Potential soonish to be parrot owner from Texas.

Just saying hello since I joined up pretty much to ask a single question, but if all things go well and I get a birb you'll be seeing a lot of me down the road I'm sure. If you can help me with that question feel free to skip past the intro.

My name is colin and I'm 35, co-own a business and work at home (video games, vr games specifically) and things are starting to gain a bit of momentum. In the next year or two my business will likely be paying decent and i'll be able to rent a duplex or small house or something that is more accommodating to parrot ownership noise and of course have the money to ensure whatever vet expenses pop up are taken care of. I was a long time ferret owner and had to make a lot of sacrifices for surprise 4000 dollar cancer operations among other vet visits. Since my last ferret passed a year ago i'm petless for the first time in my life. I have ALWAYS had animals till now.

I grew up with cockatiels and parakeets and always enjoyed birds, we had an amazingly sweet cockatiel that i absolutely loved. But as a ferret owner who became an EXCELLENT ferret trainer I know what it's like to keep difficult animals and train them to be excellent companions. Every ferret owner i met was so jealous of how well behaved and relaxed my ferrets were. I got so good at training them i didn't even own a cage for my last one.

When i was a kid we would do this huge san francisco bike race and every year there was a guy with an enormous scarlet macaw who rode the race on his handlebars, untethered, wings unclipped and it was just the sweetest animal ever, he clearly put in his work training. I was only 5 years old and the bird couldn't have been more friendly, even when mobbed by kids trying to feed it grapes. Ever since then I've wanted a larger companion bird. I'm thinking i'm getting to a good time to get one in the next year or two and as somebody who works at home and is a bit of a homebody (I've only been in the state a year. Barely know anybody.), I think a parrot would be a good fit, specifically a mealy amazon is what I'm pretty set on. There's a breeder about an hour and a half from me with an excellent reputation from what I can tell, but i would much rather adopt but these seem to be incredibly uncommon birds to find for adoption but the more i research breeds, the more I think that's a good fit for me. I would possibly be open to adopting another breed of amazon but i am VERY nervous about getting a "problem bird" with decades of bad habits as i can't seem to find much agreement as to whether there is a point of no return for these birds or whether any bird can be tamed and turned into a good companion with enough diligence. I generally don't give up on animals but I want a companion, not a bird I have to constantly be on guard against. I know bites are going to just happen periodically no matter what, but the last family i briefly knew that had a parrot and a cockatoo, they just used them as decorations, never interacting with them or taking them out of their cages and these animals were utterly vicious. If you got within 5 feet of their cage they would lunge at the bars so hard it would almost knock the cage over at times. I felt so sorry for them.

The single question I'm here for right now though is i live in college station texas which is about an hour away from houston and austin and I'm thinking i'd like to volunteer at a parrot rescue but I'm having trouble finding them and knowing which ones are legitimate. A lot of dead end links and a lot of "THIS PLACE IS A SCAM" warnings. I want to do this for a couple reasons:

1. To get acquainted with parrots as I've spent only that bit of time as a child around large parrots. For all i know i might just decide they aren't for me.

2. To get a feel for how much time their maintenance will take. I assume i'll be cage cleaning and food prepping and hopefully getting to spend some time with the birds. I see other bird rescues (why do so many not in texas come up when i search for texas ones?!) who want volunteers to help out with positive reinforcement rehab. I would love to do this.

3. To make sure I"m not allergic to them. I'm really allergic to cats and iw as a bit allergic to ferrets but that didn't stop me from owning ferrets for 18 years. I don't think i'm allergic to any birds but It's been so long since i've lived with one and when i did, i was allergic to EVERYTHING floating in the air, and we had a cat so i wouldn't have known it if i was.

So the question is this. Are there ANY parrot rescues within an hours or so drive of brazos county or in the houston or austin area that I need to know about that i could possibly volunteer at? Or heck if anybody in brazos county or within an hours or so drive who owns a birb and would let me meet it that would be fantastic haha. Not going to hold my breath on that though.

I'll be posting my question on the rescue forum as well. Either way nice to meet you all and thanks for any help you could provide!

I counted at least six possibly seven questions as part of your introduction.

