# Advice on choosing a new bird



## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

I lost my green-cheek conure in November, and everything is so quiet without him ! I'm looking into another bird but am spoilt for choice, really. I was going to go for another conure (in which case it would be a blue green-cheek). But looking at classifieds etc. to see what's out there, there are more options for us than I thought, so here's the situation:

Must be hand-reared and I'd only buy directly from the breeder. I only ever keep one bird at a time because I want to enjoy the closest possible companion relationship with that bird, so I need to choose wisely !
Don't have space for a huge bird, mini Macaw is about our maximum, upto maybe 14 inches.
Not excessively screamy - certainly no cockatoo-style noise as we do have neighbours ! Chattering, singing and the odd squawking is fine, but nothing deafening and incessant. Doesn't have to be a great talker or anything.
Would really like a bird who enjoys sitting with me, as Pom did - nestle under my chin and fall asleep, lay on his back and be tickled, etc. I know this is dependent on the individual bird as well, but also some parrot species are more cuddly than others aren't they ? Some are more stand-offish and get sick of you !
Budget can be fairly flexible but I would like to know average prices you should expect to pay for each bird if possible, because it varies hugely when I've looked online myself - what's normal ?
Also would like some things clearing up if anyone knows. Is it true that male birds bond to their female owners and hens like men ? Or does it not really matter as to the sex of the bird, how they will react to their owner as long as they're properly looked after ?

My options really are, the blue green-cheek conure, mini Macaws (although I only seem to be able to find Hahn's in the UK, but apparently the Severe is more 'cuddly' ?). I like the look of the Hawkhead, and the Meyer's and Ruppell's parrots, but I know absolutely nothing of these ! Like I said, I have only seen them and liked the look - any info ? They seem pretty similar to Senegals from what I've read, but I have no first-hand experience of these. My boyfriend would like us to get a Mynah bird - any thoughts on this ?!

Thank you in advance for any help given, and thanks also to those who replied to the thread I posted when Pommy died - I couldn't bear to revisit it at the time, but I appreciate your responses !


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## Sarah-Jayne (Jul 4, 2007)

Hahns macaws are exactly like large macaws just in a smaller package! They are very loud and macaws scream so if you don't want noisy I don't think a mini macaw would be suitable.

Conures are great, I wish I could have another one!

African greys are great birds too, and their cages don't have to be massive, my african grey's cage is taller rather than wide


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

Aww, is there a way to stop your bird screaming or is it inevitable that they will just do that ? I'm attracted to the Hahns because they remind me of a conure with the white patch around the eye, but are bigger. I just wish the bigger conures had the lack of noise and destruction the pyrrhuras have, they'd be perfect !
Why can't you have another conure ? Which one would you go for ?
I have bad experiences with African Greys ! My nana has had two and they have been pure nastiness. It's the dust as well with this, which is why I love conures so much, lovely dust-free birds that they are ! Are there other birds which also don't produce the dust ?


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

What are eclectus like, any owners here ?


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## Sarah-Jayne (Jul 4, 2007)

Hahns macaws are they same size as conures lol they are very destructive and very loud as far as I know and its in their nature so nothing you can do about it.


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

Looks like a Hahns may be off the list then  Maybe when we have a house in the middle of nowhere eh !
Any more advice from anyone ? What would you do in my situation ?


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

It is a myth that cock parrots prefer women & hen parrots prefer men. My DNA sexed Blue-Fronted Amazon prefers women!

As for your options, how about:

Pionus - the commonest species are the Blue-Headed Pionus & Maximillians Pionus - sweet birds, not too noisy, quite small.
Caiques - the commonest species is the Black-Headed Caique, but the Yellow-Thighed Caique is lovely - very playful, love interacting with their owners, small, not too loud.
Senegals, Meyers & Ruppells Parrots - Senegals are the commonest, Ruppells not as common, small, not too loud, Senegals can be a bit unpredictable when older.
Jardine Parrots - sweet birds, green with orange parts of head & wings, quite small, not very common.
Orange-Winged Amazon - quite common, one of the smaller Amazon species, can be quite loud at times but not major, can be sweet pets.


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## lil05 (Jul 22, 2008)

sun conures are very pretty although very noisey ive heard :/ 

RALFERS08 has eclectus male and female


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## ressieyeyx (Jan 6, 2012)

Interesting


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## russm (Aug 28, 2009)

Sarah-Jayne said:


> Hahns macaws are exactly like large macaws just in a smaller package! They are very loud and macaws scream so if you don't want noisy I don't think a mini macaw would be suitable.
> 
> Conures are great, I wish I could have another one!
> 
> African greys are great birds too, and their cages don't have to be massive, my african grey's cage is taller rather than wide


Do you feel that your Grey is not loud? I presumed they were noisy. I have seen two in the pet shops over in Portugal (where I am living just now) and they have them in taller cages that are not too big. How come they dont need as much space as other parrots of the same size? The two that I have seen here were €700 in one shop and €800 with the cage in another. I was very tempted.


