Connie and I were talking today about some of the large parrot breeding operations. I don't know how they can possibly do it! Having one batch of babies, even just a single baby, is like bringing a newborn child into our home. Feedings every hour at first, constant vigilance over the temperature of the incubator, making sure they get enough attention every step of the way! Washing and santizing dishes and feeding utensils. heating the water to the exact temperature! Arranging for a baby sitter when I have to be gone! I figure there is no way I could be reimbursed for all of the time that goes into a baby parrot! Even if I charged only $1 an hour, no one could afford to buy a baby from me!
My mom was telling me about the circumstances in which they got Coco, the Yellow Nape. She came from a large aviary on the West Coast. My mom had orderedand paid for a baby parrot and waited for some time, when she was called and told to go to the airport to pick up her baby. She was assured that the baby was eating well and had been handfed. Instead, she found Coco to be in pin feathers and with obviously no idea of ever having been handfed. Coco refused to eat and it was obviously she had not been handfed. The vet felt they had probably been feeding her via a tube directly into her crop. That was the only way they could get her to eat. They were afraid they would lose her. Then one day, Coco, swallowed tube and all. The vet assured them it would pass, which it did, but Coco was far to young to have been sent across the country. The breeder refused to answer any of my mother's calls. Now there are too many shipping restrictions, that a baby that young could never be flown across the country!
But I remember Coco as a baby, and she was so sweet, so loving, and I knew then that someday, I wanted to own an Amazon parrot! Little did I think that one day, 17 years later, Coco and her mate, Charlie, would come to live with us!
If you have a parrot, make sure you have someone who will be willing to take it if you die or are unable to keep them, as they will probably outlive you! Fortunately, we were able to adopt Coco when my mom's health prevented her from keeping parrots any longer. She and Charlie have been members of the family for 20 years now!
