Once upon a time, there were two little birds. They didn’t have names, and they didn’t get to play or explore their world very much, but they had each other. These little birds, later to be known as Daisy and Arthur, spent the first five years of their lives as a pair of breeders. Although they would never actually provide their owner with a successful clutch, they would continue to try until they were finally surrendered to the local parrot rescue in 2019. This is their story and it is much like the story of many others in their situation.

Daisy and Arthur’s Start

I want to preface this section by saying that there are responsible breeders out there. Those that keep up with current research and provide good husbandry are often quite successful and contribute to a healthy population of birds. I don’t want anyone to think I am vehemently against breeding. I do think we should breed less birds, and if I had it my way, those sitting in a rescue would find a home before new birds were made. But that’s not the world we live in, and I must acknowledge the existence of responsible breeders. 

However, Daisy and Arthur were in a less than ideal situation. I don’t have a whole lot of information about their earliest years, but I do know that they were placed together as soon as they were weaned. Their specific color mutation, the “opaline” mutation, is highly desirable in the parrot breeding world. It fetches a higher price due to its more vibrant color features of red, yellow and orange as opposed to the dominantly green, black and gray colors of normal Black-capped conures. 

Unfortunately for Daisy and Arthur, they were not provided with a very healthy diet from the beginning. They were also not allowed out of cage time where they would be able to get exercise. Instead, they were confined to a small breeding cage where they spent their days together, crammed into a small space with little enrichment. Unfortunately, it’s also possible that Daisy and Arthur are a result of inbreeding which can cause issues as well. They also fought quite a bit when their owner would put a nest box in the cage with them. Even though this was the case, the breeder was still determined to try despite the fights that ensued. These factors likely contributed to them never having a successful clutch

Daisy and Arthur were exhibiting a type of aggression with one another that can sometimes occur with birds that are selected and placed together by humans for breeding. You can see some of Arthur's feathers missing from his head from one particularly nasty altercation in the photo here. There’s different theories as to why mate aggression happens, but it’s likely due to an unnatural pairing and environment used when breeding in a domestic setting. In the wild, birds can choose which bird they want to raise babies with and will develop a pair bond naturally. This makes reproductive success much more likely. However, birds that are bred in captivity are often selected based more on their specific mutation, etc., instead of their compatibility as a pair. There are parrot breeders that allow their pairs to form a bond more naturally, but it is an uncommon practice overall. When they came to me, Daisy and Arthur had to separated during times when I noticed these fights would occur which was mostly bedtime. Even though they had these issues, separating them created a large amount of distress for them. So, it was a delicate balance.

If breeding birds are also under distress due to a poor diet, confined space, and lack of enrichment, this can make mate aggression more likely to occur. Daisy and Arthur were dealing with all of these factors. But even so, they shared a very strong attachment with one another. They had shared a cage and a life together since they were babies and all they knew was each other.

Early Retirement

In late summer of 2019, these two little bird’s lives would change forever. Their owner, the person who ran the breeding facility, decided to surrender them to the local parrot rescue. After a short career without any successful clutches, Daisy and Arthur would retire from the breeding world and set out on an entirely different path. At this time, I was helping the rescue which was full of birds needing good homes. Not to mention that as with most people that run rescues, the owner was stretched extremely thin. I would clean bowls and cages and socialize a bit with the birds there. I was informed of a few breeding pairs that were surrendered the day before. When I went in, I walked up and said hello to the frightened little conures. I was met with mostly blank stares. It was obvious that these birds weren’t used to a lot of human attention.

Over the next week or so, any time I would replace their food and water, Daisy and Arthur would lunge for my hands. This isn’t uncommon for birds that spend their lives in a cage without very much stimulus. They displayed fearful behaviors such as flinching when I would change their bowls. I could tell that they would need to be worked with if they were to have a good chance at a successful adoption. It was at about 2 weeks in that I offered to take the conures into my home to work with them to get them ready for a new home. This is referred to as fostering. 

