So, what made you decide to get a bird?

For me, it was primarily because I loved all animals and I'm always open to a pet I've never had before. The first bird experiences sucked big time for me. Untame, obnoxious biting things. I almost didn't get into birds until my first handfeds.

Funny thing - I didn't consider myself a "bird person" until maybe 5 years ago. Bird keeping has so many facets - interactive pets, untame specimens to watch much like an aquarium, the husbandry aspects are challenging, breeding takes it into a new realm of challenge and squeeness.

So, what made you decide to get a bird?
What do you love most about it?
Hate most about it?

I loved pets and animals my whole life, but. Always thought pet birds were horribly wrong in my morals. Then, one day I watched a YT video of a tame pet finch. That's what did it for me!

I got into it because of Roz, a.k.a. patdbunny, a.k.a. my mom. If I didn't have a crazy bird lady as my mother I don't think I would be a bird person.

Love - The personalities. They're acrobatic and friendly and want to be with you, or are fine with just chilling out with you. Ducky's a monkey spazbot, Sam is a jealous and vocal little thing, Eric is snuggly. Spazziness is entertaining, Sam is funny and cute how he'll follow me if I walk off with Ducky, and how could I not love the cuddliness of Eric? I like how personable birds are in general. They have good days and bad days, and even within a species they can be different. It makes interactions between them and anything or anyone fun to watch. My absolute favorites are the relaxed, come-over-here-and-scritch-me types.

Hate - The personalities. Sometimes they're just little loonies. Pushy, clingy, spastic, etc. Even the tame ones. Usually it's when they're acting a little more nippy or demanding than usual, or when I'm having a bad day. If I walk out of the room and they're not happy about it, they'll jump off and follow me or scream their little heads off. The screaming - I've come to usually be fine with it, but when I'm in the wrong mood it drives me wonky. The jumping - that's all fine and cute, and I'm fine with that usually as well, but when they're on the floor I have to clean up after them and make sure no one steps on them. Sometimes it's just a hassle. And also - sometimes they just decide to aggravate you! The one thing you don't want them to chew on, they go straight for it.

There are a bunch of other things to take into account for likes and dislikes, like Roz said, but personality for me is both the extreme positive and negative. It's both what makes keeping them worth it, and what makes me want to strangle them sometimes.

I've always loved all animals, and kind of wantes to "try it all". I've had everything under the sun, and a pair of untame budgies in my childhood along with friends who had parrots lingered in my mind. A family Iknew had a beautiful TAG- she was the coolest bird. Another hada blue and goldmacaw- only liked my friend and her dad, so he was a no touchy. Another family kept a huge cage of finches, they were fun to watch!


Love- I love everything honestly. I find bird noise very joyful- even the stuff that bugs others. I love the relationship only a bird can give you, it is very special. I enjoy the tasks and ins and outs of birdkeeping. None of it sucks like cleaning a litterbox LOL. Most of all I feel like I "get" birds, even the ones that I don't "get". Does that makes sense?

Hate- I want, want, want, want! I am addicted! I am always planning and plotting better cages, better toys, and adding more birds.

Absolutely coincidence
Before I thought I'm not a bird person; I always enjoyed birds in the nature, but me and birds at home, nah
I love all animals. The only one I really wouldn't been able to keep are snakes(no offense for snake lovers).
What I don't like about birds? Seriously can't find any reason: neighbors and landowners?

I always had a passion for all animals. When I was younger, my grandmother used to buy me national geographic type videos (lol, remember videos!). One of my favorites was of Alex the Gray-t.

I didn't get my first bird until I was in the 6th grade. My stepdad gave me his 8 year old lovebird. I'm pretty sure my mom ironed in the room, with teflon. It's just a guess, but she died after a few weeks in my care. I came home from school to find her dead in her cage
I missed a week of school because I was so upset. Then, my parents took me to petsmart, and bought me a little blue budgie. Even though he was a pet store budgie, he loved my attention. A few weeks after I got him, me and my family had to go somewhere for the weekend. When we got back, he wasn't in his cage. He had somehow got out of his cage. I found him at the base of the stairs. He must of crashed into the door and hurt his wing. There were a lot of droppings, so he must of sat in agony for a while.

I missed another week of school, and vowed never to get a bird again.

In the end of 2009, I got out of a bad relationship. (go me!), and in the beginning of 2010 I decided I needed to do something with my time. I begged my parents for a puppy, and they said no. I went through all different types of animals, until I was left with birds. I asked for a finch, and they said yes.

I went to the pet store, and didn't end up buying a finch, but two lovely budgies. And that's when the addiction began.

What I love: I love how I bond with them. Dogs and some cats will go to anyone. But you've got to earn the love of a bird. And once you have that bond, it's strong. You become their "mate", they're one and only, and you are the center of the universe. I think it's a pretty selfish reason for me to love them.

What I hate:They are so fragile. A breeze can take them away. There are so many household dangers that can hurt or kill them. Every morning and every day I get work I come home and check to see if they are still alive. (If you read what I wrote before, you'll understand).

Sometimes I'm still wondering why I got a bird, let alone three. Pigpen was a birthday present to myself. I desperately wanted a cat, but Bobby has two and adding a third would have awful when Cheney Cat is my bebe. Aside from that, I figured a bird would be easier to hide in my "no pets" apartment than a cat would be.

I'd always loved birds. I grew up with one and knew that I'd love to have my own to care for properly. I never imagined I'd have three.. and want more!

What I Love: I love that the budgies are so spunky. They are never, ever sitting still. They're so funny to watch scoot across the cage or fly around the room. I love that Cheney Bird is so cuddly and love-y. I also love that he's a true companion parrot.

