busere

Thought I'd add a picture of our 9 year old son and our 3 month old Blue Front Amazon (BFA), Cosmo...and buy the way...Cosmo chose our son. The funny thing is, our son isn't afraid of any of the other birds in our house, to include Rio our Red Lored Amazon (RLA); Lucky, our Indian Ringneck (Who can get very aggressive) and the above mentioned. But for some reason, he was afraid of Piper. Rodney <br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/08/05 18:45

The cage thing worked very well with Rio; however…one problem with this plane is…Now when it’s 7:30pm (Birdie Bed Time), the ear piercing screams start-up. The other night my wife and I were off by only one minute….SCREAM!!! It’s turned into, “I want to goto my cage NOW!” So I would suggest the long road of ignoring the behavior. It’s hard, but sometimes it needs to be done that way. It’s kinda like crate training a puppy, its real painful listening to the crying and whimpering for about the first two weeks, but the rewards in the end are awesome. Rodney B)<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/07/10 20:55

Welcome! You've come to the right place for the best Q&A on the World Wide Web. I've got more help here for my Amazon then anyother site out there! Have fun! Rodney B)

Thanks, LMG, Your first attempt sounds a lot like mine…but I stoped the attemts…however, Rio is now a year and four months old…maybe…I’ll get back to you later on how this goes and how many stitches the doctor had to give me. Rodney

Yeah…that whole harness thing is beyond me…I tried it with Rio…I don’t know if I can muster up the courage to try that again...I still have it, any sugestions on training Rio on a harness? Rodney <br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/07/10 03:37

Okay, there’s a few things to consider. Number one, it’s wings might need to be clipped. Number two: does she have access to enough toys to destroy? And number three, is it on a simple perch or a play-pin type stand? Amazons are very rambunctious birds and can be very destructive if not entertained to a large degree. Some of the things that I do, and I’ll try to get some pictures of this later, we make our own toys for Rio (our Red Lored Amazon). I went to Home Depot, bought a couple (untreated) 1 X 4’s eight feet long and cut them down into small blocks of all shapes and sizes…drilled holes in all of them in various locations, ran some natural fiber twine (rope) through the holes to make some cool shaped toys. This was a much cheaper venture then buying two to three $40-$50 toys every week. Just remember, UNTREATED WOOD and natural fiber rope or twine…you might have to go to a craft store to get the twine/rope – I did. Play-stands vs. Perches: Perches are great if you have a very calm older bird that would rather sit vice play. However, with an adolescent Amazon…good luck with that, it isn’t going to happen. Play-stands, Java Trees, larger play pins and so on have plenty of places to hang toys and fun stuff to keep an Amazons attention. And nothing, I mean NOTHING can replace good one-on-one face time playing with and training your bird. I spend at a minimum one hour with Rio to keep his awesome personality awesome. Rodney <br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/07/09 14:23

Hmmm…I thought that male Amazons were the nest builders? I ended that with a question mark, due to that I received that info second-hand.

Our family is a “Bird Family.” We are all bird people, to include our nine-year-old son. We have made the decision that we will have no more then one bird per person…as it is, each of our birds (and I must say that this is all luck) like some one different in our family (e.g. Piper’s favorite human is Nikki. Rio’s favorite human is me, and Lucky’s favorite human if our son.) Cool, hu? As for the vet bills…three is what we budgeted for, and we could actually afford four birds if we had to (Always willing to foster at least one small to medium rescue-bird, if needed) and we have the room for it as well. Fostering would be a family round table discussion and would have to be a unanimous vote. Currently we are having a big problem with Piper our Quaker, which I’ve already went into on another post which is involving rehoming…Piper goes into attack mode around our son, whom we recently adopted. We’ve already tried every trick in the book to get Piper on board, but nothing is working…don’t even ask the question that you are thinking of asking…we’ve already tried it. Back-story was needed to help all see our situation, incase you didn’t read my other related post under “Other birds”/”Children and Parrots.” However, this should not only be for those that are planning on having more then one bird, there are still so many that buy ONE bird that have no clue what they’re getting into. I am so happy that in our MISTAKE faze, we made our mistakes with a little bird vice a Macaw or an Umbrella Cockatoo. It was much easier to correct those mistakes with an Indian Ringneck...which has taken us about a year to fix all the bad habits that she picked up…but we’ve learned SO Much on how to retrain a bird…which is a whole different ballgame from initial training. The biggest problem that I see, is people not doing the research to learn themselves how to initially train their birds, their birds become aggressive, they want to get rid of their bird vice fix the issue…with Piper, he was doing wonderful until J (The child we adopted) came along…and Mom started giving more attention to J then Piper…Piper started despising J. And like I said, we gave it a chance, we tried to make it work…sorry, but it’s not working, it’s hard to fix a Quaker when it comes to jealousy…all Quaker owners can probably relate somewhat. All of that just to say…I agree with you, but it should go for new bird owners as well. Rodney