As far as finding a 'real' parrot rescues, ask to see their 501 C (3) IRS Certificate and their State of Texas Business License. Also use Rehome or Rehoming as search tools.

If you still want a MAC, visit the MAC Forum and look for any Thread or Post by Birdman666. You will learn more about MAC's reading his works than near anywhere else on the Web! FYI: Not having Read His Works, you are likely to make a bunch of serious errors when face to face with a less than happy MAC.

If you have a Mealy Amazon Breeder near you - volunteer there! FYI: In the Amazon Forum is a Thread by Birdman666 that will open you eyes to Understanding Body Language! Same story as above regarding a face to face.

I would recommend that you spend bunch of time reading the Sticky Threads at the top of both the MAC and Amazon section - they are located at the top of each Forum, highlighted in light blue.

When you are ready to start looking for a Parrot, consider this: Let the Parrot Choice You!

Regarding your most pressing question: I'm a long way from Texas! Sorry, but I hope that my information is found helpful by you!

Welcome to you and your search!

Welcome to the forums, Colin. Much respect for your willingness to thoroughly research parrot companionship before taking the plunge. Volunteering at a rescue is an excellent idea and will give you experience with a wide variety.

SailBoat said:

I counted at least six possibly seven questions as part of your introduction.

As far as finding a 'real' parrot rescues, ask to see their 501 C (3) IRS Certificate and their State of Texas Business License. Also use Rehome or Rehoming as search tools.

If you still want a MAC, visit the MAC Forum and look for any Thread or Post by Birdman666. You will learn more about MAC's reading his works than near anywhere else on the Web! FYI: Not having Read His Works, you are likely to make a bunch of serious errors when face to face with a less than happy MAC.

If you have a Mealy Amazon Breeder near you - volunteer there! FYI: In the Amazon Forum is a Thread by Birdman666 that will open you eyes to Understanding Body Language! Same story as above regarding a face to face.

I would recommend that you spend bunch of time reading the Sticky Threads at the top of both the MAC and Amazon section - they are located at the top of each Forum, highlighted in light blue.

When you are ready to start looking for a Parrot, consider this: Let the Parrot Choice You!

Regarding your most pressing question: I'm a long way from Texas! Sorry, but I hope that my information is found helpful by you!

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Oh i've read all that stuff including the excellent post on parrot behavior. Been doing quite a bit of research since i realized this was something I can do soon. Been watching a lot of just videos of parrots being parrots on youtube spotting various behaviors as well as taking with a grain of salt any advice i hear on there, but it's interesting nonetheless how people with incredibly well behaved birds got them in such a fine state.

I might call that breeder and see if they need a volunteer. They breed a LOT of parrots from the looks of it, I got a feeling they probably don't need help, and the help they have is probably paid if they have any.

Thanks though, I got plenty of time to figure things out, i just don't take having an animal companion lightly, i get all my ducks in a row before i take the plunge.

Just my two cents worth here. I echo the sentiment, let the bird choose you, no matter what the species. Many anowner have found that their dream bird didn't choose them andthings ended up pretty difficult. Slow and steady, spend as much time aroundbirds as you can and one day it will click between you and your future bird.

LeaKP said:

Just my two cents worth here. I echo the sentiment, let the bird choose you, no matter what the species. Many anowner have found that their dream bird didn't choose them andthings ended up pretty difficult. Slow and steady, spend as much time aroundbirds as you can and one day it will click between you and your future bird.

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Of course nothing is set in stone. Right now what i have available are the general characteristics of the various species and the mealy while not terribly pretty seems like a good fit for me.

If i volunteer at a rescue and fall in love with some other birb i won't be closed off to it. I have things that will work good for me, bullet points and the mealy definitely checks off most of them.

Hi Colin, I live in Houston and only know of one rescue and I'm not even sure how or if they take volunteers. When you're in Houston visit Adventures in Birds and talk to Jean or Gary and I bet they can help. They know just about everyone in the Houston parrot community. Be warned, Jean can be a bit crusty [emoji5]


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thekarens said:

Hi Colin, I live in Houston and only know of one rescue and I'm not even sure how or if they take volunteers. When you're in Houston visit Adventures in Birds and talk to Jean or Gary and I bet they can help. They know just about everyone in the Houston parrot community. Be warned, Jean can be a bit crusty [emoji5]


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Thanks, i'll give them a call and ask for jean. This hasn't been easy. You would think with the sheer volume of abandoned parrots out there there would be more currently operating rescues and they would be really desperate for volunteers.

baserock_love said:

I might call that breeder and see if they need a volunteer. They breed a LOT of parrots from the looks of it, I got a feeling they probably don't need help, and the help they have is probably paid if they have any.

