4,133 answers about birds
Parrots, budgies, cockatiels and finches each come with their own care questions — diet, cage setup, taming, noise and health. This page gathers the bird library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic so keepers can find a straight answer fast. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
625 answers in Choosing & Adopting — page 3 of 27
A red-bellied parrot can live in a home with other pets, but it should never share open space unsupervised with a dog or cat, whose play or hunting instincts can injure a small bird in a second. Separate housing, a secure cage in a room that can be closed, and parallel routines where animals see each other safely…
Red-bellied parrots can do well with calm, older children who are taught to move slowly and read the bird's body language, but they are a poor match for toddlers or boisterous handling. This species is naturally watchful and startles more easily than bolder parrots, so a child who grabs, shouts, or crowds the cage…
A Meyer's parrot usually lives for two to three decades in a home setting, so choosing one is a long commitment rather than a short chapter of pet keeping. Good nutrition, flight exercise, regular avian vet checks, and steady social contact are the everyday factors that help this species reach the upper end of that…
A fully grown Meyer's parrot is a small parrot, measuring roughly eight to nine inches from crown to tail tip and weighing about as much as a small apple. Much of that length is tail, so the body itself feels compact and sturdy in the hand, closer to a large conure than to a medium parrot. That modest adult size suits…
A Meyer's parrot is manageable as a first pet, but easy is the wrong word for any parrot, since this species needs daily interaction, fresh food, cage cleaning, and supervised time out every single day. The routine itself is simple to learn, and its modest size keeps housing and handling straightforward for a…
Yes, a Meyer's parrot is one of the more forgiving first parrots because it is small, comparatively quiet, and generally even-tempered once it settles into a routine. A first-time owner still needs to plan for daily out-of-cage time, gentle handling practice, and a bird that bonds closely and notices changes in the…
A Meyer's parrot can live in a home with other pets, but its small size makes strict separation more important, not less. A cat's paw swipe or a dog's playful snap can kill a bird this size in seconds, and the Meyer's has far less ability to defend itself or survive an injury than a large macaw. Calm dogs and…
Meyer's parrots are one of the better parrot choices for a family with children, with supervision. They are small, generally calm and quiet for parrots, and less intimidating than the big macaws, though any parrot can nip when frightened or grabbed. Patient, school-age children who let the bird come to them usually…
Scarlet macaws usually live around 50 to 60 years in good home care, and individuals can reach 70 years or beyond. Like other large macaws, they mature slowly, stay demanding for their whole lives, and very often outlive their first owner's ability to keep them. Diet, exercise, clean air, and avian vet care strongly…
Scarlet macaws are generally a harder fit with children than their blue-and-gold cousins. Scarlets have a reputation for being beakier and more high-strung, quicker to nip when excited or overstimulated, and just as loud and large. A calm scarlet raised with steady handling can coexist with respectful older children…
Blue-and-gold macaws usually live 50 to 60 years in good home care, and some individuals reach into their seventies. That lifespan makes a blue-and-gold less a pet purchase than a lifelong arrangement, often spanning its owner's own adult life. Diet quality, exercise, clean air, and regular avian vet care are what…
A fully grown blue-and-gold macaw measures roughly 81 to 91 centimetres from head to tail tip, with a wingspan of about 104 to 114 centimetres, and typically weighs around 900 grams to about 1,200 grams. Most of that length is tail, but the bird still needs a very large cage and room to flap without striking bars.…
No — a blue-and-gold macaw is one of the harder first pets a person can choose. Daily care means fresh chopped food, cage and perch cleaning, hours of supervised out-of-cage time, constant toy replacement, and training, on top of serious noise and mess. The bird also needs an avian vet and a huge cage, and it will…
For most first-time owners, a blue-and-gold macaw is too much bird to start with. It is one of the largest companion parrots, it can live for many decades, it screams at natural volume, and it needs hours of daily attention and training from someone who can read parrot body language. First-time owners who succeed with…
A blue-and-gold macaw can share a home with other pets, but it should never share unsupervised space with them. A macaw's beak can seriously injure a dog or cat, while a cat's scratch or a dog's sudden lunge can kill the bird, so the risk runs in both directions, and dogs with strong prey drive plus free-roaming cats…
A blue-and-gold macaw can live happily in a family with children, but it is not a naturally child-proof pet. These are large, loud parrots with powerful beaks, and they bond closely to one person, which can make a macaw jealous or nippy around kids it has not accepted. Calm, older children who are taught to move…
Severe macaws, also called chestnut-fronted macaws, usually live around 30 to 40 years in a home, and well-cared-for birds can reach beyond that. That makes even the smallest true macaw a commitment measured in decades, shaped heavily by diet, exercise, and regular avian vet care. Anyone taking one on should plan from…
A superb parrot can suit a first-time owner, but only one who wants an active aviary-style bird rather than a cuddly lap companion. This Australian parakeet is comparatively gentle and quiet for its size, yet it needs real room to fly, ground space to forage, and daily interaction on its own terms. Visit adult birds…
A severe macaw is generally not a good choice for a first-time owner, despite being sold as a smaller macaw. The chestnut-fronted macaw is one of the largest of the mini macaws, with a powerful beak, a full-volume macaw voice, a tendency to bond intensely to one person, and a lifespan that can stretch across three to…
A scarlet-chested parrot is a cautious maybe for a first-time owner: it is tiny, quiet, and breathtakingly colored, but also one of the more delicate small parrots in aviculture. These Australian grass parakeets stress easily, dislike damp and cold, and stay aviary birds rather than becoming tame, so they suit a…
A regent parrot can be a good first bird for someone setting up a flight cage or aviary and wanting a calm, elegant parrot rather than a hand pet. Regent parrots are gentle, softly voiced, and undemanding in temperament, with males in yellow and deep red that deepen with age. They fly rather than climb, rarely become…
A red lory is generally not a good choice for a first-time owner. It shares the rainbow lorikeet's nectar diet and liquid, far-reaching droppings, then adds an even bolder, more intense temperament: red lories are famously energetic, noisy, and beaky, and they bore quickly without hours of play and attention.…
For most first-time owners, a rainbow lorikeet is not a good choice, however dazzling it looks in the shop. Lorikeets eat nectar, pollen, and soft fruit rather than seed, and that liquid diet produces liquid, far-flung droppings that make them the messiest common parrots by a wide margin. They are also loud,…
A princess parrot can be a lovely first bird for someone with room for a long flight cage or aviary, because its temperament is unusually gentle, inquisitive, and calm for a parrot of its size. It is a poor fit for a small cage in a flat: the long tail and active flight style demand length, and its soft chattering…
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