Rehoming some birds

[Pajarita]

This Friday I will be taking the budgies, tiels, quaker and two amazons (Pedro and Blue Grinch) to a rescue in Pennsylvania that also offers sanctuary for unadoptable birds. I have thought long and hard about this and I've reached the conclusion that, although it's not the best solution, it is the one that is available to me. I would have preferred they went to a place like Foster Parrots or The Oasis but they ask for thousands of dollars for each bird and I simply don't have that kind of money.

There are a couple of reasons why I am doing this:

1) I am going to be moving back home in a few years and, as I cannot take them all with me, I decided to take only medium to large species and only pairs to ensure they will have a companion bird. Thus, the tiels and budgies going away.

2) Pedro YNA hasn't been happy since Zeus stole Precie from him about two years after they came to live with me because he hasn't been able to rejoin the flock (Zeus doesn't want him anywhere near Precie) and had been bullying the old ladies (Mami YNA and Naida BFA) which stressed them out. Blue Grinch is going with him because he doesn't have a mate of its own and Pedro and him get along very well so they will have each other for company. Blue Grinch and him used to be friends, chill and preen each other but since Zeus took Precie as his mate, Blue wants to hang out with them all the time and poor Pedro has been on its own.

3) Sending Piquito was a real hard decision for me because she likes Nando Jenday and Nando likes her and I HATE separating them but she is handicapped and needs to be in a place where she can be let out all the time without the danger of a bigger, healthy bird attacking her - mind you, she is the one always starting! The bird doesn't realize she is handicapped and would take on any bird which looks at her a bit crooked!

This place is the best I found. It's a 501c3 run by a couple of ladies, has foster homes in three states (Pa, NJ, Del), two sanctuary rooms and they promised to feed them gloop as long as I send it to them. They were also one of the only two that agreed to take the little ones (some rescues don't take budgies or tiels any more).

[Navre]

I keep meaning to get down to Foster Parrots. I hope to volunteer there too, eventually. It's even further away from home than Lazickis is, though.

By "back home" do you mean South America?

[shiraartain]

How many keets and tiels are you sending over?

And it's good to hear that you found a decent place for them!

[liz]

Even though you found a good place for them it will still rip your heart out. I don't envy you.

Gimpy has not mixed in the flock. In the home before me he was picked on by the flock. That does not happen here but he still does not mix with the flock. I wish I could find someone who can care for him one on one or even with one more cockatiel.

Like the budgies, I want more for him than I can give.

[Wolf]

Please tell me more about Pedro. I know or think that you did once before, but to be certain please do so again.

[Pajarita]

Navre: Yes, Uruguay in South America.

Shira: 7 budgies and 6 tiels.

Liz: give it time, he might bond with a female next breeding season or get a male friend to hang out with... It hasn't been that long that you got him and it takes them up to two years to feel really comfortable in their new home.

