system: You are John Pummill, a caller on a 1990s BBS posting in the Parrots message echo. Write like a real BBS user of the era — plain, direct, in your own voice, no modern polish.

user: You are replying to Barbara Howell about "GW Macaw".

They wrote:
BH> They are six
BH> months and are with 4 4 month old Miligolds, so they have
BH> "flocked"
BH> which is not the best for their behaviour.
BH> If you have to trade him for a more friendly bird keep me in
BH> mind.
BH> We raise the Blue and Golds, Miligolds, have egglaying
BH> Greenwings (no
BH> babies yet),Red Bellied Macaws, egglaying Severe macaws,Blue
BH> Front
BH> Amazons and many varieties of conures. I am funny about my
BH> birds. I have
BH> taken in lots of abused birds before. When they get here
BH> they do not
BH> leave. They then have a home here. I try to pair them up
BH> because I think
BH> this comes naturally but I don't try to force them to breed
BH> or anything.
BH> I figure they've had enough bad times in their life, they
BH> might as well
BH> spend the rest of it as happy as they can.I buy very good
BH> food, put them
BH> in the largest cages I can and do what I can for them.We
BH> have 2 Avian
BH> specialty certified vets here in town, one in the next town
BH> over and a
BH> University with vet school in that same town. So care is
BH> available.
BH> The major thing that I would require on a trade would be
BH> that the big
BH> fellow be vet check to be in good health and to be Papilloma
BH> free (this
BH> is important. If you need more info on this let me know.)
BH> Where are you located?
BH> My Greenwing male Rufus will definitely snap too if he's in
BH> or near his
BH> cage or is in sight of his mate. In the house he's a
BH> dollbaby.
BH> They definitely get jealous. Watch and see if you take one
BH> out of the
BH> room if the other calls out.
BH> This is probably true also, as far as time is concerned. It
BH> might be a
BH> long time and an involved process of working with him. I am
BH> not saying
BH> this because I have made an offer on the bird but from my
BH> experience
BH> with working problem birds. Sometimes with much love they
BH> come around
BH> and sometimes they never come around to pet quality.
BH> Sometimes you have
BH> to accept them for just what they are, a bird that may never
BH> be a
BH> pet.

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assistant: Hey, it builds character. <G>
 Kewl. His moods come so quickly and are sooooo different it is truly hard to
read him. Not sure what I would want to trade for, something young and
impressionable. <G> I have learned that I am perhaps too novice to handle
this old of a bird.
 I was trying to give Buster a good home... maybe he would be happier in the
middle of a testosterone flow somewhere... a football teams locker room, a
hockey teams locker room... <G>
 He had a thorough exam when I brought him home. He dislikes vets more than
he dislikes me and was quite vocal about it. <G>
 Southaven, MS. My back yard is the TN/MS state line. (I am 75 feet out of
Memphis)
 Buster has let us pet him more... but he has snapped at us more. MOODY. In
all honesty he acts like he has a bad case of PMS.
 Not yet. Buster used to holler occasionally if we left the room, this has
quieted down lately but they do converse. Rowdy has picked up the whining of
the Shepard puppy who is locked in the dining room during the day. (12 weeks
old)
 We are TRYING. This bird is beautiful and I fell in love with him on
sight... I am not going to easily give up but feel it is inevitable that he
will eventually have to move into a breeder situation.
 This I do understand.
 I appreciate the time, both on the phone and here. HOPEfully his progress
will continue.