The Great Convincing Game

[LovelySydney]

Well Ive come across an opportunity (I cant get ahead of myself & get excited but I cant help it:)). There are two lovebirds in need of a home. A 6 month old and an 8 week old. They are from the same household but cannot stay there. I am more than equipped to bring them into our home. We just finished our remodeling upstairs which means no more chemicals and no more hard labor for me (yea!!). The landing is beautiful with windows and natural light that would bring any birdie joy. I have cages ready, food ready & consider myself a good fid-mommy:blush:


Problem is the bf. We had Oslo & Gus and planned on a parrotlet before they passed so this would bring our bird capacity to 3, which it would have been had our little angels not passed. I am a TERRIBLE sucker for birds that need a new home and feel a need to provide that love and home for them, especially if I am able to. I know there are many (most) people on this board who have more than one bird in their hearts and homes so my question is: How did you convince your SO to let this happen??? I dont think I'll need to do that much convincing, especially with the remodel done and all that stress out of our lives - but I'd really like to hear from people out there who have more than one baby - how'd you do it?:happy:

[bookworm0550]

hahaha, girl, I'm trying to convince my bf to let me get a 4th lovie. he's always like, "no more birds for you" but he's also a bird guy and knows a lot about multiple bird syndrome since he has it. and he's kinda a sucker himself. but i do a lot of, "honey, look at how cute they are, they need a home." or my fave line, "i need an even number, besides Jojo needs a girlfriend" haha. but uh, guess you can't use the last line though. GOOD LUCK!!!!!! i hope you get em babies.

[Enko_chan]

hmmm... yeah...

I've perfected the art, but it takes a certain personal touch and I wouldn't know how to make your partner understand that you NEED to have this bird.

I went from NO BIRDS to 5 BIRDS since the subject was broached last summer. It became considerably more difficult after the death of Enko chan and Loki- so I completely understand where both my and your partner were/are coming from. The first parrotlet was actually his idea.

One maneuver that helped was sticking a big old photo of the birds on the computer background, bringing them up casually in conversation- things like that. Otherwise the arguments have been tailored to the specific conversation- Freyja will be lonely if separated from her birdie pal, 4 is a nice & even number, 5 is a round number and besides, Benny needs a friend. Oliver will warm up to you if he's got other tame birds around, right?

Good luck!

[linda040899]

My best luck at convincing anyone that I need another bird or that one really should be HERE instead of somewhere else has been to bring the bird home and the convincing is usually done within 10-20 seconds! :lol Anyone and everyone who knows me knows my passion for anything that wears feathers so it's just kind of accepted..... It took me 3 months before I invited the person who turned out to be my current husband to come here because he was a non-bird person prior to meeting me. I talked about my birds all the time but was hesitant because talk and contact are completely different. His first wife did not like birds so I didn't know what to expect. I prefaced that first visit by saying that my fids are my family and none will be leaving.

As far as my larger parrots are concerned, my flock is closed to any new additions. My last attempt at one more ended with Harley letting me know straight out that there will be no more parrots here and that was the end of the subject. Everyone accepts everyone else and that's the best scenario I can hope for!

[michael]

Depending on your own expectations, I would be careful about trying to "convince" your BF into adopting more birds. Really, I think as long as your passionate enough about it "and are capable on your own" of taking on the primary responsibility of managing more birds, then follow your heart. On the other hand, convincing someone (even if they are a loved one) to take part in your own aspirations could make things a little less harmonious. ..... I would ask your boyfriend how he REALLY feels about adopting more birds. After all, its only fair to the both of you...............:2cents:

[LovelySydney]

Thanks for the responses everyone. The 6 month old is a suspected female. She (or he, boys bite too!) was given to a family and constantly bit the kids so the family decided they would do better with a tamer bird. I've never had a female lovebird (although I suspect Luka was female) but Im up for the challenge if it really is female. Id probably have it tested to be sure.

Here's a picture of the 6 month old - could someone help me with the colors?:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d933b3127ccec7cde73b978b00000040O00AatWbZq0Zs2 QPbz4A/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/

& here's a photo of the babies - I would be bringing home the blue one. Im not sure of the blues coloring, would that make it a slate or a dutch blue??http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d933b3127ccec7cd8cb1569c00000040O00AatWbZq0Zs2 QPbz4A/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/



Still working up the courage to talk to the bf..........:blush: I agree with what you said Michael. If it were my call and my call only Id probably have 7 birds in my house = ) But I have to be careful about bringing birds here because I really don't want to upset the delicate balance in our home especially if he is adamant about not having any more animals. I have to be fair!!

[linda040899]

Both birds are blue series, but the first photo is not good enough to say Dutch Blue (Aqua), Seagreen, or WF Blue (Turquoise). The light from the flash obscured the tell tale coloring but it's a blue series bird.

The other one is also blue series, but again, can't tell you the mutation because you are still looking at baby coloring. In order to see if there's dark factor present, I would need to see the rump feather coloring.

