, Red-Bellied, Brown-Throated, etc., and about twice the size of a Jardine). Honestly, and maybe some Myers owners can chime-in here since I've not actually owned a Myers parrot, but based on the many Myers Parrots I've worked with over the years at the Rescue (probably twice the number of Myers parrots as Senegals), really the only significant difference between the two really is their color. Their size is exactly the same, their personalities are extremely similar, and their vocality and volume are pretty much the same.

The first thing I'll say about a Myers is that noise/volume is definitely NOT going to be any problem at all. The Poicephalus parrots in-general are pretty quiet, and though they have the ability to have some volume when they want to, it seldom happens. So noise/sound will not be any issue at all for you with a Myers...They are about twice the size of the Quaker parrot, but would be smaller than most of the Pionus species, or possibly the same size, it just depends on what Pionus you're thinking about...

The Myers parrots are extreely intelligent, with the ability to learn just about anything you want to teach them....While all of my birds are extremely intelligent, it was pretty obvious almost immediately after bringing Kane home that his intelligence and his ability to understand things was on a different level than the others. And from my experience at the Rescue with any of the Pionus species, they are also extremely intelligent and capable of pretty much anything you want them to learn...

***I decided that I wanted a Senegal Parrot/Myers Parrot/Red-Bellied Parrot based on my experiences with them at the Rescue over the years...However, before I brought Kane home, I had read a lot of people here in this forum and others talk negatively about the Senegals, Myers, Jardines, etc. as far as their personalities. They were often called "stubborn", and a lot of people said that they weren't very affectionate or cuddly, that they didn't like human-interaction much, etc...But I'm glad that I didn't listen to them because Kane is the sweetest, most-loving little cuddle-bug in the world. He's no less loving, "cuddly", or affectionate towards me than any of the other birds, even Bowie my Green Cheek. Kane loves to cuddle, he loves scratches, he loves to roll onto his back and let me scratch under his chin, and he loves to sleep on my chest while I'm watching a movie or reading. Right now while I'm typing this he's sitting on my shoulder eating a Cheerio, lol...And he also LOVES to go in the car with me, go on walks, go on hikes in the woods, go on bike rides with me, and go shopping with me (all on his Aviator Harness of course). He loves to go to the grocery store, go to Walmart, etc., he just loves to sit on the cart and ride around, and he talks to everyone as we go past them. So I have no complaints and I can't imagine my life without him...So I'd say that any of the Poicephalus parrots, whether it be a Myers, a Senegal, a Red-Bellied, etc. would be awesome choices for you...HOWEVER, you would have to always be supervising when a Myers or other Poicephalus would be out of their cage with your Green Cheek, as the size difference, especially the size difference of their beaks, is enormous, and it only takes one bite to kill your Green Cheek...But again, this is going to be the case with any bird you bring home.