George – Double Yellow Headed Amazon

George is approximately 40 yr old Double Yellow Headed Amazon who has been surgically sexed female. She lived with an older gentleman and then was cared for by his family after his passing. George seems to prefer a female handler but she is very sociable and a GREAT talker and singer. She has a little bit of feather damage, but nothing too serious. We do not believe she will recover all her feathers but she can regain most of them.

Bird – Double Yellow Headed Amazon

Bird is a presumed female Double Yellow Headed Amazon.  She was very attached to her owner but due to circumstances she could not keep her.  So far she has been very friendly and flew over to me today.  Her feathers are in wonderful shape and she is a great talker.  I believe she is 6 years old.  Yes her name is Bird!

Spring Survival Guide

It seems that almost every parrot goes crazy in the spring.  They chew much more, get a lot louder, nippier, grumpier, and worst of all hormonal! 

My phone rings off the wall every year at this time by people who are either fed up or are panicked about their parrots behaviour this time of year.

It is all a natural reaction to spring.  Which is breeding season for most animals including parrots.

We need to provide for our pets and our own sanity to make it through the two months of raging hormones.

Here are a list of things that should help.

- Clip the birds wings.  If he is attacking and biting clipping the wings will stop 90% of your trouble as you will have to approach him in order to get bit.  It also helps to ease off some of the aggressive tendencies.

- Bring in lots of toys.  This should help keep your wood furniture and door moldings safe.  Parrots chew very heavily this time of the year.  By providing plenty of toys it should help to keep their little beaks busy and ease off on the furniture chewing.

- Keep them caged longer, if they are aggressive and grumpy, there is no reason to get your self injured.  Spend time with him by playing games through the bars of the cage.

- Get rid of hormone inducing toys.  Happy huts, fuzzy buddies, nesting materials etc

- Ignore the loud screaming.  I know it is a pain but it will end shortly.  You don’t want to acknowledge the screaming as it only leads to reinforcement.

- Keep petting to the top of the head.  If the parrot starts panting, stop all petting.

- If the parrot starts laying eggs, start a calcium supplement and get rid of hormone inducing toys.

- Some plucking can take place this time of year also.  Give plenty of baths and provide preening type toys.

If will take some patience and perseverance but it does get better………well that is until next spring!

Ricco – Double Yellow Headed Amazon

There is no history on Ricco as he was rescued after the death of his owner.  He is estimated to be between 20 and 25 yrs old.  Although the family has not seen the bird in years they recalled childhood memories of him singing and talking well.  He was found if very horrific conditions as he cage had not been cleaned in months at least.  We have thrown out his cage as it wasn’t worth saving and was way too small for him.  After several baths he has cleaned up nicely and looks like a normal bird again.

Otis – Double Yellow Headed Amazon

Otis
Double Yellow Headed Amazon
Otis arrived here due to family illness and due to his age he is to remain as a permenent resident with us. Otis we call our grumpy old man.  He’s made quite a bit of progress and does step up for us now.  He’s lost alot of his excess body weight as he was a little top heavy if you know what I mean!