Introducing Kevin Carpenter

[KevinC_63559]

Hi all. I'm mostly retired in rural NE Missouri on a 121 acre farm we bought in 2007. Moved out here full time about 2 years. Currently working having our log home finished (we are living in the basement while walls go up on the 1st, 2nd and attic floors. Just got the heating system completed, so that's something).

Definition of rural: Backside of nowhere per one guest. Nearest neighbor is a half mile away. Fed-Ex and UPS don't do weekend deliveries nor overnight morning deliveries. 2 miles from asphalt. 13 miles to the nearest gas station. 2 hours for a town of over 100,000 people. 3.5 hours to a city. About midway between St. Louis, Kansas City, and Des Moines and loving it. I can hear guest coming a mile+ away.

Long ago I shared my life with a wonderful Greenwing Macaw. Lost contact with CasseyBird when I got divorced. Have a new wife and 14 yo daughter who are encouraging me to consider adopting a new bird (plus a son, a dog, wife's cats, chickens, ducks, guineafowl, rabbits, cows, horses and I suspect goats soon) . So I've been considering it... and reading a fair bit... and now seeking out a good forum to ask questions and weigh decisions with.

Let me start with the fact that I absolutely adore large Macaws - Blue and Golds and Greenwings in particular, or perhaps a Harlequin, although I tend to shy away from hybrid anything. I also realize how destructive they are.

Cage size doesn't bother me - I wouldn't mind having a pair of 64x32 doubles - one for my office where I spend most of my day, one for the house (about 500 feet away) where I sleep, shower, etc. Normally I'm in one or the other. Actually wouldn't mind a pair of 80x40s, except I would suspect once assembled they would be hard to get outside to clean.

Mess doesn't both me... much... so long as I can clean it up. Household destruction bothers me substantially more - as would destruction of computer equipment, wiring, etc. With that in mind, I'm sadly pushing Macaws down my potential list. But man, do I love them...

So perhaps I'm just a color and personality guy. Not sure. Spent some time reading up on Eclectus, and could seeing having a pair of them - other than the price tag (something like $3800 each?). I can see spending $2000 for an animal - did that for my dog (and she is worth it as she keeps the coyotes away from the chickens and kills any racoons she finds). But $3800 for a bird is pushing my envelope pretty hard.

Anyhow, figured something smaller like an Eclectus, Amazon, or African Grey would likely be somewhat less destructive than my loved Macaws and that's about where I'm at.

Somewhat dismayed by searching for breeders and rescue sites. Finding a lot of Google ads for sites that offer "50% discounts" on all their birds - but no prices, or sites selling Blue and Golds for $500 but without a single contact on their website beyond their contact page - both smell fishy to me.

Guess that's about it. Looking forward to some conversations.

 

[Laurasea]

Hello, wonderful introduction, and interesting life.

Many parrots are rehomed on Craigslist, cuz that's just what people know . I consider tgrm rescues in need of someone...

Hoobly also has birds either breeders selling or people rehoming.

Their are so many wonderful parrots, it will be interesting to see enough finds their way home and into your heart.

Please jump right in share advice on any topic. And you never know the stuff you will pick up from others. I've sure learned a lot, sometimes I'm the most unexpected threads

 

[KevinC_63559]

ok - first question: Who is "tgrm rescues" - Google failed me unless we are talking the the Mission with that acronym.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Laurasea]

I'm typo and dyslexia queen and a poor at spelling ! I've some how taught my phone that lol
Stick with me tho !

 

[Scott]

Welcome aboard, thankfully you have internet capability at the "backside of nowhere!"

Why not pursue a macaw given your past experience and affinity? Given sufficiently large cage, creative playpens, and a watchful eye, you might avoid dreaded household destruction. Totally agree Greenwings are close to macaw nirvana.

I second the motion to stick with Laura, above!

 

[wrench13]

HI ! Welcome and be welcomed.

What many here will tell you, the best parrot is one who picks you. Allow that to happen if possible, that initial bond or click or attraction will have you miles an miles ahead in bonding with a new companion parrot. If you however have decided that macaws are a bit much at this point of your life, then just restrict your search. Me, personally, push for the smaller, less known, but also calmer, Amazons. You won't find calmer, sweeter Amazons then a Yellow Front, Panama or Yellow Shoulder Amazons. The Hot 3 Amazons are wonderful companions, but they are called the Hot 3 for reasons! PLEASE note: Every parrot is an individual unto themselves! When describing a species, generalizations should be taken with a large grain of salt. Example - my YSA is usually a nice sweet bird, smart as a whip and pretty quiet, but he gets LOUD at dinner time. He is a wood chewin' buzz saw, but then again, he only has access to chewing toys, not to wires or computers or even woodwork like door jams. That was a matter of training!

