Why me?

[birdhouse]

I was just wondering why you picked your fid(s). What was it about that particular bunch of feathers that made you think, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life as his/her devoted servant!".

 

** EDIT ** I actually left out "grey" feathers deliberately because I meant this to be an equal opportunity thread. All stories about all fids of an stripe are most certainly welcome here!

Edited May 12, 2017 by birdhouse

[Acappella]

Well, Dorian belonged to the owner of a pet store that opened in town. They had his cage right in the centre of the store in a high traffic area. I met the owner when she joined the chapter of TOPS that I was leading. I started shopping in the store for my cat Jac and became fascinated by Dorian, the first parrot I had ever really been around. I started researching African greys, which is how I found this forum. I started to realize that he wasn't in a great situation where he was. People would poke things into his cage, and he would freeze as soon as someone came into the store. He was terrified of people, especially their hands. Overall, he was scared most of the time he was in there. Also, his water wasn't being changed very often, and neither was his food.

 

Well, his owner got breast cancer. Myself and another member of TOPS took over the store to keep it open while she got treatment. I started working with Dorian, getting him to let me put my hands inside his cage, cleaning his cage, changing his water etc... He started making mating noises for me (I figured out what he was doing here). By the time his owner came back to the store he wanted nothing to do with her. As far as he was concerned, she'd just vanished on him, right? She saw how he was interacting with me, but he was still her bird. Then she had another cancer scare. At that point she decided to close the store for good, and she offered to let me buy Dorian and his cage. I paid her $100 a month until he was paid off and he came home with me. That's the Reader's Digest version of how Dorian became my baby. This forum and the information I got here played a large part in bringing him home.

[neoow]

I worked in a pet store for a Saturday job whilst still at school and we had the occasional grey come through. Whilst they were never there for long I was fascinated. We also had an ekkie once- we took him in from another store from the same pet store chain who didn't look after him well enough. We worked with him, got him used to being handled and got him on the right foods and he made a massive improvement. He went to a nice family in the end. He was an awesome bird. I already had Alfie by that time otherwise I probably would have taken him in.

 

I did lots of reading, bought lots of books and decided that a grey was for me. I found a small family run pet store that was in the next town and went to visit them. They had two baby greys and a pionus. The said they had a male grey and a female grey but I'm not sure if they were correct or ever had them tested. I visited the shop a couple of times, placed a deposit on Alfie and took him home when he was ready to leave (they were still weaning him). I got him when he was 11 weeks old. He was still having some formula, fed from a spoon but was also eating seeds when I took him home. That was 14 years ago!

I almost ended up taking the Pionus too because he was so cuddly. As soon as he spotted you in the room he would come waddling over as fast as his little legs would carry him and bury himself in your arms. My mum fell in love with him haha.

[Ray P]

My story is not that long but, the wife and I had been looking at and for a grey for about two years.

We had seen many greys in that time frame and one day we stopped at a pet store that we dealt with for many years and they had just received a clutch of greys that were 9 weeks old.

Well we asked to see them and when our friend opened the cage this one grey came out on her own and run up my wife s arm to her shoulder and took a poop.

Well we put down a deposit and took her home at 16 weeks. I guess you can say it was love at first poop.

[Greywings]

Went to a parrot forum meet up at the home of a member who had been doing rescues for some time. We all chipped in to help clean cages, clean water bowls and feed out while enjoying the visit and Pookie and I hit it off right away. Hubby was not really on board but she ended up traveling back to Houston by car with us.

[SRSeedBurners]

Great thread. Hope other's chime in, I love reading how you got your birds.

 

 

Repeating what I've written here before but I got my first bird, a white-eyed conure I named Lester, when I was 18. Soon after I got my first African Grey, Odie. Shortening the story I got booted out by first wife and she took my birds who later ended up living with my Aunt, except the little conure. My Aunt still has Odie and someday I'm hoping I can take over her care again.

