SRSeedBurners

Our BuckyKatt has a knot on the base of his tail thanks to Greycie. He's the one that's in danger haahaaa!!! She attacked him while he was sleeping on the back of my chair. Plus he was de-clawed on all fours when he came to us so it's an unfair fight.

Sorry guys, I didn't intend to derail the thread. I've been meaning to post about our lil Raven over in the Memorials.

We lost our lil sweet Jardine's parrot sometime during the night before the Labor Day weekend started. I typically leave Saturday mornings before our birdy's get up. I came home to find my wife covered in mud crying her eyes out. She had just planted a Bird of Paradise over our little Jardine's resting spot outside of our bedroom window. She came to us with PDD - we didn't know it at the time. She was in a filthy dog/cat/farm animal rescue. We went to see her on a whim the same day I went to visit my Greycie Grey who was still a baby at the breeders. I believe some things just happen for a reason and 'Raven' coming to us was one of them. Pretty much the planets had to line up in order for us to have brought her home. - we emailed the place that had her on a Saturday night, they're only open for business Mo-Fr - my wife got onto PetFinder and found her. She had never been on PetFinder before and we were not looking for another parrot as we were bringing a Grey home in a couple months. Something about Ravens pic drew us in. - I was extremely partial to Greys and no other breed was getting in the way of THAT! Much less a breed I'd never heard of - a Jardine's parrot?!? - 'Raven' responded to me at the rescue and would have nothing do to with anyone else and had been brought back a couple of times already. - The lady at the rescue just happened to check her email on a Sunday which she hardly ever does. - They wanted WAY TOO MUCH for a dirty rescue bird. So we were 10 minutes headed home when the lady the runs the rescue calls and we go back to see 'Raven'. As mentioned she responded to me and the lady was really trying to sell me on giving the birdy a chance. We drove off without her initially...but my wife than asked if we could go back and get her. We did. We paid WAY too much but I don't regret it for a minute. Raven turned out to be a wonderful bird. She was as sweet as can be with my wife. She didn't much like me which is peculiar because she responded to me at the rescue. But I saw her preference for my wife as a sweet thing. She was a momma's girl. There were so many cute things about her. She had the Jardine's "my way or the highway attitude" which was endearing to me. She really was the sweetest bird I've ever known. We fought her PDD for 5 months as we found she had it after a couple of months. We spent an insane amount of money on her which I told my wife - the check for her is blank...do whatever you need to do. We still tear up over her and I've made my wife promise that we will find another Jardine's to help us keep her memory alive. I got real attached to her in the short time we had herbecause she never really had a chance at life. In the last few weeks caring for her became very tedious but she always seemed happy and still loved to be rolled over and preened. I always dreaded the day I was going to have to take her in and bawl in front of the vet and staff - thankfully that never happened. We are really missing her...

Just keep exposing him to it. It took Greycie a few weeks before I could get her into hers. You may try putting it on without tightening it a couple times per day for a few days and slowly start to tighten it down. He'll eventually get used to it. Greycie is very used to wearing one but the instant she's spots me with it she flies all over the house to keep away. Once I catch her though she grumbles and whines but goes through the motions.

I've lived in California and had first hand experience at those 'swap meets'. I would love to cage some of the vendors. Don't support those bastards - find a reputable breeder.

They get into your soul. We had a Jardine's for 7 months that was the sweetest bird I've ever known. Lost her last Friday night- she had PDD. We're still crying off and on and I don't cry over much of anything. She was a sweet sweet soul. She's buried outside our bedroom window with a bird of Paradise plant that has the feathery leaves and orange flowers just like the Jardine's are known for. Loved that bird...

Attitude is everything, sounds like you already have what she needs. These birds don't chose to be captive but when faced with it, they just want to be included.

I have a camcorder set up on a tripod in the kitchen. Greycie doesn't even care. I'm trying to film her playing catch on top of the fridge but the problem is me. I'm too lazy to make sure it's charged, has room on the card etc.... Tonight she was vocalizing words for both of us and we can't figure out what she's trying to say but she's saying something. I was telling my wife we're lucky because some people have Greys that will only practice in seclusion. Our Greycie loves to ham it up right on my shoulder. If only I could get my lazy ass to record and throw it on youtube....

I think this is Japanese. You gotta love what they come up with sometimes. On second look, maybe it's British?

I may be technically out of the running for the award but my former Grey that I got when I was 21 is 24....wait, did I just date myself? She is currently living with my Aunt but will be returning to me when my aunt can no longer care for her.

This might explain her sudden return to super sweetness recently. She used to to be super sweet with me, wanting to be cuddled, gentle nibbling, a little bit of cooing and Greycie sweet mumbles. I thought she had grown out of it as I wasn't seeing it to much but she's returned to that as well. Of course I'm taking full advantage of it while it lasts. Now I'm thinking she's really asking for some help with the preening. Tough job - keeping a Grey looking in tip-top shape. Girl needs a little help.

