Can You Bond With an Adult Bird?
Often you hear people talk about the benefits of getting a baby bird compared to an adult bird. The most impactful statements made include “when you get a young bird, they will bond with you better and deeper” and “when they are young, they are more trainable, and you are able to get a well-behaved bird.” These statements allude that an adult bird is not able to form bonds with you, and they will be unable to learn new behaviors or change behaviors that may be undesirable.
To start with, yes, it is easier to train a baby bird. That cannot be brushed over. This is because they are at an impactful part of their life when they are figuring out what the world is about. They are developing and learning expectations of them. They are more forgiving when you make training mistakes, as like a puppy, they are happy-go-lucky at this stage of their life, similar to human babies as well. They are a clean slate, so there are no possible undesirable behaviors to untrain.
On the other hand, we also need to consider that every single adult bird was once a cute, lovable, forgiving baby bird too. Every single bird started out as a baby. Yet we still see birds rehomed at an alarming rate, especially for behavioral concerns, and most of the time from harmless, good caretakers that only wanted what was best for their bird. So, starting with this baby bird that is easier to train, clean slate, and can bond “deeper” and “better” with their caretakers can still lead to behavioral concerns and possible rehoming?
This brings me to the main topic, can we only bond with baby birds and train baby birds? Is the average person able to form those deep connections with an adult bird and work through behavioral concerns that arise? The simplest answer is yes! I could go on and on about experiences I have heard from beloved friends and clients, as well as my own birds, on why buying a baby is very over-hyped, but I want to focus on adult birds who have hit sexual maturity and are with a new caretaker.
I always like to start this topic with this analogy in human life for a better understanding of the situation. What the statements about baby birds says in human life is “when you are in elementary school, that is when you make friends, form connections, and create strong and lasting relationships. This is the time where you learn. Once you are an adult, you can no longer learn. You can no longer make meaningful connections.” I am not sure about your life, but I have made far more deeper and meaningful connections in my adult life than I did in my schooling days, as well as continue to learn and grow as an individual.
Another analogy I like to use to describe this situation is “if you go to a nursing home to volunteer, you will be met with a lot of older people. Some stuck in their ways, some extremely friendly and bubbly, some completely withdrawn and antisocial. With the bubby individual, you make a connection easily. With someone stuck in their ways, maybe you compromise or just follow their lead if you are comfortable with it. To the colder individual, it takes time to break through their shell and be invited in. All of these older individuals are capable of learning, of creating friendships and bonds, but some may be harder to interact with than others. It may take longer to teach them something new, but not impossible. Based on your comfortability, abilities, and determination, as well as possibly some education on how to go about interacting with these personalities, you can be successful.” That last one I find the most truthful and powerful.
Most adult birds will be an easy bond to create once they are used to your presence and you have some positive experiences shared between you two. They will slowly start to trust you more and more while you learn their mannerisms, boundaries, and individual body language and behavior. Though this process may not be instant like you might feel with a baby bird, remember that like puppies and human babies, babies generally like everyone because they have no reason to not. They have no previous experiences to relate to and form preferences, as older birds will have already done that, even adult birds who were raised by their current caretaker will still develop preferences.
Some adult birds may instantly be trusting towards you, or even your whole family. There may be little to no work put into the relationship at the start for an older bird to take to you and be affectionate. A personal story to share is of my adult, unknown age double yellow headed amazon Munchkin who is special needs. I flew to San Diego, California from Baltimore, Maryland to meet and potentially adopt Munchkin. I was told that he wasn’t very social, he was not the biggest on being handled. He seemed happiest just being in the same environment as you but maybe not directly interacting; independent and set in his ways were the words always being thrown around. When I arrived in California and meeting him for the first time, he instantly stepped right up when I asked him to. He immediately was stomping all around me, confident like we have known each other for years. He instantly gave me kisses and was preening my face. I was even allowed to pet him, all within the first 30-minutes of meeting. This had his rescuers in tears because they have never seen anything close to the behaviors he was showing with me or having a bond as deep with anyone as he did with me. I was not expecting it either, as I went into the adoption knowing he would not be friendly and was just trying my luck with it. Now three years into our bond, he is rolling over and playing like a baby bird, through training has become more social with others, and is thriving!
Lastly, there may be some birds that need work. Either they have been through trauma like neglect or abuse, or were simply deprived of a good start in life due to either poor breeding or poor ownership. Not every owner is perfect, not every bird is either. This does not mean they are a loss cause. Most in this category with consistent, proper training, they can become the bird you always hoped to be. Some birds may need to be realistically assessed to appropriate goals that fit there needs, where maybe being a companion is less of their life and maybe they get buddied up with another bird in an aviary to just simply be allowed to be a bird. Another close-to-home story are two of my amazons, a 35-year-old wild caught orange winged amazon named Ringo and a blue front amazon assumed wild caught at least 30-years-old named Crazy Bird. Crazy Bird literally almost killed two people, not to mention the hundred of other serious injuries he inflicted, and Ringo has severe aggressive behaviors. I had to realistically assess that they don’t want to be pets. They want to be birds. They can easily coexist with me, and we have worked on a lot of husbandry behaviors to make it that way, but they do not want a pet or a cuddle from me. Therefore, I paired them up in an amazon flock in an aviary, and they are much happier than trying to be a companion to me. They want to be a companion for another bird.
The good thing about adopting an adult bird is you understand their behaviors better. What you see in front of you is what you start with. So, if you saw Crazy Bird in front of you, maybe that severity of behaviors is not within your skill set or comfortability or simply isn’t the goal you have with your newest companion. So, you look for the one that is. I can promise there is an adult bird out there to fit everyone’s needs.
To conclude, this post is not to talk down about purchasing a baby bird as your next addition. Everyone has different desires, goals, and home set-ups where they may feel a baby bird is appropriate. All that is asked is to be sure they are a reliable breeder and not a pet store or someone off of Craigslist. What I am trying to focus on is adult birds can bring you the same bond and trainability as the baby bird experience says it is supposed to provide. Of course, we are not leaving out that some adult birds may not be everyone’s goal, but that does not mean that there are not adult birds that are within your skill range and goals. Remember to not fall into the trap of old myths and false truths about adult birds. Go out to a rescue near you and meet some birds, visit a couple of times to see if you find that connection!
If you ever need training aid for your adult bird, or baby bird, you can always reach out to Fluff and Feathers to go through our consultation process and get a good start!