Visitors or No Visitors?

[Boki]

This question is directed to people who have multiple birds. I was visiting family over the holidays and found out that the neighbor of my sister had quite a few parrots. I thought it would be fun to visit the parronts and meet the birds. I was told that by the neighbor that nobody visits the birds because it would stress them out. I was wondering if it was the exception or the rule of owners of multiple birds?

To be clear, I was not offended, just surprised. If the majority of parrot owners do not want to have visitors, I won't ask other parronts in the future. If this is the exception to the rule, I will continue to try to meet other parronts.

FYI, I encourage friends and guests to meet my Amazons and interact. Although they might be shy for the first couple of minutes but then my Amazons love the party.

 

[noodles123]

In terms of her particular birds, she may be right, but it is probably her fault that they are that scared to begin with. The "stress" could be real, but a properly socialized bird would not feel that way (barring instances of extreme abuse etc in adopted/brand-new birds). In other words, you should socialize your birds....Hers may be very easily upset by new people, but she needs to do something about it...SLOWLY...not just accept it. It isn't healthy...


That having been said, I am assuming you wanted to visit alone and not with another bird. Birds visiting other birds is a totally different complication due to the fact that they can silently and asymptomatically transmit deadly disease via feather-dust etc.

 

[Laurasea]

Probably her cages were dirty and they didn't want you to see! I would be happy to have people visit my Parrots, but most people don't give rip about meeting them. Many people I know are scared of them even if I leave them in the cage, weirdos!!

 

[ChristaNL]

I ban people who have untested parrots of their own :46: from entering my house.
(and yes my place is a dump - so there is a *lot* of shame involved as well )

My birds love visitors; I've just spoiled them rotten every time someone enters, so new people = party/snack time.

Though I really wanted to slug the guy who was in here this week checking for asbestos in my rental: he was afraid of the macawbeak so he poked his chissel!!! through the bars where Sunny was clinging.
(the bloody thing was razorsharp and fully functional)
so yea... I suddenly understand people not letting others near their birds at all! :23:

 

[Laurasea]

That sum o b@#$! Wtf your bird was caged! He had no right!!! Wow I would call his boss. Like I said some people gave this weird fear of birds, even when they are in cage, yet they can visit a lion in a cage at the zoo .

 

[Sandy19]

Peanut is my watch dog, when anyone pulls into my driveway or comes up to the front porch she alerts me right away. Every visitor at my house has to go through her first. She just sits on her perch and looks at them when they come in, she has no desire to go near them or anything.

All my guests are respectful, however, I'd be really pissed if some jerk came into my house and poked something at my bird.

 

[Jen5200]

I don’t mind people coming to visit my birds - although I tend to be careful about who handles them. Mine are not reliable about not biting strangers, so I generally see how people feel about birds/comfort levels before anyone comes out of cages. Mine gererally enjoy seeing people, but not always being handled by them....I let the birds decide to some degree

 

[riddick07]

Visitors can be stressful on some of the birds but the others tend to calm down. Like Max gets stressed out and Folger isn’t usually over happy about it. Mostly my guys just give you the stranger danger alert call when strangers go into their room. I feel a little bad for anyone that try’s to break in....definitely a louder alarm system than a dog lol.

Most of my birds aren’t stranger friendly animals. Like Kelly will attack you same goes with Folger. Titan you can make behave if you have the guts. You just have to be able to tell him to shove it when he tests you. The Cockatiels and conures run away. Monkey & Loki will usually calm down enough that they can be given to a stranger but they tend to fly away if they have the option. So yeah I don’t mind strangers coming in to see them but don’t expect them to necessarily behave haha.

 

[Squeekmouse]

I've read that it's really good for birds to have (human) visitors for the socialization and helping them to find these situations less stressful. So personally, I'd be delighted if someone actually asked/wanted to meet my birds. I'd certainly make them wash their hands really well first, if they wanted to try petting/feeding them.

Whenever we've had visitors (like our realtor, repairmen, etc), most of the time Yoda flies over and lands on them, charming the heck of out them. Nobody can resist the charm and sweetness that is Master Yoda. Trigger is pretty shy so far.

 

[Boki]

Thank you all for your replies. I feel better that I was not out of line with my request. I never expected to handle any of the birds unless the bird made that decision. I was more curious to see the types and how they interact. i guess I wanted to see their personalities.

i was also in shock to read that a repairman would bother a pet in a house. That is wrong on so many levels.

 

[EllenD]

I think this is a personal choice, and it just depends on the individual birds...However, I will say that it isn't wise for you to go visiting other people's birds that you don't know, nor do you know their health/medical history, or their Vet care history, and then you go home to your own Amazons...You have absolutely no idea what Bacterial or Fungal Infections, Parasites, or serious Avian Viral Diseases your sister's neighbor's birds have, and some of the more serious Viral Diseases can shed and travel on you right home to your own birds. It's one thing if you have friends or relatives that you know very well that have parrots/birds and you know that their birds are healthy, you know their history and history of Vet care, and you know there is no chance of carrying home anything home to your Amazons. That's different...But "your sister's neighbors" who you seemingly had never really spoken to before is a whole other situation, and you should be much more discriminating when it comes to interacting with the parrots of people you don't know...The same thing goes for walking into a pet shop/bird shop and interacting with their birds or taking your bird into a pet shop/bird shop with you...That's unfortunately just not safe for your birds...

So while it's always "fun" to go and meet new parrot people and meet their birds, you need to think about it first, because you really don't know what you might be exposing your own flock to.

 

[Corvid333]

I'm quite happy for people to see my birds, but I hate when people try touching with out asking. Then they think it's funny to tease my parrots defensive behavior and keep trying to poke him. I find it very hard to say, no, leave my parrot alone.
I'm always happy when someone wants to hold my parrot because he's not very socialized.