Topic: all your pets are lovely but mine insults me!!!

[debster]

there i am sat on the sofa watching tv minding my own business when this little fella pipes up 'WOW! you've got a big butt!!!'  :o :o ::)

[debster]

mind you here is a better piccy of him !!

[Jeannine]

He is lovely but like all naughty children ...they only say what they hear!!

XX Jeannine

[star]

They certainly do......my dad used to have a mynah bird, the language was extreme. He ended up giving the bird away to the local hotel for the bar............where it learned many more words ::) ::)

[caseylee]

I come from south africa orginally and its full of myna birds.  I remember the language that used to come out of their little beaks.  I'm all for a dirty laugh but they even made me blush

[debster]

you are so right Jeannine and he says what a big butt in my hubbys voice, in my voice he says i love you, can count to 5 knows his telephone number, sings a couple of songs and blows kisses. all the good things he says far out weigh the bad he is really clever and talks most of the day doesnt have much choice in my house lol wouldnt swap him for the world. ;D

[posie]

My great grandfather apparently brought home a mynah bird (he was a merchant seaman) and every night it used to pipe up "Pi** off and where's my bloody cocoa!" - not good when my great gran was a staunch chapel goer!!!    ;D

[Jeannine]

My Dad also had a mynah bird called Charlie, he used to shout "Up the Rovers" during rugby in the TV, he also said one of my Dads phrases which was " lets get all set before we start"..Dad was the only fella in a household of women!!

Charlie spoke in my Dads quiet spoken voice, my Mums veruy sweet voice and my sisters put on posh voice, it was uncanny how accurate he was.

After my parants died(both in the same week suddenly) the bird would say Mums "Hello sweetheart" and Dads ," I'll be seeing you" as we came in then went out. It was quite disturbing at first as the voices were identical.

Charlie never swore though and actually he was very polite.

I have had a few parrots over the years but each one has been mentally defective I am sure,another story there, next time.

XX Jeannine

[debster]

oh Jeannine i would absolutely love to hear your parrot stories, on the whole freddie probably swears about once or twice a week the rest of the time he chats away about anything and everything, the funniest occasion was when my step son who is always up early when he stays watching cartoons, always uncovers freddie so that he can watch them too however in the morning freddie is particularly chatty and one day i was sat watching telly when clear as a bell freddie says shut up freddie in elliots voice, elliot must have been telling him to shut up for weeks of course elliot denied it, but as you say they mimic the voices they learn so well its obvious lol  ;D

[Peapods]

I would adore a parrot!!
It is seriously one of my 'things to do before I die'!
But, as they cost the earth, and me and OH are out all day it wouldnt be fair to leave such an intelligent bird on its own :-(
one day I will get one though......
keep me going with the stories (especially the rude ones!)

[debster]

Peapods if you ever find it a serious option about getting a parrot there are loads that are looking to be rehomed and are currently being fostered, the majority of them the owners get bored of them or they dont talk enough etc etc, i belong to a parrot forum and there are some wonderful rescuers on their it would be worth considering. have you ever gone through the parrot videos on you tube they are brilliant.
freddie now sings ring a ring of roses, but his favourite at the mo is to let out a really loud belch followed by pardon me  ;D at least he is well mannered lol

[Jeannine]

Finally answering you Debster.

My experiences with parrots have been a real disaster, especially for the parrots.

I had one that I bought without seeing it..long story..anyway when it came it looked as if it had been in the vacuum cleaner. I have never seen such a grotty looking bird in my life, what feathers it had looked faded and dusty.It was pitiful and looked very unhappy really. I kept it in my shop in Canada thinking the company would be good for it. It had a huge cage and all that was good in this world. I suffered the parrot jokes from the customers and tried very hard to help it. It would not be touched and would attack even if when changing food dishes. It hated water, I was told it only drank milk!! It was true too.

I sent it to the vet to try to find out what was wrong with it, he phoned and said he needed to take blood for samples but was having a hard job.  I fully believed it was mentally challenged.

It used to sit on it's perch never making a sound, then suddenly it would let out a loud squawk, flap it's wings violently and fall off it's perch on to the floor were it lay for a while then climb back on it's perch as if nothing had happened. This was quite perturbing to the customers.

It would eat nothing but sunflower seeds, and I mean nothing, and it's milk.

Eventually the vet managed the blood, goodness knows how, and it came back that the bird was epileptic.

We were told to give it a proper diet, and NO sunflower seeds,NO milk and medicine twice daily, I thought the vet was joking.Also he said to spray it with tepid water a couple of times a week.

So I bought some very thick leather gloves and had a go. After about 4 weeks the bird gradually got used to me stuffing this  liquid into it's mouth and showering it and became a tad less aggressive.

The diet was a worry, it was very tempting to give in and give it it's sunflower seeds and milk but the vet said no  so we stuck to it.I knew this was a totally terrible diet but that is what it had been raised on. It didn't eat or drink  for days, then just picked, I expected to find id dead every morning but somehow it hung on.

It took about 6 months, eventually it turned into a healthy bird with lovely feathers, never very friendly but we managed, after about 2 years the vet gradually changed it's medicine till we could give it what it needed in  it's water which it now drank.

It was a lilac headed Amazon and we called it Knickers.

We did eventually let it go, it was obvious it was never going to be a pet so we let it go to a bird sanctuary were it went into  an outdoor aviary that was  huge and it flew  ti it's hearts content. It was still living happily there when we left Canada several years later.

We also has a Quaker called Fruitloop, he was lovely, hand reared he came to me as a baby, very affectionate. We lived in Canada then and weekended in the US so he had to have a CITES certificate to cross the border all the time, He  became a real hit with the border officials on both sides as we had to do paperwork every time he crossed, after a few months they let us do it ourselves and just hand it in.

He used to shout " Hey see me I am cute," then follow it with " you are cute too give us a kiss" The border officials used to crack up laughing. One  used to say to him " what you smuggling"  it didn't take long for him to pick it up, it sounded really funny in the line up at the customs counter, really made some folks jump!!

He liked to hide,he used to crawl under the paper at the bottom of his cage at night so we made a canvas sling for the back of his cage and he slept in it like a baby, it was changed and laundered each week. He used to get very possessive of his bed.Quakers apparently live in holes so that figured.

He started to get nasty, but funnily enough only to me. A local bird expert said it was because he was so bonded to me he viewed me as mate, obviously I couldn't give him what he wanted .. so he got angry with me. I was told I had spoiled him  to bits and frustrated him. He lives with my son in Canada now  and is fine with him. Another nutty bird.

 We also had another one..one that needed a home, it belonged to an old gentleman who was dying and he asked me to find it a new place when he was gone. We kept it for about 6  months  after the old man died until I was satisfied that the person we picked would really love it. I have pictures somewhere of it sitting on top of it's cage with my cat, she used to wash it and he used to prune her fur!! Yet another bird that seemed a bit off in the head!!

 So I think I am not cut out to be a parrot owner, although I have to say I did do the very best I could for all three and was very patient under the circumstances.

Laughing now, thinking of Fruitloop!!

XX Jeannine

[debster]

they are very special, i am nursing a sore ear at the moment, Freddie in his wisdom decided to fly to my shoulder and give me a friendly nip on my ear, made my eyes water i can tell you,
freddie talks for england, cant tell you where he gets it from lol  8)
he makes anyone that visits the house laugh especially when they bend over he makes a bum burping noise and says have you f*****, had the heating engineer in tears

[asbean]

When I need cheering up I watch this videa - sorry about the ghastly audience - http://www.koreus.com/video/smart-bird.html   

[debster]

i love that clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IZmRnAo6s
this one always make me smile too