re-homing an older 'zon

[swanwillow]

So, I'm bringing home a BFA on the 2nd. Its male, and somewhere between 5-10 years old (real descriptive, huh?)

Now, hormone season is here/coming up. What else should I be aware of? I've been reading up on re-homing behavior problem large parrots the last few days, but I have little info on how he REALLY is-I know he's stick trained and that the lady that has him 'occasionally has him on her arm'
well, here, I can post the e-mail I have about him

hi,
pogo is not out of control or mean at all, he is very mellow and semi tame, meaning he will step up on his stick, i can carry him all around the house, sometimes i make him step up on my arm, but he does not like it and is scared of this. he has never bitten and loves attention. i know with more one on one and the right training he would make a nice pet. he is not a screamer, he is very quiet and does talk some. i give him a treat when he talks.
he is about 5-10 years old and in full feathers. his main diet is pretty bird pellets, he loves treats like peanuts, nuts, apples, fruits and veggies. he will play pick a boo for human food on comand, meaning he will turn his head up side down. he eats supper with us every night and loves it and is out of his cage all day. if you take him, i would put him in his new cage and leave the door open, and sit by him and talk softly to him and give him peanuts or seeds by hand,he is nuts about them, i know he will be scared for some time. i think thats the reason i never sold or traded him yet, just couldnt do it, i had many offers.

Okay. Now, I realize I said yes to a bird that may have a few issues. Thats okay, I have Quana, my cage aggressive, biting, nasty eclectus tamed up nicely, no longer biting, no longer cage aggressive.. I used pomegranate to do that, should I try and go through the same steps with this one was I did with my eclectus?
I'll also be getting him off of ^ diet, and going to a mash diet like my ekkie... I'll see how he likes it the first day, if he does, AWESOME, if he doesn't I'll do a slow conversion.
ALL of the new toys and perches are en-route, the tracker says they'll be here tuesday. he'll be using quana's old cage until the double-macaw cage is here.. and he's out of quarantine for a while. (60 days, or thereabouts.. long time!)
Then I get to deal with a jealous ekkie too, oh joys!

So, off the tops of anyones heads, what should I be doing to prepare for this? And once he's home, what are some steps I should take to make him feel comfy and welcome and such.. I get the feeling he's not coming with anything like old toys or perches or such.

[Lightwing]

If it were me, I would set up a schedule and stick to it, no matter what. I would let the trust build very slowly. It could be that he's stick trained because he's still in puberty, which is horrible in Amazons, so be careful. If so, have patience, and some more in reserve . And you probably already know this, but try to keep his light below the 12 hour mark if possible. I've only ever had my YN, and from a baby at that. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.
Congrats on the new addition, I'm jealous! Hope the transition goes smoothly,
Stephanie

[ASJ]

Are you "sure" this is male BFA? Has it been DNA sexed?
Check into flower essences, as a practioner I find transition to be shorter and the bird will accumlate quicker. Everyone should have Rescue Remedy on hand for their family and pets in time of stress or trama.

Amy Johnson
Unique Pet Therapy
Lakewood, CO
303-969-0569

[swanwillow]

surgically sexed male... I get the feeling someone was going to try to make him a breeder.

Huh, which types of flower essences should I look into? Where do I find out about this 'rescue remedy'?

Schedules and me don't work. Well, they do, kinda. 5:45 am, I feed and water everyone. I'm out the door by 6:15, but my oldest son and fiancee wake up then, oldest onto the bus at 7:15, Fiancee usually out the door by 8 to work, but he comes home sporadically during the day, he's done and home at 3pm, I'm home by 3:45, the birds get a second meal then, and Quana comes and hangs out the rest of the night. Lights out for them at 8pm, total darkness at 9:30 when we turn off the lights in the living room and go to bed ourselves.

But, then, my days off, I'm MUCH lazier. I don't feed them til they actually wake up at 8 am (Quana tells me she's up-she starts laughing like me!!!) so THEN they get fed, and Quana gets to come and hang out or stay on her rack as long as she wants...

I'm doing measurements to see which cage would give them more space-the cage Quana has now, or one half of a double macaw cage. They are the same price, so we shall see.

[yogies]

Relax..observe Zon. You will learn from Zon. But in my humble opinion from about 19 years of being a bird owner (12 birds - at this time, 7 years old to 19 years old) I rely on my certified avian vet, if problems occur with my birds that my husband and me can't resolve. Essentially, everyday life for my birds have always been healthy food (check with your vet about foods that may be poisinous to your bird), observing them insofar as if their are changes in the eating habits there may be a health problem, lots of attention from us (I am able to do most of my work from our home so I can be here more often then most people that have pets and have to leave their home for long period of time to go outside their home to work) clean cage often and change their water at least twice a day. We don't know everything about birds and other animals especially possible illness problems and/or their behaviour problems (if they really are problems or we just don't want to be bothered with them during the times they appear to be trying to annoy us). Again, relax and observe (the) bird. I sincerely believe you will learn a lot and are very competent to respond to things that you are concerned about. Have a happy time with 'Zon'! You and the bird deserve to be happy!

[swanwillow]

thanks, I think I'll beable to relax when he gets here! Nervous until then though.

[Freedomoflight]

I don't agree with strict schedules. Life happens - you want it to be so that if you are called off to work on a different shift, or something comes up as emergency that throws your normal schedule off, your bird won't become a neurotic picking mess. You want your bird to be flexible.

I'd say take it slow and just use the first couple days to observe the bird. My male DYH is really mellow for a zon, especially around me but there are some people he will lunge at and threaten. Amazons are really good adapters- you can earn their love by going through their stomach, lol.

[aqua]

Sorry for the double post. I can't see how to delete it.

[aqua]

Rescue remedy is available at all good pet stores and health food stores. It is a combination of some of the single Bach Flower remedies, which are also available at those places, but not as readily. It is a good thing to have on hand for everyone. It doesn't need to be taken internally by people or mammals. It can instead be put on pulse points. For a bird, however, you'd probably put it on a treat or in the water.

[aportinen]

I use lavender oil when working with my horses as it seems to calm them. I guess I have never noticed if the birds are better when I have it on or not. Something I will have to watch!