rehomedbirds

Nimo's Story

By: Pamela

Nimo is a blue and gold macaw and was 4 years old when we became his 3rd and

forever home. He was our first bird ever. Our beloved cat, Benjamin, had

died suddenly, and I developed a desire for a bird due to the long life span

I did my research, and decided a BG macaw was the type of bird I wanted,

having never seen one in person. I was running some Internet classified ad

searches, and found Nimo. My intuition went wild, and I knew with all my

heart that this was my bird.

I called and got information about Nimo, and went to visit him. I had never

handled a bird before, but knew from the books I should say "step up." And

he did! I was terrified. He was so big. And also so incredibly beautiful.

I had never seen anything like this magnificent creature named Nimo. A

Latino bird, I spoke to him in Spanish, and held out my thumb for him to

investigate. I promptly received my first bite - the first of many more to

come LOL. I spoke with the family for quite some time, and put down a

deposit.

Nimo was well loved by the father, but there was not enough time for him, so

he was essentially cage bound. Nimo's first owner was a woman who either

beat him or otherwise terribly mistreated him, and he was completely bald

when his current family got him. He was in decent feather and on a seed and

table scrap diet. Picture 1 was taken a few weeks after he came home.

It took a long time to convince my husband that Nimo was destined to be ours

He cost $1,000 which included his cage, food, travel cage, and stand,

which was a lot of money for us. We would have to borrow my sister's truck

and drive 3 hours round-trip. But my intuition was buzzing so loud I could

barely concentrate on anything else and my husband had wisely learned over

the years not to ignore it..

So off we went to Delaware on a rainy Feb. 1, 2003 to bring Nimo home. It

became apparent that Nimo liked riding in the car, and of course I was naive

enough to put my hands in his carrier and got bite twice on the way home.

We got his cage set up and he settled in to his new home. Mark and I have

absolutely no idea what to expect, and were amazed when he began to make

noises! We were playing cards in front of his cage and we were talking to

him while he was climbing around his cage. Lo and behold, but he started to

laugh. Well then we started to laugh, which made him laugh more, and then

we laughed more, etc etc. etc….

Nimo had severe trust and biting issues that we had to work through. I was

home full-time, and thus able to work with him intensely. I had to use a

ski glove to work with him the first 3 months, and relied on Sally

Blanchard’s Principles of Nurturing Guidance to gain Nimo’s trust. I

received some devastating bites. He does not like women, and naturally

gravitated towards my husband, who became his favorite person. Finally,

after 18 months together, he finally rolled over onto his back and let me

scratch his stomach and nibbled on my fingers. He also lets me kiss his

beak (carefully!) and will only snuggle with his Mommy. He rough houses and

plays with his Daddy, and prefers Daddy’s company overall, but Mommy is for

food and snuggles.

Pamela & Nimo

We adopted Chiara from a Breeder/friend I know. He was helping a woman whom developed a lung disease, and therefore needed to rehome her four different birds and one of them was our Chiara. She was at the breeders about 2 months in the garage under quarantine and then 1 month in the house.

We were visiting and getting our girls nails clipped and he asked if we would be interested in adopting her and giving her a home. We agreed, took her home gave her a name, love, attention and a part in our flock. she is a real Sweetheart!

When she see's the other girls (birds) she rolls her head around and around. It's so funny to watch. She loves scritches and is our first expierence with a hormonal bird. Due to the season she constantly wants to mate on anything in her cage if she sees me. She loves Bananas, Apples and Rice and will immediately talk to you if she sees them. She says Good girl when you feed her and a kissing sound. Too adorable. She loves to sit on your shoulder and snuggle up to our necks. When she knows its bedtime she immediately runs up to her Happy Hut and climbs in and then peaks her head out and starts chirping her Sunset Serenade. When I great her in the morning she will come right to the front of the cage and start her Sunrise Squawk. She also loves baths and water in general. We were fortunate for by her character you can tell she was well taken care of and loved!

