New, need help choosing bird (long)

[fredalina]

Hi! My husband and i have been talking about getting a bird (or possibly multiple, depending on the type) for several months. We've talked about larger parrots, smaller songbirds, and now it looks like we're finally leaning toward a mid-sized bird, perhaps a conure.

i'm wondering if you can help us to choose a bird species that would best fit our lifestyle, or perhaps burst our bubble and tell us that we don't have the lifestyle for a bird at this time. (Please be honest).

Please allow me to describe our lifestyle some. We both work full time. i work more traditional hours of 7:30 am to 4:15 pm with a 45 minute commute each direction. My husband works for a local tv news station and works from 1 pm to 10 pm with a 20 minute commute. Ideally he would be the primary bird caregiver as he has always been a bird lover. The goal would be for this to be his pet, though i'm certainly on board with helping care for, clean up after, love, and financially care for the bird as well.

We do not have children at this time but we are very near having our first foster child placed with us. We have 3 Great Dane dogs and are fostering a rabbit. We (i, mostly) also have a horse boarded closer to where i work.

Places where we could keep the bird:
1) DH's office. DH spends 3+ hours in the office each night writing (he also writes books), watching television, playing video games, etc after he gets home from work before winding down and going to bed.
Pros: DH spends a lot of his time in this room. The bird would have little to no interaction with the dogs (or rabbit), and could have time while DH is home out of the cage for interaction and exercise.
Cons: The bird would have to adjust to DH's work/sleep patterns. Is this even possible? Also the office is the bedroom next to where the child will be sleeping, with a bathroom between so there is some sound insulation, but not a lot. While we would always try to supervise the bird with the foster children (as we would the children with the dogs and rabbit, etc), there's always some danger they could go in and hurt or be hurt by the bird when they are supposed to be sleeping.

2) Living room. i will spend my evenings in and near the living room (which is pretty open to the kitchen) cooking dinner, helping with homework, watching television, etc with the foster child. There would be somewhat less opportunity for unsupervised interaction between the foster child and the bird.
Pros: This is a main center of the home for myself and the child.
Cons: It is near our bedroom, which bird noise in the early morning could wake DH who usually sleeps until 10-11 am, DH would have much less interaction with the bird, the dogs do spend a lot of time in the living room so we would have to be very cautious when the bird is playing on their gym/perch outside the cage. There may be less opportunity for *direct* interaction with people and there would likely be less time for exercise.


OK, so assuming you guys think that we could provide a good home to a conure (or other species), where is the best place to look for a bird? We are rescuers first in almost everything, including our three dogs, horse, and foster bunny, but as new bird owners i'm not sure if rescue birds could have more behavioral issues or things that would be better with someone with more experience?

i know there's no such thing as a perfect bird, but if i had to describe it, i would say:
1) We expect some noise, but the less the better especially early in the morning, or more singing/chirping versus screeching would be better, especially if the living room is the place where the bird will be kept primarily.
2) Friendly and interactive (biting to a minimum, though i know it's to be expected as well).
3) Intelligent and fun-loving (ability to learn to talk would be nice but not necessary).
4) Pretty, obviously, but that's not the number 1 priority.

i want to say that whatever bird we decide on in the end, presuming that we do, we will be very committed to it. We take our commitments to our pets very seriously and we work through any issues to our fullest. We are not "throw-away" pet owners in the least, which is why we're trying to do as much research as possible before just running out and buying the sun conure in the pet store that DH fell in love with ;).

Thanks so much for your time in reading this, and your honest responses to come!

[geekasaurus]

from what ive read suns are pretty loud...i dont have one though so maybe someone else can chime in on that

as far as noise goes...i have a quaker, a patagonian conure, and a moluccan cockatoo

the quaker sings - whereas the other two have more of a 'call' type scream

they can all be loud but the quakers singing is pleasant even when the volume is high (for his size anyhow)
here is a video of him singing: GOTCHA! (video)

ive known people with green cheek conures and they were not loud (to me lol)

personally i would recommend a green cheek or a quaker...i love quakers personalities and ive heard a lot about green cheeks

keeping in mind that whatever bird you choose may be a real loudmouth and not fit into the mold as far as noise level and how often it sings throughout the day

so i hope that helps a little
im sure others will be by to chime in with oodles more information

[Liezlmd]

Do some research on the net and on here as to what would fit you best... There are so many different types you could get..

