Lately, I've been thinking about buying a bird of some sort (most likely a parrot that's easy to train). All friends keep telling me that it's a bad idea. They also say that the bird will be pooping uncontrollably everywhere. I had two parrots when I was younger and it wasn't that bad, but maybe times have changed. Do any of you guys own a bird of some sort. What are some of your experiences with them?
I am petrified of birds so I would have to go with your friends on this one and say no but that's a biased opinion. My friend had birds and they did poop all the time they would always try and get out the cage and they were quite noisy. Also one died and the other tried to eat its dearly departed, not cool. On the up although parrots can be expensive the food is reasonably priced, they don't take up much room and can be left at home without worries of them trashing the house. Weigh up the pros and cons and if the positives outweigh the negatives, go for it.
I've not had a bird and probably won't because they can be noisy and if you go away, you do need someone to mind them. I know my friend did this once and the bird was messy and noisy and you couldn't leave any windows open. It depends how big your home is too and if you are going to let it out of the cage. Obviously it would be hard to have a cat or dog as well, although some people do.
I love parrots, but I never owned one because yeah, it's a lot of hard work to own an animal. As for a bird, if you want to have it you need to be prepared for the noise, the expenses and to clean it's cage daily or else the bird won't have good living conditions.
I had a cockatiel, and it did poop a lot, but it's not really much of a problem. S'little poo, wipes away easy and does not do much damage to anything, not even gross when they poo on you, frankly. What can be annoying is if it screams a lot. Or if it starts destroying books, papers and cables by "biting" them... But it's still fun to have. If it is a bird made to be out of a cage, though, you have to be willing to commit, they get depressed if you stop giving them proper attention.
If you let the bird fly all over the place then that's when you need to be concerned about 'messiness.' The solution to that would be to cage the bird. Sound cruel but most people actually cage their pets. You can free it in the evenings and get it back in it's cage once it has had it's fun flying around for a while.
I myself am against owning birds. They're very wild animals and they're so used to freedom most would just run away with the first opportunity. Caging is really cruel and without doing so, the mess would be unbearable, most of them can't be toilet trained.
We have had lovebirds in the house before, and I think that they're a manageable bunch. They were not really noisy, and of course they always pooped, but they were on the outside of the house, so it's not really that much of a hassle. So I think that you would be able to manage taking care of it easily.
We used to own love birds and doves but they die so easily. Doves have a longer life span but they fare better outside the cage than inside it. That's why, if you buy a bird for a pet, I recommend that you get something that responds to you. Talking birds like mynas and parrots are ideal. They're expensive, though, and if you want them, you must be willing to pay the price.
Me and my family used to have a pet parrot, one of the gray African parrot which was not cheap, and it was difficult to keep and maintain. It eventually escaped by prying open its cage with its beak, and we never saw the bugger afterwards. Nowadays, I stick with chickens, because they produce eggs I can eat, you can leave them roam around, and they don't escape as easily - the drawbacks are that they poop a lot and may carry micro insects like spider mites into your house which is no good at all.
