Hi! :-)

[JayBird]

Hi,

A few years ago, I decided to adopt a rescue parrot from a parrot refuge. I had no idea what kind of parrot that I would get, and it didn't really matter to me either. After a few weeks of visiting, I finally came home with an 11 year old Umbrella Cockatoo (Krystal) whom I have lived with now for two years. It doesn't seem like it's been two years already and within these short two years, he (Yes, he has a girl's name) has become rather spoiled. I did a lot of research on cockatoos, being as how I had never had one and most of the things that I had read prior to adopting him almost had me talked out of it because I was so discouraged that I didn't think I would be able to provide a "suitable" environment that a cockatoo (or any bird, really) could be happy in. Apparently I was wrong. My U2 is a big spoiled baby.

Recently, as in less than two weeks ago, we acquired a 7 year old Blue front Amazon (Sammy), which I know almost nothing about. The lady literally gave him to us, cage, food and all. So, now I'm trying to find out what I can about Amazons. So far, he lets me pet him. He hasn't really bitten anyone. He won't come off of his cage. He comes in and out on his own but he won't come off of it. He always has either at least one foot or a beak on it at all times. And good Lord is he quiet. I told someone recently that he makes about as much noise as a table lamp. He talks if someone walks up to his cage. He'll sit there and talk to you for as long as you stand there and talk to him. But other than that, he's really quiet.

I'll be looking around here and reading what I can whenever I have a minute. Any helpful information or advice is definitely welcome.

[Wolf]

Well, I hope that you enjoy your time here with us, poke around all you want, I am certain that you will find plenty of information on Amazons.

[GMV]

Hi,

A few years ago, I decided to adopt a rescue parrot from a parrot refuge. I had no idea what kind of parrot that I would get, and it didn't really matter to me either. After a few weeks of visiting, I finally came home with an 11 year old Umbrella Cockatoo (Krystal) whom I have lived with now for two years. It doesn't seem like it's been two years already and within these short two years, he (Yes, he has a girl's name) has become rather spoiled. I did a lot of research on cockatoos, being as how I had never had one and most of the things that I had read prior to adopting him almost had me talked out of it because I was so discouraged that I didn't think I would be able to provide a "suitable" environment that a cockatoo (or any bird, really) could be happy in. Apparently I was wrong. My U2 is a big spoiled baby.

Recently, as in less than two weeks ago, we acquired a 7 year old Blue front Amazon (Sammy), which I know almost nothing about. The lady literally gave him to us, cage, food and all. So, now I'm trying to find out what I can about Amazons. So far, he lets me pet him. He hasn't really bitten anyone. He won't come off of his cage. He comes in and out on his own but he won't come off of it. He always has either at least one foot or a beak on it at all times. And good Lord is he quiet. I told someone recently that he makes about as much noise as a table lamp. He talks if someone walks up to his cage. He'll sit there and talk to you for as long as you stand there and talk to him. But other than that, he's really quiet.

I'll be looking around here and reading what I can whenever I have a minute. Any helpful information or advice is definitely welcome.

I have an umbrella cockatoo named lily, who i privately adopted. and i hope to one day foster an amazon, they are wonderful birds. welcome to the forum!

[Pajarita]

Congratulations on your new friend and welcome to the forum. Blue Fronted Amazons (BFA) are on the hot list and males can be quite aggressive when hormonal so it doesn't do to keep them producing sexual hormones all year round (this is never healthy but some people gets away with doing with certain species but you can't with male amazons). Amazons are not known screamers, they would rather sing and talk than scream. BFAs do have a distinctive call they usually do in the morning and evening (it's like a HAAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAA!) and a semi-annoyed vocalization (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!), they also 'click' but not as much as other species (like Yellow Naped that do it all the time when annoyed). In my personal experience, all amazons are great eaters of fresh food so, even if he is on a bad diet, it should not be a problem to switch him (I transitioned eleven amazons and they were all easy) and the main thing you need to take in consideration is that they cannot eat a lot of protein (and that means less than a quarter cup -measured- of mostly cereal grain seed mix) or they end up with liver and kidney issues so, if you feed pellets, be advised that you will never know the amount of protein you are feeding as none of the manufacturers lists an actual amount on their labels.

Aside from that, amazons are easy birds. They are independent, not overly destructive (they do like to chew wood, though), and able to entertain themselves. They are especially good if you are looking for a bird to get along with another bird that likes cuddling (like cockatoos do) because, although they like to ride your shoulder, they don't usually like their bodies touched and a scratch on the head, neck, cheeks and chin is, usually, the most you can do with them.

I have a male (Blue Grinch, wild caught, male, ex breeder) and a female (Naida, female, 29 + years old). It took me a couple of years to get the male to stop attacking but he is fine now. He's not people friendly and he will never be but he no longer attacks anybody who walks into the birdroom and he allows me to clean and feed around him without reacting so I am quite satisfied with the situation. The female was 24 when she came to me and was given up because of aggression to her previous owner's new wife and son but, in truth, I think it was more a matter of not knowing about parrots in general and misunderstanding her in particular more than anything else because she is the gentlest, sweetest thing which greets me with a soft "Hi, Nate" (her name used to be Nathan) and loves to ride my shoulder and very carefully preen my hair and cheeks.

