How it all began

It all began with one tiny baby cockatiel named Squeakers and a love for all God's creatures.

Looking back as a child my family always had pet birds. The first ones I remember was a collection of about half a dozen parakeets my mother acquired. My dad made a beautiful cage of wooden dowel rods which they quickly chewed right through. Mom put up one nest box. I still carry the guilt, of when I was trying to look at the one and only egg they laid, I cracked it. I never told my mom it was me. After that we had various cockatiels, a nanday, a quaker, and a red lori. A few years passed. I grew up, married and had two kids.

Then one day I was introduced to a man who raised cockatiels in his back yard. He had a few normal grey cockatiels that were free flighted in a small homemade aviary. I ended up buying 1 yellow fuzzy baby cockatiel for $20. It must have been about 5 or 6 days old. I really don't know how the poor little guy survived! I had no experience, no hand feeding formula, or no brooder. I can't for the life of me remember when or how I met Tonya, but I do remember she taught me how to hand feed and gave me a bit of formula and a couple of pipettes. Tonya was a very experienced hand feeder. She raised Blue and Gold Macaws, Citron Cockatoo's, Congo Grays and Double Yellow Heads.

Somehow that sweet little cockatiel survived. I name him Squeakers because of the sounds he made as I was feeding him. After that I was hooked! I had caught a full blow case of "bird fever" that has lasted almost 20 years!

I became obsessed with learning everything I could about raising birds. This was the mid to late 80's before the internet was widely available. Tonya gave me a box full of very old magazines. I think it was the original Bird Talk magazine prier to 1982, called Caged Bird, if I remember correctly. I read every one cover to cover, over and over again.

As I began to learn more, I also began to acquire my flock. What started with one tiny baby cockatiel turned into a thriving aviary of 600 pairs of breeding birds. At the height of my career, I raised everything from tiny whimsical finches to majestic macaws. When I think about how many 100's and 100's baby birds I've hand feed I'm in awe.

Then July 10, 2000 that all changed. when my world turned upside down and my soul was ripped from my chest. My husband of 18 years unexpectantly walked out on me and two small children without warning, without even a goodbye. So I sold or gave away all our beautiful birds. I wanted to punish him for leaving. I wanted everything to be different when he came back. I wanted him to see he wasn't missed or needed.

But the joke was on me. After all the birds were gone, all the brooders and cages were sold, given away or thrown away.....he never returned to see. I was stuck in a dark, dull void for nine years with nothing but ghost and memories of how wonderful and happy my life had been. Rock bottom for me was probably 2005 to 2007. I stayed in my house, behind locked doors with the shades pulled down for well over two years. The ONLY time I left, was for a doctors appointment to get anti-depressants.

Things have slowly started to get better. I met a wonderful, caring man on the internet who has changed my life. After about one and a half years of talking on the internet and the phone, he packed up his belongings and moved from Nashville to Texas and in with me. That move, saved my life. I am living again. We go shopping, we have a garden and a grand daughter. And now we are going to rebuild my aviary.

I can't even tell you the deciding factor, to rebuild. It was a combination of things I think. I started having dreams of hand feeding babies. Also we had one single little green budgie that needed a friend, so we bought him one. Those happy chirps and seeing them kiss and feed each other, made my heart ache for the 100's of budgies I had. Then I ran across a youtube video of a baby blue and gold macaw being hand fed. Listening to the "honking" that baby made, made me burst into tears. I HAD to have my babies again! Not on the grand scale as before. But only as a small hobbyist breeder. Well maybe a little bigger than that lol...........we'll see (smiles).