Greetings from Northern Arizona

[shonie777]

Hello, my name is Shonie and I'm new to the forum here. I live in northern Arizona near the 4 Corners area. A stone throw from Utah. I own 3 birds. A male and a female indian ring neck named "Egg & Yolk" and a lilac crowned amazon named "Valentino" which I just adopted.

I am a relatively new bird owner but I have handled and taken care of birds many times in the past from friends. I've always loved birds and always wanted to have my own. Now I do.

"Egg & Yolk" my indian ring necks are the very first birds I have personally owned. I got them last year in August 2013 from a Hispanic couple in Phoenix that had them caged up in their backyard since they were babies. They never held them or interacted with them. They just fed them sunflower seeds and water and an occasional plum or apple. Poor things.....I have been working with them everyday and now they come to me and let me hand feed them. They have yet to let me pet them when I want to. If their eyes pin or they go after me with the beak I leave them alone for a few minutes and let them chill out. Then I try again. When they let me I use my clicker and praise them and then give them a snack (pellet or sunflower seed). It's has been a very very slow process but I am determined and they are slowly coming around.

"Valentino" is a lilac crowned amazon that I adopted just yesterday. I found him for sale on Monday night and called the people about him. I told them that I was going to drive down and have a look at him tomorrow. My oldest daughter (27) Alex and I got up at 3:30am and we were on the highway by 4:30am headed for Phoenix.

We arrived at the peoples home around 10:00am. We were so tired! We walked up to the front door and before we knocked we saw him "Valentino" in a filthy horrible looking cage. He just looked at us and made a low murmured caw. The couple came out and we greeted each other. I was pretty furious about the birds living conditions but held that to myself and talked to them about the bird. I found out that he was 18 years old and that they got him 2 years ago from a neighbor 2 house down the street. I also found out the in the 2 years that they had him, they never let him out of the cage and kept him outside on the front porch the entire time they owned him. That made me even more furious but I had to contain myself for the sake of the bird.

In the end I got him and brought him home. It was a very long and tiresome drive back home. "Valentino" took to my daughter "Alex" immediately. She is awesome with our birds back home and she worked he magic with "Valentino". He let her hand feed him and touch him and he basically sat on her lap all the way home.

I'm just rambling on here.....I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone here.

Shonie

[Harpmaker]

Welcome Shonie! And kudos to you for adopting birds to make their lives better.

There is a lot of information here on taming, training, feeding and housing different birds. Some of our members are very knowledgeable.

Enjoy your stay!

[shonie777]

Welcome Shonie! And kudos to you for adopting birds to make their lives better.

There is a lot of information here on taming, training, feeding and housing different birds. Some of our members are very knowledgeable.

Enjoy your stay!

Thank you! I love my birds and will do whatever it takes to make them as happy as possible. I've been reading the posts and have been getting a lot of information. Great forum!

Shonie

[Pajarita]

Thank you so much for adopting (rescuing?) those poor birds. Kudos to you for doing this instead of buying a baby!

Now, a word of caution, birds are always very good when confronted with new people/home/situations (we call it 'the honeymoon stage') but, as soon as they start feeling more comfortable, they start showing their true colors so, please, be on the lookout for the zon biting. Another thing, please take the birds to an avian vet and get a physical with regular bloodwork (CBC and avian chem panel) plus a bile acid tests because birds don't show bad liver values until the liver is working at under 25% capacity and the only way to find out is through a bile acid test (amazons are VERY prone to liver problems in captivity and, at his age and the terrible care he has gotten, I would be very surprised if he doesn't have liver issues).

[shonie777]

Thank you so much for adopting (rescuing?) those poor birds. Kudos to you for doing this instead of buying a baby!

Now, a word of caution, birds are always very good when confronted with new people/home/situations (we call it 'the honeymoon stage') but, as soon as they start feeling more comfortable, they start showing their true colors so, please, be on the lookout for the zon biting. Another thing, please take the birds to an avian vet and get a physical with regular bloodwork (CBC and avian chem panel) plus a bile acid tests because birds don't show bad liver values until the liver is working at under 25% capacity and the only way to find out is through a bile acid test (amazons are VERY prone to liver problems in captivity and, at his age and the terrible care he has gotten, I would be very surprised if he doesn't have liver issues).

LOL! Yeah I know all about the "Honeymoon Stage". My ring necks were shy and timid at first and after a week or so of working with them, they began to perch on my hands, arms and so on. They would let me sweet talk them and touch them and "act" like they were ok with it all. Then one day they did a 180. But I keep working with them.

As far as an avian vet, I'm going to have to get my Amazon checked out. Thanks for the advise!

Shonie

[Pajarita]

Yes, please do, Shonie. I have six zons, from older than ten (we don't know how old Zeus is) to over 50 and all of them came to me with liver problems that were diagnoses through the bile acids test (the enzymes on the avian panel were all within normal levels but the bile acids told the real story).