Is caring for a small bird easy or hard?

Question

My family and I are thinking about getting a bird. We would only get 1 bird if it was the size of a cockatoo, but we'd get 2 birds if they were the size of love birds. Depending on what we got, would the bird(s) be hard to manage? My parents said before we even think about going to buy one I have to do some research. Btw, what are the basic things about birds??

Answer 1

Birds are not exactly hard to take care of, about as hard or easy as any other pet. But they are completly different.

Birds need a very varied diet of seed, pellets, veggies, fruit and many other foods. You need to change their food and water daily.

They need a lot of time out of their cage to exercise. You need to do a lot of research on wing clipping and how you will let them exercise.. I'd suggest not clipping. Here's an interesting article and the whole site is really useful too. http://www.featherforum.com/article/clip...

My birds are free to fly around my room all day and only go back into their cages at night. Most of my bedroom is taken up by their cages and play areas.

You need to spend a lot more time with a bird to get it to even like you. But once you do it is so rewarding...

It also changes how your home works. Do you have other pets? If so you will have to be very careful they don't hurt your birds.

The sad fact is more birds die from accidents then old age...

When you have a bird you have to be extra careful about not leaving doors r windows open, toilet seats up, not cooking with teflon, not spraying or letting fumes get near them. You have to make sure they can't shew anything dangerous or get stuck anywhere. It's like having small children, except they can fly and they never grow up.

You need to be sure you are committed, becuase small birds live a to 25 years while bigger ones around 50 years. This is a long time... who will care for it all those years? Who will play with it? What happens if your family circumstances change?

Birds need vet care to. If you get  one of the smalled birds, are you willing to pay $100 in vet bills for a bird that cost $30?  Do you have the money to do this?

These are just some of the things you need to think about before you get a bird. I'm not trying to be discouraging... I love my birds and think they make a wonderful pet.  I've just seen too many a well meaning person with a pet bird they wanted to give up, or a bird sitting in a small cage with one toy and just seed to eat for it's whole life...

Birds are a great pet and it's wonderful you're doing research on it before deciding! it shows you're committed and smart! Have a look around the site I showed you above. read lots of books and magazines on birds and search the internet for information. There is a lot out there and it's all very useful!

Good luck!

Answer 2

umm all birds are pretty hard to take care of...unless its a soft bill kind of bird which is like a finch or canary. lovebirds are fun to have but they need alot of attention and can get really loud. cockatoos are REALLY loud. and you have to clean their cages quite often. smaller birds are fun but the big ones are really fun too. but if you get a big bird like a cockatoo that will be very troublesome. they make alot of noise when you leave(especially if you are very close it him/her)  umm the basic things about birds...im not really sure but i know you have to refill their ofod every day and change water everyday too....just email me if you want more info on lovebirds!! ui have 4 ^_^

Answer 3

Birds are very easy to care for.  For the cage you need to always have fresh water and food and millet.  You also need a wood perch with different widths (to exercise the feet), a perch with a nail file feel to it and a toy that they can destroy and a toy that will hold up for a while.  You also need wood pellets to go on the bottom.  You also need to spend 30-40 minutes with your bird a day.  Hope I helped!

Answer 4

Love birds are very agressive.  I don't think that birds are very hard to care for.  You need to change the water and food daily.  You also need to give the bird a few different types of food like pellets and seed so the bird will get a varied diet.  You need to clean the cage about every 2 weeks.  Bird are very social so you do need to play with them daily and have the birds around the family a lot.  They also will need toys and the toys need to be cleaned occasionally.  Birds should also see an avian vet yearly, but you could do it less than that.  You might want to start out buying just one bird instead of getting two right away.  That way the bird will bond to your family more than with the other bird.  Go to the library or bookstore and get a few books about parrots, one that describes the different types of parrots along with pictures.  Also make sure that your bird has been hand feed, otherwise the bird will not really be very tame.

You might want to look at getting a green cheecked conure.  They are about 10", they will probably get along with the whole family.  They are extremely affectionate and playful, but sometimes are aggressive.  Some conures are known for being loud like the sun conure, but the green cheecked conure is somewhat quiet.  They can also talk and do some tricks.  They live around 10-20 years.  I have owned a few different birds and one is the pineapple conure, the most affectionate bird I have owned.