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New to Hawkheads

Jenlynn

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Jen
Hi everyone. I have always loved the beauty of Hawkhead parrots, but never imagined that I would own one until...fast forward to last week where a local SPCA had one surrendered with a 500 dollar adoption fee.

I saw it on Facebook and raced there during my lunch break. Met him... he flew at my face and bit my finger. I was smitten. As far as parrot bites go— it wasn’t bad at all.

So I put a deposit down and had 24 hours to come up with a cage and pick him up.

Our wonderful local bird store got me all set with a beautiful Kings cage. The owners husband even assembled it. I went the next day, adopted Jake, picked up my cage, got him clipped and disease tested right at the store, and came home to begin my life as a 2 bird mom. Niles my African Grey knows something’s up, but is enjoying all of the guilt attention and almonds he’s getting. This has been the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done.

The Hawkhead basically flew free in his owners home. He seems to hate the cage and likes me. I’ve kept training sessions to about 20-30 minutes at a time. He seems to get nippy when he gets over stimulated. He steps up, let’s me rub his head and seems to lean into human contact through the cage bars. He’s a little more apprehensive when he’s out.

Any advice? These birds are not common so I was able to trace the store he was purchased from. They confirmed they sold him and he was hatched approximately March 2018.

He eats pellets like a champ and would probably sell his soul for dried papaya.

I feel extremely lucky to have him but at the same time a huge sense of responsibility to do right by him.

Please give me advice! 47367034-7F89-4A29-B96E-2F0582ACAA87.jpeg
 

Yoshi&Raphi

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Congrats! He’s stunning no advice just wanted to congratulate you on your new fid.
 

EkkieLu

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Many congrats! Beautiful little guy for sure!!!
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
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He’s gorgeous, congratulations!!!

@camelotshadow has a beautiful hawk head called Penny.
 

DoubleTake

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Pretty bird, definately gonna have your hands full. Wish you and your new family member much happiness. Only have met 5 hawk heads in my life and they all seemed curious but unpredictable.
 

suileeka

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No advice, but congrats! I saw him posted on the shelter's Facebook page last week. Glad to see his adopter has joined us here. :D
 

AutumnRain

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Congratulations! He's beautiful. As far as advice goes, I would suggest keeping the training sessions short and sweet. This is because you don't want him getting irritated or reaching that overly stimulated point. It's always better to end on a high note where both of you still want to keep going than to push it too far. Training sessions that are no more than 15 minutes for now should help with that. :)
 

jh81

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If the impulsive thing feels the right thing to do, then thats always good :)

Congratulations,, i am sure you wil enjoy many happy moments with your new companion, just be sure to keep posting pictures so we can enjoy as well :rofl:
 

whichlinda

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Linda
I own a hawkhead and she is very attached to me. She very affectionate and also follows me around the house. I did get her at a young age.
 

camelotshadow

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He's a baby & they can get rough if overstimulated. Very nice adoption fee for a 1yr old.

Penny was an unintended acquisition when I just found her needing a home & was smitten...

Penny just turned 22...They are no known to be very social with other species or even there own.

Best you can hope for is they ignore other birds. They have been called unpredictable but Penny has a very stable personality...It just depends upon how it was raised but even so males esp can be a handful...

They can have ferocious bites so I have been told but Penny has never bit me so think yours was a love bite...:rofl:

Good luck with him...I do know the woman who has Penny's few day old brother...Shes been here a few times...Hawkeye...
 
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