Taking him outside?

I love my Bourke's he loves my parrot and he is bonded to me but not to the point where I know he would see me as a mate. He just prefers to sit with me over other people. I want to get him another Bourke's but I need to move before doing so. I want to get a much larger cage for the pair before I do. And I am not sure if with Bourke's if female/male pair is necessity or if I can do a same sex pairing.
 
jajeanpierre said:
Get a good rooster or two. I love my roosters. I hate culling the extra roosters so usually have far too many roosters. It's a problem as you know. The other day I was inside and heard a racket. I went out to find the three young Araucana roosters that have so far avoided the soup pot and the big Ameraucana rooster out in the open yelling and screaming. Not a hen to be found anywhere, even in the covered pens. Not a peep from any of the hens as the roosters yelled and screamed and were out in the open. A big hawk flew off. I think it was a Harris hawk based on its size, shape, flight style and distinctive white rump patch. It would have killed my chickens in a heart beat. I'm sure glad my Red Shouldered hawk pair have migrated back to the area. They keep everything out.
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I kinda gave up on roosters. I raise both free range egg and meat chickens and turkeys. Sorry if that gives you bird lovers the willies!! Lol. They beat up my hens pretty bad, or each other, and were just generally a pain so I swore off of them. I raise about 50 chickens to eat, and about 15-20 turkeys for holiday gifts to close friends and family.
We once had an egg operation started with a flock of Rhode Island reds raised from chicks. When they were about the size of a pigeon we were losing a chicken a day to mostly red tailed hawks, when they got tangled in the poultry netting. We have major birds of prey where we live. I watched one grab a Cochin about a month ago.

My Cham won't be going outside without a cage. That's for sure. He just looks like a snack. ;-)
 
Doesn't bother me, I won't be eating my Bourke's for sure, but if I was to raise anything for meat (which if I had the room I would in a heart beat) I would raise chickens and rabbits.
 
jajeanpierre said:
The things with hawks is you generally don't ever see them unless you are looking for them. My roosters are always on high alert looking for hawks. The pair of Red Shouldered hawks yell when an intruder moves into the area. Up until recently, my neighbor had peacocks. My parrots yell a distinctive yell for hawks. I have a lot of eyes watching for hawks and yelling whenever a hawk is in the area. It is funny that my chickens would hear the neighbor's peacocks alarm call and dive for cover before they had seen a hawk.
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I had peafowl, too! They were excellent hawk-watchers! They always spotted the hawk LONG before we did!
 
Nursemaia said:
I used to have Arucanas, no one wanted to eat my green eggs. I see hawks all day every day, mostly red tail. A few days ago I caught some barred owls right outside the front door in the trees eating a squirrel. I also hear screech and great horned owls at night
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The green ones are the best!
 
Angelwolf said:
I had peafowl, too! They were excellent hawk-watchers! They always spotted the hawk LONG before we did!
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Their call scared the daylights out of me, lol. The white ones are incredibly gorgeous. I have often thought of getting one. I'm just afraid it would eat the roof off my car. They can be crazy destructive...
 
Andee said:
Doesn't bother me, I won't be eating my Bourke's for sure, but if I was to raise anything for meat (which if I had the room I would in a heart beat) I would raise chickens and rabbits.
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It's easier and cleaner than you would think. I don't feel bad about it, but some people really think I'm pretty awful and give me a hard time. I always figured every one I raise in a good environment is one kept out of a factory farm.
 
@jajeanpierre it sounds like you are an avid bird watcher/studier. Right now I'm trying to learn turkey calls. My father in law is a turkey hunter - true blue. The real
turkey hunters know turkeys like you do your parrots...how they think, where they eat, the sounds they make when thy are sleepy, alarmed, lost, etc. I want to get turkey calls badly to talk to the turkeys. Not really to hunt, just to call them up. It's fascinating. They live all around me.

I also love to bird watch. Im impressed that you free fly your birds. I have never wanted to keep birds because I have always felt so bad for them in cages for years and years and years. I have never met anyone who kept their birds the way you do. I know one eclectus without a feather below his head, and he never leaves his cage. It just kills me. Anyway, I'm happy for your birds. It doesn't seem to me that a bird can be complete without flight. I'm sure there are those who would disagree with me, just like there are those who can't understand me raising chickens to eat :) but you can't convince me any other way
 
Mtnlaurel said:
It's easier and cleaner than you would think. I don't feel bad about it, but some people really think I'm pretty awful and give me a hard time. I always figured every one I raise in a good environment is one kept out of a factory farm.
Click to expand...
They tell you your awful between bites of the fried chicken or burger.
 