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## Parrot Lady (Jan 17, 2012)

This is only my second reply to 'any' forum so if I dont follow the correct protocal I do apologise. I have a maximilian pionus, I got her from a breeder as a baby and have had her for just over 2 years. She has been an absolute pleasure to own (most of the time) as anyone who has or have parrots know that they can be 'spiritied' at times and thats what makes them so endearing to own. ALL parrots are noisy and messy. If you are thinking of owning a parrot there are some good websites such as Parrot 24 for supplies as parrots require a lot of toys and [email protected] etc dont generally carry much variety, they also have a lot of information on there as well from Liz Wilson which is well worth reading, also World Parrot Trust. My Maxi is very tame and loves having her head scratched by either myself or my partner, she doesnt really talk although she has started to try and say 'hello','be a good girl back soon', 'water' and 'goodnight'. She can screech her little lungs out when she wants to! She goes into her cage when I tell her to and flies to me if I call her, all 'trained' through positive reinforcement. I have learnt a lot about parrots over the last few years and am still learning. I have just got a beardie (picked him up Saturday, 12 weeks old from a reptile shop), having not had a reptile before, I am now researching and learning as much as I can to help the little guy. Hope he settles in OK, although he ate a few crickets Saturday and Sunday, he didnt eat anything yesterday or this morning, see if he will eat anything later, fingers crossed.


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

russm said:


> Do you feel that your Grey is not loud? I presumed they were noisy. I have seen two in the pet shops over in Portugal (where I am living just now) and they have them in taller cages that are not too big. How come they dont need as much space as other parrots of the same size? The two that I have seen here were €700 in one shop and €800 with the cage in another. I was very tempted.


Greys aren't noisy. I have never found their natural calls to be noisy, but the sounds they learn can be. 

Grey Parrots need as much space as we can give them. They need large cages with enough room for them to be able to open their wings (legal requirement).


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Parrot Lady said:


> This is only my second reply to 'any' forum so if I dont follow the correct protocal I do apologise. I have a maximilian pionus, I got her from a breeder as a baby and have had her for just over 2 years. She has been an absolute pleasure to own (most of the time) as anyone who has or have parrots know that they can be 'spiritied' at times and thats what makes them so endearing to own. ALL parrots are noisy and messy. If you are thinking of owning a parrot there are some good websites such as Parrot 24 for supplies as parrots require a lot of toys and [email protected] etc dont generally carry much variety, they also have a lot of information on there as well from Liz Wilson which is well worth reading, also World Parrot Trust. My Maxi is very tame and loves having her head scratched by either myself or my partner, she doesnt really talk although she has started to try and say 'hello','be a good girl back soon', 'water' and 'goodnight'. She can screech her little lungs out when she wants to! She goes into her cage when I tell her to and flies to me if I call her, all 'trained' through positive reinforcement. I have learnt a lot about parrots over the last few years and am still learning. I have just got a beardie (picked him up Saturday, 12 weeks old from a reptile shop), having not had a reptile before, I am now researching and learning as much as I can to help the little guy. Hope he settles in OK, although he ate a few crickets Saturday and Sunday, he didnt eat anything yesterday or this morning, see if he will eat anything later, fingers crossed.


Welcome to the forum! Pionus Parrots are lovely, I really like them. :flrt:


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

Does anyone have experience of the blue crowned conure ? Are all aratingas noisy ?


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Magpie said:


> Does anyone have experience of the blue crowned conure ? Are all aratingas noisy ?


Yes, Blue-Crowns, like all Aratinga species are loud.


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## Magpie (Apr 12, 2008)

It's such a shame ! The noise isn't really an issue for us (large macaws and cockatoos aside !), but neighbours can be so funny about it and I don't want to cause any issues. What birds fit into an acceptable noise level for someone living in a semi-detached house ?


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## Sarah-Jayne (Jul 4, 2007)

Generally my African grey is not loud, but she can make loud noises and when she goes off on one making screeching noises that is loud lol right now she is making no noise at all! I live in a terraced building, above a business and I have neighbours on each side and they don't even know I have her, well the business does as they are my landlord but they don't hear her

I want to get her a slightly bigger cage she has the Montana Haiti cage at the moment but there isn't really anything that isn't a lot bigger than the one she has, and I only want to buy another Montana cage lol


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## Tomcat (Jul 29, 2007)

Sarah-Jayne, im too a keeper of greys...

Can i just say that there are PLENTY of cages that are alot bigger than a Haiti 

Heres some

Montana Parrot Cage Castel Dome

Montana Parrot Cage Palace

they are the only two on the website i was on, but Montana do HUGE corner cages too, rather than a quarter circle front they have the fronts like this

Rainforest Windsor Large Corner Cage Antique


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

As Zooman says, Senegals can be 'unpredictable' (I'd have gone with 'evil' for preference! :lol2, with greys noise isn't really too much of an issue; I live in a flat in a block, and no-one has found Rilla offensive. Frankly, the cockateils, with their repetative calls are far more annoying! I would definitely love a pionus (or even better, another Amazon! :flrt.


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## Sarah-Jayne (Jul 4, 2007)

Tomcat said:


> Sarah-Jayne, im too a keeper of greys...
> 
> Can i just say that there are PLENTY of cages that are alot bigger than a Haiti
> 
> ...


Yes I know I said I want one that isn't too much bigger than the one she has and all the other cages are too much bigger


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