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I have been wanting for some time to add another parrot to my flock. As of now I have a blue quaker Ziggy, a senegal parrot Daisy and 2 lovebirds Smokey and Peachy. Well....I think I may have found my parrot.

I was in a toss up between a CAG or an Amazon, and even thought about a smaller Macaw. Well after alot research and frequent visits to the bird fairs and Bird stores in my area. I think I have decided on my next bird. A hand-fed yellow-naped amazon.

This bird is from an individual breeder and not from the bird fair. Not saying bird fairs are bad....just not my choice of ways to buy my parrots. My friend had a VERY bad experience in buying one for a good deal at a bird fair, and it killed her whole flock. So I am just leary. Not saying this could not happen with ANY bird, and even under the best of circumstances. I am just a little leary of it.

If anyone has any advice for me..please do so...I welcome advice. I've done a ton of research and have come to the conclusion....that ALL parrots have the potential to be BAD OR GOOD. I think alot of it depends on the interaction between the bird and the owner. I've heard senegals are soooo sweet and gentle bird that are relatively quiet. Well this is NOT the case with mine.....although I love her to death.....she is LOUD and she hates EVERYONE or anything that comes near me. My quaker is TOTALLY opposite...he will go to ANYONE...Talk to anyone and is very socialable with other birds and all people.

So I am going to see this baby amazon on Saturday... He/She is just weaned.....and suppost to be very socialized......I know I am gonna end up leaving with it!!!! LOL I can not wait!! You know it's bad when you are already thinking of names and you haven't even seen it yet!!! LOL

Toni wrote:I have been wanting for some time to add another parrot to my flock. As of now I have a blue quaker Ziggy, a senegal parrot Daisy and 2 lovebirds Smokey and Peachy. ...

I'm confused Last July you had 4 'tiels. Now 4 others and no 'tiels. Wha' happened? Regardless, I'm glad you're buying from a breeder and not a fair or store. MUCH safer way to do this, as your friend's tragedy certainly shows. You know the necessity for quarantine, right?

I hope the baby you bring home is female. They're usually the much easier "hot 3" 'zon to live with. Here's one article you definitely want to keep for reading both now and later: http://www.parrothouse.com/wrongwithamazons.html . 'Zons need to be kept slender. They LIVE to eat and too often die very prematurely of fatty liver disease caused by obesity. Keep your 'zon moving, exercising, playing, and not just eating. Learn all you can about avian nutrition. I have 2 'zons and love both dearly. They're very different, as are all our birds. Enjoy and respect your new one

Aww...don't believe the hype about the "hot 3"

I have a female (DNA) double yellow headed zon. she isn't the cuddliest thing, but she is affectionate in her own way. If your fid turns out to be a male, there are things you can do when they get a tad hormonal, but cross that bridge when you come to it. You never know, you might get a sweetie, you might get one that is stanoffish. I love my zon and wouldn't trade her for anything.

PS she was my first big bird, so I dove right in there good luck

Kiasmama wrote:Aww...don't believe the hype about the "hot 3" I have a female (DNA) double yellow headed zon. she isn't the cuddliest thing, but she is affectionate in her own way... I love my zon and wouldn't trade her for anything...

That's exactly how I feel about my female lilac crowned Did you notice any behavioral differences when your sweet girl became sexually mature? Never saw any in mine and she's 13, so mature for many years. The Doss article says the "hot 3" females often become cuddlier during their most hormonal times.

Bluesbird Exotics, as for the tiels, one of them was re-homed to one of my friends mother's home. He became very mean to the other ones. I don't think he liked the other tiels for some reason. He is MUCH happier with his new home and very spoiled. The other 3 went with my daughter to live. So they are still in the family.....just different home.

As for the ones I have now.....I love them all dearly. My sennie has her issues at times. But that's how it is with all parrots at times.

I am not sure of the sex of this bird. He/she has not been DNA tested. So it's kinda like a shot in the dark as far as guessing the sex. I will have it DNA tested if I decide to buy it though. It will not matter to me either way male or female. If I have to deal with those issues of aggression then that is just part of it. I've read almost everything I can off of the internet and have read alot from different forums as well. Plus I have a few books on dealing with behavior issues with parrots. So hopefully if that comes into play we can work on it and get past it. Also one of the Bird shops here in my area offers different seminars and classes on almost all aspects of parrots, along with some actual training classes you can take. So hopefully I will be able to deal with any issues that come up.

I take GREAT pride in my parrots that I own. I would love to be able to have more....but in all fairness, if I get this one, I think that it will be the last addition. I don't work so I have alot of time to devote to them one on one.....and know how important it is to do that. I don't think I am stepping in over my head with getting an amazon. I realize it is all going to be new and more demanding than the smaller birds I have. And I am wiling to put forth that extra effort.

Anyway....with all that said.....I am looking forward to going and seeing it tomorrow. I am sure I will have lots of questions if I do get it. I will keep you posted.

You sound prepared and excited. That's fun!

Yes I'm excited. I HOPE prepared for the most part.

I read that article you posted about the amazons bluebird.....it was very informative. And even a little bit on the scary side too. I will admit I have heard some bad hype about amazons in general. Then on the other hand I have also heard the total opposite in some cases. Hopefully I will end up with one that is on the good side of that spectrum. If not then I have my work cut out for me.

I'm still hoping you get a female! But a male can give you years of good exercise

Guess we have been very lucky with our 3 amazons since all are the "hot 3". Problem is someone forgot to tell them they are considered the "hot 3".

