What got me into parrot keeping

[Parrotlover83]

I first showed an interest in parrots at the age of 8yrs old when I used to visit my grandma in Maldon Essex UK there was a pet shop on Maldon bridge which had a b&g macaw which I was fascinated by.... & visited everytime I saw my grandma. Fast forward a few years later & my family & I visit a garden centre to by some koi carp fish, inside there is a sulphur crested cockatoo who is so entertaining & for sale for £800 ( 1994 ) era I fell in love, cried, begged my parents to buy the bird for me to no joy :-( from that moment on I vowled I'd own a parrot when I was mature enough....... So from the age of 11yrs old I knew I was meant to own a parrot. I'm now 30yrs old & own 7 parrots. Some people where ment to own parrots & I'm one of the lucky ones :-)


Parrot Power...........:-)

[Debra]

What a great story! To have known at such a young age. I was in my late 30's when I got into parrots. In fact, my daughter begged her grandfather to buy her two parakeets, then within a few short months two cockatiels. Now, my daughter was all of 12 or so years. She naturally fell out of love with them as her love for her classical music grew. Naturally, the care for the birds (and expense of upkeep) fell to me. I now have 12 birds and wouldn't trade them for anything!

[Parrotlover83]

I still resent my parents for not buying me the sulphur crested cockatoo :-(


Parrot Power...........:-)

[Maddy]

That's great! :) When did you get your first bird?

I got my first bird, Weasley (RIP) the blue budgie, when I was 10. I've been bird crazy ever since. :th_biggrin:

[Parrotlover83]

I was 28 when I got my first parrot ( cockatoo ) I wanted to wait until I was mature,settled & ready to commit


Parrot Power...........:-)

[kendrafitz]

That is an awesome story!

I have always admired macaws, but never imagined owning one. I am an animal person but never considered myself a bird person. It wasn't until my daughter had a continued fascination with macaws that we decided to bring one into our family. I was 40 and my daughter was 7. Needless to say Rosie is my bird, although my daughter does love her. :)

[Turquoise]

Well now, I have always loved all types of animals/birds/critters in general. My Mom had a blue parakeet for several yrs when I was a little girl. She however would not let me get one of my own. She didn't let me keep a lot of animals I so wanted. Dogs & cats were about it. She did get a Cockatiel when I was 15 back in 1970, but it didn't live long for some reason.

My first parrot I got for myself was my turquoise blue baby budgie I named Cherokee in 1980 when I was 25. Cherokee was an awesome little guy, totally bonded to me and learned several words. My first larger parrots I bought for myself in 1991 and was my hand fed baby Nanday Conure, Chuckles Nanday. After getting him I added 2 re-homed Amazons who had several issues we work through, a male SI Eclectus, a couple of budgies, and a lovebird. I also bought my Mom a Timneh African Grey she later gave back to me. I loved having these birds and kept them on open play perches in their own bird room, except the budgies and lovebird. All of them did fine with this setup and I owned them til I had to re-home them in 2000 due to life changes and not being able to be home for up to 9 weeks at a time when my hubby began driving an 18-wheeler over the road and I went with him.

I had always loved the looks of macaws. I always wanted a Green Wing macaw from the first photo I ever saw in a book I had on parrots. I drooled over the photos in bird magazines and wanted one when I had my other birds, but could not afford to buy one at that time. There was always that feeling that I was meant to be owned by macaws. After my other larger parrots I did get budgies, but never larger ones again. I had 4 budgies in the summer of 2011 when my hubby Jerry said we should get another parrot. I really didn't think with my work schedule I could have a bird that basically was awake and noisy during my sleep hours. I told him I wasn't sure about that, but would look into it. He had seen a cute Green Cheek Conure in the pet shop, but I didn't like its price. I began looking online for info about parrots as it had been quit a few yrs since I had been involved with large parrot upkeep.

Well I really began to look into a larger parrot once we decided to sell a place we owned and I knew I could squeeze some of the money out for a nice size parrot rather than a smaller one. I was eying the macaws and Jerry had visions of another African Grey since he liked the one we had before. I was actually looking for a Green Wing in my state I could get. Didn't find any at the time, but did find a breeder with Catalina macaws and fell in love with the male baby Roscoe from his 2 1/2month old photo.

That's how I became owned by a macaw and his special brother Angel. Then came The Diva Leyla Belle from the same breeder. I was actually on the waiting list for Leyla Belle or her brother's eggs to hatch as I had first choice if they were a male & female. I chose the redhead!! I decided while waiting for Roscoe to wean I needed something larger than the budgies to keep him company when I was sleeping and working (not in the same enclosure of course!). And that is when I decided another Eclectus was a good add. Then I found out about Angel, Roscoe's handicapped brother and just had to have him. Their breeder was looking for someone she could trust to take good care of Angel and love him for the awesome boy he is and I asked to be on the list of possible recipients.

I absolutely love owning macaws & would have a whole house of them if I could. Even tho I had my two Catalina boys I still had the gnawing need for a Green Wing and found Ruby Jewel the night after Christmas Day 2012. She is a special girl too, missing a part of her left wing and she is super sweet and loving! She weaned & came home last year in April and I have not regretted a single day of adding her to my flock!!! I was 56 when I finally got my macaw boys and 57 when I fulfilled my lifelong dream of owning a Green Wing. :) No we will never get to live a long life together, but I plan on being in their lives for at least 30 yrs!!!

[Parrotlover83]

Wow amazing story's :-)


Parrot Power...........:-)

[tonkatiel]

My parents bought a wild caught Galah when I was 7 who they still have now (17 years old now!), but he is very much bonded to my Mum only. He will tolerate everyone else but only if Mum isn't around :P I always loved him and always knew I'd one day get one of my own who would (hopefully) be bonded to me. My original plan was that I'd get one as soon as I moved out of home but life happened and I decided to wait.
I moved out of home when I was 17 and in with my boyfriend of the time who had a sulphur crested cockatoo. His name was Cocky and although he was originally bonded to my boyfriend he eventually seemed to bond to me as well... I was absolutely devastated when I split up with the boyfriend - was a lot harder to say goodbye to Cocky than it was to the douche of an ex :P
I decided after that that I would wait to get a bird of my own until I knew for sure what I wanted and my life had settled down a bit...
Fast forward 6 years and I saw 3 gorgeous little lovebirds in a petshop... I mentioned to my partner that if I were to buy one I'd get the blue one because it was absolutely gorgeous! 3 days later on my birthday (and my partners birthday since we're lucky enough to share the date lol), he brought home not only the blue lovebird, but a green and a yellow one as well as a birthday present to both of us. He bought the blue one for me (Sid), the green one for himself (Johnny) and then felt bad about the yellow one (Aussie) being left by herself so bought her too lol...
And that is what started my real obsession ;) I'd always known I wanted birds but I'm not great at making big decisions, so once that first decision was taken out of my hands it was all pretty easy :P
3 months later we got Tonks, then I finally got the Galah I'd always wanted (Punky), then our budgies Charlie (RIP) and Lola, then Tessa as a partner for Tonks, then Skittles, and then Mia and finally Max, making our flock a nice even number of 10 :D

Its been a year (as of next week) since the lovebirds joined our family, but it certainly feels like forever! I don't think I could ever not have birds again - its completely true when they say parrots take over your life ;) and not in a bad way at all, just that I can't even imagine how boring my life must have been beforehand without me even realising it lol!