 

For about 10-15 years I've had an itch to get another bird. However all I could remember was the constant mess and wasn't sure I could deal with that again. Then one day my manager here at work told me he was getting a CAG to replace his Quaker that he was tired of (*#!@#$). That's all I needed to push me over the edge. We had been visiting a Caique named Spanky in a local pet store for a few months. I kept wanting to get him but just couldn't make myself do it. So after my manager started talking CAGs I started looking for a breeder and found one nearby (Spanky had been sold by this time). We went to visit and there was this naughty little CAG busy-body who later came to be know by 'GreycieMae'. She also had two clutch mates. One was a male which I wasn't interested in (who knows why). She also had a sister there which is the one I REALLY wanted. Her sister was SUPER friendly and just wanted to sit on me. However she was already sold and the breeder kept trying to talk me out of her anyway saying I wouldn't want a velcro bird. The breeder clearly didn't know me. GreycieMae wasn't a velcro bird at first but she is now - HAAAHAAHAA!!!

 

 

On the trip when we went to see GreycieMae for the first time we stopped at a "rescue" which was nothing more than a filthy disgusting animal hoarding situation and they had two birds, one was a little super scared Jardines. My wife fell in love with her in an instant. I tried to leave the place but my wife wanted that bird. That was Raven, the bird we lost a few months later to PDD. She really captured our hearts. I had to get another Jardines after her and that's how Rio came into our lives. He's a totally different bird but still has those Jardines traits and absolutely adores my wife, just like Raven did.

 

Now Toby, our Caique was that itch that I just had to scratch. He ended up being a back parking lot deal. I felt like I was buying drugs when we went to see him. Something shady about the people selling him and they would only deal in cash and only in the parking lot. However he's a great little bird albeit a ferocious little tyrant. He was clearly a baby when we got him as he grew out of his baby face.

 

Stevie our Cockatiel was a lonely little caged bird at a local bird fair. I made the mistake of taking my wife. She said we're getting that bird over there. I said no we're not. She said we're getting that bird over there. I said no we're not. She said I"M GETTING THAT BIRD OVER THERE. I said NO WERE NOT. We went home with that little bird over there.

 

Tinkerbell our Conure came to us by way of Murfchck my crack dealer right here at GF. Since my wife got that cockatiel she owed me a conure, that's just the way I saw it. She's been an absolute cutie-pie and I love her to bits.

Edited May 11, 2017 by SterlingSL

[Luvparrots]

I purchased my greys as babies. I have always loved birds and wanted a cockatoo that could talk. In my area (a small country town) there are not a lot of bird lovers. Greys were the parrots I found in the newspaper so went to see them. Ana Grey has always been a friendly loving angel. Sterling Gris came to us still wanting evening formula. Ana Grey would feed Sterling sometimes at first and Sterling Gris has always treated her as the boss although he is twice her size. He follows her lead always. Besides me the only person he trusts is the young man next door. Perhaps they have a bond because Jordan is 6'5"; a big guy just like Sterling Gris.

Edited May 16, 2017 by luvparrots

[Timbersmom]

My husband and I were thinking of getting a bird after our last son moved out. A bird for our "empty nest" we thought. To my embarrassment now, I knew nothing about greys (or any bird) and thought it would be like getting a cat or dog. We wanted one that would talk, and a friend said they had read AG's were good talkers. My son and daughter-in-law (newlyweds), had Timber. We had some limited interaction with him at that point. When Jamie got him, she was told she was his (even gender is debatable) was his second owner. Who knows. At any rate, Timber and Jamie's 6 year old daughter did not get along well. Jamie hadn't had much luck interacting with Timber, though she had previous parrot experience.

 

Since we were looking and Jamie thought Timber would be better away from her daughter we brought him home. Best move I've ever made, but I sure wish I'd done some research before I got him! For non-bird owners, let me tell you it is nothing like getting a dog or cat. This forum probably saved his life (and mine ha). I've learned so much here!

 

And, that's also why Timber calls me Jamie!

[birdhouse]

Look at this. I've been busy & I kinda forgot I even started the thread. Very nice!

 

Ray, who knew you were such a romantic!?!

[Kya]

I've always had birds, budgies as a child, and then a snow white cockatiel named Lilly during my first marriage. She lived to be about 15 years old, and I took her in her cage outside with me one day, and she had some sort of neurological episode and died right in front of me.

 

Fast forward to husband # 2, and he kept talking about wanting a bird, so we went to a local aviary and purchased two gorgeous cockatiels. We had them for 10 years and then when we immigrated from Canada to the US, we turned them over to some very good friends to keep from putting them through possible quarantine and the travel. They still have them both, 7 years later.

