November 10, 2009
August 19, 2009
Does My Bird Need to Breed?
Some believe their bird is unhappy and would be happier if it were allowed to breed. Some people get a mate for their bird and try this on their own, while others give/sell their parrots to breeders believing the bird will be happier if he had a mate and was allowed to breed. We get many birds at the rescue as the result of these types of pairings.
To understand the dynamics of bird breeding; Birds that are parent raise and kept wild are typically used in breeding as they have the natural instinct, drive and are parent taught the dynamics of breeding. Where pet birds are usually removed from their parents before their eyes are open and do not have the same natural drives and instincts. Now this does not mean that some don’t get hormonal urges, but these are usually seasonal and can be controlled somewhat with a few behaviour modifications.
What we have found is most pet birds, when placed into a breeding program are not very successful breeders. They don’t understand the dynamics, have a higher rate of killing their mates or being killed or having their beaks ripped off or other injuries(this is fairly common even with normal breeders but much higher in pet/breeding).
They usually don’t understand the physical aspects and typically don’t produce viable eggs . They also have a much higher rate of killing their own babies as they don’t understand the parenting aspect as they were not taught if they are able to produce viable eggs.
They have now reverted back to their wild nature to an extent where they don’t want to be handled by people and their homonal instincts are now much higher. The breeders encourage this by not handling them at all, not talking to them and no toys so they learn that the only thing left for them is to breed. They leave them strictly with a mate and breeding box for a number of years. They typically end up plucking themselves bald and/or get plucked by their mate from all the stress.
The majority of breeders once they realize that this particular bird will not successfully breed, usually try to sell them to someone again as a pet. Usually for a reduced price as they are now damaged goods and typically they sell them to someone without the knowledge or ability to care for it properly think they are getting a deal with the cheaper price. In some cases they go off to another unsuspecting breeder. They no longer want the burden or expenses for housing, feeding and space so they can make room for other breeders.
What is left of the bird? He no longer wants human interaction as it once did as it has now become fearful of humans and touch. It is usually badly plucked with little hope of regaining its feathers and now gets hormonal with more frequency. It is no longer a pet or breeder.
These birds are now very messed up. They are much harder to manage and typically end up in rescues. If they are lucky they will get an experienced behaviourist that may be able to help them to adjust to life with humans again. Otherwise they end up in a cage somewhere where they live a fearful life not wanting interaction, unloved and very stressed.
Presently we have 6 such birds at the rescue and we are finding our own frustration in trying to reintegrate them into a place that would be best suited to them. We do work towards behaviour modifications to help them re-adjust back to life with people. We just hope some peeople will read this and realize the long term results of wanting their parrot to breed.
July 7, 2009
A new reference letter
I HAVE MET THE BIRD WHISPERER!
It was a huge decision to have some of our birds re-homed but life changes, work and other commitments meant it was no longer possible to give four birds the attention they needed and deserved. They all need a lot of attention and especially Teaka as he was quite literally a ‘one man bird’.
Teaka is a Sever Macaw who has a great sense of humour and could be a real fun bird but he had bonded very closely with Mike and was quite aggressive towards anyone else. This meant that only Mike was able to feed and handle him.
Cherry is a Red Lory. A great little bird, very friendly towards everyone and loves to play all day with toys or anything he can get his beak into! Lory’s are nectar eaters and Cherry had always been hand fed so this had created a huge commitment to hand feed him twice a day and also a lot of mess in the kitchen while he was being fed!
‘Little Guy’ is a Cockatiel. Not strictly our bird as someone had found him outside and knowing Mike had birds bought him to the house to be taken care of.
We found out about parrotadoptontario.com and emailed Nancy and made arrangements to go and visit the bird sanctuary and see what they do before we made a decision about the birds futures.
We arrived at Nancy and Brett’s house and were welcomed into their and the birds home! One thing we noticed right away was the calmness even though there were birds in the house! Every bird, without exception, even the ones Nancy told us were new to their home, looked happy and were calm and showed no signs of stress or nervousness. Indeed two of them quickly made it clear they could better check us out if they were on our shoulders!
After a good visit we went home and discussed it all and made the choice for the birds to go to Nancy and Brett for rehabilitation.
I am still amazed at the outcome!
