Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
It can be misleading from my videos and blog that owning parrots is a cake walk. It certainly can be a pleasure but it is even more so a challenge. Most of my articles and videos either focus on the good things or help to prevent/resolve the bad ones. But much of the undesirable stuff still goes unnoticed.
My passion for parrots may seem to trump the struggle, but I wanted to write this time about that struggle. It's not easy and sometimes downright aggravating to have birds. The trouble is, that all the problematic things are erratic and hard to demonstrate. If I want to show a cute trick my parrot picked up, I can cue it and show it in person or on video. Other cute behaviors I can usually stage or elicit in some way. The bad stuff, even though frequent enough isn't predictable and cannot be demonstrated on demand. This is why you have to take my written word that it exists nonetheless.
I understand the problems that regular parrot owners encounter because I have to deal with them too. Luckily I have most of it under control but parrots are still wild animals so even with the most trained of parrots these issues can rear their ugly head. I hope to convince you that parrots are difficult creatures but also that issues can be greatly reduced with training. Still, there will always be the fact that you are dealing with a wild, selfish, difficult animal and it is imperative to accept this from the start.
Biting, jealousy, screaming, destroying things, flying away, moodiness, fighting, making a huge mess, and costing a fortune are just some of the difficulties I have to deal with like any other parrot owner. I do everything I can to minimize these issues and make the most of them. Much of my training and efforts with the birds help a lot. I don't even want to begin to imagine what my parrots could have turned out like without the training.
Luckily biting is infrequent with the trained parrots. However, it is not absolutely eliminated. They are still wild animals and some unexpected thing can potentially set them off. Whether it's grabbing on too hard to hang on, an act of jealousy, or just plain startled, these can result in bleeding. One time, Kili was sitting tucked under my chin when Truman decided to fly over and land exactly where she was nestled. She began to throw her beak around in defense but since my face was the closest thing she got me rather than the perpetrator. Another time I got nailed was reaching into Kili's cage to take her out in the morning. Apparently she had just woken up and hadn't had her coffee yet (just kidding) and my hand was unexpected to her when I reached in. Like a pitbull she grabbed on and wouldn't let go. If she were more awake and seen my face, she would have known it was me and would never have done it.
These are rare problems but even with the most trained of parrots possible. This is why a parrot can never be an easy pet. If you don't work with them, they are just wild and horrible. If you work with them extensively, you can only hope to achieve 99%.
Truman on the other hand still gets moody fits once every few months. He'll suddenly be scared of things he has no reason to be and becomes very difficult to manage. Sometimes he throws screaming fits and screams his butt off all day long. Other times he is quiet and sweet. His adolescent age may play a role but it makes it no easier to deal with. The two birds may go months without fighting and then suddenly something sets them off and it is hard to trust them around each other again.
Making things good takes a lot of time and effort. Letting things get bad can happen instantly. You can spend a year taming a parrot with success and then one incident and the bird goes back to distrusting you. This is very difficult to accept. This is why it's important to go into parrot ownership without expecting anything good in return. You must love your parrot and take care of it without any expectation of anything in return. Otherwise you will be led to disappointment. Parrots have no obligation to reciprocate.
The mess is endless. You can clean all you want but there will still be feathers, food bits, toy parts all over the place. Luckily parrot poop is easy to clean and not bothersome. However, there's plenty where it comes from. Be ready for endless cleaning and no cleanliness in sight. Vet bills can get very expensive and the care isn't always effective. The toys and perches are expensive and get depleted in no time (and if they don't then a bored bird can turn to plucking or screaming). These are all troubles that cannot be videoed but are probably familiar to most parrot owners.
Parrots are also extremely time consuming. Not only do you have to cook, clean, and shop for them but you also have to make time to take them out, train them, get them outdoor time, and exercise them. To do this right takes a lot of time on a consistent basis. Then this must be continued for life.
