Parakeets

Birds are great - but can be noisy!! I'd wait until baby is 1 year old and doesn't need so much sleep - same with you Mommy!

Do not put them in the kitchen. Birds are highly sensitive to gases and chemicals (the old canary in the coal mine thing - when the bird died, the miners evacuated). Any vet will tell you that you cannot use non-stick cookware or bakeware if you have a bird - the chemicals released when the non-stick surface is heated are toxic to birds. (Kind of makes you wonder what the chemicals do to US too!).

Cleaning a bird cage is easier than a fish tank, but you clean a fish tank once a month, not every few days - at least I do - I have a 30 gallon tank. Seeds and feathers on the floor are a pain. Parakeets do chatter a lot which can be fun. We never were able to teach ours to speak much, and after a while, kids get bored with it. You have to keep it out of drafts too, so you cannot forget to close a window during the summer if you get a cool night.

Anything you get will require maintenance on your part - the kids aren't going to do it no matter what they say.

Maybe find something inanimate to give the kids a special gift??? A crying baby and a squawking pair of birds might add more chaos than you need!

We had a parakeet, it was named "Trouble" i loved it! When i would play music it would chearp along ..so cute! I cried so bad when he died. I think they are a good pet, the only thing is I wish we would have handled it more because after a couple weeks of us not taking it out, it wouldn't let us without bitting. Also be careful about the kitchen I have heard fumes from non-stick pots and pans can be deadly.
It was messy there was poo, seeds and feathers all around the area where the cage was.

Every pet, no matter who "owns" it, is MAMA's pet! A living thing NEEDS the care and supervision of a mature, compassionate, responsible person, and that's you. So you'll have two baby birds to take care of as well as a baby person. Just reminding you.

Yes, they'll need a safe "public" room to live in! And you'll need to supervise your children when they're around the birds, because young birds can be very easily frightened and injured. You may not have realized that when you were a child.

Why not head for the library and read up on parakeets again before making a decision? If there's a bird store or bird expert in your area, you can get a lot more good input. You have good input here, too.

My daughter asked for a parakeet when she was in seventh grade, and by that age she was pretty good at assuming MOST of the responsibility. He was a very sociable little guy; birds aren't designed to be loners and they become depressed without attention. Once we bird-sat a neighbor's three parakeets and the four little birds hopped around to one another's cages and had a wonderful time!

My daughter clipped his wings for a while but he enjoyed flying around the house so much she let them grow. We posted signs on the front and back doors warning people to look for the bird before opening the door, so he wouldn't fly outside!

Yes, there was cleaning up. We always knew where he'd been! But he was a lot of fun for us all.

The thing we did wrong was his feeding. We thought he was supposed to be on a bird seed diet. Birds eat bird seed, right? Not for years did we learn that he was supposed to have a fruit and veggie diet. But by that time he was up in age. Our error definitely shortened his life, and we were very sad about it.

Killer of birds here (not on purpose). I went through several sets of parakeets before I figured out the temp change in the sunroom was killing them. I decided not to get any more birds when I realized they would have to go in to the living room and I didn't want them in there. I did like them, but they are very messy! I would rethink this with a new baby in the house.

i would not go out and get such a noisy pet right before having a baby. additionally, i have heard as well not to use the teflon type cookware with birds in the home - after researching that, we actually discarded all of our non-stick cookware and replaced it with all stainless steel, even though we don't have birds! my 5yo son was actually begging for 2 parakeets yesterday at the pet store, he's never asked for birds before, but he is NOT getting birds in my house - not anytime soon anyways - we have 4 dogs and i do not relish the idea of cleaning up after birds. additionally, never get a pet that YOU don't plan to take care of - kids just are not equipped to provide 100% of care to another living thing.

I drove to Gardner KS to get a hand fed parakeet. He's a wonderful boy and even after 5 years he's still friendly even when we don't hold him often. I agree with the idea that it's YOUR pet. The kids can enjoy them. But you will need to be on board with all the chores.

I also agree to feed them fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, rice, boiled eggs, etc. You would be surprised to see all my mothers parakeets eat. She has my handfed parakeet in her room. She bought another parakeet from the store and ended up getting really lucky that she's friendly too. She isn't AS friendly and she will bite. But she will sit on a person and allow herself to be picked up when she's out.

Keep a CLOSE eye on doors and windows and ceiling fans!

one more response:

we had one, it lived forever...until my son had surgery & we had to find another home for it. (we were living at the hospital :( which was 2 hours from our home.) I actually enjoyed the interaction & noise, but HATED the mess. I am also allergic ....so it wasn't a good pet for me & rejoiced the day it moved out. My son, on the otherhand, adored the bird....

3 years ago, my grandmother received a parakeet. It has made a night/day difference in her life. She was lonely in her senior apt & Birdie has given her a new lease on life. BUT he has been a sick little bird. She uses a vet who specializes in birds.....& he has diagnosed Birdie with a life-ending tumor. Surgery is not an option. According to the vet, parakeets have been so interbred that there are serious health issues with many of them. His rule of thumb is: if the bird lives past 3 without signs of this tumor, then they will live a long life. Basically, it looks like Birdie is choking to death - he stretches & reaches his neck out, like he's trying to clear his throat. The vet has recommended "putting him down". The vet also mentioned that he sees this monthly in his clinic.....so be very careful when choosing a breeder!

My Gma lives in STL....feel free to contact me if you ever need the vet's name.

You could always find a place for them in a carpeted room, just buy one of those hard mats they make for office areas. Or, you could get a runner that goes around the bottom of the cage, and flares out a bit to catch any debris that would fall out. Parakeets are fun, so I wouldn't want to talk you out of it!! :)

The only thing I would think in terms of waiting, is based on the age of your kids. Are they old enough to take responsibility for the birds? You are going to have your hands full with the new baby, so if YOU are going to wind up taking care of them, maybe it would be best to wait for a little while.

I happen to love parakeets. I've always had them and adored them. My last bird died at a pretty old age just before we moved and I haven't had the time to invest in bringing another one home yet.
Some people may find them noisy, but I don't. I actually think the house feels awfully quiet without a bird. Like I said, I'm super used to them.
My mother had a bird in her kitchen for years, he lived to be about 13, but she had an open area where he was plenty far away from actual cooking surfaces.
Birds can be messy, but they make cage liners that go on the outside of the cage to keep seed hulls from going all over.
Birds are very special pets as far as I'm concerned, but some people get them to find they aren't really "bird people". In my opinion, birds need to be interacted with and they will bite if they feel threatened. I'm not sure how old your kids are, but you need to be sure they wouldn't be tempted to put their hands in the cage, etc. Birds are also pretty fragile, so you need to make sure your kids understand how easily they can hurt the birds, even if they didn't mean to.
As far as having two birds, that can be good, as long as they get along. I've had two birds, but they were in their own cages because the female was mean to the male. They were fine outside the cage, but inside was another matter and they had a huge cage. Plenty of room.
Anyway, I would visit a pet store and buy a book about parakeets. They detail the things they require such as diet, attention, safety, etc.
My birds have all lived a really long time, which is awesome, but you really have to be prepared for the long haul.
One of my friends who's had dogs, rabbits, cats was given a bird by her brother when he moved. She couldn't stand having that bird and then she really almost fainted when she found out they can live 30 years. I helped her find another home for it.
Because I've always had birds, my sister got one for my nephew and it didn't work out. I ended up with him. (The bird, not my nephew :)
I think birds are awesome so I would never try to dissuade you.
I would do some research first and make sure you're up to having all that goes with them.

Best wishes.