Living with birds

Yes, they would provided the finger is long enough for both of them.

Sleepysara said:

Anybody out there keep birds--parakeets in particular--as pets? I have a brief scene in an apartment whose occupants keep two birds and I want to make sure I get it right. (I've been around birds a bit, but none of my good friends keep them).

In the scene, the birds are making noise in their cage (which is draped). When the protagonist opens the door to the cage, the birds (who know her) jump on her finger and allow her to carry them around the room. Is this possible? Would birds be okay sitting next to each other on a person's finger?

Thanks!

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Two parakeets on one finger seems crowded, just spacewise, especially for a woman's hand, and hands are jostley but if the birds are pals and will/like to ride around like that (some do, some don't) and sit next to each other on a perch, I don't see why not. The space bothers me more than anything in your scenario. Parakeets aren't that wee.

I have raised cockatiels as well as parakeets and to be honest, their behavior, even when they love their owners, varies with each individual bird. I've never known a parakeet to hop up on a finger right away, though I'm not sure if it's impossible. Parakeets can get to a fairly decent size (7 inches long), so it may be a bit crowded, as cornflake pointed out, for their to be two on one finger.

Usually the owner needs to stick their finger up to the parakeet (long ways) with a gentle brush against their belly so they know it's time to step up. It's one of the first "tricks" they learn.

Parakeets can definitely learn to be very sweet and are easily handled when trained correctly, though it takes time. I'm assuming your protagonist has trained these particular parakeets very well! It's a cute idea, I hope I was able to help a little!

I grew up with lots and lots of parrots. I think the answer with one parakeet is "yes, definitely". With two side by side - probably, though parrots/parakeets are complex emotionally and definitely feel jealousy?

Going to move this to the Animals and Nature forum, where you'll get more responses.

Sleepysara said:

Anybody out there keep birds--parakeets in particular--as pets? I have a brief scene in an apartment whose occupants keep two birds and I want to make sure I get it right. (I've been around birds a bit, but none of my good friends keep them).

In the scene, the birds are making noise in their cage (which is draped). When the protagonist opens the door to the cage, the birds (who know her) jump on her finger and allow her to carry them around the room. Is this possible? Would birds be okay sitting next to each other on a person's finger?

Thanks!

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I've owned a number of parakeets in my life.

Draping a cage will shut them up. So if the cage is covered, they won't be chirping and chattering.

If the bird is trained and bonded with its owner, it will jump on the owner's finger. But it probably won't stay there, or not for long. It will probably want to stretch its wings and fly around a bit. May come back to the owner and land on her head.

She could move the bird from her finger to her shoulder. But either way, if the bird wants exercise, it's going to a fly a bit before being content to settle there.

ETA: I missed that it was two birds on her finger. That's not likely, but she could put one on her shoulder and then let the other one jump on her finger. Everything else I said still applies.

Beth stole my thoughts about cover and noise, flight and exercise, as well as riding on shoulders.

Sleepysara said:

Ah, this is something I wanted to know more about. From my research it seems that birds will sometimes make noise even if they're draped--especially if it's morning time. Would you agree with this?

Thanks to all. Birds are wonderful, aren't they?

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Some parakeets and parrots will still make noise if they are draped, especially if they can hear noise from their owner. We have a Sun Conure and she is notorious for squawking super loudly when myself or my roommate comes home. She'll keep making noise until we uncover her. We even put a black drape over or coats, but she'll keep at it until she gets attention.

So, yes. Some parrots and parakeets still make noise even when draped, maybe not as much, but it's not uncommon for them to call for their owner.

Sleepysara said:

Ah, this is something I wanted to know more about. From my research it seems that birds will sometimes make noise even if they're draped--especially if it's morning time. Would you agree with this?

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If the cover lets daylight in and there's more than one bird in the cage, they might be doing some quiet chirping.

Small birds treat human arms and hands as potential predators, unless they're specifically tamed. It's more difficult to 'hand-tame' a pair of budgies than an individual, because they bond to each other instead of their owner, and don't impulsively seek human contact. If she got both birds at the same time, it's likely they won't come near her hand. If she got them one at a time and tamed them individually, it's more likely they will sit on her finger.

Albedo said:

Small birds treat human arms and hands as potential predators, unless they're specifically tamed. It's more difficult to 'hand-tame' a pair of budgies than an individual, because they bond to each other instead of their owner, and don't impulsively seek human contact. If she got both birds at the same time, it's likely they won't come near her hand. If she got them one at a time and tamed them individually, it's more likely they will sit on her finger.

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True about the bonding, but if she has a single bird and later adds another one to the cage, it may be war. I had that happen and they ended up in separate cages.