Companion Parrots Care & Rescue

  Nellie came from a loving home but was unsocialised & aggresive towards me in particular. She was a little malnurished & underweight & had started to chew out her chest feathers. We radically improved her diet which she accepted without enthusiasm- Nellie is a complete nut addict! I took charge of cleaning & feeding daily, she would growl & hiss & threaten to bite which I completley ignored. I wouls sit on the floo near her cage & talk quietly to her, slowly gaining her acceptance. Nellie would come out of cage & sit on the top every day.  After areound a month she stopped growling so I started clicker training with her in the cage. Soon we were traiig out of the age. Within 6 months Nellie would step up for me willingly.We have really gone far in a year & Nellie now happily wears a harness & enjoys freedom in the sun, she will do almost anything I ask of her & we have a very deep, important bond that means the world to both of us, Nellies life is so much better now she doesnt fear people, her experiences wide ranging. Nellie will work alongside me to educate & inform & she has found life can be full of love & fun.Nellies special friend is Cheeko a male Timneh African Grey & they love to hang out & play in the Greys room.

Nellie is very intelligent but she hadn't had the input to help her reach her potential,she isnt a big talker but she has started to try out new words,she will shout our dogs name & shouts "no" when any of the other birds are screaming, she offers kisses to everyone including our other birds.Nellie doesnt like small children & we are working on this. Nellie loves being out wearing her harness & this has helped her confidence massively,Every new experience outside, no matter how small enriches her day & builds her confidence. I feel very proud when I take Nellie out, she sits on my shoulder which is where she feels most secure outside, when people want to interact with her she will come sit on my hand & allow a head tickle. Nellie is learning to come to me on comand & she is doing well. A bird trained to come on command is easier to work with, you can immediatly get them out of any situation without a big fuss & they are more likely to come back to you in the event of them escaping. We are currently introducing Nellie & Bert to each other, they are both a little nervous at the moment but have shown no aggression. We hope Nellie & Bert will one day work together. Nellie has learned to forage very well & this has helped improve her diet, if you give her a healthy treat she wont eat it, if you hide it & she finds it she will eat it- thats why I say never give up trying to feed healthy food- just find a way to help the bird choose to eat it!

Nellie is female & as such she lays eggs. It can be quite a scary experience for new owners when they find an egg in your parrots cage & I get a lot of questions regarding Greys & egg laying. Here is what we do,

When Nellie lays her 1 egg a year it is always around the same time of year so we are prepared for it. We give Nellie peace & quiet & allow her to sit her egg until she has had enough, she has sat an egg for the full 28 days but always cracks the egg herself on the 28th day. I keep her cage clean as normal & up her calcium intake, I still cuddle & interact with her but ear to her cage so she ca return to her egg when she wants to. I find allowing this natural behaviour helps Nellie through her hormonal cycle & stops over-laying which happens if you remove the egg. I havent had a problem with rotten eggs but fake eggs are avaialable.

Alfie is an Orange Winged Amazon parrot who came to us in excellent health, with a large cage & lots of toys. He had already had several homes & his latest owner soon realised she was very allergic to Alfie. The reason Alfie age 6 had not found a permanent home was his excessive screaming problems. Parrots need to vocalise & this should never be questioned as their right but Alfie was screaming almost all day, every day at a deafing level, he was so hyperative & the sreaming was a repetetive leared behaviour. At some point Alfie had learned that the sreaming either helped to achieve or avoid things. Living with a screaming parrot is hard & its in no way productive to the birds well being. Alfie was put on a much more nutritional diet & given lots of foraging opportunities, he has a large playing area with ropes to climb, things to chew, food to find. The next step was to give Alfie a solid routine to reduce his stress, Regular productive interaction using clicker training all supported his care plan. All of this reduced the screamig only a little but it improved his general life style & well being & his bond with his carers started to grow.He will allow a head tickle but becomes aggressive easily & doesnt really trust us yet 100% ,it takes time & patience to earn a parrots trust. We completly ignore the screaming, yes it very hard & no one can give in.We would either leave the room or simply not give him any reaction at all , no eye contact.We are at the stage now where screaming still happen but they are shorter, no more that a minute or two & dont happen as often, maybe twice a day. This is a HUGE improvement, Alfie is more active & engaged in i natural behaviour, he is less stressed & so are we!

