Which parrot should I choose?

[southshore]

I'm gonna add here too that There are certain areas that you should avoid petting to help decrease hormonal behavior. Head and neck area are fair game any time birdie wants affection. Under the wings should only be handled if required to care for the bird, same with vent area. Not sure if this is the case for all birds, but for macaws, certain areas can send very wrong signals

Thanks for letting me know that

 

[StormyPica]

How long does this difficult puberty time last before the bird settles into its routine seasonal only hormonal changes?

You will have to ask someone more experienced for that. @Terry57 @ravvlet

 

[ravvlet]

@ravvlet Thanks so very much for dropping by to answer my queries

"With an adult bird, you know their personality going in, and they’ll have settled into their hormonal yearly cycle, so there shouldn’t be any surprises there."

At about what age would you say they settle into their cycle?

It largely depends on the species of bird! I’d have to google for macaws; I’m seeing that they hit sexual maturity at around 3-4 years of age. That’s where the “fun” begins, haha. Usually a bit before that age is when they enter “puberty” and it can be several years before they’re fully mature - but again, this is entirely based on Google, so please don’t take this as gospel! Hopefully a mac owner can come help you out - my birds are not the same species and came to us well past that stage.

You can also more than likely speak to the breeders in your area and get this info from them about their birds. They may appreciate knowing you’re planning far ahead!

I am blessed with two fully grown, older-than-me Amazons so I got to dodge the puberty/sexual maturity issue entirely and deal with yearly hormone flare ups instead. You can tell it’s that time of year because the number of posts in the Amazon subforum with people whose “Hot 3” ‘zons go into attack mode spikes a bit.