Miligold?

[KevinC]

Hi all... heading to Iowa Parrot Rescue on May 6th to continue my effort to familiarize myself with all the somewhat local (400 miles or so, plus Gabriel Foundation at 700 miles) rescue facilities. Mostly going to establish a relationship, but they have a miligold up for adoption.

Description on their website ( http://www.iowaparrotrescue.org ) is " Big Boy miligold is a 10 year old male. He's friendly and engaging, very playful. Likes to go visiting and get into mischief. ". Not a lot to go on.

Any thoughts?

ps. Expanded Habitats is still having material sourcing issues, mostly simply finding the stainless steel needed to build the cages. Price on stainless is apparently going up as well, enough so that they may not be able to eat the difference. Hope when they do find it the price doesn't jump as much as lumber (almost 2X since a year ago. Just paid $13.49 for 14' 2x4s that were half of that last year. Plywood has also virtually doubled. I just huff whenever I read that inflation is at 2%...)

 

[faislaq]

He's beautiful! Of course, I may be a bit partial. @Animallover03 might know more about him if she's back from Germany. She used to volunteer there.

 

[BrianB]

Look at that tail. He's beautiful.

 

[Nikomania]

I'm partial to miligolds, too, as my Shaylor is a miligold. He's a bit more temperamental than my scarlet, but he's a pretty special boy!

 

[Hankmacaw]

@KevinC Did you see this posting for rehoming two macaws?

Macaws in Need of a New Home ** BOTH ADOPTED **

These are not my birds BUT... I know them well and will screen people like they are my birds! Not in a hurry so don't message me unless you are perfect home for a macaw and can prove it. Will require prior bird experience. Will require vet references and home visit. Expect multiple calls and...

forums.avianavenue.com

 

[Lady Jane]

I just huff whenever I read that inflation is at 2%...)

I watch the postings for Gabriel foundation on FB and I think they really do have some lovely birds for adoption. I would put my faith and trust in them in a heartbeat.

On the inflation...............I have been feeding a flock of doves sunflower seeds, the no mess kind, for about a year now. They know what time I am coming out to scatter them below my living room windows and will call me if I am late. (this is forbidden by landlord) so I wait until he goes home. The price on Amazon when I started was $15. for 5.5 pounds. Now its $27 for the same bag. One day last week it went to the $15 again and I ordered 20 pounds. Prices are so up and down. My advice is to watch the prices every day because you could hit at the right time. Good luck

 

[KevinC]

I'm partial to miligolds, too, as my Shaylor is a miligold. He's a bit more temperamental than my scarlet, but he's a pretty special boy!

That was surprising. I would have expected a miligold to have a calmer disposition than a scarlet, but then again we know personalities vary widely between individuals.

Re: Inflation - we are in phase 2 of our home construction (interior work being done), so I see construction prices weekly. Alas, they have only been going up, and steeply, since Covid. Most lumber is close too 2X what it was a year ago.

Re: Macaws in need of a new home - Yeah, I spotted that (surprisingly... still fiddling with notification settings here). Although my daughter and I (its kind of a father/daughter project... and when your daughter is 14, that is a rare thing!) are visiting rescues that we can do in a day, and are working our way through the Gabriel Foundation Colorado process. We are mostly in information gathering mode right now. Should a BTM or Military become available in Missouri, and it was a personality match, we would likely jump and buy a temporary <$1000 cage until Expanded Habitats works through its supply chain issues. My daughter would simply use the temp cage as a flight cage later for some of her smaller birds.

I've swapped a few messages with Iowa Parrot rescue around their process. First was the application, Second is the visit, Third they come do a home visit (yeah, even through its over a 3 hour drive each way for them), then, if we are approved, they suggest we start getting cages, toys, etc. Finally we go back for the bird... They were concerned that the home visit might take a few weeks to schedule. I took that as a bad sign with regards to the instant-gratification aspects of our society. We have been working with Tricia at Expanded Habitats since late January and only recently consider the experience slipping a bit - not a crisis.

That said, over the past year or so, I've used my office as an isolation ward for any new birds my daughter acquires, or agrees to housesit (as was the case for the last two). Nothing here for the past week - and its eerily quiet... Housesitting (I know there is a better term, but I'm old and still working on my first cup of tea) is a bit of a roller coaster emotionally. The last pair were a white cockatiel and a sun conure. The cockatiel was a very calm, lovely bird, who was not potty trained, but otherwise was simply content sitting on a shoulder or leg all day. The sun conure was, well... a sun conure! It demanded to be out of its cage and on my shoulder, was potty trained (e.g. flew to its cage to do its business, then flew back), loved cuddling into any space associated with me (like between my arm in chest when I was at the keyboard) and sleeping - so long as it could see out if anything happened. Also loved to sleep under my shirt. Both were stressed. Apparently the owner smokes, and the conure was heavily plucked but starting to feather out again before it left. Suspect she doesn't spend enough time with it primarily, and that the smoking doesn't help. Both birds were in too small of a cage (18" square) - at least by my preferences. We ended up buying a new cage for the conure and using one of my daughters spares as an upgrade for the cockatiel while they were with us. Rather looking forward to them returning for 10 days next week. The first visit was during some cancer treatment for the owner, this next one is going to allow her to take "one last" vacation. (Us farmers seldom get vacations - my last one was a decade or so ago, but that is our choice.)

Anyhow, appreciate all the feedback folks!

 

[Sparkles!]

A pet store near me has a baby miligold right now and he was super sweet today when I met him! Of course, almost all babies are... but he was far sweeter than the Iligers next to him!