Loving and wanting pet birds is a "fever" that can spread out of control, if you don't stop to think of the consequences. How many birds are too many for you? It depends on a number of factors:
* How many people in your household are responsible for their care & daily handling? * How much resources do you have to support everything they need? * How much time do you have to provide them with at least a few hours of quality time a day, each? * How much time do you have to make sure that their living environment are always clean, and foods are always fresh and varied? * Does your lifestyle allow for your birds to have a regular daily routine, including 10-12 hours of dark, uninterrupted sleep a night? * How much time do you have to give all your birds regular showers, exercise time, socializing time, and training time? * How devoted are you to making sure you continue reading up on research and new findings on parrot care? * Are you committed to taking good care of each one, for the rest of their lives? |
It's easy to see a poor bird in a store; and feel like you can give it better care than the situation it is in. But realize that after doing a few of those "rescues" you will end up with more birds than you can support. You may have the means to give them large cages, varied and healthy foods; toys etc; but you must also have enough time to spend with each one and allow them the same care you would if you had just one to shower your love. In other words, something in your personal life must give to add more time to caring for an extra pet bird. People who end up "saving" a bird in a bad situation is definitely doing the bird a favor, but if this continues, after a while the person will get way over their heads and the quality of their birds will suffer. It's a difficult thing for bird lovers to admit and realize - as to when to say "enough is enough". We made that mistake once ourselves, with breeding lovebirds in the past and having too many babies, more pairs etc. In time we realized that although we can give them more love and quality living than a pet store or many others; we are not doing our own personal lives any good. No family can possibly give more than a few birds all the quality love, time and training they need to be outstanding and loving pets, while having quality livestyles themselves. Something gives for lack of time and attention, both on your part and the bird's. The more birds you have and the less attention you can give to all will result in its consequences one way or another. When you feel you are way over your head, it's better for you to take the steps to find your birds a better home, with a family that is ready to give all their love and attention to one, or two birds. Although there are many awful homes out there that you'd never want a bird to be in, there are a number of families and homes that are filled with love and time that would love to adopt a bird. These are the ones that can give the birds time that you perhaps can't. Taking the time to find these people will be better than your home being filled with cages, playpens, birds and no "life" on your part. Even if you choose to live your personal life that way, your birds do not deserve any less than healthy, clean, and fulfilling lives.
For the quality that we choose to give our birds, we realized sometime ago that 1 large bird is the most we'll ever have. We have Zachary, an Amazon (that's our 1 large bird); Sidney, a Senegal, and Kimo, a Lovebird. Zachary is by far the one with the most needs, followed by our Senegal and then the lovebird. With two adult humans in this home taking equal care of all, 3 is the maximum number of birds we can have, in order to give them everything we preach on our website. We have learnt from the past; and for a number of years now have established a routine and care level that have brought out the best in our three birds. Their beauty, sociability, training ability, tameness and pet quality is better than anything we have ever seen. It wouldn't be that way if we had more birds to care for. On top of that our personal lives are fulfilled and our own needs can be met as it should. Happy birds live in homes where humans are happy and successful in what they do. A stressed person with more things than they can handle will have pets that respond accordingly. When neither the quality of your life nor your birds are complete due to lack of time, that's when you know you've got too many. Do your best not to let it get to that point, as it's very difficult to part with birds that you once thought will be with you forever. The best way to avoid temptation is to think about the birds you do have and how much you love them. Don't take any time, love, or quality care away from what they need from you.
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