New member, interested in getting a green cheek conure.

[HereForPrize]

s

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for doing research before you acquire the bird. Now, I don't know of any places where you can buy a bird (not in Canada or anywhere else for that matter) so I can't help you there except to tell you that, for a first timer, adopting an adult is the best choice. Why? Because when you get an adult, what you see is what you get but, when you get a baby, it's a lottery and unless you are experienced in their care, you can mess up and, if you do, you can end up with a bird with medical or behavioral problems. Baby birds are never weaned and require, just like any youngster of any species, much more time and care than an adult - plus, the genetic make-up is unknown in terms of defects (even if you see the parents because not even an avian vet can tell anything from just looking at a bird for 5 minutes). Adults are what they are and can only improve under good care.

As to their care... well, GCCs are very popular with first timers but, in reality, they are a difficult species to keep healthy and happy. People see them small and assume they are less work than a big bird but it's not true. GCCs are intensely needy - so needy in fact that I often compare them to cockatoos because they need an inordinate amount of time spent with them EVERY SINGLE DAY of their lives so unless you are a stay-at-home person, with no family responsibilities, and who can spend hours and hours every day with the bird ON you (because, for a GCC, that is all there is to their world: physical closeness - and that means their body touching your body at all times), I suggest you get an easier species. For their diet they need a lot of fruits and no free-fed protein foods with just a little (mine get half a teaspoonful -heaping though- with a small piece of a nut -like a quarter of a walnut, for example) for dinner. Their diet in the wild is high moisture, high fiber, very low protein and very low fat (this means no pellets, by the way). They also need flight and a strict solar schedule but, then, all birds require them so this is not special to GCCs.

Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know.

[HereForPrize]

s

[Pajarita]

With your schedule, the only kind of parrot that will work out is a male/female pair of an aviary species. Why? Because, during the winter, you will never see the birds during the day and that means they have to have some other type of company for them to be healthy and happy. People that have just one bird almost always say that 'their' bird is happy and healthy but, in reality, it's a scientific impossibility and more wishful thinking than reality. ALL parrots are highly social animals that evolved to have the 'safety net' of their flock around them from birth to death. This is not a personal opinion or preference, it's a fact of science. Being alone is extremely stressful to them and chronic stress means depressed immune system, this, added to the fact that captivity always causes stress as well as the unnatural conditions we keep them under (we are talking housing, diet, not enough exercise, no flock security, etc), it does for a unhappy, unhealthy bird. Again, not a personal opinion but a sad fact of parrot keeping.

As to which species... well, there are several you can choose from: budgies (aka parakeets), cockatiels, lovebirds, canarywings, parrotlets, etc. Personally, I would adopt a pair of mate-bonded cockatiels. They are beautiful, hardy, smart, easy to take care of and, by far, the sweetest tempered of all parrots. The males will learn to whistle songs and some of them even talk but, if kept right, they are not noisy (females hardly ever make a peep and males only vocalize often during breeding season), easily available and inexpensive. If you decide to go with lovebirds, please make sure the birds are DNAd male and female (cockatiels and parrotlets are sexually dimorphic when adults) because although you can keep a male/female or a male/male pair, you can't a female/female.

[HereForPrize]

s

[Pajarita]

No, ALL parrots are one-person birds. It's genetic. They can like and interact with other people IF the bird is kept at a strict solar schedule and getting the right diet (because you can't get that if the bird is overly hormonal) but they will not bond with more than their chosen one. So, if you don't mind the bird bonding to the person who is home all day long, then, yes, you can have a GCC. But, this person must be in agreement with the whole bird thing because it will fall to him/her the bulk of the care and keeping it company for hours and hours as well as training, etc. The thing is that, almost surely, the bird will love the other person and not you because ownership doesn't mean anything to a parrot, they love who they love. Birds do fall in love at first sight BUT if the person they fall in love with is not there all the time and somebody else who is kind is, they will end up loving the kind person they see all the time. Remember that, during the winter, you will not see the bird at all during the week because you will leave the house and come back at night.

Yes, birds can survive being alone. They are anxious, stressed out, bored and, usually, also depressed which makes them live shorter lives - but they do survive. Of course, getting a bird knowing you will be keeping it under unkind/unhealthy conditions is not something we would support... I am not trying to be difficult or unkind to you but we are all bird lovers here and do not like to see or hear of a bird that is not living a good life.

[HereForPrize]

s

[Pajarita]

Indeed, all parrots should be kept in a male/female pair - it's the only way to give them a semi-normal life! Thank you so much for putting the bird(s) wellbeing before your own wishes. It's thoughtful and kind of you to do this and a sure sign you are a bird lover!