I'm ready !!!

[Toni]

I've bee doing research and I want to breed Amazons. I am now so much wanting birds and doing this for a hobby that I know I will enjoy for a lifetime. I'm choosing Amazon because of the research I've been doing and find they are the most parrot to have as a first starter parrot.Someone gave an analogy between Greys and Amazons They stated, That an African Grey is like some college intellect person while the Amazon is a street smart, life of the party person.

 

I want to make sure it was a parrot that someone can deal with and not find to be rehoming down the road.

With me having Alcazar I don't want to breed the African Greys I would probably end up keeping them all.I would be afraid that no one would understand the African Greys personality.

 

I done the research and I know if I have any questions down the road I know my family would help here.

[Nychsa]

Hi there Toni,

 

I bet you're going to fall in love with the Amazons too! :laugh: When I decided to get involved with parrots I was very torn between the Amazons and the Greys - that is until I visited the breeder and the little greys were all over me and the Amazons eyeballed me with suspicion! So, I figured my karma must be with the greys and that was that. But the Amazons are a hoot - funny as all get out!

[danmcq]

Hi Toni,

 

It's good that you have been doing a lot of research. I am not so sure that an Amazon is a good "First" Parrot. Normally a budgie, love bird or Conure is a good first parrot.

 

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Amazons are the most kept bird in rescues. many people do get them as a first bird and the next thing you know, they are in a rescue for years.

 

I noticed the huge numbers of Amazons in rescues when I was looking for my first Parrot. I decided not to get one due to the experience level they required to successfully adopt and have a good flock member for life. Thus, I chose Jake, my wild conure that gets a little closer each day. :-)

[Nychsa]

Wow Dan, do you have any sense as to why that is - re: the Amazons ending up in the rescues more than others? It seems Amazons are a bit easier to keep?

[danmcq]

The reason so many Amazons end up in rescues, is due to inexperienced Parrot owners not knowing how to deal with there personalities or their hormonal surges at around 5 years old. They become "nippy" and inflict enough pain and fear into their inexperienced owners that they either abuse them by leaving them in their cage and forgetting about them, moving them to rear rooms, basements, outside etc. The they end up in a rescue.

 

Here is a clip of a description of Amazons in general:

 

"Amazons are not dependent on their human companions. They're independent and capable of entertaining themselves. Both sexes of these species are talented talkers, because they are naturally verbal birds. In fact, these are large birds with large voices. Keep that in mind in case you're considering an Amazon. Amazon parrots have gained a reputation as nippy birds that bite without warning. Those who know them best learn to read their body language, and also learn not to try to handle an excited Amazon. Some warning signals are flashing eyes or a wide-spread tail and stiff movements. Setting strict limits for your Amazon is also helpful. These birds are intelligent and need guidance.

 

Since our companion birds cannot be neutered, most do exhibit some sexual behavior. Amazon parrots are famous for being "hormonal" in the spring, and it is at that time they are particularly difficult to handle. They are also vocal in these seasonal periods. These episodes are most severe when the bird is five to twelve years old. Hang in there, and you'll have many calmer years with a bird who will live to be fifty or more years old. Because of the discipline required to work with an Amazon parrot, and the subtlety involved in reading their "I'm gonna bite" behavior, this is not a good species to choose for families with children. "

 

Amazons are WONDEFUL companions and I have considered rescuing one many times. But, the key factor here, is it is NOT a first time Parrot owner bird. There are just too many things a person must know to properly interact with and care for a Parrot to take on an Amazon, Grey, Macaw etc. as a first Parrot. :-)

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Toni, i wish you well with your breeding programme, i know you will have fully researched every detail prior to embarking on this.From what i know of here in the UK many dont start with Amazons or Greys they tend to start with the smaller species,& then move on to the larger birds.

 

Interesting info there Dan,from what i know of ,the Toos are the one of the most frequently visitors to our rescue centres

[Zpyder]

You describe what happened to my Winston. He became nippy and aggressive and was moved to another room and never taken out of his cage.

 

Birds are put into breed catagories instead of personality catagories. Some personalities are difficult for the general public to deal with and those are the birds that end up in rescues, not because they are amazon, grey, macaw, ect. I have seen just about every kind of bird in a rescue because they became nippy, aggressive, hormonal, ect.

 

I think you should decide what your criteria of the person the bird will be living with and come up with a good contract to ensure your birds are well taken care of once they leave. Don't just sell to anyone and be wary of the first time bird owner.

[Dave007]

I agree with Dan about the many different aspects of breeding Amazons, especially about certain topics.

