by MFids on Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:56 pm
Alright, I wanted to put this out there to see what everyones opinion is.
You all know we have a bunch of parrots who are screamers, mutilators, pickers, etc. We also have birds who are very aggressive out of control birds. We blame a lot of this on raising them wrong once in our homes, behaviors, or medical reasons...
Now, in Sweden the majority believe that the offspring should be raised by the parents, and that it's best to keep most birds in pairs (particularly the small species). I think they have something going...
A while ago I read an article where some people took a bunch of young bull elephants (really, teenagers or younger), shipped them on a train, and put them into something of a zoo. Once into adulthood, the bulls became aggressive towards others and were destroying things. They solved the issue by bringing in adult elephants who basically took over the "herd" and everyone else within the herd into their places. The adults gave the younger ones a sence of They probably wouldn't have these issues if they had adults first.
I didn't get my handraised cockatiel until she was about 6 months old. She was handraised from day one of being born but surely was kept around other cockatiels once weaned, and around her "parents". Other than the occasional egg laying and constantly being hormonal (which seems to be a thing of handraised birds moreso than parent raised) I haven't had any issues with her.
On the other hand, I've heard/read/helped out with several cases where people have bought JUST WEANED cockatiels, usually between the ages of 8 weeks to 15 weeks of age. By the time these tiels get to 4-6 months of age, maybe a little older, they are screaming their heads off constantly, and the owners are LOOSING it. As far as I see, it's nothing to do with the owners, but rather the breeders fault for selling chicks too young before they could learn how to act from the adult tiels.
Then we have a member here who has a few pairs of tiels... one in particular which has successfully reproduced several lovely birds. He kept the offspring, and for the most part, the offspring are pretty well behaved... and they are getting up their in age. The offspring are learning from their parents, as well as learning from the humans (in a sense).
Which brings me to the point... are we destroying birds because we are handraising them? Thus not allowing them to learn how to be birds? And are we destroying them because we are selling them right after being weaned? Thus, the blame isn't on us, but on the breeders...
Certainly, it's one thing if the parents are plucking, mutilating, killing, or neglecting the chicks (thus they probably shouldn't be bred possibly) but it's another thing when they are GOOD parents. Certainly, parent raised birds can be just as good as handraised, given time and training... likewise, there are many handraised birds without issues...
I'm just interested in everyone elses opinion on this matter.
Monica & Fids
"I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn
from them."
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