Bought - Adopted - Rescued

[ladyraven]

frit & frat:

well as usual i was on the look out for a baby when these 2 older birds were brought to my attention & i agreed to let their carer bring them to me for a home visit, it was love at first sight. a month later & they came to live with me. their previous owner had moved to the usa with intentions of having the birds sent over & quarentined ect but she had an accident & spent all her money on health care & found herself unable to pay the travel & quarentine fee's, she was very upset to have to let them go but i have promised regular email updates on how they are doing. now me & the girls are working on getting them settled in which seems to involve lots of biting!  & ive just discovered 1 of them knows how to swear! 

[ukgrey]

i agree about buying a bird so young. I would be suspicious of any breeder who is willing to let a bird go so young. If they are willing to do this what else are they willing to overlook when breeding their birds? I strongly advise you think again

[matthewvogel3]

well origionally she was going to make me wait 3 to 4 months until i found out that my friend could finish hand feeding her so the she said she would give it to me at 3 weeks at the earliest. I've already went and saw the setup she has and the parent birds and they have always made good chicks.

[ladyraven]

if it was me breeding i wouldnt let the bird go until at least 12 weeks but prob not untill 16 weeks, no matter how good someone said they were at hand rearing, the hand rearing shouldnt even start till around 5 weeks & even then not complete hand rearing- still some weaning time with the parents, i would want to know i had done all in my power to breed a happy bird that wouldnt end up plucking at a later date through not knowing what natural is.
if it was me buying i'd refuse to buy from a breeder willing to let the bird go so young for pretty much the same reasons. for the birds sake be patient.
sorry if you dont like my opinion but you did ask for advice & im giving it. what will you do in 4 or 5 years time when the bird suddenly starts plucking & costing a fortune in vets fees? think about it sensibly.

[matthewvogel3]

yeah i din't think about that

[ladyraven]

i can be impatient when i want something too 
but sometimes we have to sit & think.
buy in haste repent at leisure- a very good saying i think

[ukgrey]

I'm staging with raven on this. Taking a bird that young is asking for future problems. Without wanting to insult, if your friend really is so experienced with hand rearing he wouldn't be encouraging you to take one so young. He's not really finishing off the weaning he's doing it from an extremely early age!

[sandisbirdsitting]

I know so many that have taken unweaned babies and the chick dies because the new owner does not know how to see a problem developing or has fed too hot or have punctured crops, choked the chick during feeding, temperature for baby too hot / cold, feeding incorrect mix (too thick, stale)  etc. etc.
None get a refund after the baby dies, as this is not a breeder problem it becomes the problem of the new owner (remember the baby leaves them healthy, you have no recourse).


Sandi   

[alicat]

i thought it was illegal to sell unweaned chicks in the uk?

[ladyraven]

i thought it was illegal to sell unweaned chicks in the uk?

i seem to have totally missed that point! duh i havent read any law books recently but im pretty sure it is illegal, i missed out all sandys points as well but then she knows a lot more than i do & lets face it im scatty lol

[matthewvogel3]

ive got another question how much attention each day do these birds require

[ladyraven]

lots! i let my birds out at 8am & dont usually put them back in untill 7pm, there are days that i cant do this but knowing they spend so much time out most of the time they dont mind the odd off day & im always talking & whistling to them giving treats toys ect.... they need a lot of time & attention or they will get bored & thats where problems start

[Pottermad]

We got Potter a few months ago from a lady (an aquaintence) who had been left him by her father who died. She was scared of birds but was doing her best for him. However, he rarely came out of his cage and had a poor diet. He only had one toy to play with and she felt awful because she did not know what to do. We took him and he's made soooooo much progress it's amazing. He's out all of the time we are in, he's in the living room with us so treated like a member of the family. He has a good diet (although the occasional treat). His feathers are now growing nicely and I think his wing muscles must be getting stronger, he flew a bit last night! I was really happy!

[sweeetnlowww]

great to hear that!!! 

[dark-ripper]

I got Echo through hearing about a family that didn't want her any more. They had bought her at 8 months old, and left her locked in a cage in their conservatory cause they got bitten by her. She picked up a lot of foul language from what I can only guess could of been a rocky relationship between the couple due to some of the things Echo used to scream when I first got her, not even I would say. It sounded like the couple has a couple of kids that they spoiled, no doubt one of the kids said they wanted a parrot and got one.
A friend of mine at work told me the story knowing of my long history with birds, he was a friend of the family, and I arranged to have to Echo dropped off at my house that day, when meeting the previous owners, they basically said they fed her and gave her water and left her in the conservatory all day, and had done for over 3 years. They didn't even seem bothered that she had plucked the majority of her feathers. The couple then said they wanted money for the cage as it had cost them £1800. Bargaining on £600, I got Echo settled in, she was terrified. Didn't make a noise if there was someone in the room, but as soon as you left she would be screaming and swearing.
After a month of lots of biting, and a couple of trips to the vets for echo and the doctors for me, she started to trust me. A Year down the line and we were inseparable.
She is now very social, plays lots of games with lots of people, still only lets me handle her though, and is weary of strangers. She is very obedient most of the time, and has very good vocal and communication skills. Her feathers grew back in no time. And she is one healthy happy bird.

I don't understand how people can just give up on animals like that.

I would like the thank everyone on this site too. You have helped me and Echo so much with advice, I have a wide knowledge of birds, previously owning many types, but a limited knowledge on parrots.  So thank you all