FoxersArtist
12-11-2007, 07:53 PM
My husband and I can't imagine our lives without birds. They enrich our family each and every day and a world without them would seem so empty.
Two years into dating my future husband I decided that I would really like to have a pet, but couldn't get a dog or cat because I was still living with my parents and they made it clear that larger pets were not welcome. One day I went over to a friends house to visit and discovered that her family had gone to the birds! She had a beautiful sun conure and an old double yellow headed amazon. They also had a little cockatiel. My friend took the conure, Autumn, from her cage and offered to let me hold her. I have always been an animal person, so with no hesitation I allowed the little bird to "step up." As soon as the conure was perched on my hand she quickly reached down and gave me a nasty pinch that bled. I gave the bird back to her "mommy" who wandered to the other side of the room to put the bird down, but Autumn had other ideas about the situation. She flew back accross the room, landed on my face, and furiously bit me on the neck and face before I could get her away.
Now...this is the part where I'm sure most rational people would have developed an unhealthy fear of anything with wings. I on the other hand was completely fascinated and decided that a bird was exactly the kind of pet I was looking for. Why? I'll never know for sure, but the next day I went out and bought a book about parrots and started reading. I did research on the internet and read all about cockatiels and decided that a cockatiel would be an excellent place to start. It was spring and Petsmart had a whole clutch of chicks that were still handfeeding in the back of the store. They had not yet come up with the idea that selling an unweaned chick should not be allowed, so they sold me a baby the very same day. We named "him" Cooper but later found out that he was a lady bird after returning from vacation to find her sitting on a clutch of eggs.
Cooper was trouble from day one. the minute I got her home she started making this horrible screeching/static sound and I couldn't make her stop. I had no idea that she was begging for food, and by all means, she should have starved but somehow managed to learn to eat big bird food within a few days. The static sound stopped all together after a while but it was replaced with a high pitched scream that seemed to get worse whenever I left the room. The screaming drove my whole family crazy and I tried to appease them and her by holding her as much as possible. She would scream and I would run to her cage. She had me trained good, but the only problem? The screaming got worse and worse and eventually she would continue to scream, even while on my shoulder. She drove me to tears and although I had done some reading to try to find out how to help her, nothing seemed to work. I decided to try to find a rescue in my area who might take her, since I, obviously was not making her happy. I called everywhere, but there were no rescues and no one who was willing to take my little troubled bird. I was heartbroken at the idea of giving up Cooper, but I was losing my mind. Finally I became so frustrated by the situation that I decided to do whatever it took to fix this bird. I dove into the world of parronting and learned as much as I could about parrot psychology. I became totally hooked on parrot behavior. A short while later I decided to volunteer at a local store that exclusively sold parrots, and through interacting with different species, I was able to learn more than the books could ever have taught me.
Cooper did eventually stop screaming, though in the process we adopted 3 other cockatiels who did not have behavioral issues. Today, Cooper still needs to be an active part of a flock, 24/7 or she becomes nervious and unhappy, but we are so glad that she has found her place with us, and I thank God every day that we never found her a new home. After gaining so much knowledge about parrots and remembering that when I needed help I couldn't find anyone in my area, I decided to start doing rescue work myself. I started with the smaller birds and after a few years graduated to working with larger birds such as amazons and african greys. Once I was comfortable working with those animals, I started taking in cockatoos and macaws.
Along the way, and once my husband and I married and moved into our own house, our own flock grew and grew. Some we purchased as babies from pet stores, and others came to us as fosters in great need. Today we share our lives with 14 wonderful parrots who give back to us 10 times what we have given them. Our birds are (in order of when we adopted them):
Cooper - Pearl Cockatiel
Luke - Cinnamon Pied Cockatiel
GingerAle - Pied Cockatiel
Ash - Whiteface Pearl Cockatiel
Rio - Cinnamon Cockatiel
Chrissy - Indian Ringneck Parakeet
Mars - Red Lory
PJ - OrangeWing Amazon
Peggy Sue - Blue & Gold Macaw
Orbit - Red Lory
Loretta - Double Yellow Headed Amazon
Benny - Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Roxie - Pearl Cockatiel
Uriel - GreenWing Macaw
And that's the story of us! We feel like our flock is complete and are not anticipating adding any new birds to our family, though we are becoming an official non profit rescue and always have between 1-4 fosters of various types and sizes. (We currently have a quaker parakeet, tucker, and a senegal, Wilson). We love getting to know each new bird that comes to us. They are all so unique and special! Thanks for reading my post!
