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MBS (Multiple Bird Syndrome) AKA Just one more...

Saemma

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That's how MBS works! :lol:
Yes, you're right.:) I had wanted to help a parrot who was going to lose former home. Thomas was an unexpected addition, just couldn't find a reason to say no thank you.
 

Theresa

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I just reread this thread and noticed that there's been some happy changes, Andrea and Stephanie both had their beautiful baby girls :heart:
Also some sad changes, some members have had to rehome some of their flock due to health and/or life situation reasons :( and some have added to their flock while not planning too.

It's a good reminder that life is ever fluid, and we can't always anticapate how it will change and what or who will be affected by it.
 

amieserovski

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I have one bird and I think that's all I'll have for a long time. I'm still young, living at home and a uni student. At the moment preparing one batch of food, cleaning one cage and giving one bird sufficient attention is enough for me and as much as I would love to one day get another bird, my boyfriend has one and another on the way. He also has a bunch of other animals that I get to play with when I feel like it so I don't really see the need in getting another. Especially if I move out with him one day :O Going to have a lot of animals to look after :eek::D In saying that his mum is quite attached to the bird he has now so she might keep her, I might be lucky enough to only have to look after my ekkie and his future amazon :p
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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The friend who took my Amazons and have given them such a wonderful home in her aviary called me and asked me to take a pair of her small birds, GCCs, because she and her husband were going to have to move to a different house and is she could place some of her small birds, it would be easier to get a rental house with fewer birds.

Needless to say, I said I would take the GCCs and now have Boca and Pichu in the birdroom. Boca is a biter and very aggressive, while Pichu is shy and cute. They are settling in great after their isolation and doing very, very well. My friend also sent me a surprise bird, a golden pearl cockatiel hen; she knew I always wanted a hen of that mutation and so she sent Tweeter to me as a surprise. Tweeter is a former pet that was given up to a humane organization that had no idea withat to do with a bird. A friend at the humane organization called my friend and arranged for her to take Tweeter. My friend isolated her, vet checked her and then sent Tweeter to me, knowing I was looking for hen birds and wanted a golden pearl. Tweeter is now trying to make friends with me, but she is very hand shy. She is acing dowel step ups and loves little slivers of apple as training treats.

So, here I go again; three more birds when I said "no more". Sigh... But I just could not say no to my friend; she has really made a big difference in Pedro and Precie's lives and they are now very happy and well adjusted birds in her aviary. It was the least I could do for her.
 

glittersparkles

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I'm terrible although i swear i must be done by now!

I have a semi tame Meyers coming next month and no plans on more. I'm only taking him as its one of my dream birds and he belongs to a friend who desperately needs to downsize. I just can't resist as they aren't easy to find here.

I think my numbers are higher because over half my birds are avairy and are in pairs or flocks for company. But noise...space....money lol...time for the tame ones, i have to be done about now

Sent from my SK17i using Tapatalk 2
 
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webchirp

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Well I hadn't planned on taking more in after Zia but then Hachi came along. So I guess as long as I can manage care and if somebirdy really needs me, I'll try. Although I need a bigger bird room given the flock dynamic changes.
 

Klomonx

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For me it's knowing that I can't handle stress well, and as much as I miss having a bird, school is most important. It's very hard though, there is definitely a hole in my heart.
 

eclectuswife

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I would say I have MBS, but I also feel I've tried to make good decisions and that I really don't have much I regret at this point. I am very glad I waited until I was in my late 30's to purchase my first parrot. I was in graduate school, and had wanted for years to get a dog after growing up with dogs but not committing to one after I left home at age 20. At 46 years old, I'm still renting and financially am not ready to commit to my own house. AND I have a flock of 16 parrots. But, I have a lot of priorities about how to live with them and where I want to live. I never wanted to have kids, and I always wanted to live with multiple animals when I got to the point where I could afford to. Now, though I love dogs and other animals, part of my commitment to my birds is not to add an animal that would threaten their safety as well as take time away from them. I now look when I plan to move about 'how the situation I'm moving to will help support my birds'. Is it somewhere with a good vet with in driving distance? Am I near neighbors or friends who can help me take care of my birds immediately if something were to happen to me? Is the house spacious and well-heated, and the landlord knows that my parrots being flighted will inflict some chewing damage? Is there a yard where I can put up aviaries or outdoor cages for time outside on nice days and flight training? Are there multiple rooms so I can separate the guys who get along from the ones who don't or need to be away from larger/noisier birds? Is it a floor I can CLEAN easily? Can I roll cages outside to hose them down easily? Is my job in this area flexible and the time schedule appropriate for my guys? Do I have access to quality vegetables and CSA's for organic produce? Is the area SAFE and is there no chance some neighbor would be cooking with teflon close by, or am I in an area where people might break in to my house when I'm gone?

