Allee
Well-known member
Hello,
I am new to the forum and relatively new to parrot ownership. My husband and I have been bird lovers for a lot of years but only recently felt we had the right situation to give them a happy home. My husband works for American Airlines and I am a full time artist with a home studio.
We have a five year old Yorkshire terrier and two year old Golden Retriever. Six months ago I went into a local privately owned pet store and while I was there a couple brought in a pitiful looking little green parrot in a small parakeet cage. I went back the next day and bought her and a new cage. The pet store owner knew nothing about her, he thought she was about five years old, a male, and wouldn't make a good pet because she was a serious biter and had attacked him and an associate and left them bleeding. Her first evening home she let herself out of her cage and flew to my shoulder. We named her Harry and kept the name after she laid a clutch of eggs. She had a terrible temper, a nasty vocabulary, a taste for human blood, and a serious plucking problem to the point of making herself bleed. After a vet check, a very large cage, an introduction to toys and a healthy diet she has grown all her feathers back. She is an incredible talker and still cusses me almost daily but after a lot of training no longer bites me and is actually very affectionate.
Three months ago we decided one parrot wasn't enough and since the house was parrot proofed for Harry (my studio had to be relocated) We started searching for a baby Amazon. Our oldest son and his wife have a mobile grooming service and one of their clients heard we were searching for a new parrot. She asked that we give a home to a five year old male umbrella cockatoo named Popeye instead. My kids had known this parrot for most of his life and had grown fond of him. How could we say no? We already had the cage and set up so we drove three hours to pick the guy up. His original owner had given him away because of his screaming (no, really) a year and a half earlier but the couple she gave him too were moving and could no longer keep him so the original owner picked him up and kept him five days to spend time with him before giving him away a second time, all this while she was in the middle of moving. We arrived to pick him up and she was so distraught I couldn't really discuss his diet or personality with her. She had several large parrots other than Popeye and we left with not only a cockatoo but a male Quaker, cage and everything. The little guy had had an accident with a happy hut and has a ring of scar tissue around his neck and a featherless patch on his leg. The boys have been with us for a month and we are all trying our best to be a happy family. I joined the forum to continue to learn from owners with species specific experience.
I am new to the forum and relatively new to parrot ownership. My husband and I have been bird lovers for a lot of years but only recently felt we had the right situation to give them a happy home. My husband works for American Airlines and I am a full time artist with a home studio.
We have a five year old Yorkshire terrier and two year old Golden Retriever. Six months ago I went into a local privately owned pet store and while I was there a couple brought in a pitiful looking little green parrot in a small parakeet cage. I went back the next day and bought her and a new cage. The pet store owner knew nothing about her, he thought she was about five years old, a male, and wouldn't make a good pet because she was a serious biter and had attacked him and an associate and left them bleeding. Her first evening home she let herself out of her cage and flew to my shoulder. We named her Harry and kept the name after she laid a clutch of eggs. She had a terrible temper, a nasty vocabulary, a taste for human blood, and a serious plucking problem to the point of making herself bleed. After a vet check, a very large cage, an introduction to toys and a healthy diet she has grown all her feathers back. She is an incredible talker and still cusses me almost daily but after a lot of training no longer bites me and is actually very affectionate.
Three months ago we decided one parrot wasn't enough and since the house was parrot proofed for Harry (my studio had to be relocated) We started searching for a baby Amazon. Our oldest son and his wife have a mobile grooming service and one of their clients heard we were searching for a new parrot. She asked that we give a home to a five year old male umbrella cockatoo named Popeye instead. My kids had known this parrot for most of his life and had grown fond of him. How could we say no? We already had the cage and set up so we drove three hours to pick the guy up. His original owner had given him away because of his screaming (no, really) a year and a half earlier but the couple she gave him too were moving and could no longer keep him so the original owner picked him up and kept him five days to spend time with him before giving him away a second time, all this while she was in the middle of moving. We arrived to pick him up and she was so distraught I couldn't really discuss his diet or personality with her. She had several large parrots other than Popeye and we left with not only a cockatoo but a male Quaker, cage and everything. The little guy had had an accident with a happy hut and has a ring of scar tissue around his neck and a featherless patch on his leg. The boys have been with us for a month and we are all trying our best to be a happy family. I joined the forum to continue to learn from owners with species specific experience.
