Does anyone have a parrot?

[canthavetoomanylights]

Thinking of rescuing one. We’re retired so have plenty of time at home, but don’t want another dog or cat. The house is quiet tho and we would love something.
Would welcome any thoughts or advice.

Ours was naughty and cheeky but very amusing and also very hard work.
The whole house had to be parrot escape proofed as he didn’t stay in a cage.
It was also very tying as someone had to stay at home with him.
He was very noisy, intelligent and destructive.
He was amazingly entertaining.
He was very long lived and we would never have another.
I really miss him though!

My best friend as a teen had one. An African Grey they found in their garden one day. He’d obviously escaped from somewhere - they put ads in the local paper saying they’d found a parrot (obviously this was well before social media) but nobody ever claimed him so they kept him. He was amazingly clever - he’d terrorise their poor dog by deliberately watching it and waiting for it to fall asleep, then doing an uncanny impression of the doorbell so the dog would leap up barking. When you watched the parrot you could see how impeccable the timing was as he always waited for the dog to be asleep before doing it. Poor dog never learnt to ignore the noise so was presumably chronically sleep-deprived.

I have read they have the intelligence of four-year-old humans. The idea of living with a four-year-old who remains in that state for 70+ years does not appeal to me, so I won’t be getting a parrot 😁

But also, when you see them at the zoo in huge aviaries with their own company, it’s hard to then reconcile that with pet birds who are mostly kept solo and have cages rather than aviaries, even if they do get time outside. I think ethically it’s a bit like keeping monkeys as pets - it’s not possible to do it and maintain optimal welfare so really shouldn’t be allowed, IMO. I’m glad you’ve reconsidered OP!

Haven't read all the replies but yes, I have had parrots before and have a rescue one now. If you are after a rescue, I assume you are looking at the national bird rescue, Birdline, where my current one came from? Previously have had an Amazon parrot (loud and liked singing opera), a bit destructive. Then, an African Grey - a bit less loud and brilliant at the pips on the radio but not so much human speech - could say hello and liked to walk round the house and play jumpng out onto your foot from behind doors - very destructive, chewed carpets and wooden furniture).and lots of alarms and wild bird calls). Now I have a Senegal parrot (from Birdline)who is quite small - a bit bigger than a budgie) and a great deal less loud, which is good, as I now live in a flat. He is very funny and loving and talks a bit but mostly in a garbled way so not exactly like a human voice. He prefers noises from car alarms, microwave, wild birds and laughing. He is still picking up new sounds after 15 years here. He will sit on the top of his cage, which is left open all day until bedtime, and fly round in little circuits very occasionally then back on cage. Just once in a while he will fly into the next room to see me. He will sometimes chew the furniture soft covers but this can be avoided by removing him or putting a towel or two on top of the chair back. I have special old clothes if he wants to sit on my shoulder for any time as he will chew holes in them. If you go ahead, you need to think about how long it might live. Bigger parrots can have a life expectancy of 50 years or more
My Senegal has a life expectancy of 35 and is now 26, so I am hoping I will still be around then so he doesn't have a the upset of going to strangers. They all like company, so you can't really keep them happy if you are out every gay for hours. of the time. You will need to find someone reliable to look after them if you go on holiday, etc. There are not many people who board birds and those that do, you need to check out as they are not all reliable. I have 2 neighbours now who love my parrot and pop in to visit him and look after him if I have to go away. You will need to know where the nearest avian specialist vet is, as normal vets know hardly anything about birds and are of no help.

Lots of household things and foodstuffs and some houseplants are toxic and must be avoided. Don't use non-stick pans as, if you burn one, the fumes will kill your bird in minutes. No nail polish remover etc anywhere near bird room, as fumes it will kill them. Foodstuffs that are dangerous are many, so look them up and keep list handy.

That said, I wouldn't be without a parrot. They all have an excellent individual sense of humour and character and are very affectionate and intelligent. When you first get them they might need a few weeks to relax and show their true selves (like all rescue animals, so be patient and give them space). Go for it (and report back if you do).

How come the ones pirates had didn’t fly away? Especially at sea ?

It's caged if it's in a house. It's just a slightly bigger cage.

@Wingwalk By your logic, are we humans and our other pets "caged" whenever we are inside our homes?

You take the flight feathers.

I suspect the pirates had them chained by the foot, which, sadly, I have seen a lot of in the Far East.

If you/they are locked in with no chance to ever leave, yes.

