Parrots in the Home
Life with a Big Bird like the African Grey or Umbrella Cockatoo
Parrots are highly sensitive, intelligent creatures that require a stimulating, interactive, and consistent environment. Many people make the mistake of buying an avian friend, thinking a parrot is a decorative, clean, and quiet pet that will require little attention, talk on demand, or perform cute little tricks when asked. On the contrary, the larger parrots, or the Big Birds, also known as hooked bills, due to the shape of their beak, require more care than the usual family pet, the cat or dog.
Consistent Schedules and Large Cages
Although, a parrot does not require a walk when the weather in undesirable, most parrots respond best if their owners maintain a consistent schedule regarding feeding, playtime and out of cage time.
The larger parrots, like the Congo African Grey and Umbrella Cockatoo, require larger and often more expensive cages. These cages can take up quite a bit of room in the home. Big Birds have a tendency to be highly destructive and entail toys that are easily manipulative by a beak or claw.
Intellectually Inquisitive and Hungry for Furniture
Birds are intellectually inquisitive about their surrounding environment. If a parrot is unsupervised, it can and often will destroy anything in its path, including the dining room chair the bird is sitting on while the owner walks away.
Cockatoos especially seem to have a particular affinity for the finer woods or irreplaceable antiques in homes. Greys and Cockatoos are dusty birds, giving off a fine white powdered dander, which will tend to leave a waxy coat of dust on any horizontal surface if the birds do not receive a misting or shower every other day.
Hello? Is anyone out there? Where is my FLOCK?
When a bird joins a family, the family becomes the parrot’s flock. In the wild, a flock of parrots rarely separates. If suddenly separated, parrots whistle and call loudly, back and forth to each other, acknowledging to other flock mates that they are still close by, and ok. If any of the flock fails to answer, the remaining parrots will continue to whistle and call out, then stop and listen for a response and repeat this calling behavior, waiting for an answer that never comes. By darkness, if there is still no sign of the missing flock member, the parrot has most likely met with a premature death.
Birds will be Birds and Drama Queens!
In the home parrots call for their human flocks when they leave the room. If the parrot receives no response, the parrot will become louder and louder, until often the owner runs back to the bird beseeching the bird to “Be QUIET!”
This action teaches the bird two things. The first is “My human has now been trained to come when called!” The second is that when they get loud, they get RESULTS! Parrots love drama! This can teach a bird to do what some parrot owners deem as screaming. Birds are not quiet even when not a screamer. Twice a day, birds make noise, at dawn and at dusk, birds chitter, chatter, and make birdie noises.
Listen to What Your Heart is Saying
Before considering a parrot as a pet, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have one to three hours a day to devote solely to your feathered friend?
- Can you afford a large cage, expensive bird food, and yearly veterinarian bills? Avian vets are more expensive, and harder to find than your average cat or dog veterinarian.
- Are you willing to accept something in your home that will hoot and holler at dawn, then again at dusk, be extremely messy, throw its food, poop on you, believe the sparkly earrings you are wearing are personal toys and act like most three-year-olds who tend to believe the world revolves entirely around the child?
If you answered yes to all the questions, then welcome to Parrothood!
 |
 |
 |