Greycie has suddenly within the last couple of weeks begun to lose feathers at what is to me an alarming rate. So far she has no balding spots and you can't really tell by looking at her but we see the feathers all over the place and I keep seeing her with a feather in her beak while she's preening. I've watched her and don't think she's plucking or scissoring them off which leads me to believe this may be normal?!? We've seen all sizes except the long flight feathers. Some as large as the shoulder feathers. Lots of flooffies too. She is also acting really itchy on her head and has stepped up her scratching intensity and frequency. All else appears to be normal. Might be time to investigate the aloe vera misting maybe? Is it molt season?

Try tripping over a paper sack walking down the hallway. You'll quickly see who your Grey values the most. Greycie is happy to leave me to do the fighting

That's one smart Pelican. He's learned to train humans about as good as a Grey.

The biggest issue is it's put out by 'Bird Tricks'. Pretty well known scumbags. I confirmed that when I read something by Barbara Heindrich (sp?) about them. I can't stand their predatory advertising practices. I won't have anything to do with them but that's just me.

The Volkman ingredients look cleaner to me. Vita Prim 'color added' <boo - hisss>. Cucumber, pumpkin and corn are ok. The seeds you need to steer clear of are pit type seeds. Apricot, cherry, apple etc...

That's nice. To me it shows how much those birds mean to you to get something like that.

Yep - divorced here too. Lost all three of my birds to it as well. Wasn't fun, thought it was the end of me for a very long time. Took me a couple of years to get through it but I recovered. Stay strong for the birdies and yourself.

What a cutie. I love those baby Grey pics. Get as much of that in as possible, they don't stay babies long.

yeah, I can't get over how cute she is. "What color is yellow?" - you've got a tricky one there I love how she looked at you after answering yellow as if to say "Ok, I'm gonna have to make this a little harder".

Thanks Dan - our Grey is 'exposed' but showing no signs. Our little Jardines who came out of a filthy disgusting 'rescue' is the one that has PDD. And I say has 'PDD' in a loose sense as 4 different vets can give us no straight answer as to what we're dealing with. But signs and symptoms are pointing to PDD. It's heart breaking because of all the birds I've had, she's top of the list of the sweetest darling lil birdy I've ever encountered. She's not gone yet and I'm already having trouble looking at pics of her and we cry about her nearly daily. It sucks. She's my wife's bird but she's very dear to my heart too. We're really kicking ourselves because everything was fine until we introduced Greycie. Greycie is so aggressive that my wife didn't realize she was keeping 'Raven' from her food all day long and I'm 100% sure that 'Raven' started to go hungry and that led to her immune system starting to get depressed and then the damn virus got hold. Part of why I asked the question above. There was a point where 'Raven' started begging and we both couldn't figure out what she wanted until it was too late. We caught it early but that just means we've gotten to hold onto her a little while longer but there's no stopping it now.

I have a couple of comments/questions about some of your statements: - "if something changes and we catch it early, it's treatable". Was that in direct reference to PDD? I don't believe PDD is treatable in the sense of curable. Once they 'get it', they will eventually die from it. Remission can go on for a while but eventually they start to go downhill. - "it can cause immunosuppression". Was that also referring to the bornavirus? My understanding and my experience (n=1) is that immunosuppression is what can lead to the PDD becoming onset. Then it becomes a situation where the immune response goes into uncontrollable overdrive thereby destroying certain nervous system elements. All the other stuff you mentioned about PDD is what we've heard and I've dug up about the bornavirus. As for the test, I bet I would test positive for the bornavirus - that's how good that test is (not). We've been dealing with PDD for nearly 6 months and have sunk over $3k fighting it and we're close to losing the battle completely. As for your breeder - I would chalk it up to a bad deal. Others may disagree but I would put their reputation out there so others can avoid. I specifically went and found a breeder that had a known reputation for not releasing babies until fully flegded, abundance weaned, her place is tested etc..etc..etc.. There was another breeder right next door that sounds like the one you dealt with. I avoided her like the plague and she was a lot cheaper. The best you can do is stop worrying and just keep weighing and watching that poop. We are addicted to our weight scale and anytime we see an out-of-ordinary poop we both get startled by it.

It's like Christmas when you were a kid isn't it?

Yeah, I happened to see your location earlier, I recognized the city. Had to go reminisce on google maps a bit. I was stationed at Pendleton from 87-94 and lived in Oceanside. That's where I had my first flock that I miss badly. You a Marine or spouse of a Marine? Either way Semper Fi.

When I saw this post the first time I didn't realize there is no wrap. Is the PVC thick enough that birdy can't bite a hole in it? How much were the parts?