KevinC
Strolling the yard
- Joined
- 1/18/21
- Messages
- 125
- Real Name
- Kevin N. Carpenter
Hi all. I've enjoyed the warm welcome I've received on my introduction post, but it felt like I should break into the "real" forum <smile>.
Quick summary: 62 years old, prior GW owner (separated via divorce 15 years ago), now semi-retired. Have a significantly younger wife and two teenage kids. We live on a 121 acre farm in the middle of nowhere Missouri, with a wide variety of animals (household birds, cats, and working dog; farm horses, cows, chickens, guinefowl, turkeys, rabbits, etc.). My daytime office is about 500 feet from my house.
Pretty much settled on getting something like a 64x32 cage for the office, and something like a 80x40 cage for the house. When weather permits (call it 300 days a year), plan on taking the bird with me to the office daily. I can afford decent (powder coated) cages, but not ultimate (SS) cages - although I really like the Expandable Habitats products... those would take some time to save up for. I want to at least have the office cage before I do start seriously considering obtaining a bird. At 62, time is not in my favor, but since our log home still has about 6 months of finishing work, I suspect I'd fail most home inspections (doesn't keep us from living there - which we do), so likely will need to bide some time anyhow.
Been spending the last month or so considering what I would like to have, with side-trips down the caging path. I will admit I like color. An African Grey would probably be an ideal bird - but with no offense to AG owners - they just don't appeal to me, nor do Cockatoos. I recently devoured a several hundred page e-book on Eclectus, but suspect I could never have just one - I'd want a pair. Suppose that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Regarding a single bird I'm quite torn. Here is my current understanding in immensely compressed form:
Green Wing: Beautiful, friendly, relatively calm based on my previous experience. Large enough to quickly teach the cats to stay away. [ Our farm dog would take a single session to teach - she learns in one pass what she is allowed to do (chase wild rabbits, eat anything we cull and feed her, but not chase or eat any of the rabbits we raise!), so not worried about her. Worst she does is chase fowl from her food bowl (and seems to enjoy doing so, but never harms them). ] Alas, I've never experienced GWs long term (more than a half-dozen years), and I'm reading here that their personality can change in their later years. I'm seeing GWs on adoption sites fairly regularly.
Blue and Gold: Playful, more energy than GWs, somewhat stronger tendency to bond to one family member, sometimes with aggression to others. Not ideal since my office is also the family TV room which we regularly spend an hour or two each night at (typically watching movies or Netflixing). It would depend on the bird. Very commonly seen on adoption sites. I've never met one I didn't get along with - sometimes to the shock of their keepers.
Blue Throated Macaw: Still more energy, can be clingy (which doesn't bother me). Mechanical geniuses - will need key padlocks to keep it in its cage <smile>. Smaller than BGs, which I'm fine with. I've never seen one on an adoption site.
Amazons: (I know, not a Macaw) Not as colorful, but I hear Yellow Fronts, Panama, and Yellow Shoulder Amazons make wonderful companions. Big enough to meet my desire for a "large bird" (just spent a month with my daughters new Indian Ringneck while it waited out its quarantine time in my office. Nice, spent a lot of shoulder time on me, but just a bit small for my taste). I wasn't really looking at Amazons, but seem to recall seeing them on adoption sites fairly regularly.
Eclectus: (Yeah, I know, really not a Macaw, but please deal with it <lol>) Not completely off my list. Would likely end up with a pair over time (perhaps a year apart). Obviously easy to sex and don't seem to have the "two-birds will bond to each other instead of the human" concern. I find both sexes beautiful. Although I know it varies by individual bird, they have a reputation of having vocabularies that rival an African Greys. That is, admittedly, appealing to me. I've spotted them on adoption pages - but vary rarely.
That leads me to the purpose of this post: Presuming this is a once-in-whats-left-of-my-lifetime decision, which of the above categories would you suggest I eliminate from my current potential list? Alternatively, if for some reason you think only ONE of the above is appropriate for me, which and why?
We are several hours away from the closest rescue sites - so we can visit a few, but not on anything like a weekly basis. Thus the "right bird is the one that selects you" (a process I completely agree with) will be difficult, since exposure to a lot of rescues will not be practical. That said, even if I had my heart set on a specific bird, if we visited and it hated me (as some do just based on gender or other aspects I can't control), I would pass it by and write off the trip as an educational adventure.
Note I'm figuring I likely have about 20 years to go. My brother died at 72, although he abused his body chemically since leaving the army at 22. My father died at 83 accidently. My mother is still alive at 95 although the nursing home she requires would never allow a companion bird. I'm presuming my lovely wife would take over for me when I pass, or my 14 yo daughter...