 

The most important is agression. Thare's about 17 to 20 types of Amazons that exist but there's usually only 7 or 8 types that are popular. The rest are simply next to impossible to get and some of thosesimply can't live in a pet environment.

 

The most aggressive one that's usually sought out is the Double Yellow Headed Amazon because of it's beauty. That type is also the most aggressive. The least aggressive would be the Yellow Naped Amazon. As far as warning signs concerning biting, even though they have them, they will wait until you're extremely close before showing those signs and will quickly bite while those warning signs are being displayed. A grey won't do that and after learning a grey's body language, it's a simple thing to just turn around and walk away As Dan said, horones are very obvious in older birds and an adult bird will get extremely nasty even if the bird is in the sexually 'aware stage as opposed to the sexually 'mature' stage as far as nastiness and biting goes. You can triple that nastiness when it's breeders that are being discussed.

Then you have the health problems. Amazons are more prone to internal health problems because when people can't cope with them, they usually wind up in a cage. When in the cage for long periods of time, they get obese as opposed to greys and other species. The obesity then works it's way down to internal problems of which they're more than one.

Then comes the time for having customers. The best Amazon to buy is a baby so you need to have potential customers because having a bunch of amazons around is just an accident waiting to happen.

In shelters, the amazon is actually the second most abundant. The all time leader of parrots in shelters is the cockatoo which have so many problems because people who get them have no idea what they're getting into. There's basically only 2 reasons that they're in those shelters--one is extreme noise--another is self mutilation because they need so much time out of the cage and constant physical handling--a grey can cope with being independent. A TOO is just the opposite--Another is the serious sneaky biting problems that occur. They don't show any warning about that and a bite from them is very serious.

Instead of Amazons, you might wanna think about parrots that can cope with communal living. But if it's amazons that you're focusing in on, yellow collared and yellow naped are the safest to deal with. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule about everything I said about Amazons but not concerning TOOS, especially the Lesser Sulpher Crested and Greater Sulpher Crested which are also sought after because of their colors.

[Toni]

Thats what I figure that they are more based on their personalities rathaer than breeds.Thats why I wont do African Greys.I have one. I have been doing the research alot.I heard they can be nippy but alot of websites say that they are great companions.Our pet stores here dont sell Amazons.The big parrots they sell are cockatoos and African Greys. I don't want to breed small birds.One is I dont like to deal w/ small birds.They get me bored. Two, I already have been doing my research on the Amazons. I dont want to waste my time on another reseach.

Dang I wont even marry anyone whose not Catholic cause I dont want to ruin for all I went to CCD for.....haha.. Weird huh? lol,,,,

[danmcq]

Well, good luck in your new venture as a breeder Toni. :-)

 

What species of Amazon are you going to breed?

[Nychsa]

I always thought the Blue Fronted Amazons are the easiest to get along with...

[Nychsa]

Toni, I can appreciate you wanting to stick by your decision - but I did want to make a comment re: little birds being "boring"... That certainly can't apply to conures! Their personalities are bigger than life! Jiggy, my conure, manages to wrap every guest we have around his little foot and he comes up with things that just keep you rolling!

 

Take today for example - I put fresh paper down on Bella's playtop. In addition, I'm trying to get her to play with a new rope toy so I tied paper towel strands all over it as she loves to shred paper towels, and I hung it on the side of one of her ladders.

 

Well, Jiggy thought this whole thing was a great jungle idea, and he started crawling underneath Bella's paper. But! Instead of just enjoying his paper hide out, he decided to engage in guerilla war fare and pop out from underneath the paper and nip Bella in the foot and duck back under again and make off! :laugh:

 

Needless to say she got furious with him, so when her beak got a little to close to his noggen, he ran to hide behind the new toy that she's still wary of, and won't get that close to it yet - and he knows it! :laugh:

 

When you ask him what he's doing, he does his "Jiggy dance" and says "keh, keh, keh, keh, keh" he'll fly over to me, sit on my shoulder and give me a HUGE gigantic kiss, pressing his little beak onto my face, and then he's back to terrorizing Bella!

 

My dear - that bird is certainly not boring!!! :laugh:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/07/06 21:28

[Toni]

awww sounds like hes not boring thats cool.

Dan I've been doing the research on the Yellow Naped and the Double Yellow Headed Amazons. Leaning towards more the Naped. I feel I'm ready to do this. Its not like Im going to breed tomarrow.I'm still tweeking things.I'm making sure I'm goin into this w/knowledge and not a just because its fun cause I know most of it will be work but a loving work to do.Its like when I done my research on the daycare.I didnt just jump into that.So croos your fingers my peepsters

[Toni]

cross....ops :whistle: