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Jay and I came up with the idea of a Parody of Julio Iglesias/Willie Nelson “For all the Girls I’ve Loved Before”… Sing this to that tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naPVHcAx5X8 TO ALL THE BIRDS WE’VE LOVED BEFORE For all the birds I’ve known before Who’ve flown both in and out my door I’m glad you came along I dedicate this song…. To all the birds I’ve known before. To all the birds who pooped on me And to all those who just went…wee wee I might have yelled and screamed And even sounded mean You always meant the world to me. The hormonal changes are always going And every time I tried to stray I always came back to you Please don’t ever drift away. To all the birds who shared my life I know sometimes you called me wife The regurgitation was fine That’s why I now drink wine I never really flew that way. To all the birds that cared for me I’ll never ever set you free You’ve always owned my heart Right from the very start You’ll always be a part of me. Your moods are always changing I never know from day to day If you just wanted seeds and fruits Or a piece of toast with some Parkay. To all the birds we’ve loved before Who’s in our hearts forevermore I dedicate this song I’m glad you came along To all the birds I’ve loved before….. To all the birds we’ve loved before If life went on there would be more They just live so damned long I’m glad you came along To all the birds we’ve loved before….. The End

That's a damn shame. I'm glad I don't have neighbors like that. I was down at the barn and all of mine were in full chorus....I could hear their racket clear down there. Our new neighbors told me my guineas were roosting on their roof. I said, yeah, guineas do that. I argued with the City of Allen not to let them build 10 ft from our barn. So sorry (not).

Welcome and thanks for re-homing. Sounds like you have a bird like my Dorian who was never allowed to fledge and therefore doesn't really know what his wings are for. I think the hanging on and flapping is adorable and a good indictator that he may fly one day. As for the stepping up, it took Dorian over two years to step up onto my hand. He came out of a pet store where many children, and frankly some adults, used to poke cat toys and fingers through the bars of his cage, so he came to me very afraid of hands. He would also step up from the floor but never from his cage. My first success was very much controlled by him. He decided that one of the outside perches on his cage was his step up perch, and that when he went to that perch he was ready to be picked up. I don't remember how long it took me to realize this, but the dumb Hooman finally clued in. Just continue to offer your hand as an option to him, and if he doesn't choose to step up that time just tell him that's ok and walk away until the next time. Your wife took an absolutely gorgeous picture of Smokey. I mean, yours were good, but . . . Of course, you both had a good subject. Smokey is beautiful. Keep browsing around the forums, asking questions, and tuning into grey time. Again, welcome.

That's a hit if you ask me. There is more truth than fiction in that song. After having parrots for 46 years the lyrics really hit home.

They're pretty unreasonable, and we've had our share of battles over what I would say has been minimal loud outbursts. All Dexter had to do was belt out a macaw call a couple times in a row, and there she was, hanging her head over our fence line, asking me to bring him inside. It got to the point where I was beginning to have concerns that she'd file a formal noise complaint. Now I only bring him outside when I'm absolutely certain she's not home, but that's not easy to ascertain. In order to protect him, I actually made an appointment with my son's former therapist requesting a letter that designated Dexter as his ES pet, and she did! So...if anyone were to complain, he now has letter that designates his presence in our home as being medically prescribed. I haven't actually showed them the letter, but did let them know that he's an ES bird, medically prescribed for our son, and that his emotional well being comes first and foremost. Haven't received any more e-mails from them, or heads popping up over the fence line ever since. She's a teacher, so I know that she'll soon be home every day, which will make things more complicated. She doesn't have any issues with my other birds being out there; just Dexter. And Dexter loves, loves, loves being out there.

That can become an escalating challenge. Hubby and our U2 had a back and forth for about a year before hubby mostly won.

Thank you, Yes, freely, words are meant to be shared...

All true and wonderful! I saw No shame on those birds faces🙉

Beautiful Jay and Maggie Thank you! Can i share this please?

Dexter is lovely so sorry your neighbor has such a difficult time with his sounds and giving you her negativity. Your new Bird palace is grand and my flock now want to move to your house. Sigh🙄

Ray Just thanks.........

Our prayers be with you...

Did not get a call back this weekend and today I have a trip to Michigan so I will try Tuesday to get in touch.

