Just wondering..

[retret]

How much time you spend with your bird everyday?

[Love Bird B]

Hi retret,

I used to spend hours with Perky but now that she's been the broody hen, she prefers spending time nesting on her dud eggs. I only spend minutes with her a day. :(

I used to pet her for hours and I miss it, but I talk to her whenever I can while she's 'nesting' in her cage.

[birdygirl]

Both are out for at least 4 hrs. Sometimes more.

[Amanda]

Usually Bijou & Rio are out for about 3-4 hours per day, and on the weekends usually longer. Since Rio also goes outside with me, she gets a lot more time out of the cage than Bijou does these days. I don't think Bijou really mind that he's spending a lot of time in the cage lately because he's been so into shredding the newspaper at the bottom of his cage. I think it's that "breeding" season that's making Bijou behave the way he is lately.

[Redstorm1721]

Usually all day.

[retret]

Dexter only sleeps on his cage except on sun-tue because I work 12 hours so when my wife gets home at around 4pm she put dexter to his play stand until I come home at 8:30pm, rest of the week I'm off and spend more time with him and my son. When I'm home he spend all day out of his cage mostly on the play stand, when I leave the house for hours he dont mind staying on the play stand, he's been good..

[Amanda]

I wish I could leave my birds out of their cage all the time too, but I have cats and dogs .... so that won't work for me.:( The friend that we gave our male cockatiel to doesn't close his cage at all. He is allowed to fly free all the time (even when she's at work). She has another cockatiel (with separate cage) and both Glasty and her bird are free to go in and out of their cages all the time.

My cats & dogs are so used to the birds though that they don't even notice them ... but that doesn't mean that I trust them completely to leave the house and have the birds flying free. Oh, well.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Hi: My tiel, Budgies and Pionus are out of their cages all day. They don't leave their bird room, but I do put Marcel (Pionus) on his playstand in the family room when we are there watching TV or entertaining. He loves to socialize.

The budgies and cockatiel stay outside their cages on top. Marcel also has an open playstand on top of his cage.

When I go out, the they all go back inside their cages and I close them.

Usually, I am at home most of the day with them.

[Shockadine]

I don't take the cockatiels out much recently because I am breeding them and they don't like to be away from their nest.

But my Timneh is out at least 7 hours a day. I only put her in her cage at night and when I leave the house. Sometimes I take her with me when I go somewhere. I just put on her harness/diaper and her leash, and we go to pet stores, friends houses, my grandmas house, and places like home depot don't mind here being there either. I snuck her into target once too.

[birdgirl]

use to spend all day with Hamlit and now that I don't have him I'm lonely and have nothing to do

[jackie]

my birds all stay out on their tree all day. they mostly occupy themselves. i'm in the room probally 3 hours plus all night, but only handle them probally 45 minutes on average.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Oh my poor birdgirl.

Don't feel lonely...and if you do, your friends here will comfort you.

Love ya.

[Redstorm1721]

Oh I am sorry birdgirl. Yes we are all here for you. we are always thinking of you too. is anyone up for bird chat? I am here?

[birdygirl]

I'm sorry bird girl. I feel so sad.

[birdygirl]

I'm on chat now if anybody wants to talk.

Birdgirl it will be better soon. Do not worry.

[JSimko]

The time I spend with them varies throughout the week. On weekdays I have only 2 or 3 hours to spend with them. Weekends though, I spend a lot of time with them. I also spend hours on Fridays with my blue and gold. We go to a drive-in movie on Friday.

[Redstorm1721]

How cute is that? I wish mine could run around,but I have 2 dogs as well. But they do when we are in their room!

[dlaura]

Well, sounds like your husband is an animal lover now. Congratulations for converting him!

[Mrs.Birdy]

Wow, same with my husband. When I brought Snickers (tiel) home 2 yrs. ago for my son's birthday, my husband said "oh a bird...how boring".

6 birds later....he's Snickers and Marcel's best buddy. Marcel watches TV with him in the evening and Snickers cries for him when he comes home from work and he has to scratch her head. Snickers also likes to share a bagel with him in the a.m.

It's funny how things turn out.

[dlaura]

Good for you too Mrs. Birdy. We have 4 birds and a dog & cat.
My husband says in a loud booming voice - "NO MORE ANIMALS" - until my son or I bring something home to care for and maybe find a nice home for and within the day he is speaking of keeping it and where we will keep it etc.

