Parrots!

I have a house full of birds! Parakeets, conures, cockatiels and an eclectus, which is my largest bird. I don’t know your living situation but the noise factor has to be considered. If you live in an apartment a parakeet or that cockatiel would be good. Cockatiels are wonderful companion birds and they love to interact with their owners. Parakeets are sweet as well and I’ve know people who ‘wear’ them around the house while they’re going about their business. On a larger scale, an eclectus is nice because they love to hang out but don’t need for you to constantly hold them–like a cockatoo would. Cockatoos are very, very loud, by-the-way and unfortunately end up in rescue groups in large numbers because of it.

That’s good that you’re doing your homework because depending on the type of bird you eventually get, they can be a 20+ year commitment. The average life span of a parakeet could be up to 12 years, cockatiels could live to 25 and my eclectus could live to 30 years. Keep that in mind when you’re looking.

If you live in a place where noise wouldn’t be bothering neighbors, I have a blue crown conure who is absolutely delightful! They’re a little larger than a cockatiel and I find mine just loves to come out and nibble on my cheek. I also have a green-cheeked conure who will just stay on my shoulder and go down my back and around my stomach and back up to my chest. Nibbling and pooping as she goes along.

I love my birds, but they are a commitment and a lot of work. You’ll never have a spotless house again–sweep up the food and they seem to think that’s their cue to scatter more on the floor–it’s their way of saying un, you missed a spot!

Happy bird hunting–there are a lot of wonderful birds out there who would make marvelous companions!

Oh Scotland! I understand it’s gorgeous there. I do hope to visit one day!

I am not at all familiar with what resources you have over there, so please feel free to disregard what I said about rescues.

Bird shows can be lovely for people that live in cities large enough to host them, but they make me nervous. There was a study done once where samples were taken off of various surfaces at the show (toys, cages, etc… stuff for sale) and a lot of it was compromised by avian communicable diseases. Some are fatal to the bird, and many are airborne. Scary stuff. I’d never buy a bird at a show, and only buy toys that I could sterilize at home.

In your situation I’d suggest looking at either a cockatiel or a GCC… they do tend to have very opposite personalities though! Of course each bird is an individual, but in GENERAL

Green cheek conures tend to have a ‘toy dog’ type of personality. You know those little dogs that think that they are huge, large and in charge? That is what a GCC is often like. The ones I’ve met have been mostly fearless, bold, and in-your-face (sometimes this is very dangerous to the bird). I’ve read no less than three stories on the parrot community I’m part of where a green cheek conure has gotten in the face of a larger parrot, and been seriously (in one case, fatally) injured. They are often little balls of playful energy, and while no bird is truly ‘quiet’, they don’t have the volume of some of the larger species. They are more likely to be somewhat rough-and-tumble, and are likely to be the type of parrot you can handle and flip onto its back and hang upside down, and all, that, and they enjoy it. They are the type of bird that, while you are sitting and doing something, are climbing on your shoulder, in your hair, chewing your ear, pulling keys off the keyboard. This is both fun AND frustrating sometimes! XD

Cockatiels on the other hand tend to be a bit more mellow. Mind, when something scares or alarms them they can be sort of spazzy!! But they are generally not in your face, or rough and tumble. I’ve met a lot of cockatiels over the years and none of them have been the type to enjoy being flipped upside down, and such. They tend to be the ‘sit on my person and be happy’ instead of being all in your business. Mind you, they can still be playful and very interactive.. just on a slightly different way. Hens are sometimes a bit less outgoing, though my most snuggly parrot is a female cockatiel. Boys will sing and beep and sing and beep.. some of them can do this for hours or even all day! It’s not LOUD, but if constant medium level noise bothers you, it might be trouble.

I know your resources for interacting with some of these birds is probably not real good, so if you want you can always look on youtube for some videos!

If you have lovebirds, you probably have experienced the volume that they are capable of. I’d say that both cockatiels and GCCs are rarely much louder, in general. (today was a Loud Day at my house…)

Also, you mentioned you were doing a self build. While the irregular schedules might not bother some birds, what I am more alarmed by are things that are used in normal house construction and finishing. Dust, drywall powder, paint fumes, carpet instillation, any sort of chemical.. can harm or kill a parrot, so that is what I’d be a lot more worried about.

