Hello, I'm Alfie, Hayley's 20 year old rescue African grey parrot, who used to live in a pub in Witney, Oxfordshire before I came to live with Hayey & her husband. I inspired the main character in the Alfie's Adventures story.
I love spending time out of my cage exploring my home, & going on adventures outside in my travel cage. My favourite foods are palm nut oil, pistachio nuts, & walnuts in their shells & my favourite phrase is 'night night Alfie'!
Alfie's Fluffy Chest Feathers
I started plucking out my chest feathers when I was living in a pub, as I didn't come out of my cage much. I still pluck at certain times of the year, even though I am kept busy and I am out of my cage a lot in my new home. With parrots, it's 'once a feather plucker, always a feather plucker' I'm afraid, it becomes a lifelong habit that is difficult for us to break.
Parrots as pets
Parrots are lovely but we are demanding and complex pets to look after, as we need a lot of mental enrichment to be happy. Hayley doesn't believe parrots should be kept in cages as pets, but flying free in the wild. However, parrots brought up in captivity like me cannot be wild & free, so people need to do their best to look after us & make us as happy as we can be in captivity. Hayley hopes her story does not encourage the buying of parrots as pets, but would love to see more re-homing of rescue parrots to the right homes.