Daily baths have helped some, but there’s always at least on or two stray particles to get Rio fired-up…not sure what else to do except chuckle when it happens, as it is slightly funny.:laugh: One other thing…Rio plays very rough (not with us, but with her toys) and in her clumsiness, has broken all but two tail feathers off…What’s the best way to handle this one? Rodney<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/07/07 19:59

Spookyhurst, you are exactly right...why was BooBoo Bought in the first place. However, we can’t always see the future. We don’t know all the variables that will come to pass. We can try to control them as much as possible, but sometimes (most of the time) Murphy’s Law strikes. And when a child comes along, choices have to be made…even though they’re hard. And to say “Forget you, I’m keeping my bird!” are we really doing that for the bird…or are we doing that for ourselves? When the infant comes along, less attention can be given to the bird…babies take time…and so do birds. The perpetual two-year-old parrot can get very jealous of baby…and get very aggressive when they’re getting way less attention from their favorite person. Case and point…”Piper” our Quaker Parrot, that is in all out attack mode when J, the little boy we are adopting is around. The major difference…J can defend himself, an infant can’t.

As for infants...In the Navy we learn to do, what we call, Risk Assessment. We look at the risk of entering into a situation (e.g. having an infant and a medium to large parrot in the same house). The question we would have to ask is, “Is the gain worth the risk?” (e.g. Is the gain of having “Boo-Boo the Macaw” in our lives worth the possibility of injury to our infant?) When we start to think about the risk vs. the gain, you have to ask yourself, which is worse, the transitional stress of rehoming Boo-Boo or the transitional stress of rehoming Boo-Boo after he severally bit your infant or toddler? People have different levels of tolerance when it comes to risk. What’s acceptable risk to some, is not acceptable to others. These people are not at fault for rehoming their bird because of a coming child. They’re just not willing to take the risk of danger to their child…how is that wrong?

Before my wife and I started the adoption process, I would have agreed with you. When we started doing weekend visits, and J (The 9 year old little boy we're adopting) was introduced to our house, two of our birds accepted J with love after a couple of days...one has even attached herself to him. But Piper, our Quaker Parrot, has had the exact opposite reaction, and goes out of his way to go after J. This is a problem. We've been trying to work with Piper and J on the issue by trying "Birdie Rescues,” which works as long as my wife is not around. J took a couple very painful bites from Piper last weekend, and now he’s terrified of Piper. There are some things in life that are more important, and my child should not have to be afraid of ANYTHING in our home. As much as we love Piper (Quaker Parrot), our child comes first. Now, I know that saying this is going to get me cursed on this board…so be it. We have tried every trick and training method in the book now, but nothing is working…rehoming has become one of the only options left. Bringing a bird into a home that has children is one thing, bringing children into a home that already has birds (that are set in their ways) is another. Now, if you’re going to slam me for disagreeing with you and considering rehoming Piper…go ahead, beat away…I will still believe that children are more important then birds.

