Accidental Bird Owner

Hello everyone!

As the title says, I became a bird owner by accident a few days ago. While I was dumping my mare's water tub out behind her stall on Tuesday morning (she has a stall with an outdoor pen attached), a little brightly-colored thing landed in the pen along with the usual flock of sparrows that gather when I clean. They like to pick through horse manure and it was trying to copy them. It looked like, well, like a little parroty thing.

My mare was turned out, thankfully, so with a couple of tries I managed to herd/startle the fugitive into her stall and close the outer door so it was trapped inside. It then led me on a merry chase around and around the stall before I was able to trap it under the empty water tub. It was obliging enough to not bite the living s--t out of me when I removed it to stick it in the makeshift carrier I made out of an egg crate and an empty produce bag, which I appreciated.

My barn is largely isolated, but I decided to drop by the only neighbor I know (and have ridden with) on my way home to show her and see if she knew anyone missing a little parroty thing. I was glad I did because she told me that it had most likely escaped from a bird farm a few miles away. Apparently there are a pair of brothers with a small farm that raise all sorts of birds-from ducks and chickens and quail to finches and peacocks and parrots- to sell at local markets and swap meets, and she had bought her chickens from them. I asked her if I should take it back to them but she said "Eh, I wouldn't," and explained that it isn't a nice place, very overcrowded and rather dirty. So I took it home with me. I will go looking for the farm next week and see if I can offer the brothers some money for the bird, since I'm keeping it.

Some Googling revealed that the "little red-faced parroty thing" is a peach-faced lovebird, though obviously not with a literal peachy face. I had a street gang of parakeets when I was younger (no really, there were seven of them and they were total thugs) so I know a bit about caring for birds. I have been refreshing my memory and learning some more on Google, which led me here.

I bought it some supplies and have it sitting next to my desk in my office. Right now it is sleeping on the little play structure I got for the top of its cage. It was veeeeery active yesterday and I let it come out to run around this morning, but it is napping a lot now. Hopefully that is normal. I don't know how old it is, obviously. Perhaps it is young? Or maybe it was up too late? I don't know how long birds need to sleep. It seemed like my gang of parakeets were up at all hours.

Unfortunately due to my high ceilings (15-25 feet in each room) and the ceiling fans I had to clip its wings straight away. Lots of ways for a little bird to off itself with the combination of high ceilings, high windows, hard floors, and fans.

Here are some pictures!






Napping in the sun this morning. Please excuse the dust on the window/sill/curtains. I live in the desert and have to open the house up at night to cool it off, and with the drought the dust is just intolerable.







Isn't it precious? I am hoping I can get it hand tame. It gets very indignant at me when I get my hands near it but doesn't really seem afraid, just miffed. It did let me help it get back up to the cage earlier. I guess I need to choose a name and guess a gender on it. I think I'll go with a girl. I mean, if I call it a girl and it never lays an egg it could just be a girl that doesn't lay eggs, but if I give it a boy name and then it lays eggs I'm screwed.

It seems a little thin to me... does it look thin in the pictures? I can't imagine there was anything for it to eat with our climate and the time of year. Perhaps flying around and not finding any food is why it is tired.

Anyway, sorry for the long introduction! My little bird has quite a story already.

Such a cute bird! And what a story! Welcome!

Welcome to the forums! That was a very happy accident! She is precious, and her coloring is exquisite! I think it's very nice of you to offer to pay for her. Lucky you found her when you did, the lack of food and the elements could have been overwhelming for her pretty quickly.

I am so glad you found her, and I think it's awesome you are going to go try to pay for her. It sounds like she has really lucked out by finding you. She could just be exhausted from being outside on her own, I hope that's the case. Is she eating okay? I bet when she perks up she is going to love that toy!
Please let us know how she is doing and what you decide to name her

She is very precious! I have never owned a lovebird but considered it a fee years back. I am sure you can still get him/her handtamed. I have a goofball of a parakeet who is not handtamed but I have started to put in extra effort and after a day, he is already much calmer with me. Mind you is very scared of humans.

Good luck with your adorable new friend!


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Oh, she's such a cutie! She looks like she's going to be one spoiled bird in no time flat.

Welcome! Like they say, the best parrots pick you!

This is a wonderful story!!!!

And the pictures have such action and color!

And your story-telling is terrific.

So... are you a photo-journalist? You could be!

Thanks for the adventure and happy ending!

