I've also had three husbands but the third and current one is the best of them all [I upgraded
].
As to being old-fashioned, I did not mean that you were old-fashioned. What I meant was that there are certain concepts that we learn when we are young and even though we learned later in life that they were incorrect, one's mind keeps on using them as defaults and keeps on trying to 'fit' everything to them. One of those is the 'babies bond better than adults' when it comes to animals. I don't know what kind of an experience you had with rehomes... mine has always been very positive but it differs from one bird to another, some adore me [Zoey Senegal, Sophie CAG, Codee GCC], some love me [Mami and Naida Zon, Sweetpea Senegal], some like me a lot [Isis and Davy Redbelly, Linus Too], some tolerate me [Precie and Zeus Zon, Pablo Peachfront], some don't like me or anybody else [Paquita and Rajah Plet] - Cheeks is still too new to tell but he does go after my husband and not me so I guess that, out of the two, he tolerates me better even though he was raised by a man.
Now, the thing with rehomes is that, in a way, they are all birds that were neglected - and I am not talking about abuse or willful neglect but simply life happening. Take Cheeks, for example, this bird was deeply loved all his life but his owner got him when he was in high school and managed to keep a good quality of life for him while he went to college but he is now married and has a very demanding job so he was out of the house from 8 am to 10 pm and precisely because he loves this bird so much, he asked me to take him in. Zoey was a beloved pet but she ended up getting clipped and later kept in her cage for hours and hours because she hated her owner's wife and kept on attacking her, finally, the wife gave an ultimatum: it was her or the bird so I flew to California to pick her up. Codee was also loved but her owner got her, again, when she was in high school and, by the time she went to college and got herself a boyfriend and a part time job, poor Codee spent her days alone so she started biting even though she is the sweetest, sweetest bird! And I could go and on with the examples... My point here is that parrots, as smart as they are, really appreciate good care and are extremely pragmatic animals so, when one comes to a home where the quality of life is superior to what they were getting from their beloved owner, they pay back with the best they can give - whether this is adoration, love, appreciation/affection or simply trust, depends on the bird itself, the species and the circumstances. Of course that if the bird gets excellent care and love from infancy, it will love its owner to pieces, like Gaugan loves you, but it's not so much the fact that they grew up with the only owner they know, it's that they are getting good care and love. At least, that has been my experience.