A new home for Lihn

Most readers are familiar with Younger Daughter's Quaker parrot, Lihn. Today, Lihn went to a new home.

This was clearly a difficult decision for all of us, and requires some explanation.

YD got Lihn when she (Younger Daughter) was sixteen years old, an excellent argument why parents shouldn't let teenagers get a long-lived pet. I sorta inherited Lihn when YD left for the Navy, and for the next nine years I was her parrot mom. We got along fine.

However over the last year and a half, Lihn's behavior has been going south. This may or may not have been triggered by my two-week absence in March/April of 2025 when I traveled down to help my dad transition my mom into a nursing home. Whatever the reason, Lihn started feather-plucking.

Anyone who has owned a parrot understands the severity and complexity of feather-plucking behavior. It got increasingly worse. Our local vets (who are in all other respects excellent animal doctors) don't have much experience with parrots, so they urged me to make an appointment with the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Pullman, Washington. Unfortunately the earliest appointment I could get was in November of 2025, so poor Lihn had to endure several months of waiting. During this time I also took an additional trip to see my parents, which may or may not have compounded the issue.

The day of the vet appointment finally arrived, and what I didn't realize was that they planned to keep Lihn overnight for comprehensive testing. This meant a three-hour drive to the vet, a three-hour drive back home without Lihn, then another six-hour round trip the next day to pick her up, and then another six-hour round trip the next week for a follow-up appointment. The conclusion: Undetermined health issues, though they did say she had some arthritis in one foot. (They also determined SHE is actually a HE, but since we've been referring to Lihn as a "she" for the past twelve years, it's not an easy habit to break.)

Lihn was prescribed two types of medication, an anti-inflammatory and a pain reliever. Essentially she will need to be on this medication for the rest of her life. She did a lot better behavior-wise with the pain meds, but she never quite recovered her previously perky personality.

It was about this time (January of this year) that YD began her transition out of the Navy. She was able to land a job on the West Coast, but she is nowhere near in a position to take Lihn with her. For one thing, YD will be at work all day long, which would leave Lihn by herself for the majority of her waking hours. And two, YD's position will require her to be at sea twice a year; once for about a week, and a second time for anywhere from five to six weeks. So Lihn, it seemed, had a permanent home with us.

So YD proposed the idea of rehoming Lihn. At first I was opposed to this, feeling like a failure as a parrot mom and also concerned that wrenching Lihn from the only caregiver she's ever known could backfire, but gradually I saw the wisdom of her logic. Although the initial transition would be difficult, Lihn would conceivably thrive under the care of someone with a natural affinity for parrot psychology and behavior.

With this in mind, YD started her research. There are loads of people willing to take in rehomed parrots, but sadly the majority of them are bird flippers, bird hoarders, or other examples of abusive situations. The thought of putting Lihn in such a cruel placement almost gave me an anxiety attack.

Finally YD connected with two women as possible rehoming candidates. Both had sterling reputations and references. However one woman was having health issues and required some major surgery over the summer, so YD went with the other woman (whose name is Lara), who lives near Boise. Lara has comprehensive experience in rehabilitating birds both physically and psychologically, and felt confident she could nurse Lihn back to her previously healthy and perky self.

For the past week, we've known Lara was coming today (Wednesday), and YD and I have been in something of a funk at the thought of Lihn going away, even though we knew it was in her best interest.

Lara arrived this morning, and immediately YD knew she had made the right choice. Lara was a walking encyclopedia of parrot care. She has a stable home life and is also a stay-at-home mom with children who are respectful of pets. And my goodness, does she know her parrots.

And so, after an hour-and-half visit, we bundled Lihn into her travel cage, then transported her large cage with its stand into Lara's car, along with surplus food, toys, medicine, and other paraphernalia. (I also sent Lara home with about ten pounds of frozen blueberries from last year's crop as a thank-you.)

And then Lara drove away, and Lihn was gone.

Yeah yeah, we know it was the best thing for her, but I'll confess my eyes are stinging as I write this. Lihn's departure leaves both a physical and an emotional hole in our home.

Perhaps it's fitting that there was a single feather on the floor where her cage once stood.

Lara promises to keep us posted on Lihn's progress. If for some reason the rehoming placement doesn't work out, we will take Lihn back ... but Lara sounded extremely confident that wouldn't be necessary.

So yeah, YD did the absolutely right thing in finding someone like Lara to take over the job. But it was still a tough decision.