What kind of pet bird(s) do you own and why?

Question

I lost my budgie recently and would like to have another bird. I'm just not sure what kind. I am looking for other options. Any suggestions?

Note: I need a bird that would be good with children and other pets.

Our son is 14 months old. He was not allowed to hold or play with our budgie. He could look at or gently touch Skittles while I held him. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Answer 1

I have 4 birds. I have Simon, a peachfaced lovebird, Mojo a quaker, Piper a pied cockatiel, and Kilo, and umbrella cockatoo. My suggestion to you would be to get something on the smaller side such as a cockateil. They are great family pets, and are usually fine with other animals and children. Lovebirds tend to bond to one person and may become aggressive to the kids if you are with them and not it. Quakers can go both ways. Some times they are nasty, other times they may not mind the kids or animals. Please dont get a cockatoo. They are awesome parrots but if you already have kids, and other animals, you wont have enough time for it which could cause many problems for the bird. So, finally, i guess my answer is to stick with a cockatiel. Conures are even great birds for a family. Possibly a blue crown conure? They are a small to med. size bird that , from my experience, is ok with kids and pets. Good luck and have fun with whatever you decide to get!!!!!!

Answer 2

Well I have 16 budgies and only started out last year with two pairs. They are like rabbits. I also have 4 cockatails 2 females and 2 males. One of the males is a baby from the one couple and he is adorable. Since he was born here I handled him from real young and so he is real tame. He loves to whistle at everyone and will open his wings and dance around while whistleing. Cockatails are alot calmer than the budgies and good with kids. Another good bird that is calm and you dont even need to keep in a cage are the contours (i think thats how it is spelled) I used to have two. They are small parrots. Alittle larger than a cockatail. They are green with black heads. They are really nice and not expensive either. They will sit there on a perch and not fly away as long as you cut thier wings of course. The ones I had loved to talk to our cat. They also will learn how to talk. My son taught ours to say things it shouldnt. Good luck on your bird hunting.

Answer 3

Depends on what type of bird companionship you're looking for. If you're looking for a cuddle bird (one to just sit on your shoulder and hang out) try looking at a Sun Conure. They're very pretty and are on the small, but can be loud if you don't pay attention to them. If you have the money and time, an African Grey is one of the most intelligent and about a medium sized bird, but they are really one person birds. They don't do well with too many people around. Macaws are very social and very playful birds (so be prepared for nips!) and are a large sized bird. They can be very loud too. The last bird that I'm familiar with is a Green Wing. Again, if you want to spend the money, they are incredibly friendly and gentle parrots, but they are rather large. Good luck on your search!

Answer 4

It sounds to me staying in the same size range as a budgie would be best for you! I would suggest maybe getting a lovebird, I have 2 and they are just awesome. Someone mentioned a Sun Conure, I definitely would not get one with dogs cats, or children, mine hates all of them, and from what I've seen in other Sun owners, it is much along the same lines! Lovebirds can make great pets if you socialize them regularly, mine are both sweeties, BUT they hate eachother LOL go figure! So that would be my vote!

Answer 5

I breed Parrots and I think the best kind of family bird is a Cockateil. There friendly and gentle. I have a few in the house for pets but I also have African greys (not recommended for beginner bird owners) and I have Indian Ringnecks. The one ringneck can say over 400 words...he outtalks my pet Grey.Those are pretty nice family pets too and they come in many colors.

