Cute-Meet Story

HRH Di

New member
Jan 9, 2010
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McKinney, TX
Parrots
Max - Alexandrine, Jade - Red-Front Macaw, Ruby - CAG
Do you have a Cute-Meet story with your birdie? I hear so often how it was love at first sight. Just for fun, tell us how you met your parrot.

I'll start with my Ruby-Bubi. I'd wanted a CAG for ages but was waiting for the "right" time. My husband had been checking with our breeder from time to time, and called her one Sunday afternoon. She laughed when she found out it was him because she had planned to call us that day, too. She had a little 4 week old CAG that was available. The original family backed out because she had contricted toes and would probably lose all of her back toes. They only wanted a "perfect" bird. We drove the 3 hr round trip the next Saturday to meet her. She was about the size of a basebal and still overed with fluff and just a few feathers. She was still in the incubator and couldn't quite stand the first time I saw her. I had picked out the names Oscar for a boy or Ruby for a girl and that day we found out that it was a Ruby. It was all over the minute Wendy put her in my lap. This soft little fluff ball was all mine and I loved her immediately.

We brought her home last July and she has been come my girl. I love when she bows her little head for petting and leans against my cheek. I'm so glad the original family was so narrow minded.

The Universe obviously brought us together.
 

Cecilia

Banned
Banned
Jul 28, 2010
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3
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Melbourne, FL
Parrots
Violet - Black Masked Lovebird hatch date 2-26-11

Jessie - B&G Macaw hatch date 4-3-11
Beautiful story! Mine wasn't so pretty... lol Well I was just browsing the web when I saw the photo of my little one. The look on Kix's face was just to die for. So tiny and innocent. I've always wanted a Black masked Lovebird so when I emailed the woman about Kix I noticed she was the woman I had spoken with on several occasions about fosters and such that I has since she was such an awesome person and great with her birds. Then I noticed Kix was born on my B-day so that just about did it all! Hatch date 2/26/2011! He/She is such a love bug always trying to sleep in my hand.
 

merlinsmom13

Active member
Jul 27, 2010
1,445
1
Beckley, WV
Parrots
Merlin a Red Crowned Amazon
My story is different, I didn't actually choose to have a bird. Merlin was a xmas gift from my husband, (a big time last minute, one gift person). I had always visited the parrots in the pet shops, so I was very interested in having one & he noticed. I had a 18 y manx cat & when merlin came I was very worried about his safety & Razz's jeolousy. I was very careful to spend time w/each of them separately. One day when I was lying on the bed w/razz, I heard Merlin fly down from the cage, a few seconds later, he stuck his little head thru the door looking for me & I was instantly in love. Razz died a few weeks later from the china dog/cat food poisoning. I think my husband knew that razz's days were numbered & bought me a pet that was guaranteed long lived. We're very happy together.
 

suebee

New member
Jan 13, 2011
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3
awww really nice meet stories, well for me like merlinsmom, i didn't ask for a bird, but my brother had angel, and could no longer look after her needs, so on boxing day my sister brought her up as she came to visit.

for the 1st week angel behaved herself and i was rather pleased with how she was settling, WELL......
it was a short hunnymoon period, :11:
i renamed her nut during this time as she bit every1 equally, with intent! was very un-settled etc etc :mad:

i did alot of researching and reading and joined this forum during her psycho months, i hung in for grim death (possible mine!) :20:
but although i am not her fav person, because of the experiance of the members here, she is not grrr against me now and i think she likes my company as much as i enjoy hers :p

our bonding started when i had to understand her and her behaviour better, to be able to maintain peace in our home, as there was no way i was giving her up! my poor son was like a chew toy at one stage, and my man (her fav person) nearly lost all the buttons on all his shirts!!! as she would chew them and no-one really wanted to take her off him! cos of that ever ready beak of hers

well lets just say, we all love her, even my poor son, she had the sense to let us keep our fingers, how else would we give her treats!:32: she rarely bites, will call me to her to give her a head rub!!! but she won't come to me, unless i am cooking or i'm the only person in the house.:(
with all honesty, there is never a dull day with her in the house! if she has not destroyed something, she entertained us by chasing our toes, or she'l start sneaking about up to no good!:D:54:

