Pets: Birds!

[Zeraph]

Anyone else have a wonderful bird? I have an umbrella cockatoo I love to death. She loves to snuggle. She'll say "hello?" if we forget to cover her at night.

Or she'll just say random things when she wants attention. Best part of all? She chews her numerous toys in the cage and not he furniture. That and she almost always poops in the cage.

[Grancey]

Not a house-bound pet but I do have a rafter of turkeys that traipse through the yard on occasion. They are quite fun to watch and often make me laugh with their antics, which makes me think of them as pets...sort of. I also have pet pics of my turkeys. To come....

[Grasshopper Green]

I currently have two cockatiels. I got my first bird when I was 11 and I've only gone a couple of very brief periods since then without a pet bird. During my 22 bird owning years, I've had finches, parakeets, lovebirds, a conure, and my cockatiels.

I love birds. They don't smell (unless you really don't care for them), their mess is confined to a small area (unless they're free flight), they're very intelligent, they're beautiful, they sing for you, they're entertaining to watch...they're the perfect pets, IMO. The only bad thing about keeping birds is it's difficult to have a cat, too. I've had to give up on cats because I won't give up my birds.

[Zeraph]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper Green

The only bad thing about keeping birds is it's difficult to have a cat, too. I've had to give up on cats because I won't give up my birds.

Hah, my cockatoo chases around the cats and dog. They are quite afraid of her.

Cockatoos are big though, not sure how well cockatiels would do. Although I have seen youtubes of canaries and the like chasing cats. So you never know.

Heh which reminds me, there's these blackbirds that like to hang out in our tree in the morning. The cats like to watch them but if they get too close the birds all attack and the cats come rushing in lol

[Grasshopper Green]

I had several cats during my early bird-owning years and none of them were afraid of the birds; I had a parakeet get killed by a cat once and I decided not to take another chance. I did have a friend growing up who had an African Grey, as well as dogs and a cat. The furry critters did NOT mess with the parrot, they all learned their lesson with a nip on the nose!

I've been attacked by blackbirds before, I think I got too close to the tree their nest was in.

I forgot to add in my initial post - you can cuddle and pet with birds too, as long as the bird is up to it. I adore the look of a blissed out bird while it's getting its head scratched.