How I met my parrot...

[Sarahtheumbrella]

so this thread is for people to share how they met their babies.

I will start us off:

My mom and I were talking about a pet in our new house and we knew we wanted a parrot since my dad had a little wild parrot "farm" in India. And my mom used to bird feed the birds when she was a child. So we went to a little bird place just for fun, and just asked the owner what parrots she had for sale. She said she had cockatiels in the back room. She we followed her and right behind the baby cockatiels was a cockatoo, Sarah. She said hello over and over more desperately each time till we went to her cage. She was 100% friendly and we took her out and she had a fun time with us, but hey we were considering a cockaTIEL not a cockaTOO. We did all the research, and we decided to see her again to decide if it was really worth all the work. We all went and played with and were most reluctant to leave. My parents said we would not get her, and I nearly cried for ten hours, but the next day a ring on the doorbell, a familiar hello (Sarah's) and we had our baby bird.

She may be a bit different in our home, but she is still the best thing that has ever happened to me...:64:

 

[MaraWentz]

Erin. Went to Bird Paradise learning they had my favourite bird in ( red front macaw) so we drove 5 hours to see two one year olds. Walked in recognizing their calls and so excited. We tried to handle either with no sucess. We ended up leaving. Came back a few months later and my husband was going to buy me a parrot for my birthday. We looked at all the babies and were awwed and then I heard those sqwauks and I couldnt fathom that they were bogh still without a home. My heart melted knowing how much more popular they were as breeders than pets and Ive seen a couple breeders and didnt want that life for her. We trued to handle them but they got worse. Erin hid behind her sisteras thet fluttered all over and her sister lunged for bites. I felt bad seperating them but a parrot shouldnt live in fear of humans. So she became my mission and she is amazing. Worth it in every way. And now we live 15 minutes away from Bird Paradise so she will get to see her sister every week. Whom she visited 3 times last week alone.

 

[ConureCrazy]

Bella and Zora were a surprise present actually. I had been looking into getting a bird since my cockatiel, Tweeters, died. I was really interested in the green cheeked conures with their playful attitude. I just couldn't find any rescues or breeders with GCCs. Then, on the same night, my dad came home with my two "little girlies!" Turns out his best friend's wife bred all sorts of parrots!
I never ment to buy Oliver, only his cage. I didn't know the cage housed a bird inside already, so I went to the previous owner's house to buy it. When I got there, Oliver was inside with only one perch and horrible sunflower seed and peanut diet. The previous owner said he would keep Oliver in his tiny travel cage if I bought the cage. (Take note that he never mentioned any of this in the phone call I gave him.) I couldn't let Oliver suffer any longer, so I came home with Oliver! Now he's healthy and has plenty of perches and toys.

 

[Mudkips]

Before I bought Birdy I went to a parrot shop on two occasions.
The first time I went I saw 5 GGCs (all from the same clutch) and 2 cinnamon GGCs. All of them were super friendly - when you poked your finger between the bars they would come over to your side of the cage and nibble your finger in the softest way imaginable.

A few weeks later I came back to the shop to find that only the 2 cinnamon GGCs were left. All the original GGCs had been sold, but there was one new baby GCC... This time he was sitting at the bottom of the cage and facing the back corner. He had a bald spot on the back of his head and it took a sunflower seed and a lot of convincing to get him to come over to my side of the cage.
My first thought was that he looked really sick, but I didn't know much about birds so I felt that maybe he was just a baby, so I asked the breeder (she also worked at the store).

It turns out that the little guy was from the same clutch as the first 5, but he was the smallest one of them all. He was the most bullied and always the last to get food. She had decided it was best not to make him available till he had been given the chance to grow up without the presence of other birds.

Of course, my heart melted hearing this story as he cowered in my hands. I actually had to think pretty hard whether to get him or one of the two cinnamons, but ultimately I didn't want to separate them - they were so happy together.

And that's the story of how I met Birdy.
Thankfully he's much happier and healthier now!

 

[ann]

For years i had wanted a bird, but my parents had always said no. then for my birthday, my parents and best friend surprised me with a huge cage with 5 beautiful lady gouldian finches, and one society finch. then i bought another society finch. A few months later, i was at pet supplies plus, and they had a finch dying on the floor, with his cagemate showing obvious signs of difficulty breathing. the staff new nothing about them, so i bought them. now they are perfectly healthy and raising a little baby named ju ju bee i haven't taken him home yet, but i met my parrot at my local pet store. I had just given up Oscar and was really down. I went to play with the birds in the bird room. 4 newly weaned nanday conures came over to me and played with me. i reserved one . hes a little boy, with a very fluffy head, gorgeous feathers, loves cuddles, and is very gentle .

 

[Ginkai]

LaI had always said that when I could is get a large parrot. Then I got married and everything was stable so hubby knowing I wanted a parrot Said I could look into getting one. Found the best breeder in my area sad Part it was a 7 hour round trip and I don't have a car...luckily my best friend helped me out we drove all the way up there and met two 5 month old galah baby girls. I tried handling them both ans one just kept trying to fly away from me the other didn't mind sitting with me. So she became Suki lala.

 

[mcw009]

When I got Icarus, I'd already had my 2 budgies for about 6 months (not a remarkable story). I wasn't looking for or planning to get another bird. But, then my boss heard this parakeet screaming in a tree in his neighborhood and climbed up there to retrieve him. He was banded and obviously named "Sam" and had chewed off every contour and covert feather he could reach, as well as a few secondary feathers. Because I already had a pair of parrots, he texted me asking if I wanted another bird, so I said maybe, did some research on the species, and then set up a time to meet the lil guy. We got on pretty well, so after about a month and a vet visit (that my boss paid for, woot!), I brought him home!

I spent a lot of time looking for an owner. There were no flyers or anyone looking for him in the vicinity of where he was found, no one posting on Craigslist (I didn't make a found-bird ad on there for fear of liars), nothing on parrot911 (I did post there; no one answered it), nothing in the local paper, humane society hadn't heard anything nor the local parrot rescue... I suspect he just got dumped.

 

[Sarahtheumbrella]

All of your stories are sooo remarkable! Thanks for sharing them. It is amazing how sometimes our birdies happen so un-expectedly, but were meant to be a part of our families.

 

[Devann]

I had always wanted a parrot. One day about a year ago my daughter and I met a green quaker in a pet store who was very friendly and playful, unfortunately it wasn't the right time for us to bring a bird home. I started doing tons of research about quakers and parrots in general and learned a ton. Then when we were in a position to get a bird, I posted an ad about possibly adopting an older quaker. A couple of weeks later I got an email from a lady asking if I would consider an Alexandrine as they were moving to Australia and needed to rehome her. I said I would do some research on the breed etc... a bunch of emails later I went to meet Vino and fell completely in love with her! She's been home with me for nearly a week and couldn't be happier

 

[triordan]

I was leaving work one day when one of my coworkers approached me about having an "empty nest" and how awful it must be~ as we were talking I jokingly told her that after each child leaves for college we would get a new pet, she asked what we were getting, instead I told her what we were NOT getting!! lol...so anyway I told her I had always wanted a large bird, lo and behold her sister and brother-in-law were looking at re-homing their GW macaw which they had had since he was a baby(13 years), marriage, work and kids were not allowing them the time to spend with him, so about 2 weeks later we drove 4 hours to pick him up! Lucky us!!

 

[Mare Miller]

An old friend of ours was having to move, foreclosure of her home was forcing her to move and she called me. I had met Amigo, once several years ago, but did not have any idea what taking in an umbrella cockatoo would entail! Long story, short, he's a huge joy in my life! (Now)...