Natalie & Chiara

Now, Scoobie's rehome story really isn't anything fancy. I was thinking about getting a buddy for Spikey, my normal grey cockatiel. He seemed lonely and just sat around on his cage. His cage door is always open so he can come and go as he pleases. He never really played with his toys either.....

At any rate, I was scanning the paper and came across an ad for a 6 month old male normal grey cockatiel with cage. I called the lady and she said they had to rehome because they are hardly ever home anymore and her daughter has some behavioral/psychological issues and they had to go to therapy 3 times a week in Maryland.

I went over the same day. Scoobie, the little girl named him, seemed to be afraid of the daughter. She would just grab him. He flew onto the floor and asked him to step up which he did. Once he was on my shoulder, he would not go back to the woman nor the little girl. :) I gave her the money for Scoobie and the cage and took him home. I told them that they could call to check on him but they never did. I was disappointed since they did seem really nice.

Spikey has to follow Scoobie everywhere! Spikey is now playing with his toys and flying around the room like a champ! The two are also determined to get rid of the carpet and expose whatever floor maybe underneath! lol We are planning on ripping out the carpet and laying tile. We got the tile, just need the weather to warm up now since we'll have to air it out a few days before they can move back in.

Doobie, Esther and Scoobie

JaJabink's Story

By: Toy

I had heard about a 2 year old Blue and Gold Macaw it’s owners wanted to sell. I wasn’t really looking to add a Macaw, but knew a few people who may be interested. So I called and spoke with the owner. I could tell from our conversation they knew very little about raising or caring for parrots. I asked why they were selling her and was told “because of the mess it makes”. I asked how old the bird was when they got it. I was told 5 months. She was now 2 years old. I set up a day and time to go see the bird, who’s name was “Dubie” and thought to be male. Since I hate that name I will use “Bird” from here out.

I drove thru an ice storm on January 27, 2000 to see this bird. The owners lived in a trailer with an addition. Once there the owner went back a dark hallway. I could hear her talking to the bird & the bird saying hello. After about 10 minutes had passed she called me to come back, saying she couldn’t get the bird out of the cage. As I entered the room I was shocked at what I saw - A filthy bird in a filthy cage. The cage was small and made of green plastic coated garden wire. The cage sat low to the floor with newspaper under it. It was barely big enough for the bird to turn around in, let alone stretch it’s wings out. The whole bottom and part way up the sides was covered in bird poop. There was a one-inch wooden dowel rod for a perch, 2 aluminum kidney shaped dog dishes were wired to the sides of the cage for food and water. There were no toys. The room was small and dark. It had been the original laundry room. The blind was pulled. They kept the bird in the dark 24 hours a day to keep it quiet. As soon as I entered the room the bird came out of the cage & scrambled to the top. I noticed the feathers on the birds back, neck and wings were all curled up in the air. It smelled real bad too. I asked the owner when was the last time the bird had been out of the cage? She told me a couple months or so, maybe 4 or 5 months! I then asked what it was feed. She told me seeds and peanuts. I could see the cheap seed mix in the dish. Peanuts were for treats.

The bird started to lunge at the owner. She reached up and snapped it on the beak with her fingers and then took a backhanded swat at it. I bit my lip. I knew this bird was getting out of there that day and I didn’t want to risk making the owner mad and throwing me out. I stood and spoke with the bird as it continued to lunge. I reached up and gently touched it’s beak. The owner said “I wouldn’t do that!” I said “Why? I’ve been bitten before. It’s just blood”. She then chased the bird for 20 minutes all over the top and sides of the cage. She threatened to go get the man. By that remark I assumed he, being her husband, treated the bird even worse. Finally it jumped to the floor where she grabbed it with both hands and shoved it at me. I quickly took off my coat, shoved up my sleeve and held out my arm. The bird’s nails were over 2.5 inches long and dug into my skin. I instantly turned and walked out of that room, down the dark hall into their living room. I sat down on the sofa & placed the bird on my knee. I rubbed it’s head, under wings and rolled it over on it’s back on my lap and rubbed it’s tummy. The owner sat in shock. She couldn’t believe her bird was letting a complete stranger touch it all over when she couldn’t handle it at all. I wrote out the check placed the bird in a dog crate I had taken along and left.

