Birds As Pets

Birds are one of the most lovable creatures. You will get attracted to these small colorful creatures and want to have one at your home with you. Despite of all this, having birds as a pet demands a lot of attention, love, and time from their owner. Birds like larger parrots need a vast amount of attention, whereas smaller birds need a lot of love and careful handling to make them happy and friendly.

Birds exist in a variety of colors, shapes, and personalities. It is imperative for you to find the right bird that fits your lifestyle as well as nature. While buying a bird, there are many things to consider before you settle on a species, including the size of the cage it will need, its lifespan, foods it requires, time and attention it needs, and the noise level of the bird.

Species To Consider If You Are A Beginner

If you are a beginner and have a feathered buddy, you should consider some basic information. If you cannot give a lot of time to your pet, your choice should be finches or canaries. If you are so interested in the birds and have a bit more time, you should consider parrots like cockatiels or parakeets (budgies).

Cockatiels and parakeets are the smaller parrots and are relatively quiet, more friendly, and can be tamed effortlessly if bought young. Other family members, including Pionus parrot, poicephalus parrot, love birds, parrotlets, grey-cheeked parrots, and Quaker parrots, are the best choices for parrot lovers. Pigeons and doves are also often overlooked as bird pets. They are sociable and quiet so can make good companions.

Care Considerations

There are things at home that can be hazardous to your feathered buddy. You could not have thought about the things like scented candles, cookware, and deodorizers. Birds have a very delicate respiratory system, so if you are a smoker, then a bird is not fit to be in your home. Some plats are safe for these birds, while some can be fatal to them. So it is crucial for you to know about the things that might be harmful to these tiny creatures.

You cannot give everything you eat to them, and also only feeding nuts is also not good. A piece of deep knowledge about their food and nutritional requirements is essential for bird pet owners to maintain their lifespan and health.

Best Birds To Have As Pets

Cockatiels

Cockatiels, along with parakeets, are the easiest and least expensive birds to obtain. Their screeching is not so loud, and they can be tamed easily. You will find cockatoo, a gentle and amenable bird who will perch on your shoulder safely and meet others without biting.

Cockatiels love to be touched and want you to help them unfurl their pin feathers of the head. One good thing about them is that they are very suitable for a small house or apartment. You can make them your friend by showing your affection and love to them, and then you can efficiently train them as you want.

Parakeets

They make the best first-time pet, and many bird pet owners will suggest you have budgie as a pet. Parakeets are very easy to be domesticated, and you can easily tame them. They can be picky eaters and they love to eat a variety of seeds, fruits, vegetables, and berries.

Care is much needed about their fat intake, and usually, they do not make their lifespan in two-digit numbers. Budgies will sing as well as talk in their high piping voice.

Parakeets are fast learners, so you should not limit their trainability. Teach them to put rings on a peg and dunk balls in the hoop, and you will see how quickly they pick you. They make one of the best pets, and you will find watching enjoyable.

Cockatoos

If you adequately meet the needs and requirements of cockatoos, you will find a great companion. Cockatoos are comical, funny, affectionate, naughty as well as easy to get along with. However, their requirements are complex and many.

They are generally known for becoming phobic and showing destructive behavioral actions such as screaming or plucking. The reason for this behavior can be early weaning, and also, they become depressed if they do not get proper attention.

Raising a cockatoo child is different from other parrots and macaws, where other birds’ babies require you to handle them as much as possible. However, cockatoo babies are independent by nature and generally learn to entertain themselves on their own. So it would help if you left them most of the time of day in their cage freely to encourage independence and the ability to entertain their selves.

Conures

You will find conures very smart and attractive, but they have more than the common cockatiels or budgies when it comes to behavioral problems. A committed caretaker is required for them to help them with their behaviors.

Just like other parrots, conures are very social and love to have daily interactions with their social group in the wild. So in captivity, you and your family should be their social group. A parrot is not a good option for the ones who have little time for their pets.

Conures make the best family pets as long as they have been socialized well. Thus, the more fun activities you do with them, the happier and more entertained they will be. You should prefer to have a parrot if there is someone at home most of the day. You should also allow conures to be on playpen whenever someone is at home by leaving their cage door open.

Macaws

You will find these giants of parrot world “macaws” the fascinating bird you have ever seen. With their beautiful colour combinations, they exhibit a variety of personalities. Macaws are fun-loving, very intelligent and demand a great deal of attention from their caretaker.

As macaws have a very long beak, they can be very intimidated. However, if they are well-socialized, they can become a friendly and affectionate companion for a lifetime. With their large size, it is easy to handle them.

The more you spend time with your macaw, the more it will get attached to you. If you expect a silent pet, then macaws are not for you because they are extremely loud. Macaws are expected to scream and screech at least twice a day.

With proper attention and care, macaws require lots of fun-loving activities necessary for their mental health. If you are not dedicated enough to take responsibility for a macaw for a lifetime, then go for an easy bird.

Pigeons

Pigeons are not considered ideal pets as they seem dirty and annoying and are considered dumb and disease-ridden birds. But in reality, they make the best option for pets and far more accessible than the parrots.

They are incredibly emotional creatures who crave near-constant attention. A good thing about pigeons is that they are not prone to destructive behaviors if left unattended for an extended period. However, they need a big cage, and also it is good to keep them in pairs or groups.

Their dietary requirements are not that fancy that cost expensive like some parrots such as hyacinth macaws. In short, pigeons are more domesticated than parrots.

If you want to have a bird pet and you are a beginner, you should get information about each and everything about them before choosing a species. It would be best to ask about their lifespan, eating habits, how much attention they need, how much space they want, etc.

To have a pet is a long time commitment. You have to be fully committed to take care of bird’s every need and requirement and to give your full attention and affection to them.