Things i’ve learned while working at a bird hospital for about a year:
Pros of owning a bird
Makes you feel like a Disney Princess
You can build one of the strongest bonds you can ever have with your miniature tiny dinosaur
BIG personalities
Very smart
Long lived if you do everything right!
Incredibly cute little (or big) faces ‘v’
They can mimic words + phrases
They’re really good at learning tricks!
Very rewarding to have a good healthy birb :)
Cons of owning a bird (wow its long)
It is. A lot. Of work.
Cages must be cleaned everyday or every other day. Their poops harden like cement if you don’t. There is also this thing called Bird Fancier’s Lung if you don’t clean.
They are seed distributors, they are incredibly messy when eating.
They need to have particular diets and are prone to health issues if their food is not well researched (seed is treat, not 100% of diet)
They are very fragile.
You don’t have permission to sleep in anymore.
They are very loud and love loudness.
Incorrect husbandry can make them sick or INCREDIBLY HORNY.
Incorrect husbandry can end up with you needing stitches depending on how big the bird is.
Incredibly horny birds are aggressive, loud(er than normal), and destructive (either to their surroundings, to you, or themselves)
They are prey animals and are very good at hiding when they don’t feel well.
When you see they’re not feeling well, it’s bad.
GOOD avian vets are few and far between. There are vets that say they will see a bird, but they may not have the comprehensive knowledge your bird needs.
(This is because avian care is not sought out in vet school, it is simply not profitable :/. Yes this is one of the main factors why there are so few GOOD avian vets)
Before getting a feathered friend you need to do research on the vets in your state/country to see if there are any avian vets within emergency driving distance (if there is an avian certified vet omg thats the jackpot 👍👍👍)
They are toddlers with pliers on their faces.
Egg laying can lead to calcium deficiency or even death if your bird gets egg bound
Some housing and apartments may not let you move in with a bird
Expensive…
LONG LIVED. Some small birds live to 20-30 years, some 40-50, some 60-80.
Hard to rehome
There are more things but they are more niche. Also all of this is from the perspective of someone who works as a cog in a bird hospital so I see a lot of the negative
anyway if you got this far heres a photo of a lil guy
stoopid idiot wouldn’t stop chewing his leg