Answer 6

I have a quaker,...it is loveable and my son loves holding it and playing with it.
I have an african grey timneh,....she is 1 year old waiting for talking to get better but anxious. However she is a bit moody with everyone except me.
I have a goffin cockatoo,....he is 2 1/2 he loves me cuddling him,...loves my hubby cuddling him and taking him riding on motorcycle,...he loves playing chase with my son but doesn't like my son to hold him,...he talks good also
And my notorious yellow nape amazon,....I will tell you that I got her when she was 4 she is 6 now,.....She is an excellent talker but the breeder I bought her from told me that she had so many birds that she didn't get to work with holding them so it would be out of the question for me to ever hold her,..within 9 months I could hold her and take her outside and she talks to everyone,....I am the only one who holds her,....my son pets her when I am holding her and telling her it is ok,....she will let anyone pet her if I tell her it is ok. It is amazing what you can do with these birds,.....What I was told would be impossible became possible.
All with alot of love and attention :D

Answer 7

I did some research before making my purchase of a Quaker Parrot. I wanted a small parrot that could talk and do tricks. We have had Pete, our trucker talking parrot for 14 years, and he is a God Send! However, because our children moved on while Pete was very young, he no longer is use to having other people in the house and is not overly friendly. I wish I would have known to keep him trained to accept everyone that comes to our home.

Answer 8

i adopted 4 parakeets(my first birds!!!) and now i also have 2 lovebirds. the parakeets don't let anybody hold them. the lovebirds even let my 2 year old pick them up,as a matter of fact they prefer our kids over us but i heard that's not always the case. i have been told they can be quite mean. i have heard that the most child friendly birds are cockatiels(hand fed babies) but still keep an eye out because the birds personality will make a difference.

Answer 9

I own 2 parakeets, (Budgies). I like parakeets because they come in so many colors and you can train them to talk. The males are the best talkers. You did not say how old your children are, or what kind of pets. Parakeets are small & must be handled gentley, and protected from other pets.

Answer 10

We have two Conures -- a 2-year old Green Cheek and a 15-year old White-Eyed. We also have 2 14-year old Senegals that currently reside in another state with a friend.

The Senegals: Funny, loving birds that for the most part are quiet unless they let out with their fright screech. They are truly gymnasts that enjoy entertaining people with their clowning around. The bite of a Senegal (our male bites but not the female) can be very painful but reading body language can help you avoid the injury. When they clamp down, they grind their beak, which can lead to some nasty wounds.

Senegals have spurts of energy where they play hard and then nap for awhile. Active birds that love to chew, they need lots of wooden toys to destroy.

Senegals can be accomplished talkers but since vocalization wasn't important to me, I didn't train them to talk. The male has said "hello" and it didn't take many repetitions to get him to do that so I would say they're very easy to train.

Green Cheek Conure: Green Cheeks are little birds packed with a lot of personality! Smaller than a Cockatiel, these little guys love to clown around, sleep on their backs, hang from the tops of their cages and are snuggle birds. Very loving little fellows. GCC can be nippy early in life but they can get past the behavior. The only time that ours has nipped us was the first night we brought him home and he was scared. He was parent-raised instead of hand-fed so he hadn't been handled much in his short life. He was very easy to teach how to step-up and interact with humans; he even learned to poop on command. Sugar is a sweet, sweet boy and would make a perfect family companion.

White-Eyed Conure: Mikki is 15-years old and was rehomed earlier this year. His lifelong human companion had died and because he is a little nippy, he was left in his cage for 4 years following the death of his beloved human. We've had Mikki 10 months and he has never bitten either my husband or me very hard. He is terrified of hands but yesterday we were playing "touch" and he was letting me rub his beak. It didn't take long for Mikki to respond to love once he got here. We do everything in Mikki's time and respect the boundaries he has set. Because he is willing to stretch beyond those boundaries, we've made great progress in his re-socialization.

Mikki is a talker! He easily picks up on new words and phrases so we're very careful what we say around him. His previous companions had taught him to say, "Bye-bye Mikki, we'll be back" and a host of other sayings and he does use them correctly. When I return home after being gone I call out to him and Sugar, "Hi Babies" and now Mikki is saying "Hi Baby". Mikki has been a joy to live with; he is very quiet and thankfully, neither he nor Sugar is destructive.

Of the three species, I would suggest the Green Cheek Conure as a family bird.

Good luck on your search for the right companion!