We all have stories to tell about our own birds, if you have a story that you would like our customers and visitors to read send it to us and we will put your story on our web site.

Some of you will know that we at Midland Parrots do accept some parrots that are unwanted or perhaps have a problem where we feel that we can give the bird a forever home.

We have recently had a few birds where the owners have found it hard to cope with the bird for various reasons, not that they haven't tried hard, just that the bird wouldn't settle in that environment.

Max:

Max one of our Timneh's came to live with us after his owner passed away, as hard as the family tried Max was not his old self and the family decided that he would be better off somewhere else where he could perhaps start a new life and put the passing away of his owner to the back of his mind.

It was a real pleasure that the family came to visit him in his new environment and could see he was happier and I am sure he was pleased to see them.

Vicky, who some of you who have visited the shop will have met was Max's owner and tried so hard to give him everything she could. Wayne, Vicky's brother has now gone to Australia to live but every couple of months Vicky,Wayne and Simsy came to visit Max. He was always pleased to see them. So now Vicky comes for the weekend to visit Max and of course to pay for her keep she has to work in the shop. ( lol lol) It is great to see that he still loves to see her and of course Vicky loves to see Max and is pleased that he is happy and lives with his little mate Tojo the Jenday conure in the same cage.

A happy ending for Vicky though as on her first visit on her own she went home with Gizmo a hand reared little baby quaker parrot. She now has the love of her life, he is such a characer and adores her, It is lovely to see, We also have the best of both worlds, When vicky comes to see Max we get to see Gizmo. Happy all round.

Parsley:

Parsley, is an African Grey, the owners had him from a chick and watched him grow, He was a fabulous bird and and learned to talk, calling both owners by name and became a major part of tha family, He was always really a man's bird but the owners decided to purchase another African grey and then moved to a smaller house where Parsley had to share a cage with the other bird. He started to bite and became very nasty towards both owners. It became a heartbreaking decision that because of his now nasty nature he would have to go. In fact some of the bites he gave really could have done with a stitch or two.

Fortunately we took Parsley on board and within a couple of days he had settled down in his new forever home, He has never tried to bite or attack either Diane or myself and in fact he has been even quite happy being held by customers and friends.

His owners came to see him and although had tears in their eyes could see he was happy and content, and yet another success story for Midland Parrots.

Peppy:

Well, Peppy came to us for a 3 month stay as her owners were off on holiday, when she came she was on medication for a damaged wing, which she had caused herself. Whilst here Peppy's wing healed up and she was ok and in fact we never had to treat her wing. On her return home however Peppy started to mutilate her wing again and when the owner tried to apply the medication she was all over the cage flapping and squaking.

This year the birds again came on holiday but the owner spent her 3 month holiday deciding what was best for Peppy. Again her wing had healed and she was fine. Her owner of 17 years put the welfare of the bird first and asked if she could stay here, One of the most difficult decisons I thenk they had ever had to make.

Peppy is now a resident in our front room/office where she can chat to Parsley all day, we have had no problems with her wings and although she doesn't want to venture out her cage she appears happy here.

We are in constant contact with her owners and informing them of her progress.

Charlie 2

Charlie 2 (We already have Charlie, our Blue and Gold Macaw). came to us in late April 2009, the RSPCA, bless them had rescued him from a violent Domestic environment and of course we received the call " Can you take him on board"

We have no real details of Charlie, yet another Orange Winged Amazon. We were told he is about 2 years old and when we took him on board he looked a sad little fellow, Now we are obviously unaware of his past so we don't know if he has been badly treated or not. Charlie settled in well and within a couple of days we had him on a Harrison's Diet. He was in excellent condition and although a little skittish he looks great. After nearly four weeks of not saying anything I went in on Monday 17th May and as I was changing his food and water to my surprise he said " HELLO" of course I spoke back to him and he said it a few times but when I tried talking to him when Diane was here he was having none of it. The following evening when Diane went into say goodnight and close their curtains she spoke softly to Charlie and this time he responded by saying his "Hello" . That's hopefully the breakthrough and he may come out his shell a little more each day as he starts to gain trust.

Monty

I recieved a telephone call from a lady who informed me that she had an Eclectus. They wondered if I could give him a good home. I asked what the problem was and she advised me that she had bought him four months earlier, however she had 7 dogs and they kept jumping up at his cage, ( well done I thought) She said they kept barking at him and now he had started screaming and was pulling out his feathers. She couldn't understand why I wasn't surprised.

She brought him along and he was in a sorry state, This is actually animal cruelty I explained but really needed to keep my mouth shut and when I said to Monty " never mind big man, We'll get you sorted" her husband told me that when I got him sorted I could sell him and keep the money, To be honest I did well to keep my hands in my pockets. That was exactly what Monty needed another change of home 3 homes in less than 3 years.

He came home with us and the first thing I did was introduce him to our three springer spaniels, Yes, it was a risk but he was prepared to put his trust in me that he was safe. ( so he had listened, when I whispered to him that he was going to be ok and well cared for)

He is now part of the family, is fine with me but a little unsure of women and is a little aggresive towards them and other birds, but he isn't bothered about the dogs and just accepts that they are not going to harm him.

I thought he was doing well and was getting some feathersback but he decided that he would pluck them all out again, so it's back to the drawing board. At least he is safe warm and well fed.