Hello

[Jhaynes1230]

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum and thought I'd take just a moment to introduce myself and Pepper, our Africa Red Bellied parrot. I've owned and tamed many parrots over the years, going back to when almost all available birds were wild-caught. This included a Moluccan Cockatoo, Double Yellow Head, Greenwinged Macaw, and a few others. Sadly, all of those birds are no longer with us.

After being without a bird for many years we recently acquired a 1 year old African Red Bellied parrot. I spent a great amount of time researching different species and decided the ARB was the perfect bird for US at this point (retired) in our lives. I was looking for a smaller, reasonably quiet parrot, but with good talking capabilities and thus far "Pepper" has lived up to that expectation. Although being a still young AFA banded hand fed bird, at one year old he hadn't received much one on one attention. He receives plenty of that now, though.

We are still working on some trust issues with him, but he is quickly adjusting to his new home. He has several phrases that he picked up from his previous owner and we are quickly adding to his vocabulary. We are also wanting him to be a flighted bird and he has learned to fly to my hand on command.

Thanks in advance for the help in this forum. I look forward to getting to know many of you.

Jeff

[Wolf]

I hate stories that end poorly and so am almost afraid to ask, but I want to know and am hoping that there will be something in the answers that will help other, possibly less experienced people with their birds and so I am asking what happened with the others.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Jeff and Pepper! I also have to admit that when people say things like "I used to have all these birds but have none now" it gives me a real bad feeling in my stomach so, please, tell us what happened to all these birds because two of the three species you mentioned live well into their 70's, and the other one into its 50's.

[Jhaynes1230]

OMG, I didn't mean to start a controversy on my very first post. My only reason for mentioning the other birds was to show that I had previous experience with several species. The last one I owned was over 30 years ago, though. Nothing tragic happened to any of them. Since you asked, however, the DYH went to an ex in a divorce, the Green Wing I purchased and tamed for someone else (keep in mind there ware very few birds bred here back then), the Moluccan had to be re-homed because it was extremely jealous of our first born and posed a threat to our baby. He was very closely bonded to my wife and I and it was very sad to let him go, but we found a very good home for him and he went to someone that loved him as much as we did. He attacked the baby more than once and we had to do something for the safety of our child.

As a child my family also had birds that I was around beginning at age two.

For all the reasons above I thought long and hard before obtaining another bird after 30 years. In fact, one of the reasons for choosing an ARB was at 62 I knew I wouldn't be around for some of the longer lived birds and probably won't out live this one, but let's hope I do.

I hope this helps your understanding and getting to know me a little better.

You live and learn and for many of the reasons above I would not recommend a parrot for most people. We have to think of the welfare of the birds and not our short term wants. They are a life long commitment and should be considered as such.

Jeff

[Pajarita]

Yes, indeed, there were hardly any parrots in the USA over 30 years ago. I started back in 92 and they were few and far between - and incredibly expensive!

[Jhaynes1230]

Yes, they were "incredibly expensive" back then. Especially, when you factor in inflation and the value of the dollar then. Hand fed babies were almost impossible to find and when you did they were almost cost prohibitive.

[Wolf]

Thank you for your reply as to the fates of your previous birds. For me it was very informative, and at least to some degree should help some people to be more aware of what they are doing when they choose to get a bird. It also told me a lot about you as a person in just a few sentences.
Unlike you and Pajarita, I did not grow up with birds and to be honest never considered having birds live with me. It took a small parrot showing up at my house cold and hungry, demanding to come in for this to change. That was about three years ago. While I still have a huge amount to learn, I have studied and learned a fair amount in this time considering that I knew absolutely nothing at all. It took me about two week to even figure out what species of parrot that came to my house. This was Kiki, my Senegal.

[Jhaynes1230]

Thanks Wolf. I do hope that clarified things for you and others. Also, my son had a similar experience as you in finding a cold and wet cockatiel that appeared on his doorstep several years ago. He has since become a bird lover. This is the same son that our Moluccan attacked as a baby. Funny how life goes round sometimes.

Jeff

[Wolf]

I am glad that the cockatiel found him as it would seem to be just the right thing to happen. As for the cockatoo, I am well aware of how they are so I too, would have done similar under the circumstances.
Sometimes we have a new person show up wanting a cockatoo because they hear about how cuddly they are, but they sometimes have a difficulty in hearing us when we bring up that they are also very jealous or that the very cuddlelyness that they are wanting is the birds biggest enemy to a long and happy life with them. Sometimes, because they are so inexperienced that they think that we are just trying to scare them off or think that we are better than them for some reason, when all we want is to share the truth about the different species of parrots with them. I don't know if I am saying this right, but I think you know what I mean.
Anyway, welcome to the forum I am glad you have made it here to share with us.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum. Did you put Pepper in your will?
I am 65 and fearful of leaving my birds. I have done the best I could with my life. I was a good daughter, a good wife, a good mother and back to being a good daughter when I cared for my mother. Even though I was a good mother my kids are still dysfunctional. I have set them up so they will survive when I am gone. I have no fear of death and am prepared to move on when my time comes EXCEPT that I don't want to leave my birds.
They are in my will.