The decision on what type of parrot to have is sometimes very confusing, there are large and small and noisy and quite, Talking Parrots are very popular. It will depend on how much time and energy you want to invest in your relationship with it. Large parrots like macaws, cockatoos and amazons require a great amount of time and work. If you’re working 8 hours a day and don’t have a lot of time to give to a pet, the smaller birds will be one of the best that you can have. The best pet bird for a busy person will be a lower maintenance pet birds.

Parrots with good talking abilities include African Grey, Amazon and even some of the smaller varieties like Quaker Parrots. Most parrot species can mimic sounds they hear, like whistles and doorbells. The sound we hear as talking is essentially mimicry and some birds are better than others. Individual birds will also tend to prefer to mimic certain gender or individual. The best age to start training your bird is as early as possible or about between 4-6 months old. Start with a simple word like “Hello” and make sure to pronounce words slowly and clearly and repetition is vastly essential. Always keep lessons short, about 10-15 minutes and give play and rest point after.

Most parrots are very extroverted and vocal birds. When you bring home a young parrot you become part of the bird’s flock. If you study how birds in a flock intermingle in the wild and learn how they behave, you can try to communicate with your bird. Getting a parrot to do something you want is a good accomplishment, and if it does so then reward the bird. Any actions or behavior a parrot does that you dislike ignore, remember the best response is no response. Don’t reinforce negative behavior by overreacting or the parrot will realize how to get your attention. Teach the bird the suitable way to get what it wants. If they cannot communicate properly with you, it is very likely their response will be screaming, biting, or withdrawal.

If a young bird is purchased it must be nurtured and comforted as a first step in parrot training, this is easy but can be a problem if not done properly. Start out spending small amounts of time with your new bird, don’t spend more time when the bird is new than when the newness wears off or this will cause behavioral problems. Caring for your pet is essential before training can begin. Providing the proper diet for your parrot has changed greatly over the years. Early on in the pet trade parrots were fed solely a seed diet. It is now known that seeds diets are inadequate and need to be supplemented. Use seeds sparingly if at all and replace with a manufactured diet and fresh fruits and vegetables.Variety is very important in keeping a parrot healthy. Exploration outside of the cage should be encouraged with supervision to satisfy their normal curiosity. The bird learns to not be afraid of new things and learns important skills by being exposed to a variety of new things. Exploring should only include those areas of the home that you choose and are safe and use parrot training to introduce new things into its surroundings to help prevent boredom.

Fruit, juices, bread etc.? I have a green cheek conure and he eats his pellet food and some millet spray, seeds etc.

What should I avoid giving him?

I fill my bird’s food dishes up to the top every morning. I have two African Grey Parrots. They pick at it and eat on it all day. They throw half of it out. My question is: Do you leave food out for parrots all day? Or do you pick the food up and give it to them on a schedule? If so, how often should I feed them? They are sooooooo messy with their food. They are on a pellet diet and that is what I have trouble with. I also switch out fruits and veggies and I will make them eggs, pasta, rice, etc. but they gobble that stuff up. It is the pellet food they like to play with and make a mess out of.
Oh, it also makes cleaning thier cage a mess. They poop all of the time and everywhere.