-Anna
Two years into dating my future husband I decided that I would really like to have a pet, but couldn't get a dog or cat because I was still living with my parents and they made it clear that larger pets were not welcome. One day I went over to a friends house to visit and discovered that her family had gone to the birds! She had a beautiful sun conure and an old double yellow headed amazon. They also had a little cockatiel. My friend took the conure, Autumn, from her cage and offered to let me hold her. I have always been an animal person, so with no hesitation I allowed the little bird to "step up." As soon as the conure was perched on my hand she quickly reached down and gave me a nasty pinch that bled. I gave the bird back to her "mommy" who wandered to the other side of the room to put the bird down, but Autumn had other ideas about the situation. She flew back accross the room, landed on my face, and furiously bit me on the neck and face before I could get her away.
Now...this is the part where I'm sure most rational people would have developed an unhealthy fear of anything with wings. I on the other hand was completely fascinated and decided that a bird was exactly the kind of pet I was looking for. Why? I'll never know for sure, but the next day I went out and bought a book about parrots and started reading. I did research on the internet and read all about cockatiels and decided that a cockatiel would be an excellent place to start. It was spring and Petsmart had a whole clutch of chicks that were still handfeeding in the back of the store. They had not yet come up with the idea that selling an unweaned chick should not be allowed, so they sold me a baby the very same day. We named "him" Cooper but later found out that he was a lady bird after returning from vacation to find her sitting on a clutch of eggs.
Cooper was trouble from day one. the minute I got her home she started making this horrible screeching/static sound and I couldn't make her stop. I had no idea that she was begging for food, and by all means, she should have starved but somehow managed to learn to eat big bird food within a few days. The static sound stopped all together after a while but it was replaced with a high pitched scream that seemed to get worse whenever I left the room. The screaming drove my whole family crazy and I tried to appease them and her by holding her as much as possible. She would scream and I would run to her cage. She had me trained good, but the only problem? The screaming got worse and worse and eventually she would continue to scream, even while on my shoulder. She drove me to tears and although I had done some reading to try to find out how to help her, nothing seemed to work. I decided to try to find a rescue in my area who might take her, since I, obviously was not making her happy. I called everywhere, but there were no rescues and no one who was willing to take my little troubled bird. I was heartbroken at the idea of giving up Cooper, but I was losing my mind. Finally I became so frustrated by the situation that I decided to do whatever it took to fix this bird. I dove into the world of parronting and learned as much as I could about parrot psychology. I became totally hooked on parrot behavior. A short while later I decided to volunteer at a local store that exclusively sold parrots, and through interacting with different species, I was able to learn more than the books could ever have taught me.
Cooper did eventually stop screaming, though in the process we adopted 3 other cockatiels who did not have behavioral issues. Today, Cooper still needs to be an active part of a flock, 24/7 or she becomes nervious and unhappy, but we are so glad that she has found her place with us, and I thank God every day that we never found her a new home. After gaining so much knowledge about parrots and remembering that when I needed help I couldn't find anyone in my area, I decided to start doing rescue work myself. I started with the smaller birds and after a few years graduated to working with larger birds such as amazons and african greys. Once I was comfortable working with those animals, I started taking in cockatoos and macaws.
Along the way, and once my husband and I married and moved into our own house, our own flock grew and grew. Some we purchased as babies from pet stores, and others came to us as fosters in great need. Today we share our lives with 14 wonderful parrots who give back to us 10 times what we have given them. Our birds are (in order of when we adopted them):
Cooper - Pearl Cockatiel
Luke - Cinnamon Pied Cockatiel
GingerAle - Pied Cockatiel
Ash - Whiteface Pearl Cockatiel
Rio - Cinnamon Cockatiel
Chrissy - Indian Ringneck Parakeet
Mars - Red Lory
PJ - OrangeWing Amazon
Peggy Sue - Blue & Gold Macaw
Orbit - Red Lory
Loretta - Double Yellow Headed Amazon
Benny - Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Roxie - Pearl Cockatiel
Uriel - GreenWing Macaw
And that's the story of us! We feel like our flock is complete and are not anticipating adding any new birds to our family, though we are becoming an official non profit rescue and always have between 1-4 fosters of various types and sizes. (We currently have a quaker parakeet, tucker, and a senegal, Wilson). We love getting to know each new bird that comes to us. They are all so unique and special! Thanks for reading my post!
-Anna