When I do run into problems, I never just accept them. I may accept that an immediate solution is impossible. However, I always apply myself toward a long term solution. Even if it takes years, if I keep working toward it, I can ensure things don't get worse and eventually get solved. Flight, taming, training, socialization, exercise, outdoor time, food management, sleep, etc are all a part of the solution toward most problems. But these come at a cost. The cost of knowledge is the cheapest by far. The more costly is the time and patience that you will have to dedicate with little/nothing in return to improve your parrot's behavior. But ultimately it will be a far more desirable pet than if left to its own wild ways.
So in summary, it may seem from my articles/videos that parrot ownership is easy or nothing but delight. However, even I have to deal with tough birds and understand that it is even harder for others. Owning a pet parrot is a tough job and not one to be taken lightly. It can only suit people seeking a real challenge. Parrots definitely aren't suitable for someone who wants an out of the box pet that will behave as they wish/expect. If you're having a hard time with your bird, realize that you're not alone. But also realize that there is much work to be done to improve behavior.
Check out my book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots for my complete approach to parrot keeping. It discusses everything from choosing a bird to solving behavior problems. I won't say it's easy but I will say that it works for all sorts of parrots. Have some patience, keep informed, and try your best always and you will see your parrot transform into a more desirable companion.
Until recently, Truman didn't know how to eat soft fruits on his own! Whether it was corn on the cob, pomegranate, or grapes, Truman would only eat them if I peeled them a bit and stuck them in his beak. Imagine that! I giant beak like that which could crack an almond in half in a second, couldn't eat a grape!
If I stuck a grape in Truman's beak and didn't at least peal the skin a little, he'd drop it. In other words if I didn't get it started for him, he couldn't figure out how to get the fruit going. But a few weeks ago, I grew tired of all this and decided to teach him a lesson in figuring it out on his own! So instead of giving him something tasty like this at the end of a meal as a treat, I gave him a corn on the cob as his meal. The only catch is he'd have to figure it out on his own!
I put a piece of corn in Truman's bowl and left him at it. At first he was pissed that he couldn't get at the tasty kernels but since he was hungry he kept at it and figured out. Since then I've been able to get him to work grapes and other fruit without having to help him. What a big baby!
Now this time I took the birds in the yard where the fig tree is blossoming. Kili had never had a fig before and Truman only had one once in the aviary. Since the figs look like a giant grape, I think they both figured it out pretty quickly and began munching away. I think for a parrot this must be one of the most enjoyable experiences: peeling off mother nature's own right off the branch and making a big big mess!
I've been a fan of water bottles rather than water dishes for parrots from the start. I never liked the mess that comes of a bird's water dish and have found the water bottle to be the best alternative.
The advantage of using a water bottle is that the water stays clean all day long as the parrot cannot dump anything into it. Additional benefits include that you can assess how much water is consumed and the parrot cannot "dunk" its pellets.
The disadvantages of using a water bottle include difficulty of conversion, potential blockage, more difficult to clean, potential bacteria in the tube, and inability to bathe. Luckily most of these disadvantages are only potential issues and not actual ones. The extra work involved in cleaning a water bottle isn't much but it sure beats changing water multiple times a day. Bacteria in the tube is only likely to occur if water isn't changed frequently enough or bottle is poorly cleaned. The difficulty of converting a parrot to use a water bottle becomes moot once the parrot begins to use it and continues to for many years. As for inability to bathe, you can occasionally provide a water dish for bathing opportunities or the parrot can cleverly learn to shower with water from the bottle.
If you use a high quality glass and metal water bottle system, you are unlikely to run into problems. First of all, being without access to water for half a day isn't catastrophic. But more importantly, these bottles are very reliable and you'll know there is a problem with the bottle before anything bad happens. You can see how much water is consumed, unlike a dish, because of the air pocket that forms at the top. If more water is gone than normal, there may be a leak. If no water is missing, then there is a blockage.
