Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–28 of 28 posts

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#21

Post by sehutson »

Philadelphia wrote: post #16
mark_l_watson wrote: post #11

I have had my Meyers Parrot for about 12 years. I always try to talk people out of getting a Parrot if they express a lot of interest in mine. I work a light schedule (for the last 20 years I average perhaps 25 hours a week) so I have lots of time to devote to him. He takes up a lot of time but is a lot of fun. I have a bird specialist who takes care of him when my wife and I travel and she and her Dad have agreed to…

Whether you can leave a bird alone during the day does depend on the bird. My lovebird actually got upset when I worked from home; apparently, I interfered with his afternoon nap. He'd start squawking pointedly at me around 1 and wouldn't stop until I left the room, whereupon he would tuck his beak into his back and sleep for three or four hours. The conure I have now likes to have me around during the day, but is fi…

Yeah, they definitely have their little bird routines that you have to figure out and accommodate. Mine both squawk their heads off around lunch, then they watch cartoons and take a nap. Sometimes they want to be out on the bird stands near me, other times they want to be in their bedroom alone. We have a routine down at this point, and they REALLY don't like when it's disrupted.

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#22

Post by mark_l_watson »

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #17
mark_l_watson wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had my Meyer's Parrot for 12 years. If I may ask, what do you do to keep your bird entertained? I let mine fly around the house when my wife is out of the house, and he generally likes to be handled, rolled around in my hands, head scratching, etc. You are right about birds being able adapt to new owners. We got our bird as a baby and he was my wife's pet. After a few years she decided that she could not deal…

2 questions. Does he try to peck at your eye when hes on your shoulder? That's like my one fear that prevents me from getting a bird. Also how did you birdproof your house so he can fly around freely?

I have several Parrot books and one recommends always wearing eye protection so I always have my computer glasses on when the little green guy is out. These glasses have old fashioned large lenses. My bird will bite me hard once or twice a year. The beak is a formidable weapon.

I let the bird fly all over the house but I pay attention to him: if he is in a grumpy mood he might chew on something he shouldn't. If he does behave badly, he likes witnesses to his transgressions.

He does not fly that often because he does crash occasionally and doesn't like that, but when he is zooming through the house at high speed he is impressive. He often prefers to grip my hand with his feet and 'fly in place.'

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#23

Post by mark_l_watson »

jdcarter wrote: post #18
mark_l_watson wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had my Meyer's Parrot for 12 years. If I may ask, what do you do to keep your bird entertained? I let mine fly around the house when my wife is out of the house, and he generally likes to be handled, rolled around in my hands, head scratching, etc. You are right about birds being able adapt to new owners. We got our bird as a baby and he was my wife's pet. After a few years she decided that she could not deal…

I'm mostly able to work from home, so I have a medium-size cage in the room where I work. I attach a cardboard box inside her cage and she burrows into it. She'll destroy a small-ish (say 4x6x12") box in a day. Then, upstairs our master bathroom is basically the parrot's room. I built a large stand from tree branches and hang some toys and a rope ring from it. She loves playing in front of the bathroom mirror. Having…

Thanks for the recommendation: I just ordered the DVD.

When our bird was young my wife used to make food puzzles that he would play with to get treats. I need to start doing that again, hopefully the DVD will give me more ideas.

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#24

Post by [deleted] »

sehutson wrote: post #20
mark_l_watson wrote: post #11

I have had my Meyers Parrot for about 12 years. I always try to talk people out of getting a Parrot if they express a lot of interest in mine. I work a light schedule (for the last 20 years I average perhaps 25 hours a week) so I have lots of time to devote to him. He takes up a lot of time but is a lot of fun. I have a bird specialist who takes care of him when my wife and I travel and she and her Dad have agreed to…

Totally agree. My little green cheek conure is turning 13 tomorrow, and I've had her and a sun conure since they were babies. Cats and dogs are pets, but a parrot is a lifestyle. I can't imagine being able to keep them happy and healthy if I didn't work from home. The other thing a lot of people don't understand is the fact that you have to get rid of anything that might cause problems for their delicate respiratory…

[deleted]

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#25

Post by Mikeb85 »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #11

I have had my Meyers Parrot for about 12 years. I always try to talk people out of getting a Parrot if they express a lot of interest in mine. I work a light schedule (for the last 20 years I average perhaps 25 hours a week) so I have lots of time to devote to him. He takes up a lot of time but is a lot of fun. I have a bird specialist who takes care of him when my wife and I travel and she and her Dad have agreed to…

> But, for couples who work all day out of the house, having a Parrot would not be good.

True story. If you leave them in the cage, they get depressed and have mental health issues. If you leave them out of the cage, they trash your house, shred any piece of paper left lying around, and god help you if you leave a cupboard open...

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#26

Post by gozur88 »

jdcarter wrote: post #18
mark_l_watson wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had my Meyer's Parrot for 12 years. If I may ask, what do you do to keep your bird entertained? I let mine fly around the house when my wife is out of the house, and he generally likes to be handled, rolled around in my hands, head scratching, etc. You are right about birds being able adapt to new owners. We got our bird as a baby and he was my wife's pet. After a few years she decided that she could not deal…

I'm mostly able to work from home, so I have a medium-size cage in the room where I work. I attach a cardboard box inside her cage and she burrows into it. She'll destroy a small-ish (say 4x6x12") box in a day. Then, upstairs our master bathroom is basically the parrot's room. I built a large stand from tree branches and hang some toys and a rope ring from it. She loves playing in front of the bathroom mirror. Having…

> Honestly, my bird would like more social attention than she gets, but there's only so much of me to go around. My wife and daughter don't handle her for fear of getting bitten.

I don't blame them. Getting bitten by a parrot hurts like a MF'er.

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#27

Post by ceratopisan »

I've had a Senegal Parrot for about 5 years. He has his own 'names' for each person in the family, and sounds to indicate if he wants some of your food, or to be picked up, or to go take a nap, etc. Some of them are English words, some of them are the sound he decided to use. He's as loyal as a dog and wants nothing more than to be carried and petted and fed peanut butter all day. (He will lick the peanut butter off a piece of toast, "accidentally" throw it on the ground, and make his "give me some of that please" noise for as long as you have some and he has none.)

He will bite when startled, craps on everything sooner or later, and screams for fun. Someone described it as having a toddler with a can-opener on its face, and that's not far from accurate.

It's not an easy pet to have, and not for everyone. But - if a bird works for you, it works fantastically.

Re: Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

#28

Post by lrvick »

My wife and I have a Timneh African Grey parrot.

She flighted, very social, very co-dependent. Prefers being on a shoulder or on top of a head most of the time. The flighted part has been difficult at times. She flew away and we lost her for 4 days once. But I still stand by her being flighted being a good choice. She flew to a stranger that saw one of our thousands of fliers and turned her in. She goes where she wants when she wants when we are home and always has energy to burn flying around.

We have staggered schedules so the bird is only alone in her cage 7 hours a day 4 days a week. She actually loves this time as we set up a tablet full of hundreds of videos on random of other birds singing and talking to pass that time she must be in her cage during the day. She -loves- it. Whenever it comes on she will stop what she is doing to go gets all excited and runs over to watch it and start singing and mimicking the things she is seeing.

This may not work out for all birds, but it has certainly worked out for ours. She has her own educational TV :D

Post reply on HN