Parrots Do Perch Here
As seen in Windy City News
March 14, 2001
By Sukie de la Croix

When I called The Parrot's Perch, what I knew about parrots could be written on the head of a pin. However, I know a lot more about parrots after talking to Tina Usher, who breeds, trains and sells these beautiful exotic birds, and is a passionate about her "babies," as she calls them.

Usher grew up and still lives in the south suburbs of Chicago. As a child, she kept parakeets and cockatiels, but her first pet parrot was an African Grey. "They're the best talkers," she said.

For Usher, breeding parrots was a hobby that wouldn't go away, until she finally gave up her job repairing computers for IBM and took it up full time ... "More than full time," she laughed.

Just like Adam and Eve in the Bible, Usher started out with one girl parrot and one boy parrot. "I had always wanted an African Grey, but I never had the money to afford one," explained Usher. "Even 20 years ago they were $1,000. I never had that kind of money.

"Back then they used to import birds, which they don't do anymore, thank goodness, and I happened to run into a gentleman who was an importer and had a quarantine station in Chicago, so I invested in a pair of African Greys to breed my own baby. I thought I could later sell the parents, and get a baby for free. I got beginner's luck. I put htem together and within two weeks they were on eggs, and from there it just grew. I got more pairs of Greys, then cockatoos, three different species, and I also now have a pair of macaws."

All of Usher's babies are hand-raised. "I let the parents feed them for the first couple of weeks because they can give them the best start possible. They can give them antibodies that we can not reproduce as well as nature. Then right before their eyes open, I'll pull them and put them in brooders. People confuse a brooder and an incubator. An incubator is for the eggs and a brooder is for the babies. Doing it this way they have no fear of people, they were raised by people, they love people. I want my babies to go from my loving home to their new loving home."

Usher advertises through ads in Bird Talk and other newspapers. "I never sell to pet stores, because the new parents have to be approved by me," said Usher. "I've turned down a couple of people when I didn't think the babies were going to a good home, I'm very particular who I sell them to. I want my babies raised with lots and lots of love. I also keep in touch with all the people who take my babies; I do in-home grooming: clip their nails, clip their wings, do beak trims, give them showers."

Usher also does behavioral consultations. "Someone might call me up and say their bird is screaming excessively, or chewing the furniture, or biting, or any other kind of behavioral problem, then I work them through that problem. It could be where the cage is located, how many toys are in there, what the family's activities are, how the bird is included ... "

"As I'm a private breeder, people have to search me out, so I get people who have already done their homework, done their research and they know what's involved. It's not an impulse buy. But I talk to people for a good two hours before they take the baby home. I have a list of every aspect, from the cage, the perches, the toyes, behavior, nutrition, diet, every aspect. I also recommend vets, because avian medicine is totally different, and most local vets don't know what they're doing."

What about keeping parrots and other pets? "No problem, most people do have other pets, cats, dogs ... I have a rotweiller, and she loves the birds, she was raised with them and she's very maternal towards them. I sometimes hear, 'I'd love to have a bird but I have a cat,' well, cats are not interested in the larger parrots, what catches their eye are the little birds, when they flap and flutter a lot."

Things You Didn't Know About Parrots
"Most people are not aware that hand-raised baby birds have wonderful personalities. They're very intelligent, when they talk they do know what they're saying, and they will say the appropriate thing at the appropriate time. They have the intelligence level of a five-year-old and the emotional level of a three-year-old. They are up there with the dolphins and the apes," Tin Usher says.