OMG i've raised a monster! but she's a happy one!:10:
 
OP
HRH Di

HRH Di

New member
Jan 9, 2010
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McKinney, TX
Parrots
Max - Alexandrine, Jade - Red-Front Macaw, Ruby - CAG
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Since we have 3 birdies, I get a couple more stores. Next is Jade (I'm going in reverse order of when we got them).

Some friends of ours were "in the market" for a parrot and did a bunch of research on local breeders. They found our wonderful breeder and went to meet her and see her aviary. They fell in love and on their next visit invited us. Well, you can guess what happened next...my husband was enthralled with these adorable little green parrots with orange sherbet colored underwings (red-front macaws). Especially, a little boy named Brodie. Unfortunatley, Brodie already had a family so he looked around at the other availble babies. He put a deposit down on a boy named Pooh. On our 2nd visit, Pooh had hit is "adolescent" stage that RFMs often go through soon after they fledge. We were have a very difficult time bonding with Pooh and the breeder said that we may want to change our minds and look at some babies that just came into the "nursery" from the nesting box. Well, that very next visit we met a coy little flirt who would let you pet her and lean her head all the way back like Homer Simpson when he's dreaming of donuts. The rest is history! Our breeder had named her Gem, but everyone thought we said Jim, so we picked Jade, a green gem.

She hasn't lost one bit of her coquettishness and is a Diva with capital D! Our breeder boarded her along with Ruby last fall and said that Jade has such a great RFM personality that she'd keep her as a pet. Hands off! Our Jadie-Jade McJadiePants will always be ours! Well, my husband's, since she really does love him best.
 

merlinsmom13

Active member
Jul 27, 2010
1,445
1
Beckley, WV
Parrots
Merlin a Red Crowned Amazon
for the 1st week angel behaved herself and i was rather pleased with how she was settling, WELL......
it was a short hunnymoon period, :11:
i renamed her nut during this time as she bit every1 equally, with intent! was very un-settled etc etc :mad:


Very funny that she is not named angel anymore!
 

BanalityBob

New member
Mar 21, 2011
50
0
Ohio, Ho!
Parrots
Penelope: 12 year old Quaker Parakeet rescue//
Günter: 3 month old Peachfaced Lovebird
I posted the quick and easy version of this elsewhere, but Penelope and I seem to have been destined for each other. After graduating college, moving into my own home, and becoming (moderately) financially stable, I decided that it was a good time to indulge in my long running wish to get a parrot. I'd fallen in love with the lorikeets at the zoo aviary when I was 9, and had wanted a bird ever since. My parents and former roomies had all said no, and now that I was on my own, it seemed like a great time, especially since my landlord only charged pet deposits for cats and dogs and said a bird would be fine.

I've always loved caiques, and found a guy on craigslist who was selling a handfed pair of baby black head caiques because "he was moving." The day came, I called for confirmation, and got his girlfriend, who informed me that the caiques were not for sale, and that her now ex-boyfriend had been trying to sell them out from under her. Back to square one.

I couldn't swing the 7-900 hundred dollars all the breeders in the area were asking for a caique (especially because I was planning on buying a giant cage, and we all know how expensive those are), so I looked around at bird rescues and craigslist.

I found another caique, another baby black head on craigslist. The lady wanted to sell. I called for confirmation the day I was supposed to pick her up, and the lady told me another family had picked her up earlier that day. Raaaaaage!

