Minecraft: Parrots Taming, Breeding and Perching Guide

Parrots are a passive and tamable Minecraft Mob, added in Version 1.12. They don’t do much, other than follow the players on adventures. Players can make Parrots sit on their shoulders and follow them around on adventures. There’s actually perks to this too, surprisingly.

Parrots can detect hostile mobs within a 20 block radius. When they do so, the Parrot will make a sound which imitates the sound of the mob, just at a higher pitch as a warning. Although this can be unreliable, as they will also occasionally do it with no enemy in the area.

Below, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide for Parrots in Minecraft. For more Guides & Best of content, make sure to check out our dedicated area here!

How to Put a Parrot on Your Shoulder

To put a Parrot on your shoulder in Minecraft, you will need to make sure its tamed first. Tame a Parrot by feeding it wheat/melon seeds until hearts radiate from it, that will mean it’s yours. Then all you have to do is walk through the Parrot and it will sit on your shoulder.

Alternatively, a Parrot will occasionally make it’s own decision, and choose to fly towards you to sit down on your shoulder. You can have a Parrot on each shoulder at a single time, and they will dismount if you take damage, mount a horse, enter a boat or jump down steep terrain.

How to Tame a Parrot

You can tame a Parrot in Minecraft by feeding them either wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds or beetroot seeds. Keep feeding them the seeds until they have hearts coming off them.

Once tamed, you can tell a Parrot to sit by right clicking on it. Alternatively, a tamed Parrot will sit on your shoulder by walking through it. Parrots will follow the player by flying behind them, so you will need to either put them on a leash or keep them sitting to leave them at your base.

How to Breed Parrots in Minecraft

Parrots are one of the only mobs in Minecraft that don’t have a baby form. This means they can’t actually be bred, or breed with eachother. So breeding Parrots is impossible (currently). The only other animals that share this trait is Polar Bears, Trader Llamas, Skeleton Horses and Mules.

What that means is that if you want more Parrots in Minecraft, you have to explore and find them yourself. Whether this will be changed in future updates is currently unknown.

Where to Find Parrots

In Minecraft, Parrots only spawn in Jungle Biomes (including Bamboo Jungles). The chances of finding them are unfortunately quite rare, as they only spawn in groups of 1 to 2.

The best way to find them would be by ensuring your sound is enabled, as Parrots are loud creatures and will often make whistling sounds. They spawn in 5 different colors, which are red, blue, green, cyan and grey.

How to Make Parrots Dance

By placing down a Jukebox and inserting a Music Disc, Parrots within a nearby radius will begin to dance. Specifically, Parrots will need to be within a 3 block radius of the Jukebox. If you are playing on Bedrock Edition, then it’s possible to make Parrots dance on your shoulder.

What do Parrots Eat in Minecraft

Parrots eat most types of seeds. Specifically Melon, Pumpkin, Beetroot and Wheat Seeds. You can use these seeds to tame them.