While no parrot is domesticated, the QP is a fairly docile, lovely bird popular for it's consistent bahavior. It is not a Budgerigar, a Lovebird, a Conure, a Macaw, a Grey, and certainly not an Amazon, so it really is not a good measure for the personality of other species.
It's not so much a matter of disagreeing at all, qpmomma, birds under 10-20 years of age are commonly friendly when hand-fed, and of course there is an exception to every rule. Remember, we are just beginning to see the long-term results of hand feeding, there has been next to nothing for universities to document prior to the year 2000. But let's just say we ignore the long-term emotional and physical health issues, for the sake of it we'll pretend that rescues and rehab centers aren't very suddenly overflowing with abandoned birds, and we'll forget for a moment that because of the abandonment crisis these exotic birds have lost their protection from euthanasia only allowable when there is suffering or death is already imminent.
Let's focus instead on the well-being of the hand-fed bappy itself. Any breeder will tell you that the years of experience one can attest to means very little to survival of a chick removed from the nest. There will always be deaths related to hand feeding. Nevermind the common disasters like crop burn from the inexperienced feeder, there will always be the uncontrollable risks of bacterial infections, fungal infections, aspiration pneumonia, or the very common expulsive stage that has resulted in countless cases of inanition. Not to mention, every breeder complains about that stubborn age when the bap is resistant to being fed at all. Needless to say, God did not build any of this into nature. You won't find these fatal issues among properly kept parent-raised birds.
So the question I have to ask is, why do we use this technique that kills? The bird is tame early on. Okay, I'll give that to those who claim so. However, parent-raised birds are just, and I stress just as tame with early exposure to humans. So, we can rule out tameness as a true reason for hand feeding. So why are breeders not only doing it, but advocating it? Well, there are only two excuses. It's easy, and it offers more money. The round-the-clock feedings and numerous deaths are easy and cheap? No. What's easy is being able to produce parrots by the dozens and having every one accustomed to humans because they've been forced to view us as their parent. It's cheaper because you can sell more birds when you're not required to only produce one nest and spend several hours every day habituating a bird to human contact.
So, we do not need to hand feed to tame the animal, we have chosen to hand feed to mass produce the animal. Consider that hand feeding has been popular for barely two decades - less than 20 years - but parrots themselves have been human companions for
thousands of years. Even today wild exotics integrate into human communities - these two facts themselves should remove any notion of the necessity to hand feed in order to produce a tame and well-mannered bird. Don't let today's common myth fool you, tameness is NOT a benefit to hand feeding. It does NOT offer one thing over allowing the bird to be parent-raised, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I know numerous breeders who successfully produce tame chicks by leaving them with their parents and simply staying consistent not only in early handling of the chick, but keeping only one or two pairs of birds (as opposed to the average breeder who keeps over ten) and maintaining a trusting, affectionate relationship with the parents. I myself have ended up with parents and nests dropped off at my rehab and can personally attest to the incredible results in returning to the long-trusted method of allowing the parent to rear their young.
You see, ultimately we hand feed for ourselves, not the bird. Breeders poo-poo the health risks and choose for their own benefit an option that has potential to kill the bird instead of opting for one that does not. Owner's choose hand-reared baps instead of rescues because the bond of trust forms more quickly. We take God's stunning creatures and force them to give to us companionship by re-wiring their precious minds instead of working with them to build the relationship, and all this without a SINGLE benefit to the bird herself.
So back to the beginning, even if we ignore the long-term health issues, pretend that rescues and rehab centers aren't very suddenly overflowing with abandoned birds, and forget that because of the abandonment crisis exotic birds have lost their protection from euthanasia only allowable when there is suffering or death is already imminent, there is still no reason to hold onto something that risks death to the chick when there is another option that offers the same result in docility.
As for wing clipping, I can not tell you how many people come sobbing to me because their clipped bird became a flighted bird or because a clipped bird crushed their keel on the ground. Few people have lost a flighted bird to hitting a window or wall not only because God made the mandible and pileum stronger structures, but because a bird permitted to fly navigates much better. Numerous clipped birds have caught breezes and have been unable to turn back to their owners or quickly dodge hawks. So, again putting aside the compromise to emotional health, clipping is extremely dangerous and upon final analysis offers absolutely nothing - the bird can and will fly at some point. A bird should never be left unsupervised, but we certainly don't need to harm the bird in order to make the first ten or so years easy on us.
I suppose you could say to each their own in these areas, but let's make sure to note that these harmful ways have a completely safe and ethical alternative.
Seattle Rain, how is your new pet doing?
If you have kept her, one thing I encourage someone to do when they study and research is to research their avian companion in the
wild. A parrot is not domesticated, so learning the lifestyle and habits of them in their God-given environment often helps people to apprehend the animal's frustration at a completely unnatural existence and better assist them in making captive life as pleasant as possible.
That really gave me a laugh!