I was on a board about 6 years ago where an elderly parrot owner posted about MBS and her feelings about it. I had been feeling guilty as I was increasing my flock, but didn't feel like it was getting to be more than I could handle, and really enjoyed all my birds. She told me that her biggest regret was that she got into parrots when she was in her mid 60's, and now ten years later as she was aging she would have less time with them and couldn't make more commitments...so she actually said to if you really enjoy having multiple birds, have them while you are younger and plan the best you can and ENJOY your time with them. I have never been that drawn to getting baby birds, older birds are really what I prefer partially because so many need homes and partially thinking that they hopefully will live a long time and I don't want to commit to 80 years but more like 30. I do not own cockatoos, macaws or amazons presently, and definitely would only get an older macaw or amazon if I decided to...and all my larger birds are between 7 and 17 years old.

I fell out of love with the 'dream bird' concept...I find while there are a lot of species I would love to live with, by interacting with more and more though my jobs and bird clubs, I get an idea of the sorts of birds I really enjoy spending time with. And mainly they are smaller, less known species rather than a Hyacinth or a Major Mitchell's. I worked with a Hy at a bird store for several years, and while she was a sweet bird and I could handle her, she just wasn't my type of parrot though initially I was impressed by her beauty and hilarious nature. And I am leery of birds much larger than an Eclectus or Grey with my flock members, though I have had many macaw friends over the years. Amazons I find adorable, and it's possible I might wind up with one some day if it were the right bird; and I'm just not cracked up for cockatoos, though I have had a few 'too friends as well. It's conures and pois, greys and ekkies, and then maybe a lory or psittacula or brotogeris that I would cave for. Especially if they are handicapped, or losing their home, belong to a friend who needs help, etc. BUT, I do have limits, really. I have turned down A LOT of birds over the years, and will continue to I'm sure. I have pet insurance on all my guys, which is expensive but worth it. I do have an inheritance that goes towards my birds' care supporting my regular income. And I have people listed to help rehome my birds if I get to the point where I would have to do that, though I hope that is 30+ years from now. What I don't want is to have to give them small cages and only minimal time for 30 years...I want them to be the main thing in my life, and work with regular indoor and aviary training for them. While I work at a rescue, I DON'T want to BE a rescue...just have a large flock that I can handle. And I do not want my birds to go to a rescue eventually, unless it has a quality rehoming program and I feel comfortable with the place by visiting it personally and being involved with them.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts on the subject. I did add three more parrots this year after I lost one of my conures to cancer in February. I only planned to add one, and I was getting him before I lost Chicken but was waiting until I had paid off a few debts first. I also sent back my one foster conure to The Oasis, now that conditions have changed and she has a good place to live inside without being stressed by birds who pick on her. So I am more or less at the same caregiving level I was prior to the recent adoptions. I bird sat four eclectus in addition to my flock two years ago when a woman was having severe health problems, and learned that I don't want to deal with that many birds, at least ekkies...though all four were a lot of fun, they just didn't work well with my other guys (that little plucked Billy...what a charmer he was, but he could throw other birds off their cages and demanded a lot of my attention by coming to find me all the time! Really, he cracked me up). I will say I have one or two commitments out there...a paralyzed male ekkie named Sam who I'll take if his owner gets unable to care for him in the next decade, as his owner is aging...and a friend's bird or two possibly, both pois and conures. But I doubt I'd ever have more than 18, and I'm at 16.
 

SureAsNone

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I know this thread has been silent for awhile now, but I feel like it's something that every parrot owner should think about. It can be so easy to fall into that trap of "just one more".

Personally, I am only planning on one more any time soon, even though I have the time, space, and money for three, maybe four birds in total (four is my limit). That is not to say that if a bird came to me after I get my next bird, truly needing my help, that I would automatically shut down the idea, but it does mean that I would carefully assess the situation when it came to it.
 