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I think you'd be surprised. Even a lot of large breeders are family run. Even if they have paid help, you think they are going to turn down free help? If you just tell them you are looking into getting a bird in the next year and want some hands on experience, they may be willing to work out a trade with you. Say, you offer to clean cages for some one on one time with even a retired breeder, just to get a feel for working with a larger bird. You'd be surprised what a breeder is willing to work out with you if you just tell them what you want and more importantly, what you're willing to do to get it.

thekarens said:

Hi Colin, I live in Houston and only know of one rescue and I'm not even sure how or if they take volunteers. When you're in Houston visit Adventures in Birds and talk to Jean or Gary and I bet they can help. They know just about everyone in the Houston parrot community. Be warned, Jean can be a bit crusty [emoji5]


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Hey i appreciate the heads up. I talked to Jean and looks like I'll be trying to make it there a day each week starting next week to "clean crap out of cages and play with birds". It's about a 3 hour round trip so it's no small drive but it should be some good experience and it'll be good to get out of the house. Who knows maybe i'll run into ya!

Glad you made a connection! Will be interested to learn how you like the volunteering and if the process helps your decision process!

Scott said:

Glad you made a connection! Will be interested to learn how you like the volunteering and if the process helps your decision process!

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I'm sure i'll like it about as much as anybody can like cleaning crap out of cages for 6 hours haha. Long as i get to be around birds in some facet i'm happy to do it.

Yes, the "good stuff" is hanging around them and interacting!

Scott said:

Yes, the "good stuff" is hanging around them and interacting!

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Well you would think so if any of them WOULD interact because they weren't utterly terrified of people because of how they're basically terrorized at the place.

While I understand that at a rescue/bird store you have to move birds periodically whether they like it or not, one would think that if a bird is literally quaking in terror that you wouldn't repeatedly give it the option to either step up or fall to the bottom of it's cage just for the hell of it because that's pretty much what they did at this place no matter how terrified the bird clearly was.

I got one opportunity to actually work with a white bellied caique that was clearly tame at one point but VERY scared of hands. The guy in charge there tried to get it to step up by just repeatedly and violently shoving his hand into it's belly knocking it off balance while it screamed, flapped and mock bit him to try to get him to go away. After trying this a bunch of times he wouldn't step up still and I said it's ok, let me just hang out with it. Wanted to see if any of the techniques I'd been researching would work.

When i was first alone with this bird it wouldn't take a piece of sunflower seed I brought if i was even within 5 feet of it's cage. Using incremental steps i went from that, to it taking a treat directly from my hand, to it taking a treat with one foot on my hand, to it briefly stepping up to get the treat but then immediately stepping back down and it was clearly starting to trust me, i was able to do that in about 12 minutes. Another 20 minutes i would wager it would have been perfectly content to step up knowing i could be trusted.

He comes back and is just like "YOu gotta just get in there so he doesn't have a choice" and yet again starts violently shoving his hand under this bird while it screams and flaps and desperately tries to get away, finally it's pressed up against the bars and has nowhere to go but step up. He puts the bird on my arm and it's TERRIFIED, frantically running back and forth looking for an escape route, trying to get back to it's cage, I let it get back to it's cage. Of course, all that little bit of trust i had built with this bird was completely gone after that, and it yet again would not take a treat from me if i was even within eyeshot of it's cage.

There was a little plucked rescue african grey there i had almost the same experience with. It was clearly VERY stressed out and scared, it just sat in one place in the bottom of it's cage teh whole time i was there. Wouldn't take a treat even through the bars. I'd have to lay it on one of the bars and leave the room and then it would take it.