 

So, once we got settled in here, we started talking about getting a larger parrot. Initially, a cockatoo was what I wanted, but their personality was just too much, and we worried about dividing our time between our dogs and birds. As soon as word got out that we were looking, I started getting all kinds of calls with requests to take birds in - I do small scale dog rescue so everyone around decided I would be perfect for finding good homes for their birds they no longer wanted. I think we wound up with 11 budgies, 3 conures, and 2 cockatiels, but none of them were what I was looking for.

 

A lady contacted me about Sookie, our sun conure. She had her and an old grouchy Patagonian in a sun room / aviary, her husband didn't like the birds and wouldn't allow them in the main house. A tree had fallen on the roof of the sun room, and they were going to have to start some major reconstruction. She asked me to take Sookie, and I quickly fell in love with her little bull dog personality, so she is still here, but she still didn't quite fill the bill on a larger parrot. I was very intrigued by the greys, but never considered a macaw. I initially thought I wanted a baby, to finish hand raising, but I didn't want to have one shipped, and could not find any near by.

 

I was at work one day and the lady at the front desk called me to the window, and introduced me to one of our patients. She started telling me of her health problems and said she was looking for a good home for her parrot, since he was contributing to her health problems with his dust. But, she had to warn me, he was a plucker. It was Kya, we picked him up that evening, before she could change her mind. And that is when a CAG became the only parrot for my husband and myself. There is just something about them, I think it's more like everything about them.

 

A year later, we adopted Gracie Lou from a rescue. She was a pretty naked little thing, very timid and shy, and the owners of the rescue paired her up with me immediately because of all our success with Kya and plucking. The rest is history.

 

I love their intelligence and their silliness, and both of them found us when we were looking for them, so it was as if it was meant to be. Honestly, I would take in 2 more if I had the space for more large cages.

[Greywings]

Love your stories, all of them especially as all our flock members have been either rescues or surrenders.

[Talon]

For me..I bought Talon for my son who was 16 at the time & had been doing his research for 2 years. When I divorced his father, he gave me Talon as I spent more time with her, a decision he regrests now, but has since rescued his own cag.

 

Rikki my cag, was a rescue from a member on this forum.

 

Nilah, my amazon was bought on the spare of the moment at one of the biggest Bird Stores in the country, I brought my kids with me on my yearly trip to buy toys & they begged for her...of course I said no, but she immediately copied a sound I made to her...that was it..she was coming home with me...:0

[judygram]

I got Josey a year or two after I got my first parrot, my sun conure and I wanted a bigger bird. I did some research and decided to get a grey as they are quieter than conures and probably would talk, I have never looked back even though she has decided that she likes my hubby more than me.

[Brat Birds]

Love the stories.

My daughter and I went to a local bird fair which was featuring a presentation from a Cleveland rescue group. They were bringing along a few birds from the rescue so that people could get a feel for what was available. I wanted to go through them t adopt a TOO. Well there was also a breeder there and he had a baby grey. My daughter always wanted a grey so we went to see it. It had a runny nose, but we were assured that there was nothing serious wrong. So, out came the check book. AFTER the check had changed hands I was told he was still on hand feedings. we took him to the vet the next day - he had three different infections. So, in two days I learned how to hand feed and give a bird shots! But, love bloomed and he is almost 11 (I think). I will have to look that up! LOL

Edited May 16, 2017 by Brat Birds

[katana600]

Ah Miss Gilbert. Twenty five years ago I met my first African Grey in a Tulsa pet store. It was love at first sight. I couldn't afford him and I had two small children so it was for the best. I pined and pined over him and even drove to Rolla Missouri to look at babies being offered. I could not bear the thought of taking chances with a two day old hatchling with no experience. I resigned myself it was not meant to be. Then in 2006 as I started the process of emptying my nest vowing No More Dependents, EVER... my husband and grown daughters found a red bellied female in a pet shop. The sign said "Adoptions today!" Nope, nada, no way, no how, not, I repeat I am not going in that store. No! I mean it. I sat in the car alone, in the cold in December.. for a half hour as they texted and pleaded and cajoled. I stamped in there to say no, get out of here. And there in a bare cage, with no toys, no food, no water, being pooped upon by the birds in the cage stacked above her was the strangest, saddest creature I had ever seen. Her flight feathers has been so brutally cut that she only had little bones of her wings showing. She had buried her head in my husband's hand and was begging to go home. It was Christmas! The manager said "That's the most vicious vicious evil creature, you don't want it!" Of course that's when I desperately wanted her out of there. This was our first parrot, Java.