 Living with a screaming parrot-

The main reason owners give up their parrot is the noise level. If a parrot is loudly whistling, shouting, singing, talking, mimicing noises or using natural calls then you dont have a problem- you simply have a parrot who is communicating as he should.-There is NO SUCH THING AS A QUIET PARROT-

However if your bird is screaming repetativly & in a distressed "warning" manner that is a different thing. People have been evicted, split up with partners & resorted to living with it. Others have attacked the bird.Many just sell it or give it away.

The problem is you need to understand WHY he is screaming, he wont do it if it serves no purpose. When he screams do you run to the cage & give him attention? Do you call his name to quiet him? Do you shout at him?Any of the above will help make the screaming worse. If you are struggling to sane with your screming companion, contact me via e-mail & I will run through some simple steps to help reduce to sreaming & help you regain control. I do understand how frustrating it is  but You can work through it with love & patience.

Rosie is a female Rose Breasted Cockatoo commonly known as a Galah. Rosie has a story which is hard to tell. When Rosie arrived with us one evening she was in a terrible state, she was bone thin,she had a wound the full length of her underside, her wings were full of lumps & bumps & her legs are splayed. Rosie was rushed to our vet & diagnosed with severe malnutrition & Metabolic Bone Disease. Her diet had been so bad for her, she had lacked calcium & many of the nutrients essential to her well being.She had been fed a basic parrot seed mix you buy at the pet shop. Rosie was so weak we neede to give her water every hour & baby handrearing food every 4 hours. Within 2 weeks of this 24 hour supportive care she started to pick up. Rosie began to eat & drink by herself. In her past home she was caged & because of her disabilities she cant perch or clim very well, her balance is terrible & she had repeatedly fallen & injured her fragile wings.Rosies wings are far better now, her legs are getting stronger ,all of her wounds healed well & she finally started to put o weight slowly. Rosie is a determined, trusting, lovable little girl with an amazing charater & she touches everyones heart with her sweet nature , especially with small children. Rosie is a Cockatoo which means by nature she  needs full time attention & she is very loud at times. Rosie & all her carers have a very special bond , we nursed her night after night & you become so attatched. Rosie has a large adapted area where she can independantly move around, perch on very low perches & she is safe at all times. Rosie opened our eyes to the true meaning of the word Rescue.

Below is a pic of Rosie when she first arrived & was really sick. She was too weak to move . Rosie was terrified to alone & would go balistic if we left her for even a minute so we carries her around the house in that little box , trying to keep her calm & settled, I changed her bedding many, many times a day to keep her clean. Its no wonder we have the bond we do. Today she doesnt mind being alone, Rosie dictates when she wants to go to bed , come with me , be served her evenig meal! She cant do much for herself but she got us trained well.At night Rosie chooses to sleep in a padded (pink) large cat carrier. She seems to feel safe in her bed & never poops in there, she does do a "big poop" in the morning after shouting for us to get her out of bed.She is so intelligent.

Owning a Cockatoo of any species is a huge challenge-even to experieced owners.I DO NOT recomend that you own a Cockatoo. They need constant attention, they easily become aggresive & can cause severe injury. Cockatoos are so loud- unless you have heard one up close going full belt you would not believe it- they can maintain that level of noise for many hours a day. People have been evicted due to noise complaints with Cockatoos.They can self mutilate severely, so severly that they rip at their own chest & need to wear metal breast plates. Children have lost fingers & needed plastic facial surgery after a supposedly "tame" Cockatoo turned nasty in a moment. They are powerful birds with large beaks & need to handled with care in an appropriate way by a confident handler. I have worked with birds for many years & it takes time to grow confidence with large, unpredictable birds, I have been badly bitten & believe me it hurts. Confidence comes with experience & I would never allow an unexperienced person to ever handle one my Cockatoos.

Bert is a Mealy Amazon aged 7. Mealy Amazons are far larger than other Amazons & tend to be more laidback. Bert came to us in excellent health despite a rather unusual problem- Bert is allergic to seeds.- His previous vet had diagnosed the problem when Bert suffered an allergic reaction.Berts previous owners had taken excellent care of him & adapted his diet to egg food & lots of fresh veggies, fruit & healthy treats.We all hoped that perhaps Bert & Alfie would build a friendship over time & we have began to introduce them slowly & a postive way for short periods of time, the early signs are good, Alfie is as always over boustrous & bossy but Bert doesnt seem to mind too much & lets Alfie know when he has had enough! They are both learning to communicate in bird language now & realise they are not the only one in the world, its a scary, exciting time to see them interact & heart warming to see them with other birds all needing company.Bert is a dancing, whistling superstar & we all fell in love with him immediatly.