Looking to Adopt IRN in NEW ZEALAND

[kirsty.l.cameron]

Hi there,
My name is Kirsty and I am carefully considering adopting an IRN. I am in New Zealand and have found a lady nearby who breeds parrots. I believe they are aviary raised (I have heard conflicting opinions on this subject) and I am unsure of how old they are (yea, good one, I forgot to ask!)

I have scoured the internet for all the advice I can get and have been through as many forums on here as I can. So much information to take on board, however a lot of conflicting information as well.
I, as many new owners, have a few questions I would love answered if you have the time?

1.I am not overly fussed about a talking bird, but I do want an affectionate one. I am aware this will come with training and patience, however, is a male or a female a better choice. Pros and Cons of each if you have time?

2.I have my partner and my 6 year old in the house we live in, should one of us be the primary carer, or can we all interact with the bird from the get go?

(note I really want my 6 yr old boy to have a strong bond with the bird, I realise this all depends on the nature of the bird but is there some pointers you have to encourage the bond between them? He is a very cautious boy and would be extremely gentle and patient)

3.Where is the best place to situate the cage? Away from windows? I have a lot of windows in our small house but I can find a corner as far away from a window if needed?

4.How do we introduce the bird to the household. Do we leave it in it's cage for x amount of days to adjust to the household noises, or can we/I start interaction straight away.

5.I have noticed there is a wide variety of fruit and vegetables suggested for you beautiful little IRNs, is it important to try and include as many of those in the daily diet, or to rotate on a weekly or daily basis? Also the breeder mentioned she mainly feeds them sunflower seeds and what we call rolled oats...I hope this doesn't offend anyone is she is doing it wrong.

6. at "bed time" do we cover the cage?? ive had conflicting information on this too.

As you can see we have never owned a bird such as this (aside from a very meek little budgie) and we are determined to raise and treat our little addition with as much respect as we can muster. We want a companion for life and I am already in love even though I haven't even seen the birds (they are an hours drive away - ALSO how does a bird travel as we will have to drive it home, tips to keep it calm??)

I appreciate any help and understand there is a lot of forums to look at however I am now overwhelmed with information and I don't know which is truth or myth!!

Please add your stories, my heart melts at the antics of these incredible creatures.

As we say in NZ, "Arohanui" - "Big Love" to you all
Kirsty

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Kirsty

So much information to take on board, however a lot of conflicting information as well.

Yes, you will find a lot of conflicting information partially because the research on companion parrots isn't that far advanced and is always evolving and because people talk from their own experience which is useful but not definitive. There are several professionals in the companion parrot industry who have been trained as animal behaviourists and also have lots of experience and these are the people I tend to follow. I also take on board the advice from my avian vet. My fav professional in the companion parrot industry is Barbara Heidenreich from Good Bird Inc. http://www.goodbirdinc.com/ She has a lot of free stuff on her website. I have some of her commercial products too and my favourite one of hers is the DVD Parrot Behavior and Training #1.

I have two IRNs a male and a female. Both were handraised. We got Janey first at about 6 weeks of age and she is almost 4 years old. We got Charlie at about 12 weeks of age and he is turning 3 at the end of this year. My ideas come from:
[*] my experiences with my two little guys
[*] being a part of this forum
[*] companion parrot training events that I've attended (eg. parrot preschool with Gary Colvin, a full day workshop with Barbara Heidenreich)
[*] I joined the Parrot Society and read their companion parrot articles
[*] books, dvds and other online sources.

Throughout this journey, probably the biggest light bulb moments for me were to do with foraging and positive reinforcement training so I would encourage you to look into those.... but I'll get back to now your specific questions. My answers may not be "right" but they are my opinion.

1.I am not overly fussed about a talking bird, but I do want an affectionate one. I am aware this will come with training and patience, however, is a male or a female a better choice. Pros and Cons of each if you have time?

In my experience, our female is more inclined to bite and bite hard but she also seems to have the strongest bond with us and in our case seems to be able to pre-empt a lot of our actions. This could be because we had her younger and as an only bird for a year and she is older.

