Do you own only one bird?

[BirdWriter]

Hello, my name is Tammy Gagne. I am a freelance writer who specializes in pet health and behavior -- and a columnist for Bird Times magazine. http://www.petpublishing.com/birdtimes/

As a parrot owner myself, I visit this site occasionally both for fun and while researching my bird-related topics. Some of my most recent columns are listed below.

“Making Your Move” (October 2004)

"Parrotus Odiferous" (December 2004)

"Spreading Their Wings" (February 2005)

I am currently working on an upcoming column about owning just one bird. I am looking for quotes from owners of single birds to include in the piece. Any information you are willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

You may simply copy and paste the following questions with your answers into an e-mail to the below address. Please be sure to include your name and location (either city and state or just state is fine), so I can credit you properly if I use your response within the piece.

1. What is the age, name, and species of your bird?

2. How much time do you spend interacting with your bird? What kinds of things do you do with your bird?

3. Does your bird appear content without any other birds in the household? Does it ever appear lonely?

4. Do you have any other pets within the home? Does your bird interact with these pets at all?

5. Have you ever considered adding another bird to your household? Do you ever worry that a bird needs fellow avian companionship?

6. If you were to purchase another bird, would you worry at all that the two might bond to each other to the point of affecting your one-on-one relationships with them?

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about this topic?

Thank you very much. I look forward to reading your responses.

Tammy Gagne
tammyg@maine.rr.com

[Vankarhi]

Well I own more than one bird, but only two are family pets, the others are budgies (2) and cockatiels (2) are in an outside aviary.

I know you want people who own only one bird, but a couple of the questions could be answered by people with more than one bird. I will not talk about my galah because I have let her grow her wings back in anticipation of her going into a big aviary when it gets built. Just for interest sake, she is 14 years old and her name is Bo.

My eclectus (Skye) female is 9 months old.

Skye comes out every morning and night to have dinner with us and comes out for car trips to visit people and when we go away. She loves to sit on my shoulder and just be with me.

She does not get lonely as there is usually somebody around, tv on or radio on. We have a large family, so there is always something happening. She plays a lot in her cage with her toys, and if nobody is around she probably enjoys the peace and quiet (lol).

we have 2 dogs and she does not worry about the border collie, but she does mock attack the staffy because the staffy is very interested in her and we have to watch that dog with the bird.

I do have another bird in the house, and Skye does not worry about her, but Bo dislikes Skye. I do not feel the birds need another friend if they get enough interaction with their human flock.

No I do not worry about the birds bonding with each other, I have not had that problem in the past. I feel that would only be a problem if the birds where in the same cage and did not get time out with their human flock on a regular basis.

You probably can't use this as I do have more than one bird, but thought I'd just answer anyway.

[The Outlaw]

Tammy:

I long ago passed the one bird portion of the program, but I did want to ask you a question. Just out of curiosity, are you related to Wayne Gagne of Waynes Parrot Stuff? I have 3 of his gyms and he's GREAT!

THE OUTLAW

[smallonion]

Hi Tammy - I'm pleased to help. My name is Michele and I live in London, England, although I am American (from Philadelphia), and I have one bird.

1. What is the age, name, and species of your bird?

My bird is a female Princess of Wales Parakeet (also called a Princess
Parrot). The scientific name is Polytelis Alexandrae. Her name is Humphrey, as we were erroneously told she was male! She is
around 2 years old, but we're not sure.

2. How much time do you spend interacting with your bird? What kinds of
things do you do with your bird?

My bird lives a cage free lifestyle - she has a cage but it's her choice
when to go in, except at bedtime. So, she kind of interacts with us all
day off and on. My husband works at home three days a week and one of
Humphrey's favorite things to do it sit on his lap or on his laptop
computer while he works. Her other favorite perch is the back of my computer chair. Humphrey flies over and sits on one of us
whenever she wants. We pet her, talk to her, feed her from our hands and
plate (she loves to share our meals and will perch onthe side of our
dinner plates..we are indulgent birdie parents) , and play with toys with
her. One of her favorite games is the toddler favorite - I drop it, you pick it up. She never gets bored with that one! She does the dropping, I do the picking up. She likes to do this with pushing the tv remote control off the table repeatedly.

3. Does your bird appear content without any other birds in the household?
Does it ever appear lonely? She seems fine without any other birds, EXCEPT
I feel for her when we have to leave her alone in the house. At those
times I sometimes wish she had a companion.

4. Do you have any other pets within the home? Does your bird interact
with these pets at all?
No other pets

5. Have you ever considered adding another bird to your household? Do you
ever worry that a bird needs fellow avian companionship?

I am definitely planning to get more birds. I am in the process of moving
back to the USA so I can't acquire any more birds till I get there. In fact I am desperpately trying to figure out how to get Humphrey into the USA without putting him in some awful quarantine facility. I plan
to offer some rescue parrots a forever home when I move to America.

