I'm new and I don't know what kind of bird to get.

[bluerose1482]

Hi, I'm Connie from Louisiana. I have a 5 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. We have a small farm, where we raise chickens, ducks, geese, peafowl, goats, sheep and pigs. We have a jersey cow and bull, a shetland pony, 2 dogs, a potbellied pig.

My five year old son, who is great with baby chickens, ducks, geese etc. which we hatch in our incubator really wants a parrot for Christmas. In his wildest dreams Santa would bring him a military macaw, and perhaps Santa will--the year that he graduates from College. For now, Santa is looking for advice about a blue parrot or parrot like bird that is smallish, hardy and tames easily in the $80-100 price range. Santa is going to make sure that the bird is well cared for, but has very limited experience with domestic type birds although she has plenty of experience with other birds and other animals in general. Santa doesn't mind providing a special diet for a pet. (We currently have a fox who eats fish, nuts, berries, fruit, some veggies and eggs.)

[Luisa]

I'm not sure about your area, but in my area (NYC), $100 dollars will probably be able to get you a cockateil. I don't have any experience with this type of bird, but I do know that they are usually called good "beginner" birds. I do think they have quite sweet personalities though, and aren't very aggresive at all. Perhaps you could price the birds in your area that you can get in this price range. Also, Santa could always go to a resue and get a bird from there, which would be cheaper, and would help with the pet population as well!

[bluerose1482]

To give you an idea of the price of birds in my area, these are the ads listed in the paper under 'domestics birds':

Parakeets: $8/each

Canaries: females/$60 males/$70

Lovebirds assorted colors: $20/1

Cockatiels: $25/1

English parakeets: $25/1

Green check Conures: $125/1

Lady Gouldians: $50-75/1

[oodi]

Personally, my cockatiels are the only ones of my birds I have ever let my 10 year old grandson handle. I know how much blood my Green Cheek, Lovebird and Princess of Wales parakeets can draw, if they choose to. The Lovrebird is the smallest, but her bite is the worst! (especially when she has eggs) But... that is just my personal opinion.

[Stickyfeet]

A budgie might make a nice pet for a little boy... providing the little boy is kind to animals and understands how to look after them. A hand raised budgie is a very amusing and loveable pet. I would go out on a limb here and say a tame budgie is as much fun as any parrot. I have had a series of budgies as pets for my whole life, Whiskey, Mr Sunshine, Mr Stickyfeet.. They live pretty long, and they are clever and fun and they can talk. Don't let their small size fool you, they are funny, smart and silly little buddies. Get a hand-raised one, because the little boy won't want to endure the "taming" phase. I guarantee a tame budgie will make a really fun friend for your son, and provide amusement for the whole family. Budgies are underestimated as pets. They are clever little birds.

[Lori~D]

If you cannot find a hand raised blue budgie local (and it is difficult) you might consider and English Budgie and a Male. They are Bigger, tend to talk well and commonly hand fed and BLUE too. You can probably get one for under $100 and they make great pets. Budgies are parrots that require the same care and commitment. And will not outlive your whole family and budget,lol. Look for a good breeder rather than a pet store on BIRDBREEDERS.COM or in the back of Birdtalk magazine. Look up a few English Budgies talking on You Tube.

[Sondra Peterson]

Not much experience here, except fore the parakeets that the kids have when they were younger which was 30 yrs ago or more and a cockatiel 20 yrs ago those were tame and nice now I have a biting buzzard parrot let and though he is only 6mo old and hand fed I wouldn't recommed a child age 5 having one. as their bite is very hard and can draw blood.

[micki]

hi and welcome to the forum.

[eltrius]

Awww, goats are soooo sweet! I used to have two that were friends with a duckling. Anyway, I have a turquoise greencheek and he's really sweet and doesn't draw blood when he bites. I just think that Santa should be prepared to train the parrot you get because I don't think a 5 year old could do it (I'm pretty wobbly at it and I'm 23). A pair (lovebirds?) might work out better since they wouldn't need as much human attention so wouldn't need as much training. Of course then they wouldn't be as tame...

[Courtzrocks]

You dont need a handraised budgie, just a baby budgie,if they're still young then they tame down in about 10 mins. Cockatiels are good too, my boy is 18 next month and he's awesome although a bit grumpy but overall cockatiels are really great. My green cheek must be an exception, she's never bitten anyone, she's beaked but not bitten ie. never left a mark not even an indent. But maybe she's just the exception.