I find BFAs to be particularly beautiful amazons with their vivid, showy colors and very easy birds to care for as long as they are kept from getting overly hormonal and on a good fresh food diet.

[JayBird]

Thanks for the replies

Sammy eats anything we give him. I haven't seen him turn down any food yet. The U2, on the other hand, is very picky. He won't eat most things, but I keep trying. It took me a few months to get him to eat bananas.

Amazons are apparently prone to obesity, and I can definitely see why; like I said, he eats anything you give him. And then he just sits on top of his cage all day so he isn't getting much exercise. My U2 runs all over the house, chases things and bounces all day. So, there's a big difference there. Eventually, he will need a suitable travel cage since my grandmother lives three hours away and we take the U2 with us every time we go. We also like taking the U2 to the parrot refuge to visit now and again too. The lady who gave us the Amazon never took him anywhere other than to the vet. So the cage that she brought him to my house in is a small parakeet cage. It's fine for short trips, but I wouldn't want him staying in it for long periods of time. The food that she had been feeding him, she said she got from a pet store. I might see if I can't find it while looking for a travel cage for him.

I've been told that Amazons have/produce a very distinctive smell, but I don't know what this smell is and I haven't found anything about it anywhere either. When Sammy was brought to us, his whole cage had (and still has) a smell to it. It needs to be cleaned really well since it looks like it hasn't been in a while and there's bits of dried food and whatnot stuck all over it. The only way that I can think to describe this smell is to say that is smells sort of like urine. It's definitely not a smell that I'm used to. It reminds me a lot of ferrets; they have very distinctive smells about them too and you can't wash it off. This smell is sort of similar but not the same. I just don't know if it's coming from him or if the cage just needs to be washed off.

I can walk up to Sammy's cage and he runs up to the front of it and starts clucking like a chicken. He sticks his foot out, lets me pet him and even lets me pet his back. He'll just about let me pet him for as long as I want to stand there. He won't let anyone else and whenever someone else walks up to his cage, he goes and sits on the back of it. We've had him almost two weeks and he hasn't bitten anyone. He does like to chew on my fingers and he growls when he does this, it seems mostly at night. I have to just about wrestle with him to get my fingers back but he doesn't hurt me.

Something else that I haven't been able to find out is how dusty Amazons are or IF they are. Cockatoos are known as being "Powder birds" because of the dust that they produce. They say not to cover them up at night because they can choke on their own dust. The only time that I'll cover Krystal's cage is when he's in his travel cage and he sleeps upstairs in my bedroom at night, and even then, the back of it is left almost completely open. The reason I do this is because my brother's kids are here every other weekend and they sleep in his room. He sleeps with me in my room and I cover his cage mostly for me, in case I end up having to get up during the night, that way I won't disturb him and he won't see me up and think, "Oh good! You're up! It's playtime!" at 4:00am. And also when we spend the night at my grandmother's house because he sleeps in his travel cage in the same room as me there too.

We're hoping to be able to move Sammy into Krystal's room to sleep at night by Thanksgiving, which means that when the kids are here, he will also probably be sleeping in my room with me and Krystal. If that happens, I will probably be covering his cage at night too.

[Wolf]

Stay away from petting the back, I know it seems like a natural place to pet but, in a bird it is an erogenous zone and you don't need to stimulate them sexually. An amazon is not a dust or powder bird, but they tend to have a smell similar to flowers. You can smell it on the bird but not from its cage.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome JayBird. And kudos for giving homes to two birds in need!

[JayBird]

The smell around Sammy's cage (and on him too) is definitely not that of flowers. Flowers, I can handle. This smell reminds me more of ferret and urine than anything else. The lady that gave him to us has dogs. I don't know if they might have had a habit of peeing on the cage or if the bits of old food and who-knows-what else that's stuck all over it is what's causing it to smell like it does. So, with this being said, I'm guessing that the entire cage probably just needs to be taken outside and given a good washing. Now to figure out how to get him to come off of it. The odd thing that I've noticed though is that I can pet him and the smell doesn't come off onto me like it does with dogs (pet a dog that stinks and you're going to stink too). Pet an odd smelling Sammy and you're still going to smell normal, apparently.

[Wolf]

I think that the cage odor is overpowering the birds own natural smell as it isn't a strong smell. If you can't get him off of the cage to clean it outside, you will have to clean it where you have it , inside.

[Pajarita]

Flowers? LOL - I don't know about that but, although it's not an unpleasant smell (some people claim to love it but then, I love the smell of benzene -LOL), we (people back home) think of it as a 'dirty parrot smell' and, with the exception of the dust birds and as far as I can tell, all parrots have it. And, no, they are not dust birds (Amazons are special in that they don't have a uropygial gland or dust).

Yes, amazons are perch potatoes and, as far as they are concerned, staying on a perch and eat all day long is what life is all about. This characteristic, plus the fact that people tend to free-feed the high protein food is what has given them the reputation of been prone to obesity and liver/kidney problems. But providing them with foraging opportunities, stuff to climb up, feeding them fresh food for breakfast and all day picking as well as a small, measured portion of the protein food for dinner takes care of that (I have six and none of them is fat).

I suggest you get him a good cage and power-wash the small one he's had and let it dry in the sun asap because, if it smells, there is something there that shouldn't be.