Hello Everyone!

[bwkoble]

Friends,

 

This Friday, my family and I became the unexpected family for an older African Grey. We found it (I don't know sex yet so we will go with 'it' until I can get it to the vet!) in our backyard. My wife kept an eye on it while I ran down to the store to get a cage and food. After three hours of coaxing, I was finally able to catch it and bring it in the house before it got too cold! From the looks of its beak, claws (or lack thereof) and feathers, it has been on its own for a little bit. Pretty remarkable considering its wings are clipped and it cannot fly far. I checked all the classifieds, craigslist, and any forums along with scouring the neighborhood for an owner, but to no avail. After doing this over the weekend, my three daughters have asked me to keep it and after falling in love with the bird, I of course said yes. After a couple days of care, a constant climate, food, and fresh water, it is looking much better. I have an appointment with an exotic bird specialist on Wed to get a full checkup. It seems to only want seeds and I am trying to introduce pellets and fresh fruits and veggies (it likes to take them from me and then spit them to the bottom of the cage haha!). We are slowly bonding with it and hope that we will be able to teach it to 'step-up' so that we can begin to take it out of its cage. Hopefully the Vet appointment goes well on Wed. I welcome any and all comments and advice as we have never had birds before! Thanks for reading!

 

 

Brandon

[Jayd]

Thank you, please contact pet911, and Petfinders in your area, you might also wish to post in our Classifieds where your located and how to contact you, please remember were world wide.........you can also contact animal shelters, police stations, pet stores, please contact everyone you can.....Thanks Jay

Edited April 29, 2013 by Jayd

[Constantine]

what great luck!!! welcome..!!

[danmcq]

Could you post some photos of the grey? The lack of claws and feathers? Sounds like it has had one hell of a journey. I believe there are some very heartbroken owners of that grey looking desperately to find it. Post on craigslist, Parrot911 (search it too) http://www.911parrotalert.com/ also read the local classifieds etc. They may have even posted fliers on poles, in vets offices and maybe even in pet stores. I know you seem to really want to keep him, but please exhaust all avenues to find the owners if possible. I nkow you don't know this, but all us Parrot owners love them as our own birthed children. they are amazingly intelligent and live for up to 60 years. There are a ton of things ouneed to learn and know about haing such a tropical parrot in yoru care abot providing them withthe proper living environment, diet, lighting etc.

 

With that said, we will gladly help in answering any questions you have.

[Lady Pym]

Welcome ... glad you were able to rescue the bird. Hope things work out for all concerned. In the mean time, it is so kind of you to take care of him / her. If you do end up keeping the bird, you will have a lifetime of happiness I'm sure. ;-)

[bwkoble]

For those of you who would like an update, I have posted on parrot911 and had a couple calls but no luck finding this guys owner. It has been almost a week and I cannot find anyone who is looking for this guy (or gal). We are going to the Vet today to get a checkup. Ill post later tonight or tomorrow and let you all know what we find out. If I am reading his tag right, I believe he was born in 1999. I have had a great deal more success in feeding him fresh veggies and fruits (he has an affinity for carrots and any type of melon).

[judygram]

When you go to the vet have him scan him for a possible ID chip, some owners microchip their birds so if they are lost they can be identified by that chip. I know you are excited about having this grey but you must exhaust all possibilities of finding his owner for they must be devastated by his loss.

[Jayd]

Thank you, our Spock has been gone for over a year, we still check for him 3 or 4 times a day. Where are you located?

[Luvparrots]

Hi bwkoible, thank you for caring for this lost soul. As a believer in microchipping, please do have the vet check for one. My gang are each microchipped, well except my canary. It is my worst fear that one of my gang with take an adventure and not be able to get home. Looking forward to hearing more about your new friend.

[bwkoble]

I am in Indiana. I was planning on checking on the micro chipping at the Vet today. I have also ran out of luck trying to track down breeder by his tag. Believe me as a Marine and as a Pastor, I will not purposely steal someone's bird. I have checked every forum, classified list, and lost bird database I can find every day since we found him. I have also spent almost $500 of my own money to ensure he/she is comfortable and being well taken care of. I am not out to deceive people and am an honest and well-educated individual who could not possibly teach my three daughters the value of honesty and then turn around and deceive someone about this bird.

[Jayd]

Thank you for your help and please don't ever feel that way. Jayd

[Timbersmom]

I don't think any of us thought you were trying to steal anyone's bird or deceive anyone. As bird owners, the thought of our birds getting away from us or having harm come to them strikes terror in our hearts. That's why the responses were so passionate.

 

I think I can speak for most of the forum when I say thank you very much for taking such good care of this bird!

[bwkoble]

I appreciate the clarification. It is difficult to detect tone via a forum haha. The Vet said that the bird is very healthy. We got drops put in his eye that was hurt. She said it seemed to be healing nicely. The claws that were missing have apparently been missing for a long time. I will ensure smaller diameter perches, especially higher in his cage to allow him to grip better. After coming back from the Vet, I was able to transfer him into his new cage which I had set up before hand (its at least 2.5 times the size of the largest 'emergency' Parrot cage I could find Friday when I caught him). He has been exploring it the rest of the day. Although I have taken to calling it 'him', I did not opt for the bloodwork this time to determine gender. Pastors don't exactly make a whole lot of money and the little guy has extinguished my 'emergency fund' haha. We will continue to work on stepping up so that he can spend more time each day out of his cage. The transition from the store bought 'parrot food' to fresh food and pellets is going well and I think within the next week, I will have him completely switched over, saving the sunflower seeds (his personal favorite) for rewards.

[aw64]

arrrrh bless that is one lucky CAG to of found his/her way to such a carering home, be nice to see some pictures, maybe a sad owner out there somewhere but looks like you have covered every thing in trying to find them, as for emergency funds only ever expect them to belong to your new friend from now on, he/she seems to of settled well in short time, soon be time to buy loads of toys and play stand ect ect the list never ends.

[murfchck]

Welcome and thank you for all you are doing for this guy! He is very lucky to have found you!

[katana600]

On one hand, I do have a fear of losing a parrot and never knowing what happened. On the other, if I ever lost mine, I would hope someone just like you would find him. I do appreciate that you found our forum and joined us to learn as much as you can about your newfound friend. That is how most of us found this forum, by wanting to know more and how to do things better for these very special and exquisite companions. When he calms down and gets comfortable he may even tell you his name. Our boy came to us as a rehome and he knew his name is Gilbert. However, he persists in calling me LuLu and that isn't even close to my name. You will have some interesting stories to tell.

[bwkoble]

I am planning to continue to look for his owners. Its the right thing to do. But in the mean time, he is settling in quite nicely. Out of the blue today he started talking quite a bit! He has even begun to eat fruits and veggies that he originally spit out (like brocalli). He is still pretty mad at me for taking him to the vet, but allows my wife and kids to interact with him. He has quite the personality and we are really looking forward to seeing what other aspects of it he hasnt shown us yet.

[murfchck]

I would guess he will tell you his name soon! Gabby still calls my hubby (Pat) Howard. It makes me laugh every time we hear it so needless to say, i call him Howard sometimes too! Once he starts talking, you may learn alot about him and his life before.

[Timbersmom]

Timber stays mad for about four days after he goes to the vet. I can almost clock it! He will get over it. Glad to hear he is eating well and interacting with you all. That's a blessing!