[Enko_chan]

Chris was also a non bird person. He had non-tame rescue birds of his mother's in the home growing up and that was his only experience.

Now he's a bird lover. Seeing the glee on his face as he plays with them, and even when we're not home sometimes he'll just come out with "I looooove our birdies. Our birdies are the best in the world. We have such a nice family." Still, we have a very harmonious relationship, and I try to see his point of view in all things as he does mine. He's given in because he knows how much the birds mean to me, and very quickly they've stolen his heart as well, but at this point I see where he's coming from concerning not bringing anymore home for a while.

All I have to do is convince him to SEE the bird and he's butter. Once he sees them, it becomes personal. I'll never forget the day we went to meet Enko chan- and at that point, we were ONLY LOOKING. We became a bird family that day. Our fish business began the same way- he didn't want to get more than 2 fish- now we run a tropical fish breeding/retailing business together, out of our home.

[StormyMom]

Eric is a non bird lover as well. The only bird he trully was crazy about was Mika before he was stolen :(

I know how hard it is to convince the other of another bird. And he knows very well that if it werent for him, id probably have about 20 birds..but i guess in a way its a good thing. Hes my common sense that keeps me on my feet. Lets me know if i can handle it or not.

I have to say Jaden was the hardest one to convince him of. I had 5 birds (3 tiels, 2 doves) and he knew i had always wanted a "big bird". So when we finally moved into a house of our own, i kept hinting and hinting, and one day he finally said yes. Then from there theres a different story on how the rest came about. As for right now im done with my flock (unless i find Bailey or Mika of course). He let me have Stormy because he knew i always wanted a lovie. And he said hed rather i get it while were both young being that birds live so long. Then when i told him i wanted to get him a friend..he gave me the "do whatever you want" so i did! Boy was he shocked to come home from work and find another lovie in the house lol.

But i agree with Michael. First thing first is always respect the wishes of ur SO. If you think its going to cause too many problems, dont do it. I do ALOT of work around here to keep them both happy and living aside each other. Its not always easy, especially with a needy, demanding cockatoo.

[LovelySydney]

Thanks for all the responses - when it comes to Oliver, as it was also with Gus and Oslo and Luka, I made it a point to keep things very clean and tidy and unmessy. I made sure the cage was clean, everyone was fed & taken care of. I made a point to make time for everyone in the morning before work and hours after. They were truly MY birds and I made sure none of the work was put on my BF. My bf always seems to think all the work will fall on him which has never been the case. I know thats always his main concern, that things will get "out of control" - but I feel like he's seen me with Oliver and even Maggie my dog - he knows how devoted I am to my animals but again, it has to be a joint decision, I cant just go out and get a bird without his blessing, it just wouldnt be right.

[LovelySydney]

Well nearly a week later I managed to get up the courage to talk to BF. Long story short, quota of birds is going to be 4!!! :rofl:


I'm very excited - my bf DID say that he would like for us to work out something with the cages. We're going to look at some options and see what we can come up with. Anyone have any suggestions? I dont know if I like the idea of breeder cages (I always feel bad for the birds on the bottom) but does anyone think that might be an OK idea??? We would get the big one, ones suited for larges birds - that way the little birds can still have relatively large cages for all their toys:)



Yeaaa!!! :happy:

[Enko_chan]

If you get cages for bigger birds, make sure the bar spacings are acceptable for small birds.

[michael]

I definitely like the flight cages. .... Like you though, i'm not fond of having them stacked. Two reasons; depending on the rooms lighting, I may not like the idea of having a bird on the bottom. The other, is that many affordable double flight cages are unfortunately an all one-piece construction which can limit their portabilty. If I had the room, i'd opt for two separate flight cages (which I do have, but only upstairs where theres room). Stackable flight cages can be a bit pricey, but I think their well worth it if your left with little room to work with. .... My biggest concern is the ability to "quickly" evacuate my feathered family in the case of fire etc. .... Having to switch cages during any type of emergency for me would be out of the question..........:)

[Enko_chan]

The way things are in my house- we have two smaller flight cages, and we are not using their stands, instead they are on our bureau tops in the bedrooms. The quaker's large flight cage and stand are in the living room.

I know you've got more space than I do, and can be a bit more creative than I am... just wanted to let you know how my birds are set up.

[linda040899]

I use stacking cages but don't have the bottom of any cage below my waist level. There are birds that love it near the floor but lovebirds aren't birds that are usually found in underbrush or on the floor of their natural habitats. My main aviary is stacking cages, 3 levels high, and my entire lower level remains empty. I've added lamps with daylight bulbs to areas that I feel have lighting problems.

A fire or tornado here would be devestating. Unless I have several people here to help me, I could not evacuate quickly enough, although closing doors to different areas would buy me some time. What I've done when I replace furniture is buy new pieces that take longer to catch fire and burn.

[bookworm0550]

Hehe, I thought so :) my boyfriend's fave line on me is "if you're nice to me, I'll let you get a fourth lovebird" and "chomper says 'hi' mommy" when I'm being sassy (chomper is what we want to call my next bird).