This happened with the baby robin J found and brought home to feed.....................I told both of them that I refused to feed raw worms forever (as you know who the care would eventually fall to) and after two days of caring exclusively for this baby - J decided to take it to a rehabilitation clinic because he found it too much also. The bird would need to be trained to return to the wild .......we had not the time or knowledge to do this.

[Amanda]

Husbands are great, aren't they?

My husband was the same way when I brought Rio home. After we lost our female cockatiel (due to egg binding), he knew that I wanted to get another cockatiel because I truly love their "cuddly" nature. My husband didn't want us to get another bird ... he said we had enough pets. Anyway, I was determined to get another cockatiel and even put my name on the waiting list at the breeders for a yellow-face chick. The chick turned out to be male and the breeder decided not to sell him because she wanted him in her breeding program. Anyway, I started to research other type of birds and came upon the "Pionus". After reading so much about them, I decided I wanted one. So, I phoned all the breeders and petstores around our area in search of Pionuses. We ended going to three different cities to see all the different kinds they have available. My husband readily came along for the drive but always insisted that we are just going to "look" and we are "not" going to buy.

Well, guess what? After we had looked at the Dusky, Bronze-Wing, White-capped, Maxi, and Blue-Headed, my husband has fallen totally in love with the breed. He couldn't decide which one he liked best ... and since Rio was the youngest of them all, I decided to go for the BH.

And the rest is history ... :D

[Amanda]

Casegura, you have a min pin too? So do I! She is 1 year old and black and rust color. They are too clever (for their own good) sometimes....;)

[Amanda]

How small is your teacup size? I thought ours is pretty small already ... she's about 6 lbs., about 10-inches at the shoulders. She is so cute ... but can be so sneaky-smart when she wants something...:D

[Mrs.Birdy]

excuse me, but what is a min pin. Thanks

(I'm not to familiar with many dog breeds)

[Amanda]

Mrs.Birdy, a min pin is short for "Miniature Pinscher". I'll try and post a pic of my minpin for you. They look like tiny doberman ... but they are in no way related. Some people think they are the miniature version of doberman pinscher ... but the Min Pin is actually an older breed.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Sounds cute....Thanks.

I once had a miniature poodle (min po)

[parrotboy]

I get up in the morning feed all my animals and birds change the water etc. Then go to skool! i come home check on everything! get my ringneck out (chip) who will paly around the living room and sit on my shoulder while i sit at the PC doing my homework! then at night when i sit down to rest he will just wonder the house cause the whole family is here to supervise him!!

[Mrs.Birdy]

You sound like a very good birdie daddie.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Yes, I have found that all the adolescents I know who have birds are great with them. They take a lot of time learning about their care and needs.

My son, age 14, is one of them. He is the one who researched all different species of birds and convinced me that owning and caring for them would be gratifying.

He was so right.

It's amazing what we "older kids", lol, can learn from our youth.

[birdygirl]

I hate it when people lok at younger bird parents and say they can't take care of a bird because they are to young. Chances are they can be more knowledgeable than some people who these people allow to buy birds from them.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Right on !!! You go girl !!!

[Jenny]

I spend quite a bit of time with my birds each day. With my green-cheek, he's probably out of his cage 10+ hours (during the school year less, but I'm homeschooling this year), about half of that spent on me ;) and the other half on his cage, on the climbing tree, or anywhere else he feels like exploring! My blue-crowned conure is out about the same amount as well. My budgies have access out of their cage 24 hrs. a day, though spend quite a bit of time in it even though the door is always open. They prefer to hang out together and only one will gladly get on my finger, so I don't spend much "personal" time with them. My lovebird is out probably six hours a day, and spends most of her time playing on my curtains! She also loves using people as a playground as well. :D On the topic of kids and adults being bird parronts, I've seen adults who are terrible bird parents and adults who are absolutely wonderful bird parents, and same with kids too. I guess it just depends on each person and how dedicated they are to their fids and learning about them!

[dlaura]

Jenny, sometimes I am still surprised about how wise beyond your years you are. You are very insightful.

[conureguy]

i spen't about 4-5 hours with my patagonian conure until he died
at the age 0f 13.

i miss him dearly