We have a male yellow nape who is now 20 years old. We have had him 11-1/2 years now. This bird HATED all men when we got him. Now he thinks my husband is the best thing since ice cream. They play/rough house all the time and this bird will let my husband do anything to him, except take him to the vet. If my husband does the bird will spend the reason of the day trying to bite him. He doesn't care if I take him though

We have a male Double yellow head who is at least 45 years old. We have had him for 5-1/2 year. He is the biggest cuddle bug I have even seen. All he wants to do all day is sit on my chest and snuggle 24/7 and be petted and scratched. He has never tried to bite. He is handicap with the start of cataracts and arthritis in both feet.

We also have a female Double yellow head who is now 14 years old. We have had her for 10-1/2 years. She is mommy's little girl. She is also a really lover.

All 3 of ours love being petted and scratched.

Guess we have just been lucky so far.

Mumbles wrote:Guess we have been very lucky with our 3 amazons since all are the "hot 3". Problem is someone forgot to tell them they are considered the "hot 3"... All 3 of ours love being petted and scratched. Guess we have just been lucky so far.

Joanie Doss, the 'zon lover whose article I linked above, coined the phrase "hot 3" and says this about the males:

"The time of aggression varies with the individual bird. It usually appears between the ages of 5 to 12 years. During this time there will be one to two years in which they will be very aggressive. Once they go through this, they generally settle down with little or no aggression shown when they are not hormonal and some aggression when they are. "

Since your two males are well past this usual age of aggression and your other is female, it seems they have followed the "rule" and your luck is in having wonderful 'zons.

We have had the nape since he was about 8 years old, but I have know him since we was 9 weeks old. My aunt was his first and only other owner. He never aggressive during peak breeding age or season. He still will try and mate with anything or anyone who will stand still long enough though. Silly bird did try once to mate with out female DYH right after we got her. Up until then the only other parrots he had ever seen was his clutch mates. I was playing with her on the floor and she was all excited. He came walking over turned around backwards and backed up to her so they were standing butt to butt. She turn around and looked at him with the look of "what are you doing?" He looks at her again and then just walked away. It was funnier to see then this description, we decided he needed to watch an x-rate parrot video to see what he should have done. He has never tried to mate with her again but is very happy to try and mate with my husband or myself.

What really surprises me a bit is that our older DYH will get excited sometimes. It last about 10 seconds or less and then he looks around like he forgot what he was excited about. Didn't think he would be interested at all since he is over 45.

Anyway I think all Amazons are wonderful. I got hooked on them when we lived in Florida and I was volunteering at a parrot recuse. I took in a male orange wing that had been through some very bad times. He did not trust anyone anymore and had come in with his beak creaked from been hit and knocked to the floor.

It's a long story of his learning to trust again and a number of bites to me but now he is a very happy well adjusted amazon living with a family with 5 boys who he loves dearly. They ranged in age from 3 years old to 14 years old when them took him. He still does not trust women (a women is the one who creaked his beak) but even the 3 year plays with the bird supervised and the bird is very happy now.

I still rescue and rehome home Amazons (8 so far) and so far I have a 100% success rate and really hope to keep it that way. My husband thinks I may nuts since some of these bird were rather nasty to me at first but I love helping these wonderful birds find happy homes.

Bless you bountifully for it! So many male 'zons are abandoned when they begin serious biting. The local rescue has a waiting list of ten who're still with the families who want to give them up, but there's no room for them at the rescue yet. There are 40+ already in foster homes, some of whom must be adopted to make room for these other poor birds I hate thinking what conditions those ten are in while they wait with people who don't want them

I try always to warn people so they'll know a rough stretch is normal and will pass.

Toni, did you get your Yellow Nape baby yet?

Well.....after ALOT of thought. I did not get the amazon. I REALLY wanted to.....but there were alot of things I just did not agree with as far as getting THIS ONE. One thing is that it was not even weaned, and they were going to sell it to me. I am not experienced in hand-feeding, but was told I could be taught very easily. I may be able to be taught.....but I do not think just showing me a couple of times how to do it is good enough to take this baby home with me and possibly cause injury. And like I said a few other things as well just did not sit right. So I passed on the deal. I am going to look for a breeder....hopefully in my area, so that I can go and visit with the bird and let it get use to me. If the right bird came along, I would even conisder rehoming an older one.

I'm a little bummed out...but think I made the right choice. I just hope they sell the bird to someone that knows what the heck they are doing and not to someone like me that has NO IDEA on hand-feeding the PROPER way.

My time will come, and so will the right amazon. LOL Til then if anyone knows of a GOOD breeder or individual with any up for sale or adoption....let me know. Thanks for ALL the wonderful advice you all provided me with. It will definetly help when I do go and pick one out for myself.

Toni wrote:... it was not even weaned, and they were going to sell it to me. I am not experienced in hand-feeding, but was told I could be taught very easily. I may be able to be taught.....but I do not think just showing me a couple of times how to do it is good enough to take this baby home with me and possibly cause injury. And like I said a few other things as well just did not sit right. ... if anyone knows of a GOOD breeder or individual with any up for sale or adoption....let me know...

You're so very right to pass up an unweaned baby, Toni. So many chicks have died in the hands of inexperienced feeders that it's illegal in California to do what this breeder intends to do A breeder who cares that little about the welfare of the chicks does other things that are not in the best interests of the birds as well. They don't provide the early loving and nurturing chicks need to live comfortably in our homes.

What area are you looking for a good breeder or rescue organization in?