I don't think the bottles themselves are prone to getting stuck. Instead they are more likely to develop a drip with time. In 5 years I have never had a bottle get stuck but I have thrown out one bottle that after a few years developed a drip. The drip was not catastrophic. Even at the end of the day over half the water was still remaining in the bottle but after a few weeks I got around to replacing the bottle.
The most likely way a bottle can get stuck and not dispense water is if something gets lodged inside. This could either cause it to get stuck or to leak all its water out quickly. If a parrot is obsessed with dunking or has some weird ideas where to stick wood chips this could happen. Always watch your parrot's habits and do not rely on a water bottle for greater than 24 hours unsupervised.
The water bottle conversion process of teaching a parrot to use the bottle is straightforward and simple. What is difficult is the stress on the owner that is not sure if the parrot is drinking from the bottle or not. I think it is best to get the bird to drink from the bottle when thirsty, so I would recommend not leaving water overnight, allowing the parrot to eat dry pellets with no available water in the morning, and then offer water from the bottle. Either hold the bottle in your hand or secure it on the cage. Tap the ball to show your bird how it works and allow a drop of water to form on the tip. Hopefully the bird will beak around the bottle and realize that pressing on the ball releases water. I would repeat this process a couple times and then see if the parrot can manage on its own. For the first few days, you may want to offer water in a bowl briefly twice a day to check if the bird is thirsty or not. If the water level in the bottle is changing and the bird does not want to drink from the dish, you will know the conversion is complete and successful.
When it comes to cleaning water bottles, dish soap and some scrubbing with a bottle cleaner are the way to go. A good place to get the cleaning brush is in a baby supplies store. Often times you can find a baby bottle cleaning kit with a large and small brush and that works perfectly on bird bottles. To be safe, I boil my bird water bottles about once a month to make sure there aren't any nooks that were missed in the tubes.
Here's a video of how my parrots drink from their water bottles. Check out how they each have a different way of making the water come out. And then another video of how Kili learned to shower from her bottle since she rarely has access to a dish.
I don't know! This is one of the most common questions I come across but it's difficult to answer. It is kind of the same as asking "what kind of car should I get?" Except the outcome of making a poor choice for the parrot will be far more grave than picking the wrong car. I cannot tell you what parrot to get. What I can tell you is what questions to ask and what kind of information to look for to help you come to the right decision yourself.
This is a difficult decision for a beginner to make. Someone who has little experience with birds does not know what to look for and does not know what to avoid. It is very hard to realize these things until you live with a bird but it's not fair to get a parrot for a bit and then get it rid of it if it does not work out. I hope the advice here opens the doorway for a much greater research about what kind of parrot to get before ever getting one.
The first and perhaps the most important question when choosing a parrot is whether or not you even want a bird, a creature of the class Aves. A bird is nothing like a cat, dog, or other pet you might commonly come to think of. The distinguishing features of birds are that they have feathers, fly (yes, a few don't but we're not considering a penguin as a pet here), and make vocal noises. To many people, the idea of a flying creature in their house is unacceptable and this is perfectly reasonable. However, it is not reasonable to acquire a bird as a pet if this aspect cannot be accommodated as it is part of what being a bird naturally is.
Next comes the question, why a parrot? There are other kinds of birds that can be kept as pets as well. What about the hookbilled birds called parrots attracts you? If the answer is only that "they can talk," you are setting yourself up for disappointment when you realize that not all parrots talk and that they may choose to make noise instead of talking. The unique distinguishing features of parrots over other birds is that they are highly intelligent, social, complex birds. In other words you have to want a smart and challenging pet and not a talking hamster.
If you've determined that you like the features of parrots in general and want to continue narrowing down your search you have to stop a moment and consider the downsides of having any parrot. To different extents, all parrots are noisy, messy, costly, and can bite. Are these (and many other unmentioned issues) acceptable to you? Would you still want to keep a parrot if it never talked and only did these undesirable things? This is a very important question because that's what the majority of pet parrots do. If you aren't ready for a lot of trouble with little reward, a parrot is not going to be the pet for you.