 

I knew nothing about parrots and found my way to Grey Forums after repeated searches for any information about poicephalus or any keywords. Your experience with greys taught me everything I needed to care for Java. She is an adorable little friend. Through a very long sad story involving the loss of two baby greys a member of this forum was preparing for a terminal illness and offered Gilbert. I really dug deep in my heart for five months not understanding the reason for rehoming but when another post came up saying it was serious and she needed to rehome this "bird with issues", I knew we were meant to be. It has been a long road to rehab but it has been good for both of us. I love Java and Miss Gilbert.

[LNCAG]

My Snickers had been returned to the breeder and was considered unadoptable -- he was like a permanent resident at breeder's. He was described as a biter, hated all people, etc.. The breeder wanted to sell me a baby CAG and used Snickers as an example of how well they could talk. Well, I wanted Snickers -- not some baby CAG I'd have to raise. My husband was against adopting Snickers and the breeder was very reluctant to let buy him. She basically made his adoption a trial period. I had never met Snickers before and was resigned my new parrot would simply be a talking but un-handleable parrot.

We ordered a Kings cage for Snicker and had to wait for it to arrive before we could pick up Snickers (obviously). When cage arrived, I stayed home completing cage assembly while my husband went to pick up Snickers. It took him forever to return -- but return he did. Bandaged. He said it took 3 people at the breeder's to get my Snickers into his carrier. My husband said the breeder wanted to cancel everything but my husband told her he'd never hear the end of it if he came home without my bird. Hubby was very dead set against the bird based on all that happened when he picked Snickers up (to be fair -- Snickers took a huge chunk out of his hand).

The breeder had advised my husband that (since Snickers bit if handled) we line up the door of the carrier to the door of the new cage -- and pray he walked into new cage.

He didn't.

I was never afraid of anything with feathers (yeah -- I realize how dumb that is now). But anyway, I reached in the carrier and said "step up" and he did. No biting! Today, I would see my immediate success with Snickers as a rescue scenario -- poor thing had been traumatized with lots of people removing him from his safe haven home there. Whereas I approached him with my bare hand -- not a perch aka stick -- and I suppose my voice must have conveyed I loved him already and didn't fear him. Anyway, Snickers took a chance on me. At that time, I didn't realize my luck with handling him was probably because it was a rescue scenario. I just knew I felt blessed and special. lol This was in 1997. I love my Snickers and have absolutely no regrets! I will say, he loves me a little too much sometimes -- he is quite intense.

[Acappella]

My husband was against adopting Snickers and the breeder was very reluctant to let buy him. My husband said the breeder wanted to cancel everything but my husband told her he'd never hear the end of it if he came home without my bird. Hubby was very dead set against the bird based on all that happened when he picked Snickers up (to be fair -- Snickers took a huge chunk out of his hand).

.

So, how do Snickers and your husband get along now?

[LNCAG]

My spouse has sadly passed now. But Snickers absolutely loathed him all those years after our adopting him. Whether that was Snickers remembering their first encounter or jealousy based, I guess I will never know. They say greys can become one-person parrots -- Snickers definitely is. Just remembering Snickers antics towards my late spouse actually brought a smile to my face -- Snickers could be a real jerk and I had forgotten that! lol

 

I also know Snickers was in a bad home before he was returned to the breeder's -- the former owners divorced and Snickers can recite bits of conversations/arguments from that early home. (Actually, he hasn't done that lately, thankfully!) Snickers is very afraid of objects -- I can't walk by him with so much as a shoe box or can of coffee in my hands without announcing I need to get by him, while walking slowly & baby-talking to him, and turning my body to stay between him and the 'scary object'. He was definitely damaged goods -- which made our connection all the more special to me.

 

Thanks for asking -- I do love my Snickers so much -- it was meant to be with us.