Jasper - Miligold Macaw
That unusual (to me!) yellow front!
This is Jasper. He (yes he is a "he") is a cross between a Blue & Gold Macaw and a Military Macaw and is known as a Miligold Macaw. Me and Adam went to Leicester on 28th April 2013 to collect a huge double Montana Parrot Cage for Blu and Georgie but when we pulled up I could hear Macaws squawking. I asked if I could see the Macaws and the lady had about 12. Some were in her Dining Room; some were in her Lounge and some were in her Bedroom. This made me think, "it's not just me!". One that she showed me was a Miligold and she added that I could buy it if I wanted. He was just 6 months old and still a baby but she wanted to get rid of it because she was getting a Military later that day and the poor Miligold (Jasper) was stuck in a travel cage. I knew I wouldn't be allowed so I declined and we loaded the cage and left. I kept thinking about Jasper being stuck in a travel cage until she found a suitable buyer. She had a phone call when I was there who she was asking various questions about parrots and she turned them down so although she was desperate, she did at least care where he went. She had him advertised for £1000 but said because I sounded a good carer with a lot of experience, I could have him for £800 and I think we agreed on £750. As we left, I said to Adam to drive around the corner and stop as I wanted to phone home and talk to Gill and Stacey. This we did and to cut a long story short, we agreed that as Georgie and Rockie were inseparable and they spent so much time out of their cage in the conservatory or the outside flights, that they could share the other half of this really huge (bigger than all my other double cages) double cage which would free up space for Jasper so I was allowed to have him. We drove back and they thought we had forgotten something! I said we had - Jasper! She brought Jasper downstairs and let him out and he went straight up onto my shoulder and was being stroked by me so my decision was made. Of course we hadn't come prepared to get a Macaw and it was too far a trip to return so she found us an old dog crate, popped a towel in the bottom to help stop him slipping and he came home after me and Adam had found a bank and both maxed out our cards!
Jasper was now part of the family and his assumed birthday is 28/10/2012. He may not be the most attractive of birds but he is to me! He is a bit unusual and, although I don't normally go for crossbreeds, I already had Rockie the Harlequin so it was a natural progression. He was still only a baby and therefore young enough to learn and his first lesson was to step up. He now does this well but usually onto the arm where he runs up to my shoulder and when I try to get him in his cage he runs on top! So, I am now trying to modify the behaviour so he steps onto my hand where I can hold a foot or two and he is making good progress. He is settling into the flock of the macaws and, I am pleased to say, he does fly!
Below are some more pictures of Jasper.
Jasper was now part of the family and his assumed birthday is 28/10/2012. He may not be the most attractive of birds but he is to me! He is a bit unusual and, although I don't normally go for crossbreeds, I already had Rockie the Harlequin so it was a natural progression. He was still only a baby and therefore young enough to learn and his first lesson was to step up. He now does this well but usually onto the arm where he runs up to my shoulder and when I try to get him in his cage he runs on top! So, I am now trying to modify the behaviour so he steps onto my hand where I can hold a foot or two and he is making good progress. He is settling into the flock of the macaws and, I am pleased to say, he does fly!
Below are some more pictures of Jasper.
Jasper sadly leaves (August 2015)
Jasper was becoming a bit more of a challenge than we could reasonably cope with. He insisted on being Top Dog (or Top Parrot!). Most of our Macaws all have time out together but Jasper was constantly getting into battle as he wanted that number one spot. No matter what we did he insisted on being Number one and would try to attack all of the other Macaws to exert his dominance. Even when he lost these battles, he wasn't deterred. He was a lovely bird and when out on his own was a real delight. He was cuddly, readily let you do his quills, insisted on being on you and was a true delight but we really didn't have enough time for him to have any real length of time out of his cage on his own so, we made the difficult decision to pass him on.
We had several applicants but sadly some didn't meet our expectations as we only wanted the best home for Jasper. After several months we had a couple apply who seemed ideal. They came from Bristol which meant they could come and see Jasper and then go away and think about it before coming back to collect him. Jasper had a very large cage which we insisted he went with because he was familiar with it and they had to make room for it.
This all came to a head while I was on holiday in Spain. Stacey and Adam did all the vetting and dealing and dealt with the handover which was probably just as well as I'm not sure I could have parted with him but, deep down, I knew it was best for Jasper. We had a report a short while after he was collected to say he had settled in well so we were happy.
Good Luck Jasper at your new home. We are sure it will be a long term home and we did everything we could for you. I am sure you are much happier now with one-to-one attention.
Jasper was becoming a bit more of a challenge than we could reasonably cope with. He insisted on being Top Dog (or Top Parrot!). Most of our Macaws all have time out together but Jasper was constantly getting into battle as he wanted that number one spot. No matter what we did he insisted on being Number one and would try to attack all of the other Macaws to exert his dominance. Even when he lost these battles, he wasn't deterred. He was a lovely bird and when out on his own was a real delight. He was cuddly, readily let you do his quills, insisted on being on you and was a true delight but we really didn't have enough time for him to have any real length of time out of his cage on his own so, we made the difficult decision to pass him on.
We had several applicants but sadly some didn't meet our expectations as we only wanted the best home for Jasper. After several months we had a couple apply who seemed ideal. They came from Bristol which meant they could come and see Jasper and then go away and think about it before coming back to collect him. Jasper had a very large cage which we insisted he went with because he was familiar with it and they had to make room for it.
This all came to a head while I was on holiday in Spain. Stacey and Adam did all the vetting and dealing and dealt with the handover which was probably just as well as I'm not sure I could have parted with him but, deep down, I knew it was best for Jasper. We had a report a short while after he was collected to say he had settled in well so we were happy.
Good Luck Jasper at your new home. We are sure it will be a long term home and we did everything we could for you. I am sure you are much happier now with one-to-one attention.