The whole way home I spoke to the bird telling it that it was going to a new home where it would NOT have to live in a cage 24 hours a day nor in the dark. That it would get lots of good food and plenty of toys to play with. As soon as I arrived home I took the bird to the tub. It smelled like a dog that had lived on the street for a few years and was very filthy. I had to use bird shampoo and actually scrub it twice to get all the dirt out. I don’t think it had ever had a bath. During the bath my palm got a three inch long slash from the dagger sharp long nails. I told the bird as soon as we were done getting it clean we’d go cut those nails. I set it on a table perch on my dog grooming table, picked up the dog nail clippers and the bird held up a foot for me to clip the nails off. It was like it knew they had to go. The second foot came up and I cut the nails. Then I took it downstairs and placed it on a play gym in front of a window, with the curtains pulled back so it could see out. The bird screamed, yelled and flapped her wings. It was so happy to be out of a cage and be clean. The next step was food. I filled a dish with fresh vegetables and fruits. The birds taste buds went wild. The eyes pinned like crazy. With each bite it’d yelled hello. To this day she still yells hello if you offer her a treat. She came to us saying “hello, what, whatz up and shut up.

JaJaBinks didn’t know how to play with toys nor did she know how to step up. Since she was afraid of being touched I had to move very slowly & phrased the daylights out of her. Food rewards helped some too. I’d take her on short walks thru the house explaining everything to her as we went. She was only placed in the crate at night to sleep or when I had to work.. I soon learned all her growl sounds and screams. I used them to better understand her and teach her. She is very smart and learns very quickly. By the time her Macaw cage finally arrived she had learned to trust me. She has a fear/hatred of men tho and will only allow my husband to carry her around. She will not permit him to touch her in any way. I can only assume the previous owners husband abused her severely. I assembled her cage in front of her explaining to her it was her new cage, her safe place. She took to her new cage like a kid to candy. She no longer has cage territorial issues.

As the weeks passed she only got better and better. She learned new words very quickly and even knows when and how to use them. Her vocabulary is up to over 120 words and phrases so far.

Since JaJaBinks came to live with us on January 27, 2000, she has become a wonderful, fun loving, super silly companion. She’s a real jabber-box. She talks and talks and talks. Screaming is left for play and toy killing.

Toy & JaJaBinks

Scooter's Story

By: Suzy

One day in February of 2003, I was cleaning house and my CAG, Jasper, and I were rocking out to the oldies on the stereo. The telephone rang and it was a good friend of mine that still worked for the business from which I had retired in 2001. She told me that she had received a global e-mail requesting help in caring for 12 parrots that had been removed from another employee's mother's home due to illness. He knew absolutely nothing about birds and was asking for people to foster them. There were 12, four CAGs, four cockatiels, three macaws, and a lilac crowned amazon. I was hesitant because I didn't want to expose my CAG to any diseases. My friend pleaded with me, she said she was taking the cockatiels, someone else was talking the CAGs, but no one had stepped up to take the large birds. The only experience I had was with my CAG that I had gotten when he was eight months old so I wasn't sure I could handle the much larger macaws, but finally gave in and said yes, I will take them. The very next day the man brought a B&G, a Red Fronted, a Hahn's mini, and the amazon. We took them straight into my guest room which I had cleaned out to make room. They were in cages that were way too small for them and caked with petrified droppings, their feathers were in terrible condition, and they were all very underweight. He gave me a large bag of wild bird seed and told me that was what his mother feed them. After we got them settled in, I immediately took out all their water and food bowls (with much trepidation as those beaks looked really big) and scrubbed them as best I could. I could not get out all the dried droppings in a couple of bowls so I used Jaspers extra bowls. All this time Jasper was at the opposite end of the house in the family room. I cut up some fruits and vegetables and mixed them with some pellets and put the bowls back in the cages. I then sat back and just watched to see what they would do. They seemed interested in the food, but a little frightened of it too as they peeked into the bowls. I figured I would just leave them alone and let them adjust, so I turned the TV on low and opened the blinds so they could see out, closed the door and left. I showered and changed clothes so that Jasper wouldn't be at risk.

