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My deepest sympathies. It is hard to say good-by. May you find comfort in happy memories. As far as I am concerned no apology is needed. I was unable to access the site for some time until you rebuilt it. Thank you for all your hard work.

Just popping in, and want to extend my sympathy with regard to the passing of your dad. It doesn't matter what age we are, while our parents are living, we are still someone's child. It is so sad and also a bit daunting when the day(s) arrive where that is no longer the case. I don't know if you still have your mother, but I hope that you can find comfort in family and friends during this sad time. With regard to the new format of the site? I love it! So modern, easy to navigate, and am delighted that I now feel the site is much more secure. Thank you for all of your hard work, having built and maintained several websites myself, I appreciate that it is no small task and often a thankless one. You are appreciated!

Here's another version of the cardboard toy I make for Dorian. It uses more cardboard because I use smaller beads between the pieces. I'm saving this one for when he goes to the bird sitter at the end of the month. Should keep him busy for two days!

I don't have a dining table and it's just myself and my housemate so we typically eat on the sofa/armchair. Alfie isn't really interested in our food. If he's out he's normally too busy playing or shredding boxes. Occasionally he will join us on the sofa or sit on our knees. He rarely shows as interest in whats on the plate or anything that's offered to him off the plate though. If I did have a dining table then I'd probably have to be wary of glasses being knocked/pushed over or off the table I think. Alfie likes to throw things about so I could see him getting into mischief on a dinner table!

I’m so jealous! It’s beautiful!

I include my parrots with any meal I eat at home. They are free to walk over to my plate...it doesn’t bother me..sadly since I am working full time, I feel bad having them in their cages all day, so I’m not about to keep them away from me when I home

Kevin, I am so very sorry for the sudden loss of your father. As you know, I lost mine 1 year ago, and it does make you see life with different eyes. Always know he is watching over you and I am sure incredibly proud of you and all you do for others. As as for this site, you know how I feel about all the work you did to save us. I disagree with Judy, this site was quiet before the change and it has been picking up little by little. People are busier these days with so many other social media sites..so we aren’t always the first choice, but since you have made us so mobile friendly, hopefully members will start to take advantage of that and post more! If anyone was upset...the shame on them! God Bless ❤️

My thoughts, prayers and love ❤️ to you both. This is so heartbreaking...Jayd has such a wealth of information and always keeps our minds going thinking about what’s best for our fids. Thank you Maggie for all you do and continued to do for Jayd, you are a true angel

Sending love and good thoughts your way. Love you both.

