upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Ok, so I understand most of your views. Sounds like a lot of breeders are cutting back, like many of the good horse breeders I know. Good quality still sells, but another question: except for the english budgie, do most breeders keep track of pedigree, or what. Are there registries for bird breeds/species?? Just curious cause now I"ve seen show birds advertised and wonder if they just look at color, feathering, conformation or what they are looking for in a particular species. I need to find out where some shows are around me so I can go and check it out!
So heres my other dilema, I want to get another bird, but cannot find what I want in a rescue situation that is either close to me or that will adopt out of state, etc.
I have a few rescues right now, but only one that I would say was in a bad situation and she is mine. The two cockatiels and the rosie bourkes are more of my kids' birds. The cockatiels were very sweet and friendly right off and have bonded deeply with my children already. (They are 10 & 13, very responsible and spend LOTS of time with their birds!!!). The rosies were in a breeding situation, so not really stressed, just not terrribly friendly, more content to just hang out with each other than be handled by us, but we do try and get them to come out and hang out on the play stand and get used to us.
I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy the gratification I receive when I work and play with my little red belly. She has come so far in a few months and happily chatters, sometimes is snuggly, but can be very moody, too. I have learned to read her well enough that I know there are certain times of the day when she is not in the mood to be handled and will bite, but sometimes it happens anyways. I'm sure I've misread her signals, but we are both in the learning phase.
I guess my problem is that I had a wonderful Blue and Gold Macaw. She was my best buddy. When I would come back home from being away, she would call out 'mama' and come looking for me. When she did something silly she would say 'oh crap', as well as yell at the dogs for barking or whatever. I got her when she was 5 months old and although we had to go through some of the baby beaking, she was always a sweetheart. I loved her (and continue to) dearly and miss her horribly. This spring,
'Jake' attempted to lay an egg. (breeder thought she was male, but only by her personality, and since we were never going to breed, it didn't seem like having her sexed was that big of a deal). I took her to an avian vet and he basically killed her. She was a little distressed when I took her in, but not in THAT bad of shape. She squaked at him and ruffled her feathers, letting him know that she would bite him if he tried anything. He palpated her abdomen, lubed up her vent to see if that would help. I had told her that I had been giving her diluted calcium gluconate in her water and also syringed a little directly into her mouth. He didn't bother to check her calcium level, just went ahead and gave her IM calcium and oxytocin, then let us sit in the exam room for quite some time. Just moments before he came back in, she seemed very weak, then her color started going bad, I told him she needed to have some oxygen right away. He said, no lets get the egg out first. I gently turned her over and she got really limp, I then said to him that she needed O2 NOW. He finally listened, but in the short time it took to take her back into the treatment area, she further deteriorated. He tried just putting a mask on, but finally intubated her and someone was breathing for through bag compressions. She died a minute or so later. I was in complete shock. I knew he was working us in between appointments, but as a licensed vet tech for almost 20 years, I thought the care was shoddy, at best. Now, I've worked some with parrots in my small animal days, and the last 10 years has been strickly horses. 5 years of equine surgery. Horses can be very fragile creatures as well, but when we had one that was coming in, even if it was in a state of about to crash, someone ALWAYS took blood, ran a cbc, chem panel and electrolytes. I feel to treat and animal any other way in incompetent. This vet chose to give my girl calcium without ever knowing if she was too high, too low, or within normal limits. When I asked for her records to be mailed to me, his diagnosis was egg bound and death occured due to hypo or hypercalcemia. I am still furious at care my dear Jake received (or didn't). I have never seen another situation where an animal was treated with something, potentially dangerous, without checking labs first. My heart is still broken over it.
I tell you this long story so you can understand some the position I am in. I long to snuggle my Hannah like I did with Jake. I long for that easy relationship where you know whats going on in that wonderful birdie brain. I long to have a bird that WANTS my attention whenever they can get it and will come and hunt me down for it!!
I have enough love in my heart for another bird. I really, really want a baby and have narrowed my choices down to a lesser Jardine or a Rose breasted Cockatoo. The problem with both is they are very expensive and hard to come accross in the wisconsin area. I was fortunate enough with Jake that there is a breeder of B&G's in town, so I was able to meet the clutch and let my bird pick me.
I am crazy to want such a thing when there are rescues filled with birds that need love and attention??? Is it selfish of me to want a baby??? I am so,so torn. A rescue would be great and I could actually afford one now, a baby I will have to wait for, as I have been off work with a knee injury and have surgery awaiting me next week, with a long recovery.
I know this has gone a little off topic, but I think you can understand where my heart is and why this is so difficult. I don't want to adopt another bird just to have another bird. Hannah and I connected on some level and that is why I have her. I love her and am certain that our relationship will continue to bloom, but I wonder whether she will ever truely trust me like Jake did.
Do any of you have any wonderful words of wisdom for me??? I know I am still grieving over Jake, but is it unrealistic to think a snuggly baby roseie or jardine will help that??? I want a friend that will love other people as well, someone I can take with me on occation and still be able to handle. I've done lots of reading and both these birds sound like they could fit into our lives that way. I know cockatoos can be demanding, but it sounds like the roseis are less so and I only work part time, so its not like the bird will be home alone for 12 hours or anything like that.
Please offer up your opinions, I'm so torn right now.
thanks