Nancy, Brett and their daughter arrived at the house and Brett went direct to the bird’s room and let Tika out! I had though this would result in complete chaos and anarchy but……… nothing! Tika came out of his house and calmly walked to the perch across the windows where Brett spent a few minutes talking to him and Tika was calm! Absolute silence and no stress. I have heard of the Horse Whisperer and here was the Bird Whisperer! Brett asked if Tika was used to being on someone’s shoulders and I said that he had been on Mike just that morning, he just said ‘Tika up’ and there was Tika on his shoulder, no biting, no screeching and calm. We bought the carrier into the room and Tika went towards it to check it out and Brett just said ‘Tika in’ and in he went. This was truly amazing! Even a couple of weeks after the evening I still find this so hard to believe and know that this kind of experience is only possible because Nancy and Brett are so experienced and the birds sense who is going to be kind and who presents no threat to them.
Nancy and Brett’s daughter had, while all this was going on just made friends with Cherry who was also just put into a carrier without any fuss or stress,
Within half an hour the birds had gone to their new home without any fuss, stress or problem.
Buzz (our African Grey) has stayed with us and even though Nancy warned he may do a little stress feather plucking with the change in the household and without his friends, he only had a couple of tentative pulls at his chest. He was in the room the whole time the other guys were moved and I think the calmness of Tika and Cherry leaving meant that his stress too was kept to a minimum.
We cannot thank Nancy and Brett enough for their advice, calmness and professionalism in this difficult life change for the birds and for us and for anyone who is facing a similar choice we would have no hesitation in sending them to Nancy and Brett for help and advice.
Mike & Allie
June 29, 2009
Bragging Rights !
Recently we have joined a network of rescues all across North American which is helping to place even more parrots into loving homes. It is also helping us to bounce ideas and advice off one another to assist each other.
During several discussions, I realized what a great job we have been doing in placing parrots into permanent homes. Several rescues (US) were discussing the number of returned birds after placement two rescues responded that they had place 500 parrots in the past 10 yrs (very similar stats to our own) they have had 100 parrots returned to them! That is over 20% where the birds have to be relocated a second or even third time!
In our twelve years of operation, we have placed over 600 parrots into new homes and have only had 7 returned! We had no idea how good we were doing until we got the statistics from some of these other rescues! That is only 1%. Although a zero return rate would be perfect, we did not realize how extraordinary that was and definitely worthy of bragging about! Given that many of the birds arrive here with behavior problems, plucking issues etc we are very lucky that our numbers are this low.
We are now offering tips to other rescues to help them decrease the number of birds that are returned to them through behaviour modifications and screening processes.
June 24, 2009
Misconceptions About Rescue Parrots
Not all rescue parrots come from abused or neglected backgrounds. Although there are some that do. The majority are given up by their owners due to no fault of their own but can no longer care for the birds. Health issues, circumstances beyond their control, moves, deaths etc. are just some of the reasons that parrots end up coming into our care.
Due to our work in the avian community, we get asked regularly to help owners find new loving homes for the fids (feathered kids). They count on us as they know our standards are high and we are highly involved in the avian community from bird clubs to humane societys and local vet colleges. They want to utilize our experience and vast network to find the best placements for their birds.
Many of the birds that come to us have come from wonderful loving homes that due to unfortunate circumstances have to be placed into a new home. The owners are devastated at having to give up their loved ones and have entrusted them into our care to find a proper home for their loved ones.
We do get cases of abuse and neglect from time to time but most of the birds that come here are not abused or neglected. It is still sad and devastating on the birds that they have to be removed from their loving homes. But cases of abuse are not common place. You might find some of these birds here for months on end while we work on behaviours. They are posted available for adoption in the event that another experienced person may be able to take on a bird with some of these problems and do the behaviour modifications themselves. This does happen on ocassion. We also believe in full disclosure and make sure each potential adoptive home, understands with eyes wide open, what to expect then they bring a particular bird home. Some are definitely harder to place than others but during their stay with us we work on behavior modifications to fix some of the problems they arrived with.
My own philosophy and how I have always viewed what we do is that the owners have come to us and entrusted us to find the best possible placement and most suitable home for their bird. It is my job to make sure that the birds come first and their needs will be met regardless of who wants the bird. This job I take very seriously.
We try not to refuse homes when people want a bird. We try to direct them sometimes on a more appropriate bird than what they may be inquiring about. As we are aware of the various species needs and abilities or we direct them to further their research before deciding on a parrot as a pet.
It is our firm belief that pet birds belong in loving homes and deserve to be loved and given lots of attention. We carefully match up the birds needs to what potential homes are able to offer the parrot. Only then will an adoptoin take place.
If you look at our past successes and reference letters, you will see that we are good at what we do!
Please consider giving some of these wonderful second hand parrots a chance at a new life as they can make wonderful companions and most come already trained!