I do sometimes worry that Humphrey doesn't have the companionship of other birds. But she seems very
happy - she plays, preens, eats well - no signs of depression or stress.
It seems she really does consider my husband and me her flock.

6. If you were to purchase another bird, would you worry at all that the
two might bond to each other to the point of affecting your one-on-one
relationships with them?

I hadn't thought about it - because I didn't think I'd get another Princess - I imagine my next bird to be something a little bigger like an Amazon or
Grey. The truth is, I would be more worried that they'd hate each other,
be jealous of each other, or try to hurt each other, and the knowledge I'd have to gain to allow them to coexist peacefully and safely.


7. Is there anything else you would like to share about this topic?

No, but as Outlaw asked - are you related to Wayne? I really credit the advice I got from him with changing Humph's life. Humphrey really came out of her shell after I followed Wayne's advice.

[Stacey32]

Hi Tammy, welcome. I own only one bird, and I will be happy to help. I'll do this at lunch, thanks.

Hi Tammy, I got it done now. I emailed it to you. If you don't get it, then let me know and I'll do it through this site.

Thanks,

stacey

[PEANUT]

i have tries to respond to your e-mail, but it will not go thru.

[Kevin]

why not try a personal msg via birdboard system ?

[BirdWriter]

Just checking in to say thank you to everyone who has responded. I appreciate input from both single-bird owners and multiple-bird owners, since most of us began this endeavor as the former variety, after all. All perspectives are useful. :)

If anyone has any trouble e-mailing me, please feel free to post your reply here. I will be sure to check back before writing this piece. You can also try e-mailing me at my other address -- tagwriter@yahoo.com.

Thanks again.

Tammy Gagne

P.S. Editing to add: Nope, no relation to Wayne. Sorry.

[Vega]

Hi Tammy, I just brought home my second baby 2 weeks ago, so I'm going to throw my .02 in! But I will answer the questions as I would have before I brought the new one home.

1.What is the age, name, and species of your bird?

Gypsy is a female Vosmaeri Eclectus who turns 17 months old today!!

2. How much time do you spend interacting with your bird? What kinds of things do you do with your bird?

Usually about 30 minutes in the morning, in the evenings she gets appx. 3.5 hours out. I set up her play gym and connect ladders from the gym to her cage to my bed (which is covered with an old comfortor). She eats her dinner, plays a bit, then will sit on my arm for the last 45 minutes or so before bed just winding down.

3. Does your bird appear content without any other birds in the household? Does it ever appear lonely? She seems very content. I worry about her being lonely since I work full time though.

4. Do you have any other pets within the home? Does your bird interact with these pets at all? Yes, I have 3 dogs. They interact very little. When Gypsy eats she will toss whatever she doesn't like to the floor for the dogs. But for the most part they are afraid of her. LOL

5. Have you ever considered adding another bird to your household? Do you ever worry that a bird needs fellow avian companionship? Yes I considered it (and acted upon it) But I didn't do it for her companionship...well maybe a little...but it was more for me than her.

6. If you were to purchase another bird, would you worry at all that the two might bond to each other to the point of affecting your one-on-one relationships with them? That never occured to me. I planned on keeping them in seperate cages a little distance away from each other. Since I went with another species there wasn't much choice in the matter.

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about this topic? I think it's very hard to limit yourself to just 1 bird. With soooo many kinds out there it's hard to pick!

Joni,
Ginger--chow mix
Darla--shep mix
Vega--husky mix
Gypsy--ekkie
Harvey--conure
Pittsburgh, PA

[pbyeerts]

1. What is the age, name, and species of your bird? NIMO, 6, blue and gold macaw

2. How much time do you spend interacting with your bird? What kinds of things do you do with your bird? 1 -2 hours of daily direct play (playing catch, snuggling, chasing balls, peek a boo, etc). 2-3 hours of talking to Nimo while watching TV and other activities around the house

3. Does your bird appear content without any other birds in the household? Does it ever appear lonely? No, Nimo does not appear lonely and seems very content

4. Do you have any other pets within the home? Does your bird interact with these pets at all? We have 3 cats who fear Nimo greatly. There is no interaction.

5. Have you ever considered adding another bird to your household? Do you ever worry that a bird needs fellow avian companionship? Yes, we have considered adding a smaller parrot to our home as a companion to Nimo. However, we have decided against this because it would mean less time for Nimo with us.

6. If you were to purchase another bird, would you worry at all that the two might bond to each other to the point of affecting your one-on-one relationships with them? No, we are not concerned about this because it would not be another macaw

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about this topic?
I believe birds can be perfectly content as an only bird. I was able to board Nimo at one time in a home with 4 other BG macaws, and he enjoyed the experience. However, he has always been the only bird in a home and I believe he is content that way. I believe that if the owners provide enough daily interaction and attention to their parrot, the bird will be content.