How much time do you have available to spend both now and many many years from now? Parrots require a lot of time commitment both in terms of interaction time but also care time such as cleaning. Even if you have the time available now, are you sure you'll be able to spend just as much twenty years from now when your life situation is entirely different?
As you see, choosing the exact species of parrot is only a small factor in the bigger question of whether or not any parrot is the right pet for you from the start. Let's talk about additional resources for learning about parrots before narrowing down a species. You'll want to check out general parrot ownership books, books about parrot species, talk with other parrot owners on forums, and visit some rescues or stores to see how parrots are. There's nothing like getting a big bloody bite from a parrot to give a dose of reality over the dreamy talking shoulder bird people imagine parrots to be.
Now what about the question of "should I get a beginner parrot" or "what kinds of parrots are good for beginners?" Truth is there is no such thing as a beginner parrot. All kinds from parakeets to macaws are complex and difficult to care for. However, that said, there are some kinds that definitely are not suitable with people without any experience. Cockatoos, Amazons, Macaws, African Greys, and Eclectus are virtually never advisable for beginners. Not only are these types of parrots extremely difficult to care for but also beginner mistakes in the early stages can lead to substantial problems for the birds down the line (such as incurable biting, plucking, and screaming). Does this mean that all other kinds of parrots are beginner birds? No way. Conures, Poicephalus, Caiques, Parakeets, Cockatiels, Lovebirds, Parrotlets, etc are all great birds that could satisfy any expert owner. Just these parrots are smaller and less prone to extreme problems as some of the previously mentioned kinds.
I am by no means saying that if you want a Cockatoo that you should first get a Cockatiel to learn on and then get the Cockatoo. What I am saying is that if you've never owned a parrot before, you will not have the experience to even be able to evaluate whether or not such a challenging bird is even remotely within your grasp. Just seeing a baby Cockatoo at a store and being able to pet it is absolutely no indication that you will be able to handle that kind of bird when it goes through maturity. All the research on the internet will never come close to handling real bites, noise, mess, etc. If you are really set on getting any of the larger species outright, the best thing you can do to evaluate if one is right for you is visiting a rescue. Don't kid yourself that the birds you see there are the worst ones. Most of them are really like that. If you can't see yourself wanting one from a rescue, almost certainly you won't like what the baby of that species turns out like as an adult.
People getting their first parrot often fixate on the price of the bird. But in reality this is the cheapest part of getting one and should play much less of a role than it does. The cost of keeping the parrot will be far more than the initial purchase price. You can often expect to spend what the parrot cost (or would cost in a store) yearly on supplies/food/vet alone.
But when it comes to choosing between a lovebird and a parrotlet or a budige and a cockatiel, how do you know what to get? This is still a question that only you can answer. But it is far more important to look at the typical undesirable traits of that species rather than desirable ones. Sure it's easy to say that the nice thing about Conures is that they are colorful and playful. But can you handle the noise and biting? Or Senegal Parrots are desired for their relative quietness but can you handle the aggression and one-person bonding? Many species may seem nice on the pros side but the cons may be entirely unbearable and bar you from ever owning it. A Cockatoo may seem playful and friendly but in an apartment the noise level will just be impossible.
More considerations when determining what kinds of species you can even consider include:
Size: do you have adequate room for a huge cage for a bird of this size? Do you have adequate space for a bird of this size to fly for exercise?
Noise: will everyone in your household be able to tolerate endless noise of the volume this bird is capable of? But not just immediate household, what about neighbors?
Bite: take a look at that beak. Will you be able to take a bite without flinching? What if this bird always wants to bite you, will you still take good care of it?
Cost: will you be able to afford to keep the parrot, not just buy it up front? Do you realize that you will probably have to spend about what the bird costs every year on upkeep?