Quick summary: 62 years old, prior GW owner (separated via divorce 15 years ago), now semi-retired. Have a significantly younger wife and two teenage kids. We live on a 121 acre farm in the middle of nowhere Missouri, with a wide variety of animals (household birds, cats, and working dog; farm horses, cows, chickens, guinefowl, turkeys, rabbits, etc.). My daytime office is about 500 feet from my house.
Pretty much settled on getting something like a 64x32 cage for the office, and something like a 80x40 cage for the house. When weather permits (call it 300 days a year), plan on taking the bird with me to the office daily. I can afford decent (powder coated) cages, but not ultimate (SS) cages - although I really like the Expandable Habitats products... those would take some time to save up for. I want to at least have the office cage before I do start seriously considering obtaining a bird. At 62, time is not in my favor, but since our log home still has about 6 months of finishing work, I suspect I'd fail most home inspections (doesn't keep us from living there - which we do), so likely will need to bide some time anyhow.
Been spending the last month or so considering what I would like to have, with side-trips down the caging path. I will admit I like color. An African Grey would probably be an ideal bird - but with no offense to AG owners - they just don't appeal to me, nor do Cockatoos. I recently devoured a several hundred page e-book on Eclectus, but suspect I could never have just one - I'd want a pair. Suppose that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Regarding a single bird I'm quite torn. Here is my current understanding in immensely compressed form:
Green Wing: Beautiful, friendly, relatively calm based on my previous experience. Large enough to quickly teach the cats to stay away. [ Our farm dog would take a single session to teach - she learns in one pass what she is allowed to do (chase wild rabbits, eat anything we cull and feed her, but not chase or eat any of the rabbits we raise!), so not worried about her. Worst she does is chase fowl from her food bowl (and seems to enjoy doing so, but never harms them). ] Alas, I've never experienced GWs long term (more than a half-dozen years), and I'm reading here that their personality can change in their later years. I'm seeing GWs on adoption sites fairly regularly.
Blue and Gold: Playful, more energy than GWs, somewhat stronger tendency to bond to one family member, sometimes with aggression to others. Not ideal since my office is also the family TV room which we regularly spend an hour or two each night at (typically watching movies or Netflixing). It would depend on the bird. Very commonly seen on adoption sites. I've never met one I didn't get along with - sometimes to the shock of their keepers.
Blue Throated Macaw: Still more energy, can be clingy (which doesn't bother me). Mechanical geniuses - will need key padlocks to keep it in its cage <smile>. Smaller than BGs, which I'm fine with. I've never seen one on an adoption site.
Amazons: (I know, not a Macaw) Not as colorful, but I hear Yellow Fronts, Panama, and Yellow Shoulder Amazons make wonderful companions. Big enough to meet my desire for a "large bird" (just spent a month with my daughters new Indian Ringneck while it waited out its quarantine time in my office. Nice, spent a lot of shoulder time on me, but just a bit small for my taste). I wasn't really looking at Amazons, but seem to recall seeing them on adoption sites fairly regularly.
Eclectus: (Yeah, I know, really not a Macaw, but please deal with it <lol>) Not completely off my list. Would likely end up with a pair over time (perhaps a year apart). Obviously easy to sex and don't seem to have the "two-birds will bond to each other instead of the human" concern. I find both sexes beautiful. Although I know it varies by individual bird, they have a reputation of having vocabularies that rival an African Greys. That is, admittedly, appealing to me. I've spotted them on adoption pages - but vary rarely.
That leads me to the purpose of this post: Presuming this is a once-in-whats-left-of-my-lifetime decision, which of the above categories would you suggest I eliminate from my current potential list? Alternatively, if for some reason you think only ONE of the above is appropriate for me, which and why?
We are several hours away from the closest rescue sites - so we can visit a few, but not on anything like a weekly basis. Thus the "right bird is the one that selects you" (a process I completely agree with) will be difficult, since exposure to a lot of rescues will not be practical. That said, even if I had my heart set on a specific bird, if we visited and it hated me (as some do just based on gender or other aspects I can't control), I would pass it by and write off the trip as an educational adventure.
Note I'm figuring I likely have about 20 years to go. My brother died at 72, although he abused his body chemically since leaving the army at 22. My father died at 83 accidently. My mother is still alive at 95 although the nursing home she requires would never allow a companion bird. I'm presuming my lovely wife would take over for me when I pass, or my 14 yo daughter...
And only before bed, or if he's in a good mood.
