next in line....

Toos aren't as demanding as many people think, as long as they are not on their own. Of my 8 Sulphurs 6 have been hand raised. Sammy and his sister Charlie are just over 9 years old and Charlie is a big cuddle bunny. I get big kisses from her every day. The Terrible Twins, Heckle and Jeckle are just over 2 and are typical 2 year olds. Then there is George, The Harry Houdini Too. Harry had a bad childhood and was not very friendly. He was originally loaned to me to pair with Charlie, but poor George was terrified of her when they got into an aviary. Charlie did everything a female cocatoo should do with a male but George didn't want to know her. George became mine last year when he and some money were exchanged for one of my young Short Billed Corella's, Gus who is a good talker and very friendly. His second owner wanted a bird he could handle easily. George is slowly coming around and instead of trying to bite now lets me rub his foot and give him the occassional head scratch. It's taken a while but he is starting to tame down again. Then there is Sweetie Pie who we don't know whether she has PFBD or is just old and going bald. She was dumped in a friends front yard in a small budgie cage and he brought her to me. Since then her bottom mandible has been trimmed to normal and on Christmas Eve her top madible broke off back to a normal size. She was frightened of people until after we trimmed her bottom mandible. She seemed to realize that I was not going to hurt her and just started to be friendly and also talks. She is so very sweet in temperament, someone must have done something really bad to her in her past. Now she demands a head scratch every morning and a piece of bread for breakfast. She is not very pretty but her sweetness more than makes up for that.

I also have 2 hand raised Short Billed Corella's, 2 brothers. Kaspar is friendly when he feels like it but he was teased by the son of his original owner for years but his younger brother Karl is totally adorable. At 3 years old he is very loving and a very good talker.

I have one hand raised Galah who I bred and hand raised about 4 years ago. She has been in an aviary since she was about 1 but still loves a head scratch every time I enter the aviary. Also wants one everytime I go past.

Obviously I can't spend much time with all these hand raised birds but they still love and want any attention I can give them without turning feral and becoming nippy, in fact the nippy birds they were when I got some of them are now reversing back to lovely friendly birds again as they learn to trust me. But they are not alone and have many friends to talk to and relate to and I think this makes all the difference.