Stopping here to say hello

[BeatriceC]

Hi everybody!

I just wanted to introduce myself first. I found this forum and one other fairly recently when I was researching different parrot types while searching for a new bird. The forums proved extremely helpful, not just for information about the birds I was considering, but also for some issues we've had with our other birds. MrC, my other half, has had Goofy (yellow nape Amazon, 31) and Cookie (cockatiel, 25) forever. I'm the newcomer (living here for 2 years, and dating before that). I'd never been a bird owner before meeting MrC, so I've had a lot to learn.

We did decide to adopt a little 9 (ish) year old Senegal. He came home with us last night. He'd previously belonged to a man who could no longer care for him due to the health of his wife, and while he was very sad to let him go, I'm very happy to have him. He's a really sweet bird, and already showing he's happy to see me when I come in to take him out of his cage and interact with him.

We also used a lot of the advise we found here to help with the introduction of the new bird to the other birds. The Amazon has some behavior issues, so we were worried about that, but between the advise I found here and some other places (and a lot of it was here), the introductions actually went very well. All the birds are in their own cages in the same room, and nobody is showing any signs of aggression, which I'm happy with. I'm also excited to use some of the information I found on aggressive amazons and being the non-favorite person to help build my relationship with Goofy, who's very much MrC's bird.

I'm looking forward to learning even more!

[liz]

Welcome to the forum. I learned so much from this group and learn more daily.

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum ! I am so glad that we have already bee of benefit to you and your birds. While it appears to be going well for you, I really would advise that you place your new Senegal in quarantine for at least 30 days. This is a normal procedure that is used to protect both the new bird and the birds that you already have from the spread of disease. I know that it probably appears that your new bird is healthy and probably is, but it is not uncommon for them to be a carrier for a disease that is not currently affecting them, but that can still be spread to your other birds. Whenever a bird is placed in a new environment it is stressed as it does not actually handle change very well and it will for the lack of any other way to put it, will be on its best behavior for a period of time while it adjusts to the new place. If the bird has a disease that it is carrying this disease may become active due to this stress. It is always a good idea to make a vet appointment for any new bird and have a blood panel run and a wellness exam before the bird is placed in proximity to your other birds.

I just thought that I should give you a heads up about this and hope that it proves helpful to you and your birds. As an aside, we love pictures so would love to see your birds when you can post some pictures. Thanks.

[BeatriceC]

Thank you. We have them in separate rooms (but in eyesight of each other) right now, mostly to keep the amazon from getting too upset. They're about 50 feet apart with a door between the rooms that can close, and I've been making sure to wash hands after interacting one before interacting with another. Though me interacting with the amazon is mostly just talking to him from outside of his cage. Goofy is very fiercely MrC's bird and doesn't like me much at all. Sometimes he lets me pet him if he's in his cage, and I can get him to step up on a stick for me, but that's about it. After the new bird is settled in (a few months, I think, for Goofy's sake), I'm going to try some of the suggestions in the threads about being the non-favorite human. I've moved in with MrC about two years ago, and have been patiently trying to make friends ever since. I actually wish I'd found this site earlier. My instincts have been good (as in I haven't done anything wrong or bad), but there were a lot of things that I could have been doing to speed the process up. After two years, it's only been in the last couple months that I've been comfortable with the idea that I could care for Goofy if something happened to MrC and he had to be away for more than a few days.

[Pajarita]

Welcome, Bea, Goofy, new sennie and old tiel (we would appreciate knowing their names so we can refer to each personally so to speak). We will be more than happy to help out as much as we can with your making friends with Goofy as well as with the new sennie.

[BeatriceC]

Oops! Sorry, I thought I said their names. I'll also post some pictures and give a little background.

Goofy is the YNA. He's 31 years old. MrC has had him for almost 20 years. He'd belonged to MrC's BIL for years, and when he went through puberty, he decided he hated BIL. BIL was stubborn and tried to re-establish their bond, but it never worked. At some point, BIL had to move and couldn't take a noisy, ill-behaved parrot, so MrC took him. MrC isn't sure of the date, but he know it was shortly after his first wife passed away in 1998. Goofy is now fiercely bonded to MrC and generally well-behaved for MrC. He has some minor behavior problems in dealing with other people which got a little worse after I moved in with my teen boys. They're getting better, though he is a little overweight, which is in part because the boys got a little free with the treats for a time.



