Blast from the past

[TinyTimneh]

Despite some reoccuring cases of MBS, I have come to a point in my life where I'm totally bird satisfied. Okay, yes, I still gush at lil baby greys and wonder but in reality, a flock of three is my limit. Heck, somedays I wish I didn't have to birdie schedule juggle and that I only had my grey.

Yet, here I am facing this dilemma.

For those of you familiar with my grey Jacko's story you'll know he lived in a house with an amazon parrot. Flash forward three years and that bird has suddenly made an appearance again. His beloved female owner has died and now her ex-husband wants me to take him.

Now, normally, I would have said no, despite my boundless love and patience, money and space are at a premium right now.

But my big bleeding heart goes out to this bird, who spends his days alone with some random people feeding him every couple days.

Here's the catch, he is not able to be handled whatsoever. The only person he tolerated was the woman who passed on a couple months ago. He bites with a vengeance and actually likes to sucker people into getting bit. As far as I know he's never been a parrot so to speak, alot like Jacko was when he came to me except he's not a plucker. All his aggression is not what frightens me, that in itself is no deterrent, it's the fact I don't know how he would integrate into my flock. I have two small birds, and I have figured out that Jacko is territorial so if they stay away and don't approach he ignores them. But this bird I don't know about. He's big enough to threaten the grey. He's also probably flighted (which would change in a hurry if he came to me).

I need some advice on this, can I make this work or should I maybe try to find somewhere who would take him in and help him? Without rehabilitation his future isn't bright. But I want to keep my flock safe. They are my priority.

Also, any tips on keeping small and big birds in the same house while giving all the same amount of out of cage time is greatly appreciated!

[Carolyn]

My heart goes out to you and I think you are just wonderful to even consider this. I do not have any experience with either rescue or re-homed birds but there are so many people here that will be able to give you good solid advice on how to handle a situation like you have.

 

Best of luck

 

Carolyn & Mika

[BaxtersMom]

I too suffer from MBS:whistle:  and totally understand your delima. I do think it's great that his aggressiveness does not deter you.  I can't help with the decision but can tell you how my flock acts with eachother.This is the order I got my flock..a gray, a conure, an eclectus and now a dyh amazon.  Believe it or not my conure (my smallest) is the bully of the bunch and will sometimes lunge at the bigger birds.:laugh: Most of the time all the bigger birds stay on their own cages. The conure flies freely and likes to visit all other other cages and rob them of their food.The eclectus would NOT have any part of this and growled at him from the start and the conure will not even attempt to go near his cage now because he learned the eclectus will not put up with it.The eclectus sometimes flies to find us and found that it is convenient to land on the amazons cage. The amazon doesn't really mind too much but if he lands too close he will walk towards him unhappily and the eclectus will walk a few steps to give him his space.Baxter lets the conure come to his cage, I think they are bonded buddies but every now and then if the conure gets an attitude my grey will put him in his place.  He will face him and look real big and the conure will leave;) The little conure will try and ambush the grey and the amazon by sneaking up from behind and lunging for their tail feathers and squaking but as soon as they turn around he is gone:laugh:  He has never actually conected with a tail feather that I know of, just tries real hard.  My little bird is the most aggressive out of the bunch.But all in all I have found that as long as the birds respect each others cages or space it hasn't been a problem for me.  I think all my bigger birds will protect their cages/territory to a point but none of them have went to another cage to start trouble and be aggressive that way.Mine all seem to know their boundries but will stand up for their cages.  When they are off their cages they usually don't get aggressive with each other.  Do you think the new one you are considering would go to the other birds areas and be aggressive towards them?  From my experience mine only get aggressive when someone invades their space and I think they have learned who they can mess with and who they can't. But do not think they are aggressive with each other for the most part. Only when necessary in their eyes;)

 

Good luck on your decision and please let us know what you decide.

[Tycos_mom]

I have 7 birds 4 of them small birds and I have no problem with them what so ever. I open all their cages at 8am and put them all to bed at 8pm all my birds are fully flighted. I took about a month mabie 2 for all of them to except each other as flock members and respect each others personal space. and one of those birds is a Amazon and she is the very best with all the birds she is very out going and friendly with them all. As long as you don't make a big deal about eventually all the birds wil except one another. There may be some jealousy at first but as time goes by as long as you keep the pecling order all the birds will learn their place within the flock.

[TinyTimneh]

Well first off to answer your question Baxtersmom I dunno if the amazon is actively mean towards other birds or just territorial, but I do know that he and Jacko didn't get along before.

Secondly, wow, Tycos_mom, you're pretty brave to let all the birdies out at once and everybody's full-flighted to boot. Aren't you worried anout the tiels? And for that matter the conure? I mean, squabbles between similar sized parrots are not really worrisome but your bigger birds could crush the little ones quite literally. But you sound so matter of fact when you talk about letting everyone out to play at the same time despite the big size differences. How do you do it? Don't you get worried sometimes that the little ones won't get away in time or something like that?

[Tycos_mom]

I can do it because my birds are a flock they except each other as members of the same flock so they don't even try to hurt each other. The respect each other personal space. None of my birds will go to another birds cage unless they are friends with that bird so theres never any confrontations between the little birds and the big birds. I don't know how it happened really I just know that none of my birds will hurt each other they are all one family.