Read and agree to our mission statement and Philosophy.

Read "Letter to Potential Bird Owners" Below

Read "The Parrot's Bill of Rights"

Fill out application and send to us via email, fax, or snail mail.

We will review application to pre-screen for initial requirements, then make an appointment for you to visit the birds.

Once a companion bird is decided upon(usually after a few visits), and the bird is comfortable with the potential adopter, a home evaluation will take place.  The home evaluation will take place at our discretion anytime before and/or after the adoption.

Final adoption and transfer of bird.

Letter to Potential Bird Owners

Denise Hosner, Co-Founder

We don't place birds with people who are looking for a pet for their children. The life span of a bird is usually longer than a family is willing to commit to after the children lose interest.

They simply mature and develop a life of their own outside of the home which includes friends, hobbies, and jobs. During the school year, there is simply not enough time to devote to a bird. A bird cannot be expected to thrive at home while your child is at school.  Remember, this is a flock animal that does not do well when isolated from it's group.(flock or mate).

We are looking for permanent homes where there is complete involvement with the whole family unit, not just one person. Someone needs to be home during the day, at least part of the time, to interact with the bird. The bird cannot be isolated in a child’s bedroom. (away from other flock members). It should be in a central area, preferably against a wall and away from a doorway.

Birds must have this interaction to help keep them tame and socialized to humans. Without this constant reinforcement from humans, they readily revert to their instinctive ways.

What are their "intinctive ways"?

For example: Screaming...in the wild, birds call to one another up to a few miles away, so they have to be "loud".  In captivity, the volume of their call will be the same. They do not have volume control and they will call for you often when you are out of sight.  Keeping in verbal contact will help alleviate this constant calling.

In the wild, they are talking, or calling, for a flock member. It is unrealistic to expect a bird to change this instinctive behavior in a captive environment(your home).  If they don't get the attention they need from you (their flock), on a daily basis, there is a high risk of your bird developing a behavioral problem.

When people leave them all day to go to work, and come home to a screaming bird, they get angry, and fail to look at the situation from the bird's perspective.  This daily isolation is foreign to them and difficult for birds to cope with. 

 Parrots are not domesticated. They may be born into captivity but they retain all of their wild instincts. You must be willing to change YOUR behavior to accommodate theirs...not the other way around. Birds/parrots have historically been bred for plumage, not temperment.  So they bring these natural instinctive behaviors into the world of captivity.  They are hardwired to call loudly, be messy, be destructive(our opinion, not  a tool.  We consider this destuctive behavior in our home.  They play, exercise, dig, and search for food items in the wild.   In captivity, they are many times left in a small cage with nothing to stimulate their minds or exercise their bodies.  And last but not least they fly gloriously for hours in the wild.  In captivity, we take them out of their cage and put them on a playstand for hours.

In addition, birds, by nature, feel threatened by quick movements. They feel threatened by fingers poking through the bars. In the wild, their response would be to fly away. In a cage, they have no recourse but to try to bite to tell you to, “Please don't stick your fingers in my cage. It scares me.”

They also feel threatened when you approach them from behind with your hand.  Remember, again, in the wild, they are prey to many larger birds and animals. They are always watching their backs, so to speak, to stay protected from predators. In captivity, they can't fly to another tree, so they are likely to bite to protect themselves. In both of these situations, the human has to change their behaviors instead of expecting the bird to change theirs. When a child puts out his hand and asks a bird to “Step-Up”, that bird is likely to test the branch(your arm or hand), before stepping-up. The bird may test the strength of the ‘branch’ by touching it with his beak first, to make sure it is steady. If you pull you hand away when the bird does this, and he falls, you have just reinforced the bird’s concern over the stability of the ‘branch’. The next time you try to pick up the bird, he may just have to hold on harder with his beak to keep from falling!  Now, all of a sudden, the human says, “He bites when you pick him up”…and before you know it, the bird never gets to come out of the cage!

It is imperative to understand the nature of these creatures before deciding you want one as a pet. A bird will never respond to you like a cat or dog. You cannot intimidate them or use fear to make them change their behaviors. This will only make them aggressive. It is your responsibility and duty as a potential bird owner to learn everything you can about the nature of birds and how they live in the wild.

It is not their nature to do tricks and entertain people on command. It is not their nature to speak our language although some have the capability to do so.   African Greys have great speech capability, but some choose not to speak at all or only when you are out of the room.  Just as we are capable of learning another language, some of us are fluent and some of us only know a few words.

If you pay close attention, you will learn that birds can communicate with you in so many other ways. You just have to be open to it….and only then, will you appreciate what a pleasure it can be to keep a bird in your life.