Parotteer
Member
- Aug 21, 2022
- 13
- Media
- 2
- 50
- Parrots
- Chico - Amazon (born 2021)
Wiggles - cockatiel (born 2018) - missing
Lotje - cockatiel (born 2020)
Potje - cockatiel (born 2020)
R.I.P. 2022 Tjakko - African Grey (born 1973) - Was with me since 2014
Hello. I would like to introduce my flock and myself.
My name is Mikey Arris. At the moment of writing I am 51 years old, retired and living in the Netherlands. I discovered this Forum in my search for information on Amazon parrots. It is one of the many sources I found and after reading many posts and comments I feel "safe" to become a member. I write 'safe' because I have the experience, especially on dog owners forums, that reactions to people's posts are often unkind. But not here, at least as far as I know. It's important to me.
So. My flock started with Timmy. At that time he was 6 years old. He is my neighbour's African Grey. They adopted him from an aquantance and asked me, who they preceived as a big animal lover (have had dogs all my life), if I would like to take care of their bird whilst they went on holiday. I said yes, and they rolled him in his cage to my living room and I looked after him for a couple of weeks and got bitten by the "bird virus".
A couple of months after my first birdsitting job I contacted a local bird shelter and asked if could adopt a parrot. Hadn't made up my mind about what kind of parrot. Just, a parrot. I visited the shelter to see if any of the parrots they had for adoption clicked with me and one of them did. 40 year old African Grey, Tjakko. He was handicapped pretty badly on his legs and couldn't walk or fly, just sort of crawl. And he was pretty stiff all over. But he had a good grip in his feet and could climb and move around in his cage pretty well! For a while I tried to get him out of his cage with all sorts of tricks, even lifted him out of it, which usually resulted in a serious bite. He did let me scratch the back of his head whenever I or he liked it. He was just happiest in his cage and I always left it open should he decide to come out. I put the cage next to my chair and we chatted, whistled, laughed and had a good eight years together before he died.
A few years after I got Tjakko, my neighbour offered me a young cockatiel which came to live with me. I called him mr. Wiggles. He was such a sweet bird, became very tame and was always with me, on my shoulder, on my head when I did my afternoon nap. Sadly after about a year, in a moment of inattention I walked out of the house with him on my head. He flew into a tree and I never saw him again. I did get a new cockatiel, called her Lotje. And got her a girlfriend called Potje. And they're pretty good friends.
I also got some canaries. My oh my, they are a cheerful and happy bunch. I have 8 of them. All cages are open between noon and bedtime so it's a bit of a zoo here with the birds, my two dogs and a few guinea pigs. All get along really well. Though I put Chico in his cage whenever I'm not around. And it is Chico that got me started on my search for Amazon information. After Tjakko died it took me a few monts to search for a new parrot and it lead me to Chico! A one year old Amazon of unkown sub-spiecies (so far). I think he's beautiful and very sweet, though after all I've read about Amazon behavior, a typical Amazon ;-) Sweet, happy but also a bit naughty and feisty!
I hope this story wasn't too long. And if you read this far, thank you and good meeting you!
Mikey.
My name is Mikey Arris. At the moment of writing I am 51 years old, retired and living in the Netherlands. I discovered this Forum in my search for information on Amazon parrots. It is one of the many sources I found and after reading many posts and comments I feel "safe" to become a member. I write 'safe' because I have the experience, especially on dog owners forums, that reactions to people's posts are often unkind. But not here, at least as far as I know. It's important to me.
So. My flock started with Timmy. At that time he was 6 years old. He is my neighbour's African Grey. They adopted him from an aquantance and asked me, who they preceived as a big animal lover (have had dogs all my life), if I would like to take care of their bird whilst they went on holiday. I said yes, and they rolled him in his cage to my living room and I looked after him for a couple of weeks and got bitten by the "bird virus".
A couple of months after my first birdsitting job I contacted a local bird shelter and asked if could adopt a parrot. Hadn't made up my mind about what kind of parrot. Just, a parrot. I visited the shelter to see if any of the parrots they had for adoption clicked with me and one of them did. 40 year old African Grey, Tjakko. He was handicapped pretty badly on his legs and couldn't walk or fly, just sort of crawl. And he was pretty stiff all over. But he had a good grip in his feet and could climb and move around in his cage pretty well! For a while I tried to get him out of his cage with all sorts of tricks, even lifted him out of it, which usually resulted in a serious bite. He did let me scratch the back of his head whenever I or he liked it. He was just happiest in his cage and I always left it open should he decide to come out. I put the cage next to my chair and we chatted, whistled, laughed and had a good eight years together before he died.
A few years after I got Tjakko, my neighbour offered me a young cockatiel which came to live with me. I called him mr. Wiggles. He was such a sweet bird, became very tame and was always with me, on my shoulder, on my head when I did my afternoon nap. Sadly after about a year, in a moment of inattention I walked out of the house with him on my head. He flew into a tree and I never saw him again. I did get a new cockatiel, called her Lotje. And got her a girlfriend called Potje. And they're pretty good friends.
I also got some canaries. My oh my, they are a cheerful and happy bunch. I have 8 of them. All cages are open between noon and bedtime so it's a bit of a zoo here with the birds, my two dogs and a few guinea pigs. All get along really well. Though I put Chico in his cage whenever I'm not around. And it is Chico that got me started on my search for Amazon information. After Tjakko died it took me a few monts to search for a new parrot and it lead me to Chico! A one year old Amazon of unkown sub-spiecies (so far). I think he's beautiful and very sweet, though after all I've read about Amazon behavior, a typical Amazon ;-) Sweet, happy but also a bit naughty and feisty!
I hope this story wasn't too long. And if you read this far, thank you and good meeting you!
Mikey.
!