So, we packed them up in our car, buckled their carrier in, and transported them to their new, temporary home. There, they would learn how to do the basics before adoption like eating a healthy diet, how to “step-up” and spending time around humans. As I looked back at them and their terror at being in a car with all of those new sights and sounds, I said to my husband that they needed names. Daisy was as colorful as a flower, and Arthur was silent and strong and reminded me of a little royal the way he stood tall and proud. So, Daisy and Arthur it was.

Photo: Daisy, in all her magnificent glory. About 6 months after she was brought into our home.

A New Way of Living

Once we were home, I opened their cage door to give them the option to come out. They were very hesitant to leave their cage for the first day. I knew it would be best to let them come out on their own and at their own pace since they seemed to be frightened. So, every day I would wake up and open their cage even if they didn’t want to come out. Something I noticed they would do is press tightly together at the top corner of the cage. During the day and while they slept, they would stay pressed tightly together. I had never seen this behavior before, but I assumed it was because this is how they lived in their breeder cage. Pressed together all the time. 

Daisy was the first to venture out. She’s always been the first to do anything, actually. Arthur would follow her lead later that day when he came out to stand on the perch I placed towards the opening of the cage. One night, to my surprise, Daisy started to show interest in coming to me. She hopped onto my arm before taking a nice, big bite into my flesh. It was the beginning of socializing, and as painful as it was in the beginning, it felt amazing to see them take interest in someone other than each other.

Improving their diet was one of my top priorities. I remember the first time I offered Bird Street Bistro to them about a week after they came into my home. I mixed the bistro in with some fresh veggies and they ate it right away. Arthur’s face was barely recognizable as a parrot’s because there was so much stuck to his beak! Daisy loved the fresh foods so much that she stood inside of the bowl as she enthusiastically ate. We went from mostly seed, to a bit of seed and some pellet, to finally a pellet based diet within about a month.

Once contact was made, it only took a few days to go from biting with excitement to dancing and bouncing with excitement. A couple of weeks later, they started exploring their environment by walking on the cage stand and the couch. About a month into their stay with us, they began seeking out attention from all of the humans in the house. The predictability of our morning and nighttime routines made it so that they knew what to expect and seemed to enjoy those times of the day. 

I started to look forward to our routines, too. I looked forward to waking up and seeing their little faces pressed together and against the bars looking out of the only part of the cage that wasn’t covered overnight - wanting to be let out. I started looking forward to hanging out with them every evening next to a nice LED candle and a good movie or book listening to them grind their beaks and make soft “all is well” noises back and forth to one another as they dozed off. I loved all of my time with Daisy and Arthur.

“These are Our Birds, Aren’t They?”

One night, as I lay on the bed reading a book with Daisy and Arthur as they snuggled with one another on my chest, my husband asked the question. He walked up to me, saw me as I pointed to them, fluffed out and falling asleep with a smile on my face and said “These are our birds, aren’t they?” I teared up and nodded. I had failed miserably as a foster home -  but instead sometime during the process we had become their home. 

One might say that they are entirely different birds than they were when they were surrendered. I don’t agree with that sentiment. I believe that Daisy and Arthur were finally able to be the birds they are once they had the very basics of what they needed to thrive. So often we see animals that are just getting by day to day going from one stressful moment to another. But once they have the freedom and health to express themselves and experience the world, we get to see who they truly are.

I will always admire people that are able to foster a bird in their home and then see them off to their adoptive one. These people, and the ones that work in rescue, are heroes to me. I tried to foster but I was ultimately too weak to say goodbye. However, 5 years later, I am proud to say that being weak has never felt so right. Daisy and Arthur continue to grow, explore, and learn every day. Watching them go from those scared little birds with damaged feathers that snapped at one another all the time to these beautiful, fun (and feisty) conures that get along and have become even closer has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Many Birds, Many Stories

Daisy and Arthur share something in common with many, many birds that are currently sitting in rescues and sanctuaries. Some had pretty good lives with their previous owners that were cut short for one reason or another. Some had much more heartbreaking lives riddled with abuse and neglect. However, the beautiful thing about rescue and adoption is that they can all have new lives and new beginnings no matter what their past was.

Adoption is a personal choice and should be entered into with complete understanding of the unique experience it is. However, if someone is able, it can be a profound experience. Adoption isn’t only life changing for the bird. It’s life changing for humans in many ways, too.