What I Hate: Some days, I think I hate everything about owning birds. The mess is ridiculous; my carpet is never clean. They're expensive and go through toys like crazy. They're picky and stubborn. Most days, I don't mind though.

I always liked animals like most of you. Pet birds had always seemed like feathered cage decorations that should probably be allowed to be free, although I do recall being fascinated by a friend's budgie when I was about 11. He was barely tame. Fast forward about 30 years and I met my now-husband. He'd been big into birds, and his mom had the Amazon he'd raised from a egg (he went to Canada for a post doc and left him in her care, when he came back the bird was totally bonded to Harriet) so I began to learn about birds and we'd go to visit Sake, and I'd play assistant when my husband did his grooming. I read a lot and began to be fascinated by parrots, always looking at them in the stores and zoos. We always assumed Sake would be ours, but he predeceased Harriet by a few months, mysteriously. He'd gone to a routine vet visit with a long-time friend and bird sitter and presented with respiratory distress upon arrival. By this time Harriet was too ill to take him herself. He died at the vet's -- a rather well known avian vet who was quite distressed by the whole scenario. They did an autopsy but it was inconclusive -- consistent with exposure to an inhalant of some type. We don't know if he was exposed to something in the house and had been NQR for some time, no noticed because of her declining health, or if he was actually exposed on the drive over. Very sad. It devastated her, and I believe it hastened her death. Their ashes are sprinkled together. We still have Sake's cage (handmade by Bill) and his carrier, but have not used them for our two. We may thoroughly disinfect the cage and set it up as a birdie sunroom outside.

Several months after we lost Harriet, we got Scooter, and about six months after that, Scotty. I had been "flirting" with Scooter for months at the Petsmart when I'd go in to buy cat food and litter. He got sold, but was returned because the people "couldn't afford the cage and stuff", was housed with his replacement bird for a while, but they got too bonded and he got relegated to an undersized side cage. Overall he was there for a year. One day when Bill was out for a run, he phoned me and said, "Let's go buy that bird, I can't stand the thought of leaving him there forever. "

What do I like about the birds? They are SO interactive. It's kind of fun to be greeted with a wolf-whistle when you open up the room in the morning. And Scooter is so affectionate. I'm a sucker for the talking thing, too. It fascinates me, and it cracks me up.

What do I dislike? The mess, the work, the fragility. I'd heard so many stories about people finding their birds dead one day, that for the first several months I woke up each morning wondering if they were still alive! Got better! But I still worry more than I have with any other pet I've had.

Quote :

Some days, I think I hate everything about owning birds.

LOL

I have those days too. Mostly when I'm sick, and trying to rest, and everyone's screaming for attention.

Zaza, reading your post made me very upset but laugh at the same time with your "I missed another week of school"
As I'm laughing, I'm also deeply saddened by what happened with your blue budgie.

GlassOnion wrote:

Zaza, reading your post made me very upset but laugh at the same time with your "I missed another week of school"
As I'm laughing, I'm also deeply saddened by what happened with your blue budgie.

I didn't decide to get a bird, it just happened! Went for a walk in the park, came home with a beautiful pied cockatiel who'd been flying free. Fostered her for thirty days, put posters up and everything we could think of but no one claimed her. By that time everyone in the family was in love with her and I was shopping for a bigger cage. Before that I never really thought about getting a bird, my only interactions with them were with the two evil 'tiels my biological father had when I was little (okay so they weren't evil, just not tamed and they bit everyone. hard.). When Lucky passed away several years later it was just natural that we got another bird, though it took some coaxing on my part. I just couldn't imagine living without one by then...

what I love? everything: The personality, intelligence, quirks, surprises, setting up cool parroty areas and making toys, training tricks, even cleaning. its all great. I even like their poo in that it's so easy to deal with. A parrot that loves you is unlike any other animal I've dealt with. who could resist that charm?

What I hate...? not much, but I probably have to go with the addiction as well. I was iddly trying to talk my mom into getting the white-eared conure at the store just out of habit, really, when she mentioned something about **maybe** getting me another bird for graduation. What would she say if she realized I really wanted a 1500$+ hawk-headed parrot or the like...!
another thing I dislike is how easy it is for a parrot to learn problem behaviours and how hard it is to fix them!!

Like most of you, I have a love of animals. Before birds I had almost every other kind of pet (the list is in another post somewhere here). I had always been fascinated by birds, but never got into them. Then I took my kids to a PetExpo here in Edmonton about 5 years ago (when they still had breeders attending). There I came across a clutch of Quaker babies. From there I knew I had to get a bird. I began my research and determined that a Quaker was probably too advanced for me at the time, and the potential noise did not work for where we were living at the time. So my research brought me to tiels. I purchased Tucker, my Cinnamon tiel from a local breeder, and a new "birdman" of Alberta was born! Sadly, it did not last long as I lost him about three years later (never had a necopsy done, so I don't know what happened). That lead to Merlin !

What do I love about them? How interactive and cuddly they are. I am slowly adjusting to less of that as Merlin gets better at flying, and he still has his moments. Also how smart they are. And how loyal they can be.

What do I hate about them? I guess I agree with Moa in how fast they learn problem behaviours and how hard it is to break those behaviours. That and how fearless he is. He is constantly trying to get himself in danger (usually trying to pick a fight with the cats, who don't help his Napoleon complex by running away). I'd also say the loyalty thing is double edged, because it leads to them seeming to hate some family members. My mother and my wife ca't get anywhere near Merlin, he tries to rip chunks off them.