Do your friends understand your birds?

[JSimko]

On Memorial day, we had a bunch of friends over our house. Most of what they did was make fun of our birds and did not understand how intelligent they really are. When they witnessed our birds eating the same thing as we were eating and even sharing directly from our plates, all they could do was laugh about it. At the end of the night, some of them seemed disappointed when they spotted what looked like a white stain on my fathers shirt and it turned out to only be a down feather. It seems that our guests did not believe that our birds are potty trained. It is kind of sick that it is human nature to make fun of what we do not understand. My question is, when you have guests do they understand your birds and your love for birds or do they just make fun of it instead of attempting to learn more?

[birdgirl]

most every one I know (yes even family) make fun of and don't care about my birds feelings or needs. they don't understand that I love my Hammie with all of my heart and soul and how much it hurts every time some one says they want to eat him or sit on him.
they don't get that he is not my toy he is my friend and he owns me.

[birdygirl]

Ditto here.

[Redstorm1721]

Yes, My brother is affraidof them,my son also is. Some of my guests think they are "just" Birds.It really hurts me too. When my 2 parakeets died,they all laughed at me, and said for gods sake, they are "just" Birds.I must of cryed a month. Sunni is on my sholder right now and is very jelous I am on the put? She even bite me. Now she is screaming in my ear?why is this?

[birdygirl]

However two of my friends absolutly love my flock. My one friend has to be my budgie favoritwe perso in the world. Sophie loves my other friend. One other friend likes them but they aren't her favorite.

[Redstorm1721]

P.S I know that had nothing to do with the question sorry

[Mrs.Birdy]

I must say I am lucky. My entire family and most of my friends love my birds. The birds are sociable and come out of their cages to interact with company. Snickers and Marcel love to sit on grandma's and papa's shoulder, and everyone loves to see them eat their snack...Snickers in her cage and Marcel on his playstand. Marcel likes to go outside to see the neighbors, but I am still waiting for his flight suit and I am sooo careful with him outside now.

The only thing I was told was I ramble on and on and on and on about them.

One thing I can remember, a woman we know from my son's school said "How can anyone get cuddly with a bird, you can only do that with cats or dogs, etc."

Well, we hug, kiss, snuggle, and play with my birds as much as people do with cats, dogs, etc.:D

[birdygirl]

My family loves the flock or at least Sophie. Pumpkin isn't as loved by the family as Sophie becase Pumpkin has bit most of them at leat a billion times. However I am working with Pumpkin and hope she will learn to be good to the family. However I do not veiw Pumpkin this way.

Some times the family does not understad the need for toys.

[sleeepy2]

Over Memorial Day Weekend, my aunt was over (who had grown up with Cleo). She was saying how he had always been a mean, nasty bird and proceeded to poke her finger in his face. Of course, he snapped at her, proving (to her) her point about what a miserable bird he is. This gave me some insight into poor Cleo's early years, and put into perspective some of the biting problems I'm having now.

[jackie]

even friends and family who don't mind them always make jokes about sticking them in the oven or frying them up for dinner....especially when they find out that one of the birds chewed something of theirs.

[sleeepy2]

ugh. I hear the "oven" thing all the time from family. My friends understand I'm a bit goofy for birds.

[JSimko]

One comment people make about our birds is, they call them little canibals. The reason is that our birds eat chicken and turkey. Our green cheek always nods his head and says canibal when people say it. In other words he agrees with them.

[pionuspasion]

I have a problem with a person in my own family. My father insists that he knows dozens of people that have become deathly ill from owning birds all because of all the dander they create. We have four tiels, and whenever one of us sneezes, or even sniffles, he insists it's "those damn birds". I tried to explain to him that unless you have allergies it won't cause any harm, but apparently I don't know anything about birds. ( He also neglected to mention that all those people dying from their tiels dander smoke cigarettes, but that couldn't be the reason for respiratory disease could it?)
I also do wild bird rescue and right now there is a pigeon on my porch wating for release. His cage is only about two feet wide wide and my porch is about eight feet wide. But, he won't walk by the pigeon. I have to move his cage whenever my father wants to go outside, because he won't walk by it. He says it's disgusting. I don't understand. My parrots are blamed for everything. He insists that they escape out of their cages during the day and run around the house making a mess, turning over the garbage and thowing clothes on the floor. It literally makes me laugh out loud, especially since we have two German Shepards who are much more capable of all those activities. His ignorance makes me angry, and upset. Sorry for the long rant, but this topic hit a soft spot for me.

[JSimko]

I know, I feel the same way. The other day I was out at a Wendy's and there were geese around. Taz and I were having fun tossin food for them. My cousin who works there asked me if I could please teach Taz to kill geese. I tried to explain to him that they mean no harm, but he would not hear of it.

[birdygirl]

That ias sad that a person would not listen to you.

[Mrs.Birdy]

J.Simko....thats a sad statement on your cousin's part. What did those geese ever do to him to deserve dying. They are just foraging for food...so what!

[JSimko]

I think it is due to their bad reputation. I have to say that most people are ignorant about every type of animal. They think that animals are autonimous and cannot be unpredictable. However I know differently. As I type I have a robin in my hand. I am holding it very loosely, however it knows I have been feeding it so it is not following it's natural instinct to run from me. There is a picture of it in the parrot pictures forrum.

[pionuspasion]

Frankly, I'm not too fond of geese but I respect them as creatures and would never even think of hurting one. People can be truly sick sometimes.

[JSimko]

I just wish there was something I could do to show more people just how great all birds can be. By the way the robin is doing wonderfully, and I should be able to release it in about 3 weeks.

[Jenny]

Great to hear about the robin! On the topic of people understanding my birds, no, hardly anyone I know does. My poor conure Mortie, who is very plucked, gets made fun of all the time and people say that he looks just like a roast chicken. My grandpa and uncle have tried to touch my other conure Kirby before, but their hands are very big and they try to touch his back which makes Kirby very afraid. When I expalin to them a better way to do it and that Kirby is scared because he doesn't know them, they just say that they're not scared of him biting them, because they've been bitten by humans many times more! (they're both dentists) Then I try to explain that he truly is very scared and insisting on touching him won't help a bit, but they just don't get it. So, I usually end up finding some quick excuse to leave the room with Kirby and calm him down! Most people I know view my birds as stupid, messy, feathered things without feelings, which makes me very sad. Some relatives of mine had a budgie, and they'd wiggle their fingers in its cage so it always tried to bite them since it wasn't trusting. It also chirped alot and they complained that it was extremely loud (I coudlnt' help but laugh becasue compared to a macaw or even my conures, the volume is nothing), and was the most annoying thing on earth. I gave them so many tips on taming it and teaching it to trust them, but they just insisted that it was very vicious and crazy. Yeah, I wish people would take the time to realize how great birds are too and learn to understand them!

[Mrs.Birdy]

Jenny,

I am so sorry to hear all that. It must drive you crazy. I know it would drive me nuts.

I guess I am around very understanding people. I try to socialize Marcel and Snickers quite often by visiting friends and relatives. The birds love it and so do the humans. I talk to people so much about my birds' likes and dislikes that they automatically understand my feathered companions.

Other than my sister, we (my husband, kids and I) are the only ones amoung our friends and family that own birds. I constantly preach about their attributes.

Socializing is so important for birds, I believe it makes them friendlier and easier to leave with a caretaker in the event we go away for a while.

My budgies are not too sociable. They are fine as long as the 4 of them are together no matter when I put them.

I hope your friends and family will be more considerate of your wonderful birds.