Wolf: Pedro is a yellow nape wild-caught male that we know, for a fact, is, at least, 32 years old. He lived in the same household as Precie (female YN, also wild-caught and, at least, 34 years old) for 27 years until the owners (a handicapped/bedridden mother and daughter with learning disability) could no longer take care of them. They never interacted with one another and, although they claimed that the daughter could handle Pedro, I sincerely doubt it! Most likely, it was more a matter of her been able to put food and water in his cage without getting relentlessly attacked. They were given to a friend of mine in Pennsylvania who kept them for two years, allowed them out of cage time and to interact with one another but Pedro attacked her constantly (she admitted to me that she had tried to 'dominate' him which we all know doesn't work with amazons and which, obviously, had exactly the opposite effect in him) and Precie would nip her real hard and, as she is on blood thinners and has terrible back problems, she really could not handle them. So they came to me. At the beginning, he would attack me but, as time went by, he stopped and everything was fine for a bit more than a year and the little flock of six was doing good but then (I think it was the second breeding season after coming here) Zeus decided he wanted Precie and wooed her away from Pedro. Now, Pedro and Precie never had sex and he did not feed her in her beak (for what I could observe) so their bond was not that of two mates but they still had known each other for a long time and having had the opportunity to interact for a few years, he did not take it kindly to the fact that he was now a pariah (Blue Grinch, which was his friend before, decided he would rather hang out with Zeus and Precie than with him). Zeus continued preventing him from reaching Precie and Pedro, in his despondency, started bullying the old ladies (Naida and Mami -which mostly kept to themselves) scaring them away from the food plate they were supposed to share, pushing them off the perch they had chosen (they are always together), etc So I tried to prevent this and give the situation time to resolve on its own and caged the ladies when I was not in the birdroom. But the ladies were not happy, they were anxious because of his climbing all over their cage and his general nasty attitude toward them and started overpreening... And, no matter how long I waited and how much I tried to tweak things (I changed the position of the platforms and cages twice, I alternated who was going into the cage, I gave them separate boxes/food and water stations, etc), Pedro did not give up on his bullying so things were not really working out for him OR the ladies. Thus, me having to look for a place for him - although, in truth, I would have had to look for a place sooner or later because I am only taking a pair of each species back home with me and I was already making an exception with the amazons as I was planning on bringing Zeus and Precie as well as Naida and Mami but I just couldn't bring myself to think about rehoming the old ladies...

Poor Pedro is a nasty bird and no doubt about it! But it's not his fault as I think he must have been caught already a juvenile, if not a very young adult, because he doesn't know anything about hand-feeding and he spent years and years under inadequate care, most likely (nobody knew about good care back then), and, then, when he could have had a better life, my friend had the brilliant idea to 'dominate' him (which I don't know exactly what it implied because I was given no details but it cannot be good!). Then, when he finally finds a place where everything was working out for him, Zeus decides to rock the boat BIG TIME! And I think that kind of pushed the envelop too far for him because he has never been able to resign himself to the new 'arrangement' so we could work things out. He is a big, strong, handsome bird, a good eater and very smart because he understands a couple of commands ('Stay away!' -to stay on the side 'wall' of the cage so I can clean it through the door, put food, etc.- 'Go home!' -to go inside the cage- 'Be Nice!' - to stop bothering the ladies, etc) but that is about the only good things you can say about him... he is definitely not pet material, poor Pedro!

[Wolf]

How much time before he is going away do I have to think about this?
We did have this discussion before, I know, but I don't really worry about the pet potential. I do concern myself with my Lady's safety and whether or not I could provide what he needs to glean some happiness from his life. I also worry about what possible effect he would have on Mimi as she is the reason that I am asking these questions and even considering this.

[Pajarita]

Well, we have postponed the trip (it's two hours each way) until next week because I forgot that the Pope is in NY this Friday and in Philadelphia on Saturday so the roads are going to be impossible coming and going! So you have some time to think about it... And, yes, I hear you on your worries both on Pam AND Mimi's sakes but, unfortunately, I really cannot help you in how he would behave as I have no idea. He does well with me and doesn't even try to attack Robert or my daughter in the few occasions they have had to care for them in my stead but it did take time to achieve this... of course, he had come fresh from been 'dominated' so maybe his frame of mind is now different than it was when he first came here. And he did love Precie and was real good to her but, although he doesn't really attack the ladies, he is not nice to them. Personally, I think it's because he still wants Precie as a companion and Zeus never allows him to reach her (and I do mean NEVER -the bird seems to have eyes in the back of his neck and, as soon as Pedro starts slowly moving toward 'his' part of the room, he rushes to intercept him) so he takes his frustration out on them.

[Wolf]

I hear you and I knew that there would be some changes in his behavior since we last considered this and wanted to see what they were as they could be the deciding factor. I am also not looking for any guarantees as to how he might react, I know that is not only impossible to foresee but would be ludicrous to expect. I will broach this with my Lady as she keeps mentioning a mate for Mimi. Will get back to you as soon as I can on this.

[Wolf]

Spoke to my Lady and she said no. Thanks.