A woman in my area was planning to buy an
African grey, and we'd talked extensively on the phone about good local breeders, local
pet stores, what to look for, what to ask, etc., etc.. I enjoyed talking with Anne a great
deal -- she was trying to make an educated decision, and was carefully learning everything
she could before she bought her first parrot. This is really refreshing,
since most beginning parrot people (including myself when I got my first bird) seek help
only AFTER they've screwed up. (She also had a very funny black sense of humor which
didn't hurt either!)
Fruitless Search
However, when Anne contacted one of the better local aviculturists, she discovered to
her dismay that the lady had no more babies. There wouldn't be babies in the future,
either, since the lady had unfortunately burned out and was discontinuing her breeding
operation. After talking to Anne for a while, the (ex)breeder did comment that she had one
bird that needed a home -- a sweet little 1½ year old Congo grey named Timmy who had been
kept as a personal pet.
Anne remembered what she'd read and been
told by various sources --"You have to get a parrot as a young baby so it'll bond
to you" or worse yet, "You have to hand feed a parrot so it will bond to
you." Obviously, at eighteen months this individual was totally weaned and no
longer a young baby.
Old Wives Tales
The old wives' tales are rampant about parrots and bonding and most, from my
experience, are simply not true. So let's look at this stuff about bonding and hand
feeding, and bonding and young birds.
The fact is, hand feeding is a dangerous
process when done by a novice. This needs to be said over and over -- I don't think that
it can be said too much. In the 20 years I worked with avian veterinarians, I have seen
too many times how easy it is for an inexperienced hand feeder to do serious physical and
psychological damage to an unweaned parrot chick -- indeed, many parrot babies do not
survive the human's learning process.
Aviculturist Bobbi Brinker told me an amazing story the other day. Dr.
Branson Richie is the veterinary microbiologist who has made stupendous breakthroughs in
the field of avian virology, such as the tests for the Beak and Feather virus and the
polyoma virus, as well as the polyoma vaccine. However, he commented to Bobbi that
these achievements would pale in comparison to convincing people not to sell or buy
unweaned parrot chicks. Rather strong statement, don't you think?
Incredible Responsibilities…
The process of hand feeding a baby parrot is an extremely complex matter, with
tremendous potential for disaster. The training a novice hand feeder requires simply cannot
be covered in a couple of minutes prior to the purchase of an unweaned chick.
So why, you ask, is the inexperienced parrot buying public
so willing to take on that kind of incredible responsibility? From my own experience, they
aren't. In my VERY short career of working in a pet store, I was not comfortable
selling unweaned bappies,
but I was not in a position to change store
policy. Consequently, I could not refuse to sell an unweaned chick. However, I was
delighted to find I didn't have to -- once the possible dangers were clearly and
unemotionally explained, people quickly changed their minds about wanting to hand feed.
They were delighted to have experienced personnel finish off the process.
So if hand feeding is so potentially dangerous, why is it that so many
people are encouraged to take home an unweaned chick after minimal teaching? Simple,
really -- it has to do with "The Bottom Line." Hand feeding is incredibly labor
intensive. The sooner a parrot chick is sold, the higher the profit ratio for the store or
breeder. So it behooves the seller to convince the buyer that hand feeding is safe and
easy.
Does "Let the buyer beware" sound familiar, anyone?
Bonding, Garbage and Hogwash
The garbage about parrots only bonding to the person who hand feeds is simply that: GARBAGE.
As to the stuff about parrots only bonding as a baby, that's also hogwash. The subject of
bonding is a complex one, worthy of an article in itself. Suffice it to say, you do not
need to be the one holding the syringe to have a parrot learn to bond to you -- in the
long run, bappies don't care who is holding the syringe. For a parrot to bond to
you, you need to be the one that nurtures and teaches and protects... and the one the bird
learns to trust.
