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

[madisgiftpaiges]

Well, I am awaiting my first quaker and am newer to BB too. I have had a tiel in the past and budgies, kids were too young, tiel was a feisty little bugger and drew blood on anyone that came near him till he met my dad and fell in love with him (after a few visits and seeing how happy Butcher was with my dad and that he would allow my dad to handle him, I sent him home to live with him . I have done research off and on over the past couple of years waiting for the okay from my hubby to add a bird to the family and VERY extensive research since he said yes, lol. This is just a personal unexperienced opinion (so please correct me if I am wrong). From what I have found a quaker is a great "first bird" they are in I think the top 10 of best talking birds (I can't remember what site I saw that on). They do bond with one person in the home but also if well socialized will fair well with others in the household. Also from what I have found sometimes rehoming a parrot of any breed can be hard with little experience as you don't know how it has been socialized, has it been around other pets, are the current owners being honest about the past experiences with other people/pets etc. Also from what I have read between 4-6 months is the best age to start teaching a quaker to talk and socialize etc. So my personal opinion is to search the web on each and also intake the advice from each. Visit the breeder some more and maybe hang out with each type of bird before making a decision. A great place to check out personalities of different birds is to go to YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. and search for each one on there, that was the final deciding place for my hubby and I that a silly quaker was the best choice for our home, lol. Good luck, hope I wasn't false in any of my info as again I am new to this too and as of right now I am just speaking off of "book" work and info from the ladies at the Parrots N Stuff store. Let us know whatcha decide on!!

[Charliesmum]

I have a quaker and he is 4 months old. I have 3 kids and he is very social with them, loves the attention he gets from us all. He does talk and whistle which supprised me, starting talking ater being with us for a week. He is a very sweet and loving bird, makes us all smile and laugh, great personality , always happy.
They are known to bond with just one person but I made sure that everyone including visitors made a fuss of him, patted and chatted with him so he got used to socialising. He has bitten and nipped us especially for the first couple of weeks, I think he was just seeing how far he could get, when he bit or nipped I put him straight back in his cage and walked away so the bits and nips are more rare now.
I wouldn't be without him, he is good therapy, we just think he is the ants pants, lol

[goodshep]

thanks for the input everyone. I was able to meet a quaker over the weekend at a local breeders. She was his 18 yr old pet and a nice bird that was happy to let us all handle her. His breeding birds were in a cage in the next room and they were quite funny to listen to as they talked trying to get their owners attention. Quakers are incredibly cute I think. The breeder described them as smart and a bit bossy. His will ask for specific treats and if he brings the wrong one they get upset and pitch a little fit. LOL

Amy

[Charliesmum]

Bossy is a great word for them,lol He really goes off if there are raised voices while he is trying to sleep, the kids were arguing this evening about who was going to have a shower first, I had covered Charlies cage because he goes to is happy hut around 7pm, well did he go off at them for disturbing him, lol and its great because he can actually shut them up more than I can lol

[pbinva]

That's hilarious Charliesmum - our Caique does the same thing - Yummy goes to hut for bed at exactly sundown and will NOT come out for anything, anyone or any treat!

Goodshep - not to confuse you or add to your thoughts - but have you considered a Caique? A great family bird who is funny and sweet and also can be independant if you need the birdy to play on his own for awhile!

[goodshep]

Goodshep - not to confuse you or add to your thoughts - but have you considered a Caique? A great family bird who is funny and sweet and also can be independant if you need the birdy to play on his own for awhile![/quote]

I've not looked at them. I'm open to all suggestions though. I'll google them and also read their section of forum. Thanks!