- Joined
- 1/18/15
- Messages
- 18
- Real Name
- David
I have written about Alvin before here. He is a unique bird. In his cage he will eat nothing but his pellets and occasional millet treats, but he will eat a varied diet if you offer it to him when his out and about in the house. When we first found him, he was tame and tolerated everyone in our house. He used to like to approach me to share what was on my plate. But over time, he grew to hate my wife and I and love our three kids, especially my oldest son. The kids are now adults or almost. He still loves them and hates us. My son is 22. When he comes home that bird still sings when my son pets him. Any time I approach his cage he shakes his bell violently at me. But if I am eating something he likes, he will still approach me to have some. If he is out in the house, and I have to round him up he will sometimes bite me hard enough to draw blood. When we got our Macaw, Chloe, several years ago at first Alvin was super nice to everyone, even my wife and I. But that faded after a couple of weeks. I guess he figured we weren't going to dump him or feed him to the monster.
When our youngest son was 3 or 4 he heard birds like to take baths, but he had only helped bathe dogs. One day, on his own, he gave Alvin a bath in the bathroom sink, and almost killed him. He came running to us with this limp sodden freezing bird. My wife revived Alvin with a hair drier, and he was fine afterward. It amazes me that he didn't bite the boy who was bathing him and he never held against the boy, who is now 17 and still a great friend. Alvin escaped out the door a couple of times when the kids were younger. But he did not go far, basically flying back and fourth over the yard, and then settling where someone could get him to step up. When awake, he chirps steadily like a fire alarm with a low battery, but not nearly so loud and penetrating. When my youngest was in preschool, he used to bring Alvin to school occasionally in the cage. He loves kids, but he doesn't hold it against them when they grow up.
I wanted to put this up to show that it is hard to generalize about birds by species. We have no idea how old Alvin is. He seemed young when we got him, but we don' know. We have no idea if his quirky personality is just him, or it comes from trauma he endured at his original home.
When our youngest son was 3 or 4 he heard birds like to take baths, but he had only helped bathe dogs. One day, on his own, he gave Alvin a bath in the bathroom sink, and almost killed him. He came running to us with this limp sodden freezing bird. My wife revived Alvin with a hair drier, and he was fine afterward. It amazes me that he didn't bite the boy who was bathing him and he never held against the boy, who is now 17 and still a great friend. Alvin escaped out the door a couple of times when the kids were younger. But he did not go far, basically flying back and fourth over the yard, and then settling where someone could get him to step up. When awake, he chirps steadily like a fire alarm with a low battery, but not nearly so loud and penetrating. When my youngest was in preschool, he used to bring Alvin to school occasionally in the cage. He loves kids, but he doesn't hold it against them when they grow up.
I wanted to put this up to show that it is hard to generalize about birds by species. We have no idea how old Alvin is. He seemed young when we got him, but we don' know. We have no idea if his quirky personality is just him, or it comes from trauma he endured at his original home.
which scares the death out of me but other then that it's mostly all good 