When I got Dorian and it had been a year he was still afraid of my hands, biting when he felt I wasn't listening to him, which in turn made me afraid to put my hands anywhere near him. He was not stepping up, and still totally cage bound, So I got desperate and hired an animal behaviourist to come over for a couple of hour to observe us and 'talk' to Dorian. The best advice I got from her was to approach him as if he was already the bird I wanted him to be. With the stepping up that meant to offer it as an option to him and allow him not to choose it right now. Same with being cage bound. I left his door open and allowed him to choose to stay inside that day. As silly as it sounds I became aware that I approached his cage with different body language when I kept this advice in mind. It was a few weeks of this and he became noticeably less bitey, and one day he left his cage and had a little wander round the outside! I really believe my change of attitude made him feel safer. Have you checked out the tread, in the training room I believe, called Behaviour Most Commonly Seen, or something like that. It will help you pick up on your birds subtle body language before they get to a bite. My Dorian usually wakes in a lovely mood, but every now and then he wakes up on the wrong side of the perch, and I now can tell before I even open the cage door. On those days I don't offer my hand for the inevitable bloodletting. You need to learn your birds body language so you can cut him off at the pass before he gets to a bite. Part of that is keeping him off your shoulder where you can't see his body language. If you have to get creative, do. Maybe sew a stuffie to each shoulder so there's no room for him? Has anyone ever taught you the Egyptian pose? If he lands on your forearm, drop your elbow so it's lower than your wrist. It goes against their instincts to climb down. This worked for me. Dorian used to try to climb to my shoulder all the time. Now that I'd actually trust him on my shoulder, he's not at all interested! When you hear flapping wings put your arm out as a place to land. If he lands on your forearm go into the Egyptian pose, if he lands on your upper arm immediately put your opposite forearm in his way blocking his path to your shoulder as was suggested above. If he does get to your shoulder, have you ever tried getting him to step up onto a perch? I've trained Dorian to step up onto a perch and now he does it obediently 99% of the time. I use it if I want to move him from a place like my desk, or his playstand at bedtime, but he isn't in the mood to obey. They can get in downright pissy moods at times. I usually give him one chance to do things in a civilized manner, then I bring out the perch. To be clear, he's not at all afraid of the perch, he just seems to recognize that he's pushed mommy just a little to far at the moment and steps up for it. I even give him a minute to take out his frustration on the perch when he's been returned to his cage by grabbing it by an eye hook I've got screwed into the end of the perch and beating up on it for a minute. That part is quite cute, but I'd never tell him that! As for his fear of men, have you ever wondered if a man did something that scared him badly while he was in transit to you? I don't think a reputable breeder would have shipped a bird with this intense a fear response. You may never know what happened, but anything you can do to bring down your birds' overall fear and increase his confidence will help his reaction. When I rescued Dorian his previous owner told me I could never date a man with grey or white hair because Dorian reacted so badly towards them (her husband had white hair). But then again Dorian was overall a very fearful bird. Now he's such a confident little bugger I doubt he'd even have a reaction. Anyway, for this reason I don't think I'd clip him right now. He sounds like a very fearful bird. You need to increase his confidence in his ability to handle situations that are frightening to him. Clipping would do the opposite. By all means put the travel cage out where he can get used to it. It will come in handy if you ever have an emergency. Let him explore it when there's no emergency and he won't freak out by being put in it if there is one. Sorry, this turned into a long post. I hope there are some tips here that you can use.

It's a bedroom window that used to open to the outside. We just close the window and put the blinds down, but that doesn't stop them from knocking incessantly when they know you're in there.

Thanks for making me smile with the fly up order window. Are you leaving that window open to the house or screen it so she has to stay in the aviary?

Sorry about your Dad. I lost mine 5 years ago and got so stuck in my grief that I had to go to our local hospice organization for grief counselling. Learn from my example and don't be afraid to reach out for help with your grieving if you think you need it, or even if you just think it would be helpful. As for the apology, I totally understand that a change was needed. I am, however, change resistant (see above note about grieving lol), so I may have been visiting and posting less as of late. I will try to correct MY behaviour, because I know the only way I will get used to the changes is if I use them. I've been around the forum long enough to remember our last format change (anyone here remember 'karma' points), and I was just as resistant to change then. I'm sorry if you've been getting some undeserved grief. As someone way wiser than me once said, the only thing that never changes is change. Thank you for all you have done to keep this forum running.

Well first I gotta say it's just me and him. But he doesn't know he can fly. Also, there's no room in my place for a dinner table so I eat at the counter or at my desk. So, if He happens to be on either of those places when I bring my dinner, I turn the plate to what's healthy for him and let him go for it! He also hasn't figured out that he can move to other sections of the plate lol. This is why I say he's more Densa than Mensa. He's already got me well trained in the drinks and cutlery department - if I don't want it on the floor I put it out of his reach. Sorry, I know this isn't any particular help to you, but you asked what we do, so... Personally I like the sound of a feeding cage, if you're prepared to put up with loud protests from birdie for a while. Just tell your human dining companions that this is the fix to the thing they were complaining about so they can like it or lump it.

Well, it's gone out totally again. I was at the point where I could do household chores and grocery runs of up to three stores without the use of a motorized cart, then last week I was bending over the counter chopping up veggies to put in the crock pot for chilli, and when I straightened up it was out. The good news is that my income has gone up a little, so I can afford a little massage or acupuncture. I was calling around to clinics in the area yesterday but I guess they don't work on Saturdays. Hopefully I'll get callbacks tomorrow.