GCCs are definitely a fearless species. If I dont clip the wings on Maya, she will dive bomb the cats and chase them off the cat tree. She does not fear the ducks either and will try to get down on the floor and follow them around. I spend a lot of time just preventing her from getting into trouble. She’s not overly loud. I’d say lovebirds are easily capable of being louder. My parrotlet certainly is. But this is a bird person speaking. My definition of loud is ‘Yellow-Naped Amazon’ and louder. Lol.

I have a male Maximillain’s Pionus, and a female Bronze-Winged Pionus. I’ve had the female, Khu, for 10 years now, and the male, Gorbash, for I think 6 years now.

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet several other pionus parrots over the years, and spend time with some of them.

The first thing about pionus: not many people have them, and so they are often reported to be quiet, slow, apartment birds. THIS IS NOT MY EXPERIENCE with the 4 pionus I have known!! I am sure that some ARE quiet birds, and calm, but I think this is an unfair stereotype to a bird that can be quite active. I think what happens is that some pionus are prone to being lazy, perch-potatoes, and people like that (because lets face it… a quiet bird that doesn’t do much is what a lot of people want a parrot to be, unfairly), so they don’t challenge the bird to be active and do things throughout the day.

WHEW Okay rant over!

To answer your questions:

Do they get protective?

This is more of a general answer about all parrots. When you have a parrot, which is a social and intelligent animal (arguably some species have more mental capacity than any other household pet), it is its natural instinct to bond and ‘flock’ with you or other people in your household, once it gets to know and trust you. Some parrots take this a step further, and choose their favorite person as a ‘mate’. This is when a parrot seems protective. Nearly any parrot can do this! While male parrots can be MORE aggressive about defending their ‘mate’, females can also get very moody and do this too. A parrot is smart, and many species are monogamous. They will defend their chosen mate. Sometimes it’s as innocent as displaying at the person that they think is bothering their ‘mate’… sometimes it’s as full blown as running across the room to bite the crap out of someone! I have heard of this.
The main thing with any parrot to keep these undesirable behaviors from developing, is simply to prevent them! Any person that lives in your household that will ever be near the bird should make friends with them, via positive reinforcement. The book/DVDs you ordered will cover this for you- it’d take me hours to type it all up. It’s also important not to tease the bird accidentally… it’s very easy, once a parrot his maturity, to unintentionally ‘act’ like a mate! Things that people do without meaning to are ‘sexy petting’ where you pet the back or under the belly of the bird, hand feeding soft foods, lengthened daylight durations, etc.

Whew! Okay, so as for Pionus in particular. Well, my Khu absolutely has a favorite person, but she does not attack other people. She puffs at them and acts jealous, but she is totally accepting and loving of my husband too, after working with her for a few years. The other pionus I’ve known are about the same… they might prefer one person but they don’t fling themselves across the room to bite someone because of it.

Do they enjoy being handled?

One of mine does, and the other does not. They do not love a lot of hands on… they are more like a cockatiel, where they will sometimes sit with you and on occasion like a head scratch. They are not like the conures I’ve known that will squirm all over and let you (gently!!) rough house. Both of my pionus hate being upside down and such.

Are they affectionate?

Much like a cat, when they are in the mood, both of mine will ‘ask’ for head scratching, but otherwise they are not snuggly. I am under the impression that Khu does ‘love’ me in whatever way that parrots are capable of, but it’s not usually shown in physical affection. The male, Gorbash, could care less about people!

Do they have moodswings?

Yes– I think all intelligent critters do!! That said, they don’t usually have “jekyll and hyde” syndrome where they go from loving one second to biting your finger off the next. My pionus are both very clear about how they are feeling via body language. To a person new to birds, this is like speaking a foreign language!! It can take a while to learn. For me, I can tell at a glance just how they are feeling, and if they want to be pet, or left alone, or if they want something else… etc. I have experienced that some pionus ARE very territorial about their ‘home’ area (usually a cage), which if you are not tuned into body language and their clues to ‘hey back off’, can lead to biting. The positive reinforcement training will help with this too, in the book/dvd.