The more you describe Smokey, the more I think you have our Huey's identical twin, brother from another mother haahaa... Regarding the flying issue: that's exactly what Huey did. Low, flap, then leap and crash land. It took him about two months and he started actually flying. We coaxed him A LOT to come in the kitchen from the living room. He also saw our other Grey, GreycieMae, fly into the kitchen constantly and he couldn't stand being left so he practiced a lot. I spent about two months bolting from my current position to try and catch Huey so he didn't hurt himself. He had way too many crash landings for my liking and we're lucky he never broke a wing or something else. He's well past that point now and can fly and land pretty good. He's not graceful and sometimes will screw up a landing but I don't have to chase around and give him a safe arm to land on anymore.

Yes I have, he just runs away and when i get too close he starts cleaning his nails lol and looking at my hand. I do the 4 fingers with the thumb tucked in he test the perch so hes not biting me but won't come up on to my hand. Then he goes for my nail... I've only had him for about a week and all I've been able to do is give him treats by hand and scratch his head ... hes very territorial but surprisingly he let's me scratch him up top on his cage but he let's me know when he wants me to touch him he brings his head down pretty much giving me the ok.. also when I put him to bed he hangs from the top of the cage and brings his head in for a head scratch but I'm touching him outside the cage putting my finger in to him .... only time I got him to "step up" has been from the floor he does it with no problem but its not easy to get him down there or getting him off his cage

I say go for it, you know you can handle it and your heart is ready and willing, hope things go your way.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope it all works out for you (and of course the parrot too)

Thank you so much 💖

Senegals seem to be such great birds and flock well usually except at the hormonal times of year when they have been known to kill each other. We have some at the Sanctuary and we have to monitor them as all can be well for months then they single out a bird in the flock to gang up on I don't understand what triggers this behavior but your bird sounds like she has taken this to an extreme level. I wonder if she may have a hormonal malfunction? or if indeed she is one of those odd inexplicable killers? Total separation sounds like the best choice for the rest of your flock. Chamomile tea helps soothe an overactive or stresse3d bird but I have no idea how would affect her vicious cycle. Perhaps the Vet can recommend something like the Haloperidol.

Good thinking on the ES letter. You may have outmaneuvered her.

Hello Roy and welcome to our family, so glad you and Smokey could join us. He is a handsome fella and your wife does do him justice, she knows a good looking man when she sees it. As the others have said give it time, he will let you know when he is ready for more intimate interaction but it looks like you are off to a wonderful start.

I am waiting for a call back. We talked for about an hour by phone and he did say that he had a sister that was interested, but he did not think she could handle a Macaw. The man wants to make sure she will go to a good home as she has been part of the family for about 20 years. Fifteen years with him and five years with his father. They took her in as a rehome when she was between 5 and 10 years old She had a minor injury to one of her wings and a broken toe. I hope things work out as I would love to giver her a home.

Thanks you guys I never knew these birds were so amazing and the joy they bring I'm so happy i was able to rescue him and adopt him and give him the love he deserves

Prayers for Jay, and for you Maggie.

Courage. Love and prayers. Howardine

Yes,Marinol is a trade name for dronabinol. I sent you a pm.

Thank you Howardine...I agree with you, Thank you, Thank you all...

No apology needed! Oh, I am so glad your concentrator goes to 10. Do you have a senator or a representative that you can contact to ask for help with this non-human at the VA?

I apologize...I am back... You did not upset me....it just gets overwhelming at times. His concentrator now goes to 10 and he runs it at 6 when he is relaxed, 7-8 when sleeping, and 9-10 when I am bathing him, etc. He gets 6 portable E bottles a week. But you know what, there's always some one worse. Your all the best.....

Greetings, After researching the drugs mentioned, I recommend you research them yourself, You have decision too choose from on what to do.......You could try Chamomile tea...

Thank you so much for joining the Forum..We would love to hear your about your flock and see photos..With your Senegal, I'm going to do some research. For now I would put the fid in it's own cage, away from the others birds...

You're very fortunate. This neighbor has harbored ill feelings regarding my birds for a very long time. The aviary pushed her over the edge with negative energies aimed towards us. It's similar to a stopped up garbage disposer. Once it finally gets going, all the garbage blows out the top.

It's so very frustrating indeed. We both are planning on living in our homes for a very long time, so I need to adjust in order to keep the peace. Here's a picture of my troublemaker, Dexter. Isn't he cute?

