Belgaram
New member
Hello everyone. My name is Adam and I am a Police Officer in Atlantic County NJ (near Atlantic City). I am the lucky husband of a wonderful woman, the proud dad of 2 daughters 19 and 22 and 3 parrots: African Grey "Pooka", Meyers "Bela" and most recently, we rescued a Blue Fronted Amazon "Wanda".
We bought our current house about 4 years ago and one of the conditions was a florida room with a lot of sunlight for our birds. We have plans to eventually convert it into a full aviary. Right now it's our office/aviary.
I've posted about our rescue Wanda in the Amazon section. But, she is becoming my baby! It has been a very short rehab (10 days). She's come around quicker than anything I've ever seen. Almost instantly taking to me. She's still a work in progress and she still has some deep rooted issues we are working on, but she is night and day to the day we got her. The African Grey is totally my wife's bird. He loves her to pieces. He is tolerant of me and I can get him to step up but rarely lets me pet his head. Its usually a game when I try to pet him... Bobs and swirls his head, put his head down for me to pet him, then I watch his eyes
If he's serious, they stay dialated, if hes not... pinned and I back off. He is a typical Grey. Funny! and a vocab that goes on for days! He comes up with stuff so randomly. And he loves to dance. Then we have Bela. My moody Meyers. She is very loving to everyone. She loves to climb through the neck of your shirt and rest there. The downside is that her nails grow SO fast and they get like little needles and will tear up my chest. I have 3 sandy perches for her and she rarely stands on them. Her only "fault" is she developed a cage aggression. If she is on her perch and you try to go in and have her step up, she will take a blood sample. You have to talk to her, coax her and then go slow. Then she will step up and she is the lovable Bela. But other than that, she is a total lover and funny! She has a small vocab of: Babe, Peek-a-boo and pretty bird. But says them at the most appropriate times. If she wants to come out... She says (in her grumbly Meyers voice) Baaabe.... If she wants to play, she says Peek-a-boo (sounds more like peekabrrr), and if shes being silly and wants lovin she says prettybrrr.
It's funny how we and our birds come up with routines together. I am up at 530 every morning and downstairs by 615. They get their breakfast of warmed birdy bread, (ocassionally scrambled eggs with the shell, broccoli, and kale), or we make batches of brown rice cooked with chicken stock, chick peas, tomato and green beans and freeze it. Their dry food which is a mix we get from Bird Paradise (no seeds. Fruit, nuts, pellets, veggies). And every morning, I am greeted with "Good Morning Pook" and "Baaabe" (unless its still dark out). Yet on the weekends, we sleep in til 9 or so and they know it.
I tell everyone. I'll take a Parrot over a dog or cat any day of the week.!
If my department had a Parrot division instead of K9s, Id be first in line for the job!
We bought our current house about 4 years ago and one of the conditions was a florida room with a lot of sunlight for our birds. We have plans to eventually convert it into a full aviary. Right now it's our office/aviary.
I've posted about our rescue Wanda in the Amazon section. But, she is becoming my baby! It has been a very short rehab (10 days). She's come around quicker than anything I've ever seen. Almost instantly taking to me. She's still a work in progress and she still has some deep rooted issues we are working on, but she is night and day to the day we got her. The African Grey is totally my wife's bird. He loves her to pieces. He is tolerant of me and I can get him to step up but rarely lets me pet his head. Its usually a game when I try to pet him... Bobs and swirls his head, put his head down for me to pet him, then I watch his eyes
If he's serious, they stay dialated, if hes not... pinned and I back off. He is a typical Grey. Funny! and a vocab that goes on for days! He comes up with stuff so randomly. And he loves to dance. Then we have Bela. My moody Meyers. She is very loving to everyone. She loves to climb through the neck of your shirt and rest there. The downside is that her nails grow SO fast and they get like little needles and will tear up my chest. I have 3 sandy perches for her and she rarely stands on them. Her only "fault" is she developed a cage aggression. If she is on her perch and you try to go in and have her step up, she will take a blood sample. You have to talk to her, coax her and then go slow. Then she will step up and she is the lovable Bela. But other than that, she is a total lover and funny! She has a small vocab of: Babe, Peek-a-boo and pretty bird. But says them at the most appropriate times. If she wants to come out... She says (in her grumbly Meyers voice) Baaabe.... If she wants to play, she says Peek-a-boo (sounds more like peekabrrr), and if shes being silly and wants lovin she says prettybrrr. It's funny how we and our birds come up with routines together. I am up at 530 every morning and downstairs by 615. They get their breakfast of warmed birdy bread, (ocassionally scrambled eggs with the shell, broccoli, and kale), or we make batches of brown rice cooked with chicken stock, chick peas, tomato and green beans and freeze it. Their dry food which is a mix we get from Bird Paradise (no seeds. Fruit, nuts, pellets, veggies). And every morning, I am greeted with "Good Morning Pook" and "Baaabe" (unless its still dark out). Yet on the weekends, we sleep in til 9 or so and they know it.
I tell everyone. I'll take a Parrot over a dog or cat any day of the week.!
If my department had a Parrot division instead of K9s, Id be first in line for the job!