Cookie is about 25 years old. He's the cockatiel. MrC's late wife had gotten him plus two other 'tiels during the time when they were separated. That was in 1993. She was told they were about 2 at the time. The other two 'tiels have passed away. Cookie is still going strong, but he's not very active. He's still flighted, but in the last year, he's really not doing any flying. He'll hop off my or MrC's finger and fly to the top of his cage and sit there and stare at the wall. We say he's retired now.



The new sennie is named Leopold, or Leo for short. We don't know much about him yet. The man we got him from clearly loved him. His wife became very ill and between taking care of her and work, he didn't have a lot of time anymore. It was very obvious he didn't want to give up Leo, but he also wanted the best thing for his bird. MrC and I are home all day to give our birds attention. MrC is retired and I'm a full time mom and housewife. We have lots of time. Leo is definitely a smart little guy. He learned fast that I'm a sucker. Yesterday I went into the room he's in many times to take him out and interact with him. By the third or fourth time he was protesting loudly when I left. He likes the attention. His old human kept his wings clipped, but I'm going to let them grow back after I'm comfortable that he's settled in our home and routine, and I've had a chance form a bond with him so I can train him.



My dream is to get a macaw. I'm looking at an 18 month to two year plan. I want to be much more confident with birds in general, and much more knowledgeable before I do in order to give my future macaw the best life possible. The amount of work they require doesn't intimidate me. Until I moved in with MrC, I've always had Brazilian Mastiff dogs, which are an insane amount of work (I had quite a few when I was growing up, but they don't live long, 8 years on average...and my last one passed away a few months after I moved in with MrC. Since he's allergic to dogs, I didn't get another one after that.) I know I'm capable of giving the kind of attention and gentle but firm direction a large, stubborn bird requires, but I want to be a whole lot more expert before I bring one into my home. My plan involves doing more to train my own birds, as well as finding a place where I can volunteer in order to be able to work with more birds both for my own selfish purposes plus to help the birds.

[Wolf]

I would say that you have some fairly ambitious plans as far as birds go. I am not going to attempt to get you to curtail any of them but will say with a life expectancy of 30+ years for mini- macaws and 60 to 80 years for the larger macaws that I would hope that you have given some thought to what is going to happen with the birds when they outlive you, as a life of being constantly rehomed would be a terrible fate for these birds.

[BeatriceC]

I would say that you have some fairly ambitious plans as far as birds go. I am not going to attempt to get you to curtail any of them but will say with a life expectancy of 30+ years for mini- macaws and 60 to 80 years for the larger macaws that I would hope that you have given some thought to what is going to happen with the birds when they outlive you, as a life of being constantly rehomed would be a terrible fate for these birds.

Yes, that's why the desire for a Macaw is on a 18 month to 2 year plan, which gives me plenty of time to change my mind before I bring a bird home. I have a 14 year old son who's amazing with animals of all sorts. Seriously, this kid can get wild birds to step up on his fingers. Squirrels do the same thing, as do feral cats. I've never seen anything like it. He sits outside and talks to them with his hand out and they just come to him. He's talked a lot about taking care of any birds that are still alive after I die. He even told his girlfriend, upon introducing her to Goofy a few months ago that she'd better make friends with him because if they ever got married, she's going to be stuck with him after MrC and I die. I'm only 40 though (there's a huge age gap between me and MrC), so hopefully that won't be for a long time. Also, I have no intention of getting a baby. I'm interested in rescues both to give a bird a better life and also because of how long they live. That's another reason I want to volunteer at a bird rescue or sanctuary; to learn more about working with birds that come with issues.

[Georges mom]

Welcome to the forum. Everyone here are so helpful with all your questions and concerns. I rescued an old yellow naped amazon named George who is 60 yrs old. I have no experience with the large birds and turn to this forum all the time for help and I must add things are going great with him. I cannot believe how big of a personality he has and how intelligent they are. Good luck with them.

[Wolf]

As I said, it was not my intent to try to discourage you, just to try and ascertain if you had given any thought to their long lives, I figured that you probably had, but felt it better to bring it up and be sure.

Also I think that volunteering at bird sanctuaries and rescues is a great way to gain firsthand experience and knowledge of a wide variety of birds while helping to make their life a little better in the process. I often recommend this for new and inexperienced people interested in having a bird or more and as an alternative for those thinking of getting birds from breeders. I also think that it would prove to be a great thing for more experienced bird caregivers that already have birds of their own.