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork oh no that’s horrible

If you're locked in and not allowed to leave, yes. A prison for example. Even more so if your natural state is spreading your wings and soaring through the air, which obviously cannot happen in a cage/house.

@vegemitesandwiches I would venture that being free indoors is better than being let outside the building and being ripped apart by magpies and crows within half an hour, as I see them doing to their and other birds' fledglings and any sick birds. These parrots are not native species and could not survive here (the feral parakeets would not accept them either unless they were a similar parakeet species, possibly). Most parrots now have been bred in the UK (mine is an Essex boy), so are not wild caught though possibly some very much older pet parrots currently still alive were. They are bonded to their humans. My current parrot hates other birds. He had to share a room with one (different species) in his halfway house and didn't want it anywhere near him. I did try putting his cage on the balcony in a bit of sun (under supervision) to see if he enjoyed the fresh air, but he was terrified.

When our next door neighbours moved in, this insane noise came with them. Couldn’t for the life of me work out what is was. Eventually I saw the parrot through the window. It shrieks like a banshee every ten minutes 😒

This is a myth like many,likely for the purpose of ensuring humans think it is okay to mistreat them.

But the alternative to "keeping them shut up indoors" isn't "let them out to be ripped apart by magpies". They should live in specialist aviaries where they can be cared for properly, fly as freely as possibly and live with their own kind. There's no good reason to breed them for captivity.

A friend’s mum had one when we were kids. I think it had previously belonged to a dead relative of hers as they live to about 50. But she had a back porch type place which had been made into an aviary and you could hose away the constant poo. It loved the mum and would sit on her shoulder but barely tolerated the rest of the family and despised any guests. My friend had a very nasty bite from it which needed GP attention. It was allowed (supervised) in their large kitchen which was off the porch but got into the main house one time and broke the family computer the kids had been given for Christmas. I don’t think they’re meant to be pets!

They can fly free at home, possibly further than an aviary. Mine can fly out of his room and into all the other rooms and back (if he chooses). An aviary is just a very big cage (with other birds you might not like sharing with).

Surely that depends on the size of the aviary?

You're not going to convince me that keeping a parrot locked in a home is ever an acceptable thing to do. It's cruel and no different to keeping a rabbit locked in a hutch for its' entire life.

I had an African grey as a child but he bonded with my mother and they still have him almost 30 years later! He’s lovely and a much loved member of the family. He’s very intelligent and very talkative. My parents have taught him all sorts of phases over the years and he’s picked up things from a round the house. He does confuse the dog by calling her in my mums voice or telling guests “right I’ve got things to do” which is mums hint to leave. He’s a lovely bird and has prompted us to get a much smaller sized parrot for our home.

How did experts find out that they didn’t have a short memory?

Ds has budgies and longs for a parrot.
He loves his budgies though. Why not get budgies for start off?

Google it. They’ve done loads of experiments with fish which have proven it. They can be trained to wait for food at certain times and it has been demonstrated they remember things which scare them and then subsequently avoid that location or object, for example, even some considerable time later. They also remember their tank mates and prefer to spend time with familiar fish. In sort, they have a lot more intelligence than we give them credit for. Just because they have fixed facial features so they can’t visibly express emotion it doesn’t mean they have no brain power.

Quite.
Sorry missed the post but thank you for explaining. Ignorance of some humans who just accept what they were told by Uncle Joe in 1992.

@GreenFootstool

Your parents should contact Birdline (national parrot rescue charity), run by volunteers who can take their parrot and make sure he gets a responsible foster home. They have "safehouses" in which newly acquired birds are looked after and assessed until they can go on the list to be fostered. They remain Birdline's property lifelong and if fosterer's circumstances change they must go back to Birdline for rehoming. Some parts of Britain have less Birdline staff and safehouses available so there can sometimes be a slight delay, so if you/your parents can give Birdline some notice that would be good.

That's so sad.

A parrot like this started ds' love of birds. It was a local pet shop who'd been given a rescue that had plucked all its feathers out. Ds was desperate to adopt it, but they weren't selling it, (one of the owners had adopted it, but brought it in) even if I'd been happy to consider it.

It did start growing its feathers back after a while. Ds insisted on going weekly to check on it. Unfortunately the pet shop closed and I don't know how it's doing now, but it had grown its body feathers back although not the flight ones when we last saw it.

Ds loves looking after injured or distressed animals. Our first budgies were flightless due to not growing their flight feathers.