What's it like to live with a flock?

A place to talk about all species, apart from our Ringnecks. Please, post video and pics when available.

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MissK
Posts: 3011
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:46 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

What's it like to live with a flock?

Post by MissK »

Here's a thread for discussing life with a bunch of birds in the house! It looked like this conversation was emerging on a different thread, and it is of interest to some of us, so I am moving that discussion over here for a more in depth look. :D Previously.....

Donovan:
Missk I bet your place gets pretty loud sometimes with so many birds now. Do they ever all go at it at the same time?
MissK
Well, yes, at certain times of every day they do and it is really loud. Right now, though, Rocky is asking himself how he is over and over, and commenting "Good Bird", while there is dead silence in every other way, except for sounds of a storm rolling in, my typing, and the fan. (This is kinda why I'm not interested in my birds speaking English......)

In the morning they are remarkably quiet, and the noise picks up after they hear me moving around. Or maybe it starts when my dog tells me to get up that prompts them to chatter. :lol: They make a variety of sounds until they get their morning chow, and then deafening silence. The biggest noise is when the Budgies get going because they are loudest on their own. When Rocky and Sinbad get into their Mutual Admiration Society meeting it gets loud but I make it louder with my laughing. It was pretty obnoxious when Sinbad was yelling at me every time I drew breath, but he has nearly stopped that. For instance, I couldn't tell he was even alive right now without looking. Canaries sing when something strikes their fancy. Lynnie, when he does, which is not often, makes a surprisingly loud call. The whole group will get going again in a few hours.

So far it has not gotten loud enough to drive me from the room, but I can see how it might do that to someone else.
Well, yes, at certain times of every day they do and it is really loud. Right now, though, Rocky is asking himself how he is over and over, and commenting "Good Bird", while there is dead silence in every other way, except for sounds of a storm rolling in, my typing, and the fan. (This is kinda why I'm not interested in my birds speaking English......)
Donovan:
would you say that the majority of all the birds' time is spent just kinda sitting around doing nothing?

my own birds like to have fun and interact but the reality is that most the time they're just sitting around doing nothing.
InTheAir
lucky you! I live with the energizer bunny disguised as an irn! She just goes non stop, has a quick nap (which she talks through) and then goes again. Nila is a bit more laid back, but he doesn't like to miss out on any action.
-MissK
MissK
Posts: 3011
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:46 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Re: What's it like to live with a flock?

Post by MissK »

Well, no. They're not always going nonstop, neither do they sit around all the time. Let's have a peek around just now......

Lynnie - napping.
Rocky - playing with a wooden toy and making tut-tut type noises.
Sinbad- moving around, quiet, looking at Rocky (wups, now looking at me) investigating ways he might get from his cage to Rocky's.
5 Budgies - All perching in a variety of locations in their big cages, some making that warbling Budgie noise, some preening, definitely staying in one spot...They would probably be napping if I were not keeping them up.
2 Canaries - napping.


It's almost 3:30 in the afternoon.
-MissK
InTheAir
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:24 pm

Re: What's it like to live with a flock?

Post by InTheAir »

We don't have a flock, just 2 very different and distinct personalities.
Sapphire is almost always busy! I'll have to take a photo of her cage floor after we have left her at home for a few hours. She does her foraging, destroys a couple foot toys, chews a hanging toy or 2 and then settles down to strip bark off some perches. Nila will finish his foraging and inevitably be napping when we get home.
When we had to take Nila to the vet and left her home alone once, we came home to perches that looked like they were sandblasted.
I made her a special swing with bottlebrush branch sides, so she can chew in every direction and it seems to be a hit, random patches of bark are missing from all over it, even bits she can't reach when she is sitting on the perch.

Nila will just settle down on a shoulder and nap while we use a computer or I sew, whereas Sapphire will be playing on one of stands for a while... then she gets bored and comes to the desk to find some excitement. When Nila notices her having fun by eating paperwork or dumping things over the edge of the desk, he joins in too. Nila also makes up games that she joins in on, like pen wresting or stealing pins out of whatever I am sewing. :D
Sometimes she comes to my shoulder while Nila naps and preens and yawns a lot, then she gets distracted by playing with my hair or scaling my head. It's not that she doesn't take naps, they just don't last long and she can only go about 15 minutes at a stretch without bouncing! She is so funny though and her adventurous spirit has rubbed off on Nila too :D
Donovan
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Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 4:18 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: What's it like to live with a flock?

Post by Donovan »

I've learned that riding on your shoulder is a skill.... mr bell can ride like a champ.. poor neko is young and inexperienced and always struggling.

When I come home in the afternoons they've learned the sound of my vehicle and start screeching. It's funny because even though all Neko does is the typical *squawk squawk* sound I can tell his voice apart from mr bells although I suspect in the future i won't be able to.

The morning time, especially on the weekend when I'm actually home is a little tense for them. I might set them free in the house as soon as i get up.. i might turn the shower on for them, or i might put them outside... there is no set routine so they get pretty anxious when I uncover them, demanding immediate entertainment.

Today is cleaning day since ants decided to raid the stray bits of food that hit the floor. Luckily I keep plastic down so cleaning is a matter of picking up the plastic, cutting a new piece and replacing the old one. So the birds are outside first thing.

It feels more like a 'flock' in the evenings when they both decide it's time to climb around on me. Neko is fixated on my hand so he wants to sit there and just relax and mr bell wants on my shoulder. Even though it's relaxed i'm convinced they see it as a group activity.
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