After all, people have kept parrots as pets for thousands of years, and
those birds were wild animals who were captured and tamed, NOT babies that were hand fed
by humans. Hand fed parrot chicks only appeared routinely in the pet trade about twenty
years ago. I've said this before and I'll say it again -- Do you actually think that no
human ever had a bonded relationship with a parrot prior to twenty years ago?
What About Older Birds?
So, what about giving an adolescent or adult parrot a chance? As always, there are
variables. For example, there is the apparently nice bird on consignment in a pet store?
This not a hard and fast rule, but I would suggest caution. From my own experience, most
parrots on consignment in pet stores have behavior problems. (Please, guys, before you
start writing letters -- please note the use of the word "most".) The
people in the store tell you a really sad story about how it is a wonderful bird, but the
owner MUST get rid of it. Reasons given generally include things like the owner is moving
or pregnant or "got a new job and doesn't have the time." In my opinion, this
makes no sense. After all, does a person put their kids up for adoption when they move, or
become pregnant with the next kid?
The REAL Reason
From my experience, when the bond between a parrot and a human is not strong, then any
major life change can become a good excuse for getting rid of a bird. These excuses
generally cover the fact that (whether the owners admit it to themselves or not), there is
a problem with the bird.
Now, that problem could be the humans, NOT
the bird's. Often, the beauty and potential talking ability of parrots will lead people to
an impulse buy, and unfortunately many pet stores do their best to capitalize on that.
Later, these people may decide they don't really like cohabiting with a parrot. After all,
parrots can be a real pain at times. You may have noticed that. So the bird goes up for
sale.
This is not because the parrot did anything wrong -- parrot's can't be
anything but parrots. So if a person with really sensitive hearing or an allergy to
feathers can't live with them, that is not the bird's fault.
Prefab Behavior Problems
However, many of the parrots on consignment in pet stores are there because they are
screamers, or because they are aggressive. Now that does NOT mean they will never make a
good pet, or that they don't deserve a chance -- far from it. But the subject of
rehabilitating parrots with behavior problems is not an issue I'm going to tangle here.
That should be done in a whole separate article. However, I will stick in a quote, here --
to give everyone a jolt of reality regarding some of these birds and some of the stores
that sell them. There is a pet store owner in my area who supposedly made the following
comment: "I love selling parrots, because I get to sell them over and over
and over….." Food for thought.
However…..
If the bird needing a home is a parrot who was raised by someone who values
socialization and behavioral limits, then as far as I am concerned, go for it! These
animals can make excellent pets, and they deserve every chance to prove it.
True, these birds are no longer babies and
may be more reserved at first. Bappies love just about everyone -- they would probably
love an ax murderer just as much as they would love you -- when they are bappies, anyway.
An older bird may take a little while to warm up to you -- but so what? No, we are not
talking about instant gratification, here -- we are actually talking about having to work
for something, just a little bit. But oh, the rewards!
Ann's Choice
So back to Ann and the choice she had to make… Having spoken with people like me,
she remembered being warned about the potential dangers of hand feeding. She had never
owned a parrot, and thought that would not be a great way to start. She decided that
getting an older bird was a great idea. So home she came with Timmy, the year and a half
old African grey. His breeder had an excellent reputation for nurturing and socializing
her chicks, and he had been her pet.
The Honeymoon or Break-In Period
When a parrot changes environment, often it also changes some behaviors. Its
established behavior patterns of the past were centered around the bird's territory. When
a parrot changes homes, then, there is a window in time during which it is settling in,
before it has established its new territory. During that time, everything is
neutral territory. That window is open for around 10-14 days. During that time, new rules
and behaviors are much more easily implemented. After that magic two weeks, the parrot has
reestablished old patterns in its new home.
People call me all the time about this
wonderful bird they found on consignment. They brought it home from the shop and the bird
was fabulous….for a couple of weeks. Then the parrot started biting/screaming/what
ever. They thought the bird had changed and didn't understand why. I would explain that in
reality, the bird had changed back.