It’s been a while sense I posted. Last time I was here, we had just got Rio (our Red Lored Amazon) that had an upper respiratory infection before we got her home. We spent a lot of time and money at the vet’s office with Rio, getting her back to good health. This was a very…not so fun experience, but very educational about how badly birds are kept at (some) pet stores. HOWEVER, I thought I’d report that one year later, Rio is at the top of her rambunctious game! She’s still a little sweet-heart, but WOW does she have energy! I have one question, thought…How do you get a bird over the fear of dust particles floating in the air? (And no…I’m not joking) She freaks out anytime there’s a random dust particle floating around, which makes things interesting when she shakes herself down. She sends herself into a rage and tries to chase down and kill all the dust particles. It’s kind’a funny…and at the same time…not funny. What do I do about this one? Thanks, Rodney P.S. Here’s an up to date picture of Rio

Well...I like Quakers...they make oats :side: . Well, Piper has been a hand full, and they can turn into one person birds very very quick like during the hormonal season. But, if the other person is willing to take the pain to let the bird know that it's not going to get it's way with bitting...they can lear to respect the other person. Now, both people will not be able to "Play" with the Quaker, but they will be able to handle it. Here's a picture of Piper. Rodney <br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/20 00:30

Thanks, all...he..errr...she is a joy to have. The nice thing is, we had almost two months to bond with Rio before we brought him/her home. It made the transition stress on Rio much less. He's/she's addapted so much more quickly then our other two birds. B) Rodney P.S. One of these day's we'll have Rio sexed so we know if it's a he or a she. :whistle:

Ok...I messed that one up...here's the picture.

WooooooHooooo! :woohoo: Rio is home!! Thought I'd send a picture for you all to see. We wanted her stress levels down before we started snaping picturs. I wish I would of had this one for the tail back comp. Rodney<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/15 00:13

Hmmm...something that I always wondered about, but was to afraid to ask. Now I know. Thanks, Monique. Rodney

One of the things that really worries me, is the fact that our other two birds are the perfect picture of health. Piper and Lucky have been a God sent when it comes to hardyness. The only down side to this...not much experiance dealling with sick birds. I'm always afraid that if one of our birds get's sick, I'm going to freak out, which in turn will raise the stress level in the house, which will raise the birds stress, which is going to make them more sick!!!! OH NO!!! WHAT DO I DOOOO!!!!! Just Kidding...but that would be a visious circle to get into. Rodney Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/07 17:07 Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/07 17:08<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/07 17:09

Hi all, we have a Red Lored Amazon that is only 5 months old, and finaly done with baby food!! That was the good news, and now for the bad. We can't bring Rio home for a about a month or two. She has developed an upper-respatory infection. The store avian vet has placed her on medication for the next two weeks, and wants to keep an eye on her for a bit longer after that. I'm worried about her possibly developing bad (self-destructive) habbits during this time as well, due to the stress. I've noticed that some of her chest, tail and wing feathers have been half way bitten off...like she's clipping off part of individual feathers. I'm getting a little worried. Advice? Should we look into a diffrent bird? Should we stick it out with Rio, considering we haven't taken her home yet? How hard will it be to break the feather-chewing habbit if she keeps doing it when she's healthy? Help me please. :unsure: Rodney<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2007/09/07 14:16

I don't have a Sun Conure, but we have a Quaker and an Indian Ringneck. Piper and Lucky both used to get very loud and obnoxious to try and get attention. However, we started ignoring them when they get like that and go get them when they are less vocal or talking. Now, when they get excited they churp softly and do little happy dances. And when I say the word "apple" they really get's down and boogie! I can relate simply by the ear piercing screech of the smaller parrot varieties, it's not just Conures, Quakers and Indian Ringnecks can be very, very loud if they want. In the bird room/office, which is very close quarters, Piper's call can make your ears bleed (okay so that's a slight exaggeration, you get the point). Rodney

I just wish there were Amazon Forums as good as this :unsure: ...the only one I found, they want you to pay an yearly fee :pinch: Rodney

This thread discusses the Content article: He's Still Scared of Me Have you tried to use dowel rods as extensions of your hand to handle him? I'll take some pictures of me doing this with Piper tonight so you can see how it works. Rodney

:blink: SWEETHEART?!?!? I guess looks can be decieving. LOL! Well, now that his breeding season is overwith for the year, He's back to being my little buddy. but during..YEAKS! HE WAS A LITTLE GREEN CHICKEN-DEMON! And I got the scars to prove it. Rodney

Yeah...when we first got Piper, his wings were freshly clipped, and he only had enough power to make a safe decent from his play-pin to the floor. Now, two and a half years later, with freshly clipped wings, he can make a B-Line diagonally across the living room, even gaining a bit of altitude to the top branch of his Java Tree. He's gained a lot of power in his little wings...it's all the birdie aerobics he's been doing! :woohoo: Rodney