Where are you located?

I'm in southern WI, just 45 minutes or so south of Madison, which is our capital.
Also want to ask, I responded to an add for a young Rose breasted Cockatoo for $400. The email I got back said they would ship me the bird for a total of $250, but I need to wire them the money at the airport via western union before they would ship her. I come to find out the bird is flying from Camaroon, someplace in Africa.
The spelling and grammer of this person is bad, which may not mean anything at all, but I'm getting the feeling this may not be legit. I don't want to go out, even on a smallish $250 limb only to have my hopes crushed. There seems to be no other way except to trust a person accross the atlantic and I'm not sure I want to dive in.

I'm very sorry you lost your bird so tragically. MAARS, a highly reputable avian organization, recommends 4 parrot rescues in Wisconsin: http://www.maars.org/resources/links/linksadoption.php I encourage you to research further.

Yes, the Camaroon offer is a scam, a very, very old scam.

Reading your post about wanting a baby you can cuddle has me shaking my head in puzzlement at why you posted the long one about overpopulation earlier. Why did you care why breeders are producing chicks if you want a chick? I'm missing something important, I'm sure, but I'd like to understand.

If you're even slightly concerned about birds being overbred, why would you consider buying a 'too chick? I'm curious at your logic. We all know 'toos are cuddly, but do you know how unhealthy it is for them once they become sexually mature? The Jardine's and 'too I raised were wonderfully cuddly as wee babies, and certainly the 'too continued to love his cuddles, but as a mature boy, he's daunting! That's the main reason rescues overflow with 'toos. Please learn more about the 'too problem(s) before bringing one home, either a chick or a mature rescue or rehome. 'Toos deserve a MUCH better break than we usually give them.

Maybe you know something about Jardine's I've missed, but cuddly isn't how I would describe them. Beautiful clowns, wonderful birds, but not cuddly in my experience with mature birds.

Just a few thoughts, only my own opinions, free for the taking and perfectly fine for you to ignore.