Oddly enough, many sources of information about parrots tell a new
owner to leave the bird alone in the cage for the first couple of weeks, to let the animal
"settle in." In my opinion, this is exactly what the new owner DOES NOT want to
do. After all, the bird doesn't have its own agenda established, yet. Once that agenda is
established, it won't be impossible to change him -- it is rarely impossible to change a
parrot's behavior -- but it will be more difficult.
Ann and Timmy -- We Meet
Ann scheduled a consultation with me before the end of the first week of her new life
with Timmy. This was excellent timing -- it was before the window had closed, and before
she had made any serious mistakes. Timmy was already trying out some new behaviors that
were going to mean trouble. In an effort to control her new environment, Timmy had become
cage bound. She hadn't been out of the cage in three days and Ann was worried. Timmy would
scream and growl and throw herself around the cage on Ann's approach, and Ann was afraid
the little bird would hurt herself.
Following my usual pattern for
consultations, Ann and I sat on the couch in Timmy's room (what used to be the
living room) and I watched Timmy while Ann and I talked about the importance of bathing,
unfiltered light, rotating toys, diet, etc., etc., etc.. Timmy relaxed after a couple of
minutes and started beating up a toy in her cage. It was a very good sign that she relaxed
so quickly with a stranger in the room. This bird was going to be just fine.
The Training Begins
Then, much to her horror, I captured Timmy in a towel and removed her from her cage,
transferring her to the neutral territory and perch we had already set up. I proceeded to
teach Ann (and Timmy) all about what Layne Dicker called The Two Commandments For Parrots:
Thou shalt Up and Thou shalt Down. Ann really needed more training than
Timmy did, since she was new to the ways of these intelligent and manipulative creatures.
(Timmy had dealt with humans before!) However, she had common sense (something that is
very UNCOMMON these days) and she learned fast.
Timmy had already bitten her a couple of
times, so Ann was a tad beak shy. She would pull away when Timmy lunged. Timmy tried that
with me and I didn't react at all, so the bird stopped. No fun if it doesn't work, right?
So Ann and I talked about how it wasn't fun to be bitten. I pointed out that I'd never
heard of anyone dying from a parrot bite. I also pointed out that Timmy weighed a bit less
than a pound.
"That makes her smaller than a dressed down Cornish hen, doesn't
it, Ann?" She thought about that for a minute, then giggled.
"But SHE thinks she's bigger than that," she pointed out. I
agreed, and added that Timmy had convinced Ann of that, too. However, the reality was that
Timmy STILL weighed less than a pound. She laughed again, and approached the little bird
with more confidence. After all, the bird weighed less than a pound.
Follow-ups
Follow-ups are important to me. As a human trains a parrot (as opposed to visa versa),
questions and problems come up that need to be addressed. I also need to be sure that my
teaching was effective. So follow-ups are a indispensable and educational part of my work.
To encourage people to call back with updates, there is no additional charge for them --
except to the phone company if they are long distance. They are a essential part of the
process so they're included in the initial fee. When Ann called back, she and Timmy were
doing much better than she'd expected. I wasn't surprised, however -- I knew they would be
fine.
Conclusions…..
Timmy has boarded with me several times since then, and she has blossomed into one of
the sweetest parrots I know. Ann has done an excellent joy with her. Consequently, I
thoroughly enjoy it when Timmy stays here. Actually, I have to admit that I wouldn't mind
having this bird permanently -- and that is not a usual reaction for me. After all
these years of working with other people’s parrots, few of them really get under my
skin. (Actually, there is only one other parrot that I feel that way about -- another
African grey that was also adopted as an adult, interestingly enough.)
So the moral of the story is obvious. If
you are looking for a baby parrot but find a well recommended older bird instead, don't
simply walk away. Ann didn't, and she ended up with one of the most special birds I know.
There are some fabulous "older" birds out there that will make excellent
life long companions.
This article was first printed in THE PET BIRD REPORT, Issue #29.
Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with
parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, seminars, phone and in-home
consultations.
She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM -
9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz