Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
There's no such thing as a free parrot. I get offered other people's parrots for free all the time and yet I do not accept them. People who offer will look at me in shock and think I'm crazy to turn down a $500 (retail) bird for free. The thing is, I don't see pets the way they do. To me, they are a part of the family and will cost a lot in terms of time and money to take care of. I don't want to have more than I can afford.
Now when it comes to the "price" of a parrot, the price up front is really a tiny part of the overall cost of owning a parrot. The costs of ownership far outweigh the acquisition costs of any parrot, including one from a store. Costs of keeping a parrot include vet bills, cage, food, perches, toys, cleaning supplies, house modifications (like bird proofing), and replacement of personal possessions destroyed by the bird. This does not even include the cost of educating yourself about parrot ownership because this will vary for people.
Walking around any bird store or rescue, I've been finding that the tameness of available birds is not much different. You'd be lucky to find a bird store where even 1/4 of the available birds are tame to the point of just stepping up on your hand.The ratio isn't much worse at a rescue.
Now when it comes to rehoming a parrot, I want to point out why you should never give it away for free (unless you personally know who the bird is going to). There are plenty of cases where con artists take free birds that they get and then sell them to make a profit. If you give away or sell a bird for less than the baseline market price for it, there is the possibility of it being resold for a profit. Who's hands it ends up then is entirely uncontrolled. Sometimes, an even worse fate awaits "free" birds being given away (especially budgies). Owners of snakes or other exotic pets will take free parrots and use them to live feed their exotics. Some might argue that it's the circle of life and natural. But there is nothing natural about being cornered in a glass aquarium with no chance of escape.
Because people get overly fixated on the price of exotic parrots, they become shortsighted about the far greater costs of keeping them. Giving away a parrot for free or for too cheap, gives the false impression that this is not only a worthless creature but also that it is easy to afford. Given the high expense of specialized products like food, perches, and toys to keep a parrot healthy, it is unreasonable to keep one on an extremely tight budget. While other types of pets may handle depravity better, parrots are known to self mutilate and develop major problems when void of adequate care and supplies.
Although there are many good reasons to acquire a parrot from a rescue, being cheap is not one of them. If a certain species of parrot will cost $1,500 at a store or $500 at a rescue, in the grand scheme of things, this is a negligible difference in cost and should not play a role in which to get. The initial vet visit can easily run $500-$1000 when done properly. A cage will be $500-$1000 either way. And on a parrot of that size, toy can easily expect to spend $1,500 every year thereafter for basic supplies to do an adequate job of caring for that bird. Even if kept for just 10 years at a cost of $1,500 per year, the total of $15,000 dwarfs the $1,000 saved by going to a rescue.
The adoption fee, price, or what have you of a parrot helps to establish a baseline cost of keeping such a creature. It also ensures the pay-worthiness of the adopter/buyer to being able to pay the costs of keeping the animal in the future. A parrot given away for free can easily get passed around by people because they have no financial or emotional investment so it is important to always include a reasonable rehome/adoption fee whether you need the money or not. Better still, find information, do training, and find ways to keep your parrot in the first place without the need to give it away. Just remember, there's no such thing as a free parrot. It will always involve a lost of cost and time to keep these creatures successfully.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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