The next day I went out and bought new bowls and some toys (they had none at all). When I got home I proceeded to scrub their cages down, put their new bowls in and found they had eaten everything I had put in. I was hesitant about how they would react to me but I think they were so unused to the activity going on that they were more interested in what I was doing than attacking me. After finally getting the cages cleaned I lay down on the bed in the room with them and took a nap. They were all amazingly quiet. Because they were in such bad physical condition I felt it was my responsibility to take them to the vet for a check-up and a wing and nail clip. They all had some bacterial infections which were treated. They had some other problems caused from malnutrition but the vet didn't thing they should be treated medically, just well fed and socialized.

For three months I gradually got to know them and their personalities. They were allowed out of their cages for the couple of hours each day I spent in the room with them. The red fronted and the B&G became easy to handle, but the amazon (who was totally picked) was terrified of hands, and the little hahn's was a vicious biter. I told the man that had removed the birds that they would have to be placed because it was obvious that his mother was not taking proper care of them. He insisted that his mother wanted them back or wanted her money, so I worked out an agreement with him that I would "sell" the birds and give him the money. This sounded very fishy to me so I talked to the Humane Society about it and they said they knew the woman that had them and she had been told, officially, that she was not to have any animals--who knows how many have been in her possession in the past. I got the numbers off the bands and contacted all the companies that issue bands to breeders and they would not tell me anything. So finally, I starting interviewing the individuals wanting the birds and then "sold" them at a much reduced price to those I felt would give them a good home. It broke my heart to have to do this as I had become very fond of all of them, especially the B&G. All of them were given new homes except the little hahn's. She was so aggressive that she could not be handled and had to be toweled just to put her back in the cage (my hand's were bloody for weeks). I told the man that she could not be sold and he said, "Well, I'll just take her back to my mother." I could not let that happen so I offered him a hundred dollars for her. He took it and that was that.

My husband (who had not had any interaction with them because he didn't want to take the chance of spreading anything to Jasper) and I talked about what to do with the little biter. I talked to my vet and she said that she would take her since she had already been given a well bird exam and would place her with one of her clients but that it would have to be a confidential placement. My husband and I talked it over again , by this time she had been allowed to spend time with us in the family room, and he decided we should wait and see if we could find her a good home on our on. Weeks went by, her new cage was moved into the family room, and she was starting to entertain us with her antics--little bird, BIG personality. She had learned to step up and although still nippy, she didn't bite as hard and as often. The vet called one day and said that she had someone interested in her so when hubby came home I told him. He got a very funny look on his face and finally he said, "you know she's not that much trouble and she doesn't really take up that much room." I was shocked! He had been the one that was most adamant about NOT having another bird. I was also thrilled! I had fallen for all the birds, even the green monster! We had already started calling her Scooter because of the way she scooted everywhere she went. I said, "are you sure?" He said, "well, if it doesn't work out, we can always take her the vet up on her offer.

Needless to say, Scooter is now a permanent part of our family. She will be twelve in March and I know that for at least the last three years she has had a great life. She will always have problems but she likes to be with us. Both she and Jasper travel with us wherever we go and she is a great little traveler. She will still take a chunk out of you sometimes, but we love her so much that it is worth it. I can honestly say that fostering and taking in a re-homed bird has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. Knowing what I know now, I would never "buy," but adopt. It is a great feeling to see her feathers come in straight and shiny and watch her eat with such gusto and to know that this is her forever home.

Suzy & Scooter