Well, I guess I do contradict myself. I guess losing my Jake has me more emotional today for some reason and I did so enjoy raising her. The wanting a chick is just a pipe dream more than anything right now. I will still continue looking at the rescues first. I need to believe that the right bird will be waiting for me when the timing is right.
I know that toos are a lot of work and the sancuary I go to is full of them. I have just heard that the rose breasted were not your 'typical' too. If rescued/adopted as adults, can they make good pets?? I had met a lesser Jardine that was already adopted out at the rescue where I got Hannah and it is such a sweet bird. Will go to anyone and I thought they had mentioned they were really snuggle bugs.
I'm sorry that I sound so wishy washy. I do believe there is an overpopulation of just about all animals that people have as 'pets' and while there as very responsible breeders out there, I'm sure that there are many that aren't. How to find a balance would be nice, so people that are buying chicks know they are getting them from someone reputable and that has the bird's interest at heart. The few horses I have bred in my life live with me and one is my forever horse. The other I still may sell, but I would make sure she went to the right home. Others I have sold, I have followed up with and watched them grow with their new owners. The new owners have all been told that the horses will have a retirement home here if that becomes neccessary.
I do believe I have looked at the maars site, but will follow your link as well. I guess the thought of a chick was so exciting for me, but also tormenting as that would mean there would be no more room for a rescue and would encourage more breeding. Except for my horses, everything I have for pets has come from a give-away, adoption or a couple of dogs and cats that were dumped on our farm. I have everything spayed and/or neutered, so our population only grows from mostly those senarios.
I hope that explains my thought process. Maybe I'm just like so many other people, that the thought of a baby sometimes overwhelms ones better judgement. I will do lots of research in the meantime and make sure that whatever 2nd bird I get will be the type that will fit into our family. I don't like to see them setting in their cage day after day with nothing to stimulate them and no person playing with them. Sort of already did that when I adopted an ancient Yellow naped Amazon that was 60+ years old. We tried and tried to gain his trust and did so to some degree, but we could never let him out of his cage with my kids around as he would attack anyone that he could reach by walking or climbing to them and it wasen't pretty. I would have to have him out only during the day when everyone else was gone and makae sure I had shoes on, as bare feet and socks were what he would go for first. Thankfully, he was easily entertained by a variety of toys to play with or kill and would chew on his wood toys almost non stop. He was kinda expensive the way he went through his toys, never even really had a chance to rotate them, just had to buy him new all the time. We had him almost 5 years until his death due to extreme old age. I hope he was happy with us. I'm sure hes happier wherever he is now.
Thanks for listening to all my ramblings. Its nice to know there are bird people here to help guide and give advise. I really appreciate all of your comments.

Sadah wrote:... I know that toos are a lot of work and the sancuary I go to is full of them. I have just heard that the rose breasted were not your 'typical' too. If rescued/adopted as adults, can they make good pets?? ...

Thanks for the explanation. I understand a little better. Are any of the 4 rescues recommended by MAARS ones you'd already looked at? I'm not getting a sense that you've really tried hard to find a suitable bird in need of rehoming. Also, I don't think any healthy 'toos should be living in captivity, so I'll let others answer your questions re rose-breasteds.

My only remaining puzzlements are why someone with your years of avian and equine experience chose not to have your macaw sexed and didn't have a more trustworthy vet. Are you in a small town or out in a rural area where there's a shortage of avian/exotics vets? It's just not making sense to me, but I've always lived in megalopolitan areas.

Regardless, I wish you luck.

Yes, I have looked at the different sites on MAARS, I actually adopted from one of them. I've also looked on Pet Finder(I've actually looked through the whole bird section, just to see different species and read a little about them. Then I've been looking them up on the internet.) to look at other rescues and will continue to search. With my knee injury and upcoming surgery, my laptop will be working overtime!
The reason I never had my B&G sexed, well, it really bothers me now that I didn't. The breeder guessed that Jake was a male due to her personality type. Shes raised many B&Gs, so I never thought to question it. Also, she was was only with the Amazon for a year or two before the old guy passed away, so she was an only bird in the house. She was over six years old and had never laid an egg. Since Jake was only ever going to be a pet, it seemed like an unnecessary procedure to put her through.
(when she was a baby, the avian vet the would occationally come to the breeder's place, would put them under general anesthesia to scope their parts)
Yes, we are in a very rural area and the closest avain vet (the one I took her to) is 45 minutes away. I will drive a little further now, to the university for all my avian work. The next biggest cities where there would be more avian specialist would be 3+ hours away.