looking for the right bird

[goodshep]

my apologies for any repetitive posts....I'm posting the same thing on several individual forums....

I'm new to the forum; new to birds actually. I joined in order to learn what breeds might be best for our family. We are a large family with 7 kids ranging in age from 1 - 17 who we homeschool. All of us are interested in getting a bird. We've had budgies in the distant past but nothing larger. There is someone home almost all the time so we feel we could offer a bird plenty of attention and socialization. I breed and train dogs and we are also all familiar with the need for training, patience and consistency. I use mostly positive methods with my dogs. We would like a bird with the capacity to talk and I think we can deal with the noise level (we live in the country with nearest neighbor a 1/2 mile away). I have talked with a breeder who raises sun and green cheeked conures, quakers and hahn's mini macaws as well as senegals. He was most helpful and thought that most of the birds he raises would do OK with us. He did think the sun conure might be a good choice and not be put off by the activity level of our household (lots of people around all the time). He also thought because of our experience with dogs, the mini macaw might not present too much of a challenge. One of our main concerns would be that the bird is able to accept all the members of the family and not attach itself strictly to one person. My middle children (especially my 7 yr old ddd) really want to be able to interact with any bird we get. My dd thinks the quakers are really cute (as do I). I know some breeds are more prone to be a one owner bird but I also know that how extensively you socialize the bird has something to do with it. In addition to speaking to the breeder I have contacted a rescue and have filled out their adoption application (waiting to hear back). Is getting an older rehomed bird better or worse than getting a handfed weaned baby (especially in terms of our above concern)? I'd appreciate any thoughts on this as well as suggestions for appropriate breeds and will post on the various individual breed forums as well.

TIA, Amy