Hello, Minerva! And welcome to Parrot Forums!

She is absolutely beautiful! If you take a stroll through the various sub-forums here, you'll find lots of helpful tips for taming and training the new addition to your household.

Though she likely came from the nearby bird farm place, however, you might want to check for any notices about missing lovebirds in your vicinity just in case. Resources like FB or the various lost bird sites out there.

Please keep us updated on how things turn out either way.

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

I should have mentioned in my first post that I did check for "lost bird" listings in my area once I got home, but there were none for my area. I don't know how popular birds are here, to be honest.

Thank you for the compliment, Galeria. I am not a journalist, but I am working on a PhD in literature. Usually I am writing incredibly long and dry analyses of texts that are hundreds of years old, so when I have a chance to relate something fun in writing I sometimes go a little overboard!

She has slept a lot today. I think maybe she did not sleep enough last night. I was up late and did not turn the light off until around midnight, and I heard her at 7 am this morning. I did cover the cage, but maybe she needs more than that?

I put her cage in the bedroom with my bunnies at night since it has a gate to keep my cat from going in there anyway, and they don't like to go to sleep until the wee hours, especially if there is a bright moon out like right now. They tend to sleep for a few hours around midnight to 4 or 5 am before being active again, so I might need to put her elsewhere at night if she needs more sleep.

I have a literary/historical trend going with my animals (naturally!), so I think I will keep that going with her. I have a rabbit named Harry after Harry Potter, because he has round black spectacles around his eyes, so I think she will have to be Hedwig. A technicolor Hedwig.

I love your story and it's a beautiful bird.
I got my first cockatiel in a similar manner. Landed at my feet at my place of work.
Hope you have a wonderful relationship.
texsize

Thank you, Texsize! Finding a bird is such a cool experience. A lovebird is SO much better than what I usually find in my horse's stall.

Galeria, unfortunately I don't have enough posts to reply to your PM, but thank you for the awesome welcome! It is really cool to know that there is a fellow scholar here!

Not only should you check (and continue checking) for lost reports, but also make a "Found" notice. You don't have to say exactly what you found, but you should ask for a picture for an ID in case a person who lost their bird is the actual owner.


Vets offices, grocery stores, Craigslist (pet section and L&F section at least!), 911 Parrot Alert, Facebook pet groups/Lost and found, etc!



I found a bird yesterday. Thankfully, the band made locating the owner *EASY* (can't get any easier than a phone number on the band! ) and the bird should be going home next week! Poor thing flew over 120 miles and through a rather large mountain range!!!! I think the owner was somewhat confused when he realized his bird was in another state...

MonicaMc said:

...Poor thing flew over 120 miles and through a rather large mountain range!!!! I think the owner was somewhat confused when he realized his bird was in another state...

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The bird flew over 120 miles?!? Wow, that blows the usual 10 mile average right out of the water! What kind of bird?

And Minerva, as for your question about bird bedtimes, it's good to aim for between 10 and 12 hours of sleep a night. To some extent, they will catch up to sleep missed at night with naps taken during the day. But that said, you should endeavor not to stray too far from the needed 10-12 hours.

Some birds can go off to sleep with only a cover thrown over their cage, but others need a room that is completely dark and quiet. What I used to do was use my birds' travel cages as their sleep cages. That way, I could put them into other rooms that might not have comfortably housed a full out cage. (And it had the handy side-effect of getting them used to their travel cages so that trips to the vet were not a trial.)

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Hi and welcome. She is a sweet little thing, so pretty and Hedwig it is LOL.

Looking forward to more stories and pics on how you are getting along.

Welcome again.

Minerva said:

Thank you, Texsize! Finding a bird is such a cool experience. A lovebird is SO much better than what I usually find in my horse's stall.

Galeria, unfortunately I don't have enough posts to reply to your PM, but thank you for the awesome welcome! It is really cool to know that there is a fellow scholar here!

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My pleasure!

Welcome Minerva, what a wonderful and fortuitous story! Your new friend is beautiful and will likely warm to you over time. Also second the appreciation for your expressive style!

Any updates on the gorgeous little bird with a love for horses? How is she feeling after her rescue? Have you officially named her Hedwig?

That has got to be one of the cutest love birds I have ever seen. OMG, so adorable.

Welcome to the forum. What a nice story of your farm and barn. It is interesting how you stumbled upon the little guy. That's all it takes. What a cutie.