A month passed. Nothing. Not only that, but I hadn't even heard back from bird rescues (except for the one who offhandedly turned me down for adopting anything because of "no bird experience"). Randomly, I got an email from one of the rescues, saying my application for a placement was approved. They had no caiques, but wanted me to meet a few other birds. I said sure, and on a Sunday evening, two of the ladies who run the rescue showed up at my house with three cat carriers.

To my surprise and consternation, the ladies opened the carriers and loosed four birds into the wilds of my living room. Two, a bonded pair of quakers, settled on top of my cage (I'd bought a cage on sale at petco by this point) and decided to be aloof and preen each other. They let me pet them, but I wasn't ready for two birds, much less a mischievous pair like the rescue ladies said those ones were. Another quaker decided she wanted to hide on the back of my couch, and was mostly ignored because of the goffin's cockatoo that they'd brought in the hope that I would bond with it. The cockatoo was agressive to women, but evidently loved men. It did not love me. Two weeks later I still have the healing cuts on my hand from his beak.

We put the cockatoo away and I went over to the lone quaker on my couch. She stepped up right away, climbed my shirt, and hid herself in my collar under my chin, staying like that for half an hour while the rescue ladies and I talked about quaker care as it was obvious that I'd bonded. William Penn, as that was the female quaker's name, was 12, had come from a loving, if inept, family in New Jersey. She'd been confiscated and shipped to Ohio where they found that she'd been fed a sunflower heavy diet and was very overweight.

After a month at the rescue, they'd converted her to a pellet diet (she still isn't eating fruits and veggies, but I'm working on that), and she was very tame and handleable. She had cage aggression like most quakers and didn't like hands, but I assured them I could work with that. The rescue usually required three meetings before taking the bird home, so I asked when I could meet the bird again. They told me that I could start my 30 day trial foster immediately as they were impressed with my bird knowledge (I've been reading about how to take care of them since I was 9) and were confident that William Penn had bonded to me. Mind you, she was still tucked in my collar and was preening my sideburns and unshaven chin at this point.

When one of the rescue ladies tried to step her up to read her leg band, the little bird threw a fit and started viciously biting, until she was returned to my shoulder. It's been love ever since. In the first week, she learned that I would come over if she made kissing noises (she doesn't talk), and loves giving me birdie kisses and preening my face.
 
OP
HRH Di

HRH Di

New member
Jan 9, 2010
1,537
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McKinney, TX
Parrots
Max - Alexandrine, Jade - Red-Front Macaw, Ruby - CAG
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BB - what a great story!

Now for my last story...Max. In the summer of 2009 our friends (who later introduced us to the macaw breeder) started looking for a parrot. Long story short, we both ended up with sibling Alexandrines from a local bird store. 5 days after we brought Dot home, she literally fell over and died. I was heart broken since she'd already found a place in my heart. About 3 weeks later Dot's brother, that our firends got, died the same way. We found out that all 4 clutchmates died like this. Obviously, we don't go to this store any longer. The vet said it was a congential problem...not something contagious.

Later that month, I got some kinda bad health news and thought I might be in for more surgery. It was a pretty stressful few weeks and I mentioned to my husband that I really missed seeing Dot every day. He secretly went to work finding another Alexandrine for me. Finally, a week or so later, he found a lady who was selling her 7 month old male Alexandrine. She was 3 hrs away and we headed out one Saturday.

Max was love at first sight - again. He look (obviously) just like our little Dot to he came home with us. His name was Baby, which we of course changed, since that's a girls name. He's technically Mad Max since he's Destructo Bird. For the first 6 months or so he was my boy. He'd sit on my shoulder and watch me knit or crochet and watch football with me.

Then he learned to fly. This was more than a year ago, and his new found freedom has profoundly changed his personality...mostly for the better. He's obviously a happier bird now, but loads more independent. He only has eyes for my husband but lets anyone in the house pet him except me. My youngest son is working on bonding with Max and has taken over all of Max's care and feeding - even cleaning his cage!

Max loves us, but obviously doesn't need us as much as our girls.
 

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