My daughter wants a bird?

Question

My daughter is 5 and she wants a bird. I talked with my husband and he gave us the ok to get a parakeet. Is this a good bird for her? Is it easy to care for? What do I need to buy? I have a cage already, and I know I need food…Do they need salt, special supplements, special toys? I want the bird to be friendly, so how should I go about picking the right one? Any help is appreciated.

I know will be taking care of it seeing that she is only 5 so please dont tell me she is too young, feeding the bird under my supervision is a good start at learning responsibility.

Answer 1

I think a parakeet is a great starter bird. They are easy to train and very loving. A pellet diet along with fruits and vegetables and seed are suggested. Toys may vary from bells, wood , rope, and plastic. All of which can be bought at your local pet store. I wouldn't buy a mirror though, birds tend to bond with the birdy in the mirror and not with you.

The best advice i could give you about picking the right bird for is make sure you don't go to a department store, as they are sometimes sick or not handled. I got all my birds from a breeder but going to places like pet smart, pet pals or other animal stores where they handle the birds is best. This way the bird is already used to human touch and not afraid to be handled. You can also determine the age by the stripes on the head, If the stripes are low the younger the bird is, the higher the stripes the older the bird is. To determine the sex of the bird the male has a blue or purple nose and a females is pink.

I hope this helps you out in your search your new birdy friend. Good luck to you!

Answer 2

I am a proud owner of a parakeet. I had my parakeet since March 1997-ten years! Unfortunately, my parakeet is not so friendly with me. She bites me everytime I attempt to take anything out of her cage.
Before they died, I had two male parakeets. One died in April 1998 and the other died in April 2003. They did not bite as much as my female did.

I would recommend purchasing a male parakeet. This is just my opinion, but I truly believe the male parakeets are much more "friendlier" than the female ones. Ask the clerk which parakeets just hatched. It is better to buy a young parakeet than one that is a year or two old.

Are they easy to care for? Absolutely! I feed my parakeet only once a day (she has a BIG food caddy) and I give her fresh water each day. On hot days, I'll put a small ice cube in her water. Her cage is alined with paper towels and whenever the paper towels seem dirty, I change them. You can also aline the cage with newspaper.

Is there a special room that your parakeet can fly aound? I live in an apartment and every once in a while, I will take her out and let her fly around the place for hours and hours. After all, I'd hate to see her cooped up in her cage all day.

Hope this'll help some and good luck! :)

Answer 3

I think you got a lot of good advice. Best thing you can do BEFORE you buy the bird is look over a few books on raising parakeets - what they eat, cage requirements, cleaning, health, etc. Besure you do this and have everything ready before you buy the bird.

Also, you daughter should have absolutely NO unsupervised play time with the parakeet. When a bird is nervous or scared and cannot flee, or if it simply wants to assert dominance, the natural instinct is to bite. And that tiny little beak on that tiny little bird can do an amazing amount of damage. Your books should explain how to minimize the danger, and what warning signs to look for when you simply should not try to handle the bird. Good luck.

Answer 4

A parakeet is definately good. Totally agree. They are very nice birds. I have had mine for two years. They are friendly, cheap, and can be trained to talk. You might want to get them some toys(optional). If you aren't a big fan of cleaning birdpoop, cover the bottom of the cage with newspaper, all you have to do is change the paper every month or two. Good luck!

Answer 5

parakeets (budgies) are the perfect bird for her as long as she is gentle with it. they are quite friendly if they have been hand raised. breeders are generally the best way to go but i've never had a problem with a bird from a pet store. the pet store birds will generally require mor ework to train to step up onto fingers and things seeing as most pet stores don't handle their birds. if you are only getting the one bird it will need a mirror since they do better in pairs. never feed gravel to them. they are a parrot species and do not require it to digest their food since thye remove the shells. there are lots of wonderful treats that you can get them just take a look at your local pet store. check online for a list of fresh foods that you can feed them to. they love to be spoiled. you probably will need a pair of sharp scissors so that you can clip the birds wings so that it cannot fly away. make sure that you find an avian vet that can show you how to do this and that you can call if your bird needs medical attention. make sure that you have a blanket and a night light on hand for the birds room. some will sing at the sight of any light and some will have night terrors where they fly around the cage so frightened that they can seriously hurt themselves. put your bird in a room where there is lots of social interaction. if you have cats this may have to be a room that you can keep them out of. your daughter is not to young for a bird my son is 1 1/2 and he helps out with ours. make sure that the perches are not smaller than the birds foot as this causes strain and sometimes injury. if you any questions you can email me.

Answer 6

Parakeets are not very nice bird unless you can find one that was hand fed, i've dealt with hundred of parakeets working at a pet store. They train faily easily but you and your daughter will get bit. If you think getting bit won't turn her off from birds then by all means go get one.

Answer 7

i believe that as long as you know that you will be the one that is really going to be responsible for the well being of the bird it is a good learning experience for your daughter. my youngest was 4 when i started bringing birds in our home. it wont take long for the newness of the bird to wear of for your daughter, just due to her age. just remember to let her handle the bird so that the bird gets use to your daughter also. my daughters parakeets love chewing, give them lots of toys they can destroy and chew. i would suggest finding a parakeet breeder in your area, usually the breeders already have them hand fed and hand tamed. please make sure you get a hand tamed parakeet i will make life easier for you and your daughter.

Answer 8

When i was little I had 2 parakeets. They were messy and are not that friendly, some may. I now have a cockatiel and he is not as messy (nottice not as messy) parakeets. But he is super friendly. your child would like one. They are more expecsive. 200-300+ Dollars but worth it. They also have a long lifespan up to 20 years old. You daughter can have him/her when she is 25!

Answer 9

Hey thats great :) she'll learn how to get responsible this way :) well i dont have a parakeet but i have a budgie hes a lil devil lol joking he doesnt bite .. he flies onto the shoulder and i think she woudl enjoy with one cuz they dont eat much they just require there seeds and mine easts watever u give him lol bread...cookies what so ever lol u just gotta keep in mind that it doesnt bite her cuz she mite cry well sorry if it doesnt help always take care

Answer 10

i say a parakeet is the best to get they are easy to take care of. it does need toys to play with. u can train them to get on your finger and sit on your shoulder, but mine likes my head. if u are going to leave it in the cage and not play with it a hole lot get two. i still play with mine and i have 4 now. make sure the cage is big enough for him/her to have room to play. pet-land was where i got my first one and he did good. u don't need any special supplements just the food and treats my kids enjoys playing with them. i got cocktails to. good luck i think your girl will enjoy it.