Rescue birds

Cockatoo

This is complete baloney. As you might imagine, it is propogated by people who breed and sell birds and want you to think that buying what they are offering is the only sensible choice. Now my first bird (a Blue Fronted Amazon, now deceased) was a hand fed baby and was a wonderful bird.

But I now have several birds, including large macaws -- all are rescues and all are wonderful (and all very different). Some had been abused, two were totally wild, and others just needed a new and/or different home.

So I encourage you to adopt a "rescue bird". Any parrot that previously lived in another home seems to get labeled a rescue. The situation may have been abusive, or someone may have just decided that parrots are not for them.

Every situation is unique and different. Birds are individuals. It may take years to gain an animals trust -- but there is nothing wrong with that, and everybody ends up a winner. Some birds accept a new owner right away.

Of course if you buy a hand fed baby that is likely to work out well, as long as you provide a good home and that bird does not end up becoming a rescue bird itself!

I encourage rescues because there are so many unwanted birds. At least part of the problem is that parrots live such long lives. An owner can get old and die and nobody in the family may want the bird. Peoples situations in life change and a bird ends up needing a new home. All kinds of things happen, generally no fault whatsoever of the birds.