Mess: how much of a mess can you tolerate? How much time do you have for cleaning? Can you deal with favorite possessions getting destroyed?
I realize that I raise more questions than I provide answers. Beginners want a straightforward answer to the age old question what parrot should I get? But it's really not something anyone can answer but yourself. But in order not to disappoint those reading this that insist on me choosing a parrot for them, I will leave you with one solid answer. If in doubt and unable to choose, get a Cockatiel. They embody many of the best features of parrots and fewer of the bad ones. Cockatiels are pretty looking, not too noisy, less messy, less costly to keep, less aggressive, can make do with any size household, and yet they can still be cuddly, loving, and exciting to have. Cockatiels are easy to read because of their expressive crest and tend to get along well in a flock environment. With some taming and training even the wildest of Cockatiels can become hand tame. These birds are also less likely to hold grudges and will with time forgive beginner mistakes.
So in your search for the right parrot for you, remember to do lots of research, talk to parrot owners, see parrots in person, identify the pros and cons of various species, estimate your long term budget, and figure out the best parrot for you and your household. For even more information about choosing a parrot, bringing it home, and a complete approach to parrot keeping, get a copy of my book: The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots.
I took Kili & Truman on an outing to a glider club picnic. This isn't the first time I've taken them to this annual event so it wasn't surprising that they were at complete ease. I'd even go so far to say that they even enjoyed it.
The parrot duo got to ride around on my shoulders and earn bits of unusual food. They took turns stepping up for people, getting pet, or showing tricks. The birds especially enjoyed eating freshly picked NJ sweet corn off the cob. Funny thing is that Truman is a dodo and can't manage corn off the cob. Truman goes bonkers for corn off the cob but can't figure out how to get it off. Kili just digs right in. I can't take a bite of my corn without Kili ripping off the other end.
The place where the club hosts the picnic has a small lake and boats. I took the parrots on their first ever open boat ride. I put them both down on the side but Kili flew right up to my shoulder. Meanwhile Truman sat on the edge and watched the water and wildlife. By exposing the birds to every possible imaginable experience, I can best prepare them for complex unforeseen situations or performances in the future.
At these picnics, the club always ends things with a balsa wood glide throwing contest to see who can toss their flimsy little plane to land closest to a pole. The host's mantra has always been that "there are no rules and cheating is encouraged" so my brother and I usually bring our own higher performance gliders. But this year I decided to go all the way and have the bird do the flying. Before the competition I worked on training Truman to harness fly and land atop the PVC canopy of the target stake. Using my "go to perch" command, I had Truman fly to the point from further and further back until I could do it from the launch point. I had to have a running start and send Truman flying in order to keep running to grant him slack in his flying line. Since Truman's string is only 25ft but the required distance was over 75, I had to run with him to be able to fly. I paid the $2 entry fee twice. I entered Truman as his own competitor.
When the competition came, it was already well after sunset. I didn't realize just how badly birds see in twilight until I tried to have Truman fly to the point during the competition. The first two tries, he flew the wrong way and only the harness kept him from going who knows where. But on the third and final attempt, things went a little different. Truman again took off and headed in the wrong direction. He reached the end of the line and began an arching turn to follow the radius. I took his continued flying to advantage and started running toward the stake calling his name to recall to me instead. He turned and headed for the sound of my voice. He was so winded by this point that he did not make it to the top of the stake but did land just 12 inches short of the pole which was the closest any flying object had made it to in this competition. Truman was cheered on by the onlookers as he made it to the landing zone. I didn't do nearly as well when I tossed my balsa glider.
The birds were satisfied, satiated, and exhausted from all the flying, thrills, and experiences. They did not make a peep the entire ride back. These kinds of outings are a fantastic socialization experience for the birds and I think for them a lot of fun. It also gives me a chance to educate people about parrots in the process. For more information about building trust, hand taming, harness training, taking parrots outdoors, and teaching them to wear a harness, check out my book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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