Throughout the day i'd just put a little something in the same place every time i walked by it's cage and it started to expect a little bit of sunflower seed and i'd see it going closer to the area where i'd leave it every time i came by. Finally i open up the cage and try to work with her a bit, at first she's utterly terrified, i can see her chest heaving incredibly rapid, all the fear body language, literally shaking with fear. Within 20 minutes all that body language is gone and she's comfortable neough to take a treat directly from my fingers, even let rub the top of her head a little, she was willfully standing right at the open cage door to get treats instead of cowering in fear on the opposite side of the cage from me. Progress!

So then the guy comes back and yet again, violently shoves his wrist under her belly while she screams and flaps and desperately tries to escape, forces her to step up against her will and puts her on a perch outside the cage, yet again, she's utterly terrified, won't take a treat, scared to death of me. That little bit of trust is just gone of course. I offer her a treat and she won't take it, i leave it near her, she just throws it on the ground.

Even though she was pretty well plucked i inquire about adopting her and ask him about her plucking. He says "She'll step right up but anytime she's on your arm she starts tearing her feathers out!"

GEE I WONDER WHY.

I'm hesitant to mention any of this because I look around this place and the animals are well fed, their cages are cleaned, there's like 7 cats and dogs, all rescues or homeless all fed and happy, a dozen or more large birds all caged and fed in good conditions. THey clearly do this at great personal expense and it's great that they're doing this, what they're doing is absolutely commendable. But I was not at all thrilled with how they treated these birds. I think any bird going through that place will have a LONG road ahead before it will trust people again.

Needless to say I will not be going back there. I would adopt but their adoption prices are about 100% higher than any other of the rescues within 4 hours drive around me, many of those rescues also give you a cage whereas this one apparently sells the cages they get from what I could tell.

Horrendous! Is the guy you described a volunteer or full-time employee/supervisor/owner? He sounds like a sadist practicing animal cruelty. Really should be reported, nobody ought to work with animals given such atrocious behavior.

baserock_love said:

Well you would think so if any of them WOULD interact because they weren't utterly terrified of people because of how they're basically terrorized at the place.

While I understand that at a rescue/bird store you have to move birds periodically whether they like it or not, one would think that if a bird is literally quaking in terror that you wouldn't repeatedly give it the option to either step up or fall to the bottom of it's cage just for the hell of it because that's pretty much what they did at this place no matter how terrified the bird clearly was.

I got one opportunity to actually work with a white bellied caique that was clearly tame at one point but VERY scared of hands. The guy in charge there tried to get it to step up by just repeatedly and violently shoving his hand into it's belly knocking it off balance while it screamed, flapped and mock bit him to try to get him to go away. After trying this a bunch of times he wouldn't step up still and I said it's ok, let me just hang out with it. Wanted to see if any of the techniques I'd been researching would work.

When i was first alone with this bird it wouldn't take a piece of sunflower seed I brought if i was even within 5 feet of it's cage. Using incremental steps i went from that, to it taking a treat directly from my hand, to it taking a treat with one foot on my hand, to it briefly stepping up to get the treat but then immediately stepping back down and it was clearly starting to trust me, i was able to do that in about 12 minutes. Another 20 minutes i would wager it would have been perfectly content to step up knowing i could be trusted.

He comes back and is just like "YOu gotta just get in there so he doesn't have a choice" and yet again starts violently shoving his hand under this bird while it screams and flaps and desperately tries to get away, finally it's pressed up against the bars and has nowhere to go but step up. He puts the bird on my arm and it's TERRIFIED, frantically running back and forth looking for an escape route, trying to get back to it's cage, I let it get back to it's cage. Of course, all that little bit of trust i had built with this bird was completely gone after that, and it yet again would not take a treat from me if i was even within eyeshot of it's cage.

There was a little plucked rescue african grey there i had almost the same experience with. It was clearly VERY stressed out and scared, it just sat in one place in the bottom of it's cage teh whole time i was there. Wouldn't take a treat even through the bars. I'd have to lay it on one of the bars and leave the room and then it would take it.

Throughout the day i'd just put a little something in the same place every time i walked by it's cage and it started to expect a little bit of sunflower seed and i'd see it going closer to the area where i'd leave it every time i came by. Finally i open up the cage and try to work with her a bit, at first she's utterly terrified, i can see her chest heaving incredibly rapid, all the fear body language, literally shaking with fear. Within 20 minutes all that body language is gone and she's comfortable neough to take a treat directly from my fingers, even let rub the top of her head a little, she was willfully standing right at the open cage door to get treats instead of cowering in fear on the opposite side of the cage from me. Progress!

