What happens to a parrot ater being detached from its owner?

franky: What happens to a parrot ater being detached from its owner?
I recently sold my Amazon parrot and we had a strong bond, both me with him, and him and I. Now im worried because i heard they get real sad and hurt themselves. is this true?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Supreme Zombie Commander
Life goes on.

Answer by Equinehugger
Parrots, especially the larger types like Amazons do form strong bonds (they mate for life) and often do go through a grieving process when their “flock” is significantly altered especially if they have only had one owner for most of their life. The extent really depends on the bird’s personality and on his new environment. If he is outgoing, bold, and usually reacts to new objects/sounds/etc with curiosity vs fear, then he should get through it fairly quickly without too much stress.

Also if he is in a similar situation with a loving owner he will recover faster than if he is in an unfamiliar situation like a breeding colony or is treated like a shelf ornament.

Few birds react so strongly that they would feather pluck or self mutilate. Those cases usually have other serious behavioral problems. Most birds may have a few weeks where they are either abnormally quiet or loud, they might get grumpy and nippy or not want to leave their cage. But with patience and love they get through it. Some birds never do any of this and acclimate perfectly.

A good analogy would be a child being moved to a new school. Some kids make a ton of new friends right away, others are shier and take some time to adjust. But eventually virtually every kid will feel at home in the new school. I wouldn’t worry about him too much. Amazons are emotionally pretty hardy, he has probably already adjusted.

Giving up a pet can be tough. If it’s any consolation parrots have a great memory so he will probably remember you as long as you remember him. I have a friend whose parrot was stolen in 1995, the bird was microchipped and last year they were reunited after 14 years, he greeted her with “hello, come here, come here, i love you” : )