And of course more pictures of the completed aviaries and the birdies enjoying them are welcome

Without divulging the actual costs if you aren't comfortable with it - can you provide some break down of the material and labor costs for these projects? I'd like to start planning and saving now....before I even have a house LOL. I could totally see myself building a house sized aviary with all the best Parrot amenities, a garage for my motorcycles, and a tiny house where I live.

That looks really cool!

Jury's still out on the cameras. That looks really pricey! Wish I'd been born thrifty with my hands as you were!

Monday is installation day! Woot! Woot!

Amazing, simply amazing Steve.

Well I'm excited! Met with the fabricator to finalize the roof plans. Thanks to SR SeedBurners I feel confident with what we're going to do! This aviary runs north>south. The north half will have corregated steel panels, and the south half the SunTuf opaque white panels. So there will be a shaded portion and a light infused portion. The fabricator didn't even increase the price when I asked to have the SS mesh installed underneath the SunTuf panels. Estimated time for installation: 2 weeks!!! So happy!

Solar Grey sounds really nice. The fabricator is using steel beams as support. The cost of this aviary is about to increase, now that I know I have to add SS netting into its roof. UGH.

We went with the Solar Grey, it's a really nice smokey color and casts a bronze light (sort of like the color you see when there's a forest fire in the area and the sky is filled with smoke - bad joke I know - but that really is what it looks like underneath them). Home Depot only carries Clear and Solar Grey in our area so I never got to see the others. We have enough sunlight that comes through the windows on the side that I'm not concerned about maximum sunlight overhead. They provide the partial shade I was after and then under the soffits it's full shade. How are you building the roof? We have 16 ft beams like what they use on a pergola. The beams come directly off our house roof. The Suntuf panels sit directly on top of the beams (on top of the Suntuf 'horizontals' but that has no bearing on what I'm talking about). Then on the underside of the beams I am putting up 16 gauge wire. So there will be a space the width of the beam between the wire on the bottom and the panel sitting on top. Similar to you I don't want something punching a hole in the panel and my birds getting an escape route. My concern is a squirrel chewing through. If there is threat of hail, I won't have them out there anyway so a baseball size hailball I'm not worried about. These panels will take a pretty good strike but it is possible a branch could punch through if directed just right.

Thank you SO MUCH! I'm going to take a look at the Suntuf in a moment. I have some additional concerns moving forward with the plans. The contractor designed the aviary with the idea of having only the roof panels; so no mesh on the top. Now I'm beginning to think that it might not be a good idea to go that route, especially if I decide to use the Suntuf. The eucalyptus trees are known to drop branches here and there, so I'm fearful that if I don't have any roof mesh, that a branch could possibly penetrate one of those panels, and then my birdies will fly off into the sunset. He's coming by tomorrow, so I really need to wrap my plans up quickly. Okay..I just looked at the Suntuf website. Nice product! Would you go with the clear or opal white?

Thanks! Would you recommend doing the entire roofing in that rather than what I was thinking, which is to alternate between galvanized steel:plastic panels? I wanted them to be able to find shade as needed, and was thinking that having the entire roof made out of those plastic sheets would make it too hot for them.

That's going to be great!

Take a look at Suntuf panels. That's what we used. 15 year damage warranty. They sell it at Home Depot too.

The roof will be a combo of every other panel being steel/outdoor patio plastic stuff so that more light can filter through. I didn't want there to be any cross beams onto which my fids could climb, thereby making it a challenge to retrieve them at night. My 4 German Shepherds will do a fine job cleaning up the tossed food at the end of the day. The next door neighbors have a junk heap of stuff collecting in their back yard, which has made their property a great haven for rats. That's one of the main reasons why I went with 1/2x2 inch mesh. And no, I'm located in sunny Southern California. Those are eucalyptus trees, plus bamboo growing on the other side of the fence. Next I'll have to figure out what kinds of bird safe vegetation I'll have growing inside the aviary.

This puts a rest to my suspicions that there is a Grey conspiracy out there to get their hoomans to build luxury aviaries. You'll love being able to shove them in and out from the house. That's the one thing I didn't like about my first outdoor aviary - it's too hard to get in and out of. Once I put them in I was reluctant to pull them out. Silkies make really good cleanup crew if you need something to pickup the food that gets tossed. What kind of roof are you putting on it? Wire? If I didn't know any better, I'd guess you were from Australia. Your yard looks really similar to the yard where my wife grew up in Toowoomba. Those almost look like native australian gum trees.