I'm interested in an Amazon please enlighten me….

So I went to my local bird store today and they had this pretty female yellow headed amazon there, Its 4-5 years old (forgot the exact age) super friendly very very tame, spent about 2 hours holding and playing with her. please tell me about yellow headed amazons, What do I need to know before I consider buying an amazon. I know they are stubborn

She's gorgeous!

Have you owned a bird before, or is this your first one? It's good to hear that she's tame, and you were smart to handle her first!

How big is your family? I'm afraid to take an amazon because I heard that they can be very hostile to other family members, especially husbands or wives. It depends on an individual bird of course, just saying.

I have a bunch of birds, I've got a calico macaw, a few green cheeks, love birds, I have a full house a wife and 3 kids ages 4, 7 & 8. and yes I handles her for a long time. she stepped right up on me talked to me, loves to be petted and is in PERFECT feather….

She's a beautiful bird! Stunning head color, and it's good to hear she 'took' to you. They tend to pick a person, so maybe she picked you I am personally quite fond of amazons and the 'zon' personality, but they aren't for everyone. I grew up with 2 amazons (1 being a female DYH) who are now both in their 40's and have my rescue BFA who's around 16. If you 'know what you're getting into' they are wonderful birds who will be a lifelong companion. A couple zon specific points-

They hit sexual maturity between 4-6 years old, which can bring on a fairly significant change in behavior for around 6weeks-2months each year. Typically, their breeding season is in the late winter/early spring here in the US. Hormonal behavior affects some individuals more than others and can go one of 2 ways, you are either their object of affection, or they become abnormally aggressive. Both 'issues' are natural, temporary and can be managed relatively well with slight routine, handling and dietary modifications. Females specifically can lay infertile eggs, but not every female will. This can bring on a whole host of other problems, but can also be a relative non-issue depending on the individual bird. My moms female DYH is 45+ and has never laid an egg, and it isn't AS common in amazons as other parrot species.

Amazons tend to be 1 person birds, and they pick the person. Through PROPER TRAINING AND SOCIALIZATION, they can be friendly and tolerant with other people in the home, but they will always have their 'favored' human. Our BFA was *suppose* to be my bird, but he fell in love with my husband and is incredibly bonded to him. That said, I can still handle him, he still interacts/plays with me and while he prefers my husband, I'm his friend too That is due to patience, persistence and training/socialization. Had we let him, he would be very aggressive towards me, but I put in the effort to have a friendly bird.

Amazons are NOT known for being cuddly birds. Some will accept cuddles, most will accept scritches, but there are some stubbornly independent zons who just hate being touched. They will step up, but you can't pet on them. That is dependent on the individual, and their bond with you, but don't ever expect a zon to be a velcro bird. Most are happy to just be near you and observing you whilst doing their own thing.

Finally, amazons do have a bad reputation for becoming overstimulated, and thus they become aggressive. As you do your research, this point WILL come up and WILL single out DYHs as one of the 'hot 3' amazons. In my experience, once you learn the signs they are reaching their mental overload point, you can ABSOLUTELY avoid/prevent this issue 99.9999% of the time. It just takes being observant. IMO, amazon 'rages' are typically an unobservant owner problem rather than a species problem. All it takes is to distract your bird with a positive, focused activity (a toy, foraging, food) BEFORE they go over that edge.

Edit: Saw you already own birds, so you know the costs, noise, mess and biting stuff already If you're a bird person, you would probably enjoy adding a zon to your flock! Great, hilarious, intelligent, independent, (relatively, by comparison to macaws and toos) low maintenance large parrot. Best of luck!

I think you would be fine with one [I just got a ten year old Double yellow head]. The only thing with Zons is they teach you to be super aware of what their trying to tell you. Which I don't think is a bad thing [helped me with my other birds] When their eyes glow [just pay good attention, ] The only thing I notice is she does have her loud moments. But you say you have other birds [so Im sure your aware]. I do find with my rehomes they tend to bond with their person and the rest of the family needs to try hard to win them over. In the end they might just tolerate them. I love Zons !! Their is a lot to them almost a lot of species rolled into one.

being so young you would probably have to deal with the raging hormones too. and a hormonal DYH is king (queen) of the "hot 3"

Hey Calico, welcome to the forum. What a cute zon. IMO a hybrid DYH and a nape. The perfect combination. Personally i have issues with X breeding zons. We can't get "wild stock" to keep the gene pools clean.But it "is what it is" and they(the babies) need good parronts too.A "4=5 yrs old" , should be very adaptable to a good family environment. Most importantly, they need a good strong , confident, outgoing leader and a "complex' social environment. What a rare chance. I'd jump all over that. But that;s a life long commitment.I have a house full of zons who came to me just like yours,a bond with a amazon is not something to be taken lightly. Amazing birds.

henpecked said:

Hey Calico, welcome to the forum. What a cute zon. IMO a hybrid DYH and a nape. The perfect combination. Personally i have issues with X breeding zons. We can't get "wild stock" to keep the gene pools clean.But it "is what it is" and they(the babies) need good parronts too.A "4=5 yrs old" , should be very adaptable to a good family environment. Most importantly, they need a good strong , confident, outgoing leader and a "complex' social environment. What a rare chance. I'd jump all over that. But that;s a life long commitment.I have a house full of zons who came to me just like yours,a bond with a amazon is not something to be taken lightly. Amazing birds.

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I thought it looked like a hybrid…but she has a good personality…. is $1500 a fair price it seems pretty hight to me… I'm wanting to get another med-big bird… and i came across the amazon… My calico has developed a super strong bond to my wife and doesn't care for me much anymore….

I think $1500 is on the higher end, but not totally out of the ballpark. She is a few years old though, but still, she likes you (that's gotta be worth something right) However, I'm one of those 'types' i guess who, so long as I can afford it, price is just a number when it comes to a pet. I want to be sure the individual is right for me, even if they aren't a 'deal'. You could probably find one cheaper, but would he or she be a better fit than this beautiful girl?

Completely agree with Capt (henpecked) about this pretty girl being a hybrid (YN + DYH). I think the beak color is a dead giveaway.

Wow, $1,500 IS quite steep. The decision will ultimately be yours. My own female YN is very cuddly bird with the entire family.

Factored over the life expectancy of the bird... which is probably longer than your remaining life expectancy, that isn't much.

You can probably make an offer, and see what they will take for her.

1,000 - 1,250 and below is more reasonable. Depends on whether or not she comes with a cage, and toys, and such.

Compare prices online, show them you can get the same bird elsewhere for XX dollars, and if they would rather sell it than pay to feed it any longer, they can be a bit more reasonable.

Chances are they will come down some.