Mtnlaurel said:
I kinda gave up on roosters. I raise both free range egg and meat chickens and turkeys. Sorry if that gives you bird lovers the willies!! Lol. They beat up my hens pretty bad, or each other, and were just generally a pain so I swore off of them. I raise about 50 chickens to eat, and about 15-20 turkeys for holiday gifts to close friends and family.
We once had an egg operation started with a flock of Rhode Island reds raised from chicks. When they were about the size of a pigeon we were losing a chicken a day to mostly red tailed hawks, when they got tangled in the poultry netting. We have major birds of prey where we live. I watched one grab a Cochin about a month ago.

My Cham won't be going outside without a cage. That's for sure. He just looks like a snack. ;-)
Click to expand...

Aren't Rhode Island Reds a pretty aggressive bird? Maybe a nicer rooster? I know it is really hard to find a good rooster. I wish I had the backbone to raise chickens for meat. Better food for me, better life for the chickens. I hate commercial poultry production. The only animals I slaughter are the extra roosters in a group of straight run chicks. I just HATE killing them.

My red shouldered hawks keep pretty much everything away. They are very territorial. I did loose a few hens from hawks in the winter when the Red Shouldered hawks migrated away and a big Coopers female moved in. My pit bull of all dogs guards the chickens. If they yell that a hawk is bothering them, he will come running and spent half an hour circling the area looking up in the trees.
 
Mtnlaurel said:
It's easier and cleaner than you would think. I don't feel bad about it, but some people really think I'm pretty awful and give me a hard time. I always figured every one I raise in a good environment is one kept out of a factory farm.
Click to expand...

I hate factory farms. It is just awful. Such a horrible horrible life for animals. I wish people knew what they went through to get cheap chicken and the junk they are fed. I just wish I had the backbone to raise chickens for meat. So much kinder for the chickens. I don't eat much meat but I just really really hate killing them. They just want to live. I am the queen of procrastinating processing my excess roosters. I just hate it. I used to be very very anti hunting until I researched slaughter.
 
Awww good Pittie XD. I like rabbits because you can get multiple uses from them. Not only do they have great meat, but I raw feed my dog so he can have that, they also can eat left over veggies, they feces makes great fertilizer, and their fur/hides can be sold for a ton. At the moment I buy from local smaller farms as much as possible and always buy pasture raised and naturally fed stuff. Thankfully I have a community that supports it nicely. Rabbits are rather easy to dispatch. Chickens also provide eggs and meat. And for the garden they are good and picking off pests. And in my opinion birds don't have to stay in cages all the time. Most larger parrots prefer to stay on their cages even if they are allowed to wander in and out of it. I do always support having some sort of aviary set up outside for birds though. I am hoping to do it when we move in the few months for our birds. So that in good weather they can go out for most of the day and enjoy the exercise and sunshine.
 
Mtnlaurel said:
Their call scared the daylights out of me, lol. The white ones are incredibly gorgeous. I have often thought of getting one. I'm just afraid it would eat the roof off my car. They can be crazy destructive...
Click to expand...
First of all, they're dependent on socialism. So you HAVE to get them in at least pairs. When we got our first 2 chicks they were so young they couldnt be sexed. We ended up with 2 beautiful male india blues. Then after a heartbreaking accident with one of them, we got a silver pied female. She was mostly white with a little brown speckling, and silver shoulders. The other male died a few years later, mysteriously. I think that winter was too much for him to handle. So we got a pied male. He had the normal India blue colors as well as patches of white. Some of his train was white, some of it was regular with white spots for eyes. All of our birds were tame. We even had them leash trained! I have never known them to be destructive, but I suppose they could be, just like any animal. They were awesome pets!
 
Sorry to put this thread back on track but in the last couple of months I've sold two baby panthers to people who learned the hard way that having a chameleon loose outside is a risk for loosing them. Both lost them in plants when they stepped away for a minute or took a call. Something they won't do again.
We put most of ours out every nice day. They all go in screen cages with misting.
 
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