VictoriaVague

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I know I could take in one more bird in my current situation but I'm not going to actively search one out. I'd love to take in a rescue but we are limited on bird rescues in the UK and the ones I have found have some very weird rules. I'll occasionally browse the likes of Craigslist and if I find the right bird in need of a home, I will open my door to him or her. But it has to be the right bird and I have to make sure it is fair on Titus.

If I every win big on the lotto though, you try and stop me from rescuing every bird in need of help on the planet! :lol:
 

Aequa

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We've decided only one bird of each mutation, if all that species look similar (like Black Cap Conures for example or a Cinny GCC and a Pineapple GCC), then they count as 'one mutation', because my partner is helping me stick to it, it is making us very particular and is the only reason we don't have three normal GCCs instead of one. It also mean I have to get different species which means different cages and more cages to clean. Especially after waiting nearly three months for our GCC chick (we knew the little guys when they were in eggs!) this has been super helpful. So many times I'd had loved to just get a bird already old enough to come home but I don't want to rush it, I want the perfect bird for us of that species/mutation. Plus, different looks help my poor confused partner to tell them apart haha, he has enough trouble with the two GCC siblings we have to choose from!
 

BeakyBird

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People think/thought I was in that state when I went ahead and reserved a parrotlet baby from a local breeder. Currently, I have three parakeets but they're all housed together so it's not too much for me to care for on that end. I open their cage for one-two hours a day and let them romp, but they seem to prefer to romp for about 5 minutes then waddle their way back into their cage.

I want a little more of a companion, and am aware that that will mean another cage to clean, another mouth to feed with different diet needs, new toys, and LOTS of new demands. Which I'm okay with. I'm 20. I don't have any kids, and my bills are small. I work in retail, but am applying for a town job (fingers crossed) to bring in more money. But all my hours are really flexible as I attend night school two nights a week.

Point blank, I have a lot of free time. ESPECIALLY when my boyfriend goes back to college. I'm going to be lonely again, and that's no fun. As much as I love my parakeets tremendously, they seem to be OK without my love. And I just want to love them oodles. XD
 

Theresa

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eleni

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I think this is something everyone should consider and if possible set their limits beforehand (before being confronted with another cute and potentially in-need face!).

I think it's noble to want to help birds in need, but at a certain point boundaries need to be enforced. This is for the simple fact that although the heart knows no limits, the hours in a day and the money in our wallets do :lol:This is why even rescues have a cap on the number of animals present at a given time, because in order to truly be doing the animals a service, the proper resources must be readily available.

I think a good solution for those confronted with a situation where they want to take in a bird (or any other animal) but know in their heart of hearts that there will be undue strain, is to perhaps temporarily foster (which many rescues will compensate the costs for, the only "donation" needed is your time and your heart) while helping to find a good home. This allows the bird a nice safe home and gives the rescue a vacancy to rescue another. Sometimes seeing a bird go off to good home, even though it my not be yours, can be just as rewarding and wise for all those involved.
 

VictoriaVague

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I said 2 is my limit for my situation. I've found number 2 and that is where I'm sticking. It wouldn't be fair on them to add anymore nor financially prudent and I have parrot insurance. I can only imagine how much harder it is for countries that cannot get parrot insurance.
 

Rahel

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When I was a teenager, I read about Macaws from time to time because I thought they were so fascinating. My sister and I grew up with smaller birds, canaries, budgies and finches but we never had a parrot.
Time went by and when I met my husband, we started traveling. During these years, we met a couple who had a harlequin Macaw and they traveled with it worldwide. So the idea to live with one of those fascinating creatures came up in my mind again and I started to tell my hubby about those birds. Fortunately, Luigi, our friends bird, was absolutely fascinated by my hubby and followed him wherever he went while we spent time over at our friends place so the hubby started liking the idea ;).
This is how it all started ... After many years of traveling we settled down here in beautiful MI and since we never forgot the wonderful time we've spent with our friends Macaw Luigi, we kept talking about maybe to get one.
I wrote to several different rescues but after they had heard that we both didn't have any experience with a bird of this size, they would deny us to adopt a bird. Out of curiosity, I lied and said that I grew up with Macaws and - the doors would have been open, we could have adopted our friend. But, since I did not like to lie, we did not go any further with the rescues.
After so many no's, we decided to buy a baby from a breeder, we just did not know any better back then. It took us a while to find out what kind of Macaw we wanted to take into our family (it was a B&G eventually), the search for a 'candidate' begun. We eventually found a 7 month old, drove down to St.Louis and back with him in 22 hours.
Very soon we became best friends and it was so great to have Leon here with us. But, after a while with him, we found out that whatever we would do for him and however many hours we've spent with him, we could not replace a Macaw companion for him, in the end we are human and Macaws are simply not domesticated as a dog or cat is. Leon was fine but we were not, so we started searching for a second bird. We found Reilly the GW on CL (I know, one does not buy animals on CL, but, we always get smarter in life, just takes experience and time ...) and bought him out of a very bad situation.
Reilly though is a different story ... Anyway, the two of them liked another a lot and we were happy.
We started to be members in our local bird club and met this very nice lady who has a bird rescue ... right ... While my husband was gone to Germany for school, I met this little nippy Scarlet boy through my friends rescue and agreed so happy to foster him. My hubby, after returning to home, fell in love immediately with Coari ... so #3 is in ... :wacky:.