I personally love my Eclectus... so read more about them on Land of Vos..

I also work 7am till 5pm and it is no problem for me.. I take her out of her cage after work and over weekends!

[huntress]

For everything I read I would stay away from any type of Conure, Cockatoo or Macaw. If you dont know about the allergies of the child I would also avaoid the dusty breeds like Cockatoos, Cockateils , or African greys. With the Noise is the place I would avoid the Conures or the Quakers as they can be VERY LOUD esp in the morning. Dogs dont matter if they are taught to leave bird alone and the bird is young and brought up with dogs. Eclectus have specialized diet needs and I wouldnt reccommend them for a beginner bird. Everything I read points me towards a PIONUS (pref. White Capped) Quieter and more family type bird. Or One of the Myers, Jardine or Senegal? But they can end up being a one person type bird - noise levels are lower.

[fredalina]

It appears that Quakers are absolutely illegal in my state. i have no idea why, but a quick search told me that.

OK, so the biggest question is this:

Can any bird (and if so, what species is best at) adjust to my husband's schedule where the bird's "day" would be between approximately 10:30 pm and 10:30 am, and the "night" would be the reverse?

[geekasaurus]

in my experience - birds are awake when the sun is up and asleep when the sun goes down (or shortly thereafter)

when i first got boogie i tried to shift her schedule a bit but no luck
she is up every morning at 6:30 on the dot...i dont even use an alarm clock anymore
im curious to see whether or not she sleeps later when the sun comes up later this winter

anyhow
quakers are illegal in a few states because they worry about them being released and forming feral flocks...i think its stupid myself

i have horrible allergies and my too's dust bothers me - i just make sure to take my allergy medicine and some benadryl at night
i cant imagine a small bird like a tiel bothering someone that much
but thats just me

[fredalina]

Hmmm... my husband is allergic to cats (and rabbits, hence why we are only fostering the one and not planning to keep her). He seems okay with my horse, and is fine with the dogs. i know birds can cause allergies as well; is there a way to predict this before bringing a bird home? Perhaps allergy testing to be certain?

And, you're right, we won't know about the foster children's allergies. We have specifically asked to foster kids without known allergies to dogs, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be allergic to birds. If we were able to keep the bird in the office, then that wouldn't be too much of an issue as the child wouldn't often be in there, but if the schedule can't be adapted then it could be an issue.

[Addicted to Tequila]

Green-cheek mutation!

[alwaysontimneh]

My TAG actually will get really cranky if he is up past 730pm even if I am waking him up at like 9am(thats my weekend wake up time). He does not scream though as long as he is covered he will stay in there quietly until I get up. I wouldn't suggest keeping a bird up till 10 at night or later I am sure there are people who do it though. If you were to get a baby then just like a child their sleep is very crucial and they need a lot of it, the first couple of weeks Mr. was home he slept 12-13 hours a night and insisted on an hour nap during the day. Now he is happy with around 10-12 hours of sleep with no nap.

I personally second the Pionus I have been doing research on them myself and they sound like great birds. I actually am thinking about getting one sometime maybe in the near future.

[jenniferag]

We do tend to be awake late into the night on the weekends... we recently got a Sun Conure.. we lucked out because the bird only screams when we come home and is excited or when there is a lot of commotion going on...

He also tends to get sleepty around 8 or so... we've had him a little over a week and also needs a nap during the day... if we're up late I'll usually just let him sleep under my shirt... at least that way we can pet him and still be with him........ he seems to really like it.....

From what I've heard too the living room would be a better place for the bird because they like being in on the action and being around the family... but if the bird will want to sleep by the time people are home it doesn't sound like having a bird will work..... unless you get really lucky and the bird can change sleep schedules....

Someone stop me if I'm wrong... I'm pretty new but that's just what I've heard...