Do their personalities change when they reach sexual maturity?

Yes, to some extent. Again, I think this is true for nearly all parrots. Some have wild hormone-driven mood swings, while others have very subtle changes. There is no predicting what will happen from one individual to the next… and this CAN be a very frustrating and trying time for owners (which is one reason I love to stress for new owners to explore adoption of an adult bird here in the US where we have so many rescues).
When Gorbash, the male, hit maturity he became a lot more aloof and does not care to spend much time with us now.
When Khu hit maturity, not much changed except she gets wildly hormonal, and ‘honks’ (this sounds like a straw being pressed up and down in a plastic lid) for hours and hours a day sometimes, which is immensely annoying. I also have to actively work to keep her from becoming ‘nesty’ as laying eggs needlessly is very hard on her system and could develop possibly life threatening problems such as egg binding.

Why aren’t they as popular as the amazon or african grey?

I think this is simply because they were only more recently captured and brought into aviculture from the wild, and there are not many breeders yet. Most people that don’t know much about parrots yet want an African Grey want one because they are famous for their intelligence and speech. Amazons are bright, beautiful, and very ‘exotic’. Sadly the popularity of a parrot is based mostly on 1. how commonly available they are in a public setting such as pet stores and 2. stereotypes about that species.

How do they handle unfamiliar environments?

This is where some pionus have problems. They DO tend to be a lot more thoughtful about new situations (though I know of one that is happy go lucky and doesn’t care). Sometimes this leads to anxiety. Proper socialization and exposure to situations as a baby (<1 year old – 2 years old) can help prevent this immensely. My poor Khu was kept in a facility for her first year of life, before I adopted her, and had no interaction with people OR other birds. During this most important learning period, she was essentially completely alone and just stuck in a cage. Once I adopted her, she became closely bonded with people and as a result she suffers from huge separation anxiety and chews her feathers.

How much do they eat?

Pionus can be little porkers, like amazons. They are susceptible to obesity and fatty liver disease, and visceral gout. All pelleted diets available today either have too much protien, too much crappy filler (corn and soy) or are not balanced. An all seed diet is a guarantee for health problems sooner or later. Thus it is more important with a pionus than some other species to have a good diet. There are no pelleted or bagged diets out there, in my opinion, that alone could ever formulate a good diet for a pionus. I spend about 20-30 minutes each day creating a mash of fresh foods (mostly veggies and grains) for my pionus. (other species that need special attention to diet are eclectus, african greys, amazons, lorikeets of course, and some of the less common parrots). I am not suggesting that cockatiels (for example) should be fed only a formulated diet, but they are less prone to dietary problems as long as you feed a varied and balanced diet.

Are they cheeky characters or more thoughtful?

They have their cheeky moments, but overall are far more thoughtful in my experience. I would say perhaps two or three hours of the day, Khu is very rambunctious, 'killing' her toys, screaming, and being a disaster (I say this with love!). The rest of the time is spent preening, napping, looking thoughtful, etc. I do have to make them do some laps around the house (flying that is, though Gorbash is partially blind so I keep him on my finger so he won't hurt himself) because otherwise they don't have enough activity. I also use a lot of foraging activities, where I will hide bits of food or treats for them to find in their various toys, etc.

As for leaving a bird for an hour or two– don't worry! This won't make them wild.
Even leaving them for days or even a few weeks won't cause most birds to 'forget' you. Some of the less handleable species such as rosellas might get wild during this time, but all of the birds you are talking about (cockatiels, GCC, pionus, etc) won't forget you. Heck, I have had to leave for shows that lasted me two weeks in the past, and when I get home my parrots are VERY excited to see me! Khu gets mad at me for leaving in the first place, but then wants to sit with me for hours, as if she is saying 'don't do that again.'

Good luck to you!! Just remember, babies are cute, sweet, and full of snuggle. Make sure to spend some times with their adult counterparts before you fall too in love with a baby. A baby lasts a year or three, but an adult lasts 20+ years!

I’d be a bit wary because she breeds hybrid macaws (harlequins are hybrids), but despite this there is nothing like having in-person experience, and visiting her is valuable either way!