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FinnD

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Parrots
1 King Parrot named Finn
Hello everyone!

I'm Dee and I'm from Belgium. I live together with my boyfriend and we have 5 dogs, 4 cats, a ferret and a King Parrot. I tried some parrot forums in my own country but there is not much going on there so I searched for a bigger forum and that's how I ended up here.

The story of how we got our King Parrot.
I work as a volunteer in a wildlife rehabilitation center but we do not only take care of wildlife, sometimes pets come into the center as well. Sometimes people find a ferret, parrot, rabbit,... in their backyard and then they bring it to us and sometimes pets are confiscated and taken to the center. In September we were called to a house for a temporary confiscation. A man couldn't take care of himself anymore and obviously couldn't take care of his many parrots and other small birds anymore.

So that's how a large number of birds came to the center. Among them was a beautiful King Parrot. I loved him right from the start but there was still a chance that the owner would want him and the other parrots back. He would have to pay quite some money though, if he wanted them back because he would have to pay for all the costs the center made while the birds were there. For example, every bird was examined by a vet.

Apparently the King Parrot was living in a ridiculously small cage full of poo. His owner was smoking a lot in the room where his cage was. After he was taken to the center, he started to loose a lot of feathers. He was seen by a vet and he concluded that it was most likely due to stress. And indeed, when he was used to his aviary, he stopped losing feathers and started regrowing them. But he didn't seem happy in the aviary so we moved him to the care room in the wildlife center. He got his own large cage in between the pidgeons, hedgehogs and squirrels and he seemed to be enjoying the humans that were around. He was still very scared if someone would really try to make contact.

And finally, 3 weeks ago, the owner decided to sign a statement that said that he did not want his birds back. And we decided that we would love to adopt him. So 2 weeks ago I took him home and we named him Finn :) And now Finn is getting used to us and we're all getting used to Finn. His previous owner also had cats and dogs and apparently Finn loves cats and dogs. We had to teach our cats and dogs to leave him alone and now it's going really well. At first he was really scared of hands coming into his cage but now he takes seeds from our hands. He whistles a lot and sometimes he tries to imitate sounds. Now we're trying to get him to step up our arm or hands but it's not going to be easy but I guess we have to be very patient with him as we don't exactly know what he has been through. But we're happy with him and as far as I can tell, I think he's happy with us too :D I'll try to add a picture below...
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The only thing that is strange about him is that he has these blue feathers on his belly. I've been looking a lot for information on king parrots but never seen a picture of one looking like this. Has anyone an explanation?
 
Welcome! Finn is beautiful :). Tons of great info on here, and lots of active and knowledgeable members.
 
Welcome Dee and Finn, glad you found the forums!

A wonderful story, and Finn is a beauty. Not familiar with King Parrots, hope to learn much more.

Seems there are three species. Hard to tell if the blue belly feathers are typical or possibly a mutation? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_parrot
 
King Parrots are, unfortunately, not very common birds. I've heard they are quite charming, though!!!!


I could try asking some people to see if anyone might know about the blue coloration, but if his past is as bad as you say, then a diet change and time could mean that his colors could change as well.
 
Welcome and be welcomed, Finn and Dee. What kind of diet is Finn on now? Seeds and nuts should only be a small % of his diet, best left for treats and training rewards.
 
King Parrots are, unfortunately, not very common birds. I've heard they are quite charming, though!!!!


I could try asking some people to see if anyone might know about the blue coloration, but if his past is as bad as you say, then a diet change and time could mean that his colors could change as well.
He is very charming indeed :) I had no idea that it could have anything to do with his diet. His beak was also very light at the beginning and I did notice during last week that his beak has become a lot darker at the tip and now looks more like what a king parrot's beak should look like. So yeah, maybe the colour of his feathers will change as well.


Welcome and be welcomed, Finn and Dee. What kind of diet is Finn on now? Seeds and nuts should only be a small % of his diet, best left for treats and training rewards.
I give him pellets, nutribird G14. And I give him a small amount of seeds every day that he has to eat from my hands so he gets used to them. He also gets a little bit of fruit and vegetables every day.
 
Hello and welcome to you and Finn! He is absolutely stunning!
There used to be a woman in my bird club who bred King parrots, they took my breath away every time I saw them.
I'm so glad you joined us and look forward to hearing more about him!
 
King Parrots are, unfortunately, not very common birds. I've heard they are quite charming, though!!!!


I could try asking some people to see if anyone might know about the blue coloration, but if his past is as bad as you say, then a diet change and time could mean that his colors could change as well.
You were right! His colors have changed! He started molting at the beginning of April and now his belly is almost completely red :) The lighter coloured bands on his wings (which were more like a couple of dots when I adopted him) are now also much more visible. It's so strange that better living conditions can do this. I'll try to attach before and after pictures to this post.
 

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This is SUCH a great story.
Thank you for your work, and for rescuing this darling, AND for sharing!
 
Could be wrong, but i believe you have a sub species of King Parrot called the Moluccan. Are there any promiment markings on the rump of the parrot? Thank you for giving that little bird a happy home !
 
Could be wrong, but i believe you have a sub species of King Parrot called the Moluccan. Are there any promiment markings on the rump of the parrot? Thank you for giving that little bird a happy home !
I don't think he is a Moluccan, they don't seem to have the light green stripe on the wings like Australian King Parrots do. His rump is just blue, no markings.
 
You were right! His colors have changed! He started molting at the beginning of April and now his belly is almost completely red :) The lighter coloured bands on his wings (which were more like a couple of dots when I adopted him) are now also much more visible. It's so strange that better living conditions can do this. I'll try to attach before and after pictures to this post.

So great that he's coming into his full colors!!! I wonder what could have caused the abnormal coloration.



Could be wrong, but i believe you have a sub species of King Parrot called the Moluccan. Are there any promiment markings on the rump of the parrot? Thank you for giving that little bird a happy home !

I had the same thought, but there's really nothing about him that says he's anything but a King Parrot... even if an oddly colored one at that.
 

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