Amazon Parrot questions

Question
I am the proud mother of a 3 year old Senagel parrot - Muffin, a 3 year old African Grey Timneh - Marvin Grey, and a 5 year old double yellow headed Amazon - CoCo.

I just got CoCo on Friday.  For the past few months I had been going to a new pet store in my area and I saw her in a little cage outside.  I noted how very talkative and friendly she was, but also noticed how small the cage was.  I assumed she had a bigger cage somewhere, but found out I was wrong.

Her owner was the pet store owner.  In the morning he would roll her cage outside of the pet shop so she could see people walking by.  At night he would roll her back in.  In the 5 years that he owned her he had never taken her out of this little cage.  It was about the cage size I use for my Senagel Parrot.  

When he told me she was for sale I asked him if I could hold her and he said no.   He informed me that he hadn't ever taken her out of her cage.  I about fell over.  I started visiting her ever day so she could get used to me & my husband would stop by too.  We finally were able to buy her last Friday.

I bought her a beautiful big cage with lots of neat toys.  I placed the cage in our living room, not too far from our other birds, but around the corner & out of site so she wouldn't be afraid.  My other birds are afraid of nothing & always are outside of their cages.  I opened her cage she had lived in for 5 years & she went into the new cage.  It was almost impossible to get her out of the cage to go get her wings clipped on Saturday.  Her wings had never been clipped as her previous owner saw no need as CoCo had never been out of the cage.  I finally threw a towel over her and was able to get her to the store to get her wings clipped.  She was very stressed, of course.

We got CoCo back home & put her back into her cage.  She has not come out, even with the door open.  She will let no one touch her.  She doesn't know how to stand on a finger, or any other perch/pole then the one that is in her cage.  I put my finger in there & she puts her foot out like she wants to, but then runs away.

I am totally in love with CoCo.  I am hoping with the right guideance and advice that someday to be able to hold her like I can hold and love my other two birds.  

Answer
First off- Let me thank you for rescuing this poor amazon! I can't believe she was never taken out of her cage... ever!

Secondly- It worries me that it sounds like you are not properly quarantining Coco. Has she already been throughly checked out by an avian vet? (including blood work)? The first article in my list below is about quarantine- why and how to do it.

You will probably have a long road ahead of you to gain the trust of Coco. Thankfully, Amazons (in my experience) tend to be the most resilient against abuse and neglect. (I have no scientific research to back this statement up, but in my experience amazons tend to be less prone to displaying phobic behaviors; amazons are not as emotionally sensitive as birds like greys or cockatoos in my experience. Amazons also seem to survive longer than some other -possibly more sensitive- species on poor diets.

Here are some excellent resources that should help you with Coco:

http://www.parrothouse.com/quarantine.html

http://www.parrothouse.com/pamelaclark/secondhand.html

http://www.parrothouse.com/phobicbirds.html

http://www.parrothouse.com/wrongwithamazons.html

http://www.parrothouse.com/handlingyouramazon.html

http://www.quakerparrots.com/qtips/taming_frightened.htm

http://www.companionparrot.com/Amazon%20Overload.htm

http://www.companionparrot.com/Tribute.htm  (a great sucess story of another rescue bird that was extremely terrified of people in the beginning)

http://www.companionparrot.com/Second%20Hand%20Birds.htm

I hope this helps. Also check out the following websites for more articles:

www.wingedwisdom.com

www.parrotchronicles.com

www.companionparrot.com  (GREAT magazine! I would suggest looking for back issues that have articles of interest)

Again- I hope this all helps and I'm so glad that Coco finally has a home that cares about her!

-Maggie