Amazon Problem

[michelle48]

Hi all,

I'm new here but have had birds pretty much all of my life.
As of right now i have three crimson winged parrots (2 males, 1 female) and an Double Yellow Head Amazon. The Amazon may or may not be a female but somewhere down the line someone had decided she was.
I've had the Crimson Wings for almost 25 years, the Amazon almost 20. She was given to me after my Grandmother passed away. She got her from a petstore after her first owner (older woman) had passed away.
The bird is incredibly smart and is a one person bird (attaches to older women types). She will attack anyone other than the one person. She even attacked me until the day my grandmother died in the hospital. The bird somehow knew, I can't explain it, but her hatred for me turned to love that day and we have gotten along ever since.
She hates everyone else and the feelings are mutual. She opened the cage door and attacked my husband biting his lip and ear. She's attacked pretty much everyone in the family. I have to keep her up with cage locked when anyone else is around.My Crimson wing female got out and flew on her cage and now has a severly bitten foot.
I promised to give this bird a home forever but wonder if she would be better off somewhere else. Sorry so long but this is upsetting to me.
any advice?

Michelle

 

[Admin]

Michelle,

First off, welcome to the site. There are a few experts on here that I'm sure will be able to offer you some advice. Sit tight in the mean time.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Welcome Michelle,

Its always very hard to consider whether we are the right keepers for our birds and if it would not be better if they were somewhere else.

I promised to give this bird a home forever but wonder if she would be better off somewhere else.

It sounds like there are some problems, and depending upon where you live there may be a 'bird sanctuary' type of place that would be happy to take care of her. I have seen some of these that are really great with birds just like yours. They can give a safe and comfortable home to a bird who was a great companion for so long but has since outlived the one they were to be a companion to.

I don't know though that she would be BETTER OFF somewhere like that. I suspect you can do at least as well if not better. But if she is creating issues with the family and could be a danger to others then realize that taking her to such a sanctuary is nothing to be ashamed of at all - she could be well cared for and live a good life.

---

That being said it sounds like you may be more inclined to make it work in your home which is likely possible with a bit of time and a bit more of patience. She's getting old and is quite set in her ways. Birds are never to old to learn something new but she has already had quite some time establishing her current habits. So the question becomes: how much do you want to invest (in time and energy) in teaching her to be better with other people and animals versus how much do you want to just find a compromise where she may spend a bit more time locked in her cage than your other birds but would otherwise have a happy and healthy life.

In other words turning her into a model citizen would likely take an immense amount of work and may or may not be successful in the end, where as finding accommodations so that she can live with you in peace without harming anyone should be much easier in comparison.

----

So your decisions. Do you want to keep her in your home, or do you want to find some place that will provide her with a home. If you want to keep her in your home, how much does her behavior need to change, and how much can accommodations be made to suite her current temperament?

An example of the no training all compromise end would be making sure her cage is locked and that no people nor other birds can get their appendages close enough to the cage to get bit - then you can spend a bit of time each day dedicated to her where just you take her out of the cage. At the other end of the spectrum would be a lot of hard work and frustration working to get her to play well with others - a goal which may or may not be realistic. I think somewhere in the middle though is possible: Being careful to keep her caged secured while she is in it, and having it possible for her to be out of the cage playing without attacking anyone... provided that others know not to approach her.

Anyhow - I think there are many approaches you could take. First step is to decide what your goals are. And once again, while I am not encouraging it per se, I think it is important to realize that there is nothing wrong with letting her go somewhere else. Perhaps you promised to give her a forever home ... that doesn't necessarily mean it would be your home, but rather that you would be sure you do find the right home for her.

 

[michelle48]

Thank you.

I was so angry yesterday when I saw the bite on the Crimson's foot.
I'm totally aware after years with the Amazon that this is not her fault, it's peoples fault for taking wild birds (she has a metal band around her foot) out of their natural homes and trying to make them fit in with people. If i could release her back into the wild and she would survive i would. This is something I say out of love and not because I want to get rid of her..... I don't..... but it's knd of like keeping a pitbull in the house.

Amazons are extremely smart and I believe they plan what they are going to do and how they are going to accomlish it ie..... planning to attack someone for days quietly then waiting for right moment.

I'll keep my eye out for a santcuary although I would never want to contribute to homeless animal problem and I really care for this bird.....

Michelle

 

[Auggie's Dad]

There was a great one in Florida called Cypress Gardens which unfortunately has closed. They were not a "bird sanctuary" exactly. There were a zoo/park. It was a great place, along with all the other animals they had a great aviary where they had many birds. Most of the birds they had taken in from people who needed to find a home for them. The workers there were well aware of each birds individual situation and they knew which ones could interact with people and which ones had to be given more space.

If you do choose to find a new home for her don't just look for "Bird Sanctuaries" but be sure to also check local zoos which might have a great place for her.

But of course if you want to keep her I do think that can me managed quite well too.

 

[michelle48]

The best home for her would be a widowed, retired lady that has experience with larger birds and lives alone.



My husband and family would be thrilled if i found her a new home orjust opened the front door and turned her loose (this has been mentioned ;-0

I sincerely doubt i could train her otherwise so I imgine it's either me or put her in santuary/zoo in which she would have to be isolated from other people and birds/animals.....

Michelle

ps.... I'm venting but have lived with this for 20 years so unless I find a home I'm sure she would be happier, I'll keep her and deal with it

 

[michelle48]

Well I've calmed down now and have the Crimson wig female in a cage away from everyone to recuperate for awhile.

Thought i would mention the good things about Tina the Amazon so people won't be totally scared off from them. Yes she is a one person bird but she never has a temper with me ( that is after she decided I was the one person in her life, before that she bit me like everyone else...). I can clip her toenails, she'll even stick her feet up to get them clipped. When she reaches for my arm, Tina will test the strength of her bite on her own leg before she tries to reach for me. She also loves food. Talk about grateful.... anything from spaghetti, scrambled eggs, you name it and she loves it. Out of the four birds (3 crimson and 1 amazon) Tootie (crimson male) is head of the "flock". He tries to boss tina around and she tolerates him up to a point (Tooties outside cage, Tina inside, never both outside together). Seperating any one of them would be devasating to the others.

Thanks !

Michelle

 

[Auggie's Dad]

My husband and family would be thrilled if i found her a new home orjust opened the front door and turned her loose (this has been mentioned ;-0

There's a reason it's just me and Auggie. I'd turn the family loose before I turned him loose.

 

[michelle48]

When I take an animal in it's for life. I have a lot of geriatric pets around my house (birds and dog). The only person I would put ahead of the pets is my son. If Tina or the dog ever bites him then we have a different issue
and a new home will be found. I go to great extremes to make sure this doesn't happen. Technically I should have done something when she bit my husband. She severly damaged his ear and lower lip....what a terrible scene that was and paid the price by having her cage locked. I believe she was protecting me and was jealous..... my husband was just testing soup I had made to see if it needed salt at the time.
I let her out when no one else is home which is also tricky because other birds are out and loosly caged if at all. She will also attack them and has when she is in bad mood Tina has even lied in wait while the poor dog eats her food silently hanging down to bite her ear.

I was looking at some of the ads on this site for cages. there are some beautiful ones.....

Michelle