Our male is less likely to bite and it took longer to build the bond. He was scared of us when we first brought him home. He has a very sweet disposition but he doesn't depend on us as much for his happiness as our first bird does - although this is gradually changing over time. It is possible that the reason for this is that he was never a single bird so he always had another bird to bond with. Having said that, I feel that he is the most mentally healthy (if that makes sense) of the two because he knows he is a bird and he doesn't have undue reliance on people for his mental health.

Based on my experience I would recommend a male for you because you have a small child. However, I know others will have similar stories about males who bite hard. Unfortunately there really are no guarantees.

2.I have my partner and my 6 year old in the house we live in, should one of us be the primary carer, or can we all interact with the bird from the get go?

If you want your bird to be a part of your family and get along with everyone, you should all interact with your bird. I wouldn't let your 6 year old interact with the bird unsupervised until you're really sure he and your bird are safe.

(note I really want my 6 yr old boy to have a strong bond with the bird, I realise this all depends on the nature of the bird but is there some pointers you have to encourage the bond between them? He is a very cautious boy and would be extremely gentle and patient)

Early socialisation can make all the difference to your bird. That is one area that we fell down. We don't have children and don't have people over that regularly so our birds remain quite scared of other people. Getting them used to having lots of different people in their life from a young age is a good idea.

3.Where is the best place to situate the cage? Away from windows? I have a lot of windows in our small house but I can find a corner as far away from a window if needed?

We have our cage right by the windows and sliding doors so that they can get natural light. Sunlight is important. Having said that our house doesn't get an awful lot of sun so it never gets really hot by the window. You don't have to one set spot for their cage, you can move it around. Our cage is so big that we can't really do that but if you can it provides interest for them. The person who ran our parrot preschool has 2 Macaws and even has 2 or 3 different cages for his bird in different parts of the house.

4.How do we introduce the bird to the household. Do we leave it in it's cage for x amount of days to adjust to the household noises, or can we/I start interaction straight away.

If you get a handraised bird the adujustment period probably won't be necessary but if you get an aviary raised bird it probably will be. Be guided by how comfortable the bird seems. If your bird seems freaked out it's a good idea to let it observe you for a few days and also feel safe. Probably a good idea to partially cover the cage so that if it wants to hide it can. When you do try to interact with it, start by offering treats through the cage bars. If it won't accept them, put it in their food bowl (make sure it sees you doing that) after it shows some interest.

5.I have noticed there is a wide variety of fruit and vegetables suggested for you beautiful little IRNs, is it important to try and include as many of those in the daily diet, or to rotate on a weekly or daily basis? Also the breeder mentioned she mainly feeds them sunflower seeds and what we call rolled oats...I hope this doesn't offend anyone is she is doing it wrong.

I make my guys forage for their food. On a daily basis I give them three different types of fruit or veg, pellets and a few (probably too many) treats. My avian vet recommends not overfeeding them because although it is unlikely they will eat too much, they probably won't eat a balanced diet, they will fill up on the sugary things. So best to give them more fruit than veg. I used to alternate between pellets & seed but my avian vet prefers pellets so I go with that. There are lots of opinions on diet but I think variety is good and having 90% of their food attained through foraging is good for encouraging interaction with you and keeping your bird's mind active. If you're interested in foraging I can send you some links.

6. at "bed time" do we cover the cage?? ive had conflicting information on this too.

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here. We put our guys to bed at sundown and I cover them. In summer I drape a cover over the top of the cage to block the artificial light and in winter I completely cover the cage for warmth. I have read that birds that don't get enough sleep can be cranky but I know plenty of other people let their birds stay up as late as they do. I'm not sure it matters that much... but if you do let your bird stay up late and you notice it gets cranky you could try putting them to bed earlier.



I hope my opinions help. I'm sure others will have different opinions and I hope they post them here.

Best wishes for your new little guy.

Ellie.

[kirsty.l.cameron]

Amazing, thankyou so so so much for all your wonderful advice!

We will take that all on board. Yes I have heard about foraging and have been looking at foraging toys and how to make our own.

The birds are aviary raised so it looks like we will have some harder yards to put in but we are willing.
Will let you know when we get the wee guy (yes going to aim for a boy now thankyou!!)

I'm so excited I just know that this is going to be a great decision for our family

Many thanks
Kirsty