Possible New Bird

If you want a tame bird that you can handle you would want to keep them seperate. We did keep parrotlets together and they remained hand tame. As for talking, keeping birds together has no effect on talking ability. We've had lovebirds to large macaws, talking ability varies from bird to bird. The only reason you would want to keep two birds together in the same cage is for breeding and then you wouldn't want to go with a handfed bird anyway, they make horrible parents.

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Originally Posted by KLG

Avoid ring-necked parakeets like the plague. Just do it. You'll thank me.

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I completely disagree. In my experience Ringnecks are really cool birds. Good vocabulary for their size, come in many different colors, and total sweethearts when you find one that decides it really likes you. I've also heard that they're a little more independent than the conures, and don't mind as much if they are left to play with their toys rather than with another living creature.

ringnecks are very cool birds, they do tend to be a hands off bird and can get rather loud. We had 4 pair of ringneck breeders and all the handfed babies were pretty tame. All birds get nippy if not handled a lot. The only birds I would say to stay away from until you get more experience are, bigger amazons, greys,big macaws, any other big bird and any type of lories, lories have different diet requirements than all the other birds and are quite messy.


Here are my top picks for first parrot

1. pionus parrots
2. parrotlet
3. green cheek conure
4. blue crowned conure
5. Hahn's macaw, or pretty much any mini macaw
6. Orange winged amazon (pretty quiet and small for amazons)

I finally found a listing of breeders in nebraska. Im really thinking of a parrotlet. They have the color I want and arn't a big bird. Any suggestions/comments about them. I have a real nice cage that I used for my parakeets a while ago.

Out of the many species I've worked with, I would say a pionus or Galah are great choices for smaller hookbills. Our Galah was very quiet, and a little sweetheart, though some can be quite noisy. Pionus are relatively quiet (for a parrot) and have quite the personality.

-Evan

Pionus will always be number one on my list. As for the parrotlets just because they are small doesn't mean they can live in a small cage. You will want one big enough for a lot of perches and lots of toys. They are pretty active little birds.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

With the little knowledge I have of lovebirds.. keeping them in pairs isn't that easy. If they don't like each other, they may kill each other. This is just what I remember reading (wouldn't put it past the buggers either.)

Keeping parrots with other parrots tends to make them bond with the other bird rather than you.. also they are less likely to talk.

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I remember my mothers lovebirds always fighting. Her take on it was it's just like married couples, the are not happy unless their fighting.:sabduel:
:giggle:

The cage is pretty decent size. Since they are active and play a lot, do they keep themselves entertained most of the time.

*update*
I found a breeder in Lincoln that has 2 green male parrotlets. What are the behavioral differences between males and females. Also my room in the winter is around 68F is this too cold.

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Originally Posted by tropheusfreak

I'm in Minnesota and we used to breed birds. I would go with a pionus parrot. They are very quiet don't get crazy mean. I would really think twice about conures. We used to raise suns, jendays, nandays, green cheeks, and blue crowned conures, all very noisy and nippy. Always buy a handfed bird when possible. I have one bird left that we are thinking about selling. He is a white capped pionus. He is really sweet and is a cool bird. They are pretty shy birds though. We raised blue headed pionus and white capped pionus's. Parrotlets are cool too. We had pacifics for years. Really sweet little birds. If you weren't so far away we would give you a really good deal on our white cap. He has a huge cage and is very tame and only around a year old.

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I adore pionus!!!!! I've had four of them, my first, a female dusky, we lost to avian TB, our little male white cap had heart problems and finally died due to complications, and our sweet little bronze wing died due to liver and kidney difficulties. We now have a blue head and he is the sweetest, gentlest, most wonderful baby in the world. He is big, his wingspan comes close to that of my lilac crowned amazon.
It really depends on what you want from a bird. If you want a bird that talks, go for an amazon or a grey (but don't count on it. I have an 11 year old grey that only says one word) if you want color, go for a sunday, a sun or a jenday conure (beware the noise). Cockatiels and the smaller conures are also a good choice and not as noisy. They are hard to find but grey cheeked parakeets are wonderful pets, they can talk a little and have a lot of personality in a small package. Start checking out Bird Talk magazine. They have a different species written about in each magazine. Maybe you will see something you like.