After a year or so, we met this little B&G baby, just one year old that we took home to foster. Guess what, ... yes, we adopted her ... So four they were .... A couple of years went by and somehow, we were very fortunate and could adopt Boebbe, our fifth bird.
Reilly, the GW was reunited with his first owner (as I say, another very great story) and we were back to four which is ENOUGH ;).

I think this number is just fine and enough that we can manage well.
On a certain point you come to your border, financially and also work-wise (since there are other things in our lifes that we have to take care as well). Also, it is hard to give them all what they need during a day when you have to work and take care of other things going on in daily life. We try to give them the best diet possible which is not cheap and it is also a lot of time to get everything together. There is a lot of work involved. Of course we could take in another 5 or 10 birds but we could not give them all the good food, love and clean area that they need, not even to speak about toys ect.
Space is another thing. We love our birds like our own children but, there is a certain point to it. Sometime you want to spend time together without a bird hopping around between you and your partner.

It is like with dogs or cats or whatever animal you want to rescue. There is only a certain amount of money, time, space and nerves one can spend.
It does not help any animal if you go into a bankruptcy or if your help is in danger just because you think 'I can manage one more', we have to stay in reality and try to do what we can and what is within our possibilities.
 

Sunshine1313

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Honestly, when I got Crackle I was very content with her and planned to get another bird way far into the future. One day, me and my mom were buying more food for her and they had a male cockatiel. I innocently walked over to say hi. He won me and my mom over so fast it made my head spin. I know it was an impulse buy, but I knew I had another cage at home, a place to quarantine, and time for both. A couple months later I went to an awesome bird store and met a bird I liked...a lot(female eclectus little did I know). Researched the breed so much I exhausted Google :lol:When I heard the bird store was getting in a 4 month old male....I met him and fell in love. I thought about it some more after getting another cage and playstand and decided to get him.
Here I am, and I'd say I'm at my limit. I really only have time for one on with Crackle and FreeFall and then some time with Baxter and Crackle together. The reason Baxter doesn't get real one on one time is because while he's not scared of me or humans, he definitely prefers Crackle over me and anyone else. So, Baxter gets time with me, but Crackle is there too. Anyway, morale of this story :lol: is that I figured out that I only have time for 3 birds and with the cleaning and food preparing, that's really all I want. So, no birds for me until I'm living in a house with a stay at home job. :smug:
 

LizandShadow

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After my grey it was several years before I concidered a second and I only did so becuase I got an opertunity to get my dream bird. I didn't really want two, but a vasa fell into my lap. A few months in and my partner and I have come to the conclusion we will have many vasas... many many vasas
 

DWRVT

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I have recently discovered a few people on online bird forums who have serious cases of what I would consider MBS. Because these people are adopting rescue or re-home birds, other members are thanking them and encouraging them to go get that next bird.
I am quite dis-heartened by this as I feel that these people may be being encouraged to get birds they don't have time for or can't afford because they know other people will say "thank you for saving that bird". Basically that they will get praise and recognition for adopting the bird. I feel this is dangerous territory in the cases I am seeing as these people have expressed concern in the past that they don't always have time for or money to care for their current flock.
How do you suggest to someone that rescuing that bird may not be in their or the bird's best interest??
 

Theresa

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How do you suggest to someone that rescuing that bird may not be in their or the bird's best interest??

I've seen the same thing and you either have to walk away from it, or tactfully send a private message. I've done both.
 
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