So then the guy comes back and yet again, violently shoves his wrist under her belly while she screams and flaps and desperately tries to escape, forces her to step up against her will and puts her on a perch outside the cage, yet again, she's utterly terrified, won't take a treat, scared to death of me. That little bit of trust is just gone of course. I offer her a treat and she won't take it, i leave it near her, she just throws it on the ground.

Even though she was pretty well plucked i inquire about adopting her and ask him about her plucking. He says "She'll step right up but anytime she's on your arm she starts tearing her feathers out!"

GEE I WONDER WHY.

I'm hesitant to mention any of this because I look around this place and the animals are well fed, their cages are cleaned, there's like 7 cats and dogs, all rescues or homeless all fed and happy, a dozen or more large birds all caged and fed in good conditions. THey clearly do this at great personal expense and it's great that they're doing this, what they're doing is absolutely commendable. But I was not at all thrilled with how they treated these birds. I think any bird going through that place will have a LONG road ahead before it will trust people again.

Needless to say I will not be going back there. I would adopt but their adoption prices are about 100% higher than any other of the rescues within 4 hours drive around me, many of those rescues also give you a cage whereas this one apparently sells the cages they get from what I could tell.

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That is absolutely horrible. Rescue birds need even more patience than a parent raised baby, and they require a lot. You should never be rough or harsh with a bird, being firm is one thing, making them shake in fear is a whole new ball game. He should not be allowed to touch those poor babies, especially the plucked grey. Plucking is a sign of so many issues, usually circulating around a poor mental state (birds can have mental issues just like people), and they should be taken just as seriously. My breeder has taught me everything I know and she would absolutely die if someone touched her birds like that. What trash.

Hello Collin and welcome !! Just read your experience with the rescue and I am appalled at the man's behavior toward those poor birds!! Just shoving his hand into cages and forcing the birds to step up, sounds HORRIBLE. These birds have been abused, neglected and are clearly scared! They need gentle guidance and love! UGH! That infuriates me. No wonder those birds are so scared!

Scott said:

Horrendous! Is the guy you described a volunteer or full-time employee/supervisor/owner? He sounds like a sadist practicing animal cruelty. Really should be reported, nobody ought to work with animals given such atrocious behavior.

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This guy is I assume the co owner. I wouldn't say he's a sadist, he just didn't really seem to care which is odd given how much they put into rescuing these animals. Maybe he's jaded? I was pretty disturbed by it. Maybe he's from the "old school" of bird training where you pretty much just force them to do whatever you want and how they feel about it is irrelevant as long as they comply? I dunno.

haleyd said:

That is absolutely horrible. Rescue birds need even more patience than a parent raised baby, and they require a lot. You should never be rough or harsh with a bird, being firm is one thing, making them shake in fear is a whole new ball game. He should not be allowed to touch those poor babies, especially the plucked grey. Plucking is a sign of so many issues, usually circulating around a poor mental state (birds can have mental issues just like people), and they should be taken just as seriously. My breeder has taught me everything I know and she would absolutely die if someone touched her birds like that. What trash.

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There were 3 rescue greys there. All plucked really bad. He chased the one that was the most plucked around the cage for a couple minutes before he just gave up on it. It was frantically trying to get away from him so much he couldn't even grab it. I'm not even sure why he tried, all I did was ask him it's story and he just immediately starts trying to fish it out when it was incredibly scared of people.

That said. My experience there really did make me decide this is something I want. I had no allergies and my asthma wasn't an issue despite spending a whole day in an aviary with hundreds of birds. It was very rewarding for even that short bit of time i built up a small rapport with those two birds. Shopping for a good cage as we speak! Then I'm going to try to rescue this blue fronted amazon about 4 hours drive away if he's still available when I get all my ducks in a row.

That's wonderful of you to rescue. You seem to have the right nature for rehabilitation and the patience to understand that love has to be won from these poor birds.
My mother has allergies to a lot of things but as long as they are dust free they don't bother her.THE cockatoo family are the dusty birds and as much as i love them i could never have one due to this.