Good luck in your search! Be open to THE bird. Come on back and let us know how your doing.

 

[wrench13]

PS - I too love Blue and Gold Macaws, along with Blue Throat Macaws, but my house is not large enough for them. Dream parrots, and at 67, pretty much a dream. Another dream parrot - Double Yellow Head Amazons - just something about them! Unfortunately, they, as a species, uniformly hate me on sight, and I mean DYH's in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and even DHY's in Hong Kong and mainland China. Worldwide - they just abhor me and will always always give me a serious bite. Go figure!

 

[SailBoat]

Welcome to the Forum!

Great advice above!!!

One of the real concerns with Parrot Medical Care and your location: When Parrots need medical care they commonly need it NOW! The greater the time gap between you and your Avian Medical Professional the great the 'fear' that you are not getting there fast enough.

The monster virus that the World is dealing with has brought one tiny bright spot in that most all Avian Clinics have either or are in the process of setting Skype (or like) technology in place. It does not replace the hands-on care, but its better than nothing. FYI: Check your Large Animal Vet, most have the ability to care for Farm Birds and there is a spill-over into Avian Care.

A Log Home and any of the mid to large Parrots you list and your huge investment can be seen as little more than a large Chew Toy. Cutting in patches is no easy process.

 

[KevinC_63559]

Thanks for the warm welcome all.

Re: Internet - much to my surprise, I have fibre optic cable to my office. Local ISP only supports 100 mbits/sec, but the infrastructure is here for gigabit. Apparently the county got a "rural high-speed internet" federal grant a decade or so ago and used it to run fibre optic cable down every gravel road in the county.

Re: Macaw. Warming to the idea. Wife and daughter are encouraging it. Been awhile since I've done something like this for myself and both and happy to see me thinking about it.

Re: Bird picking me. Absolutely. (Un)fortunately me and strange Macaws seem to get along together almost too well. We like to visit animal rescue centers on our rare vacations, and many have a B&G or GW with lots of "Warning - bites hard!" signs posted. They freak a bit when they find me scratching its head through the bars. Haven't been bitten yet. Have had a couple of "can you adopt him/her" questions but wasn't ready at the time. Suspect its just being comfortable around them, and not freaking out when I lose the inevitable button.

Re: Amazons. Not really familiar with them other than a sense there is something like seven major sub-species. Never heard of the "Hot 3", so appreciate that - can you expand on which those are so I can avoid even considering them. I'm thinking around Macaws - LOUD I rather expect <smile>.

Re: Blue throated Macaw - Thanks for introducing them to me. I presume anything available in the USA would be captive bred given their critically endangered status. We focus on endangered species on our farm - raising Scottish Highland cattle (fortunately now up to 'watch' status), providing some geo-diversity for our Kentucky Mountain Pleasure horse stock, invested in endangered Java chickens, Great white turkeys, etc. I wonder what the chances would be of finding a pair of Blue Throats that could be breed? Low I would expect, at least without paying Hyacinth prices (I can afford nice cages and $2000 birds, but not $25000 ones!). I read one article dated back in 2013 that its now illegal to transport BTMs across US state lines due to their Endangered status? That seems backwards if they want us to captive breed them...

Re: Medical care. Yeah, this concerns me greatly. Closest Avian Vet is in Columbia Mo - a 2 hour drive from our place.

Re: Log home. Yep, that is a major concern. Patching is not an option - the home is built from 12-14" cedar logs, some 56+ feet long, all custom coped to the log below it. Fortunately all our door trim is made from standard 1x4s, although many are custom ripped - at least they are replaceable. Window and wall trim is also made from standard lumber, but individually crafted and fitted. Hoping this is just a family training issue - the bird(s) can NEVER be left unattended if outside their cages.

 

[fiddlejen]

Well whatever your decision, a bird with Last Name Carpenter will most likely be highly appropriate.

 

[Scott]

Well whatever your decision, a bird with Last Name Carpenter will most likely be highly appropriate.

:jumping40