Inara

YAY LuLu!! How wonderful that she is owning her wings. I can feel you beaming with pride and happiness right through this screen Much like Ray's Cricket, my Elliot used to only fly in short bursts and would walk a lot. For the most part though he was content to hang out on his big tree branch that he lived in in the living room. (I had completely gotten rid of his cage because he was terrified of them.) LuLu sounds like such a treasure.

From what I read when researching HRH's new cage, anondizing the aluminum is supposed to help prevent it from leaching and/ or being reactive. I went with stainless steel, because I just felt that as much as Inara has her mouth on her cage, that it would be prudent until more definitive studies are done. They do look like nice cages, are more lightweight, but I'm old fashioned and have always stayed away from aluminum or acidic things next to aluminum.

Thanks for posting!

Am glad that all worked out well for Jimpster! HRH had a new first this morning. She's figured out now how to fly from the top of her cage to the top of a wooden folding panel screen that is near her home. She up to now, would hold her foot up for me to come get her when she was ready to come down. This morning, she finally flew down from it back to the top of her cage and the (seriously!) strutted around the top of her cage bobbing her head and singing her little "doop doop," song, she was so pleased with herself. I have, however, now noticed her eying even higher points to land (we have SUPER tall ceilings and an open floor plan with a few choice landing spots far out of reach of any human). It feels great to know that now if she for some reasons ventures higher, that she will feel confident about going home on her own.

Always, always make sure you reward her with a super yummy treat immediately when you put her into the sink, and then immediately when you are done. Only use this "special" treat for bath/shower. Be sure to use a happy voice, and relax your own body before, during, and after so that she can feel you are "no big deal" about it all. Be consistent. Remember, to our birds sometimes things that they do not like are akin to us "working." Most of us don't work for free, but we do get motivated by a paycheck So give her a good paycheck, and over time her attitude should change. You can start, by treating her as you hold her above the sink. Do this a few times, without putting her into the sink. Then treat her while you hold her above the sink, then after you put her into the sink (no water). Take her out and treat her again, using lots of happy talk. Practice this daily for several days, then change to just a little bit of water in the sink when you set her down, and be sure to *immediately* treat her when her little toes get wet. You can figure it out from here, as to when to start increasing water and adding in the shower. Then over time just decrease the treats to just at the sink, and after her shower. Then eventually just after her shower. PS: I'm not a bird trainer -- am a human trainer *grin* who has worked a scrillion years with delinquent humans. They also "will work for treats," but more importantly for genuine praise and the good feeling that comes with overcoming something that seemed impossible or frightening. Patience, relaxed attitude, and consistency are the keys. (but a well placed "cookie" will go a loooong way). EDIT: Despite even the best efforts and positive reinforcements, there are some birds who just draw the line at getting wet and will always be that way. In that case, you jsut have to grin and bear it, and bathe them when health and hygiene require it.

Wow! How did I miss this vid??!! What a hoot, all of you are! Greycie is such a fun loving little soul. Her theme song ought to be "Wild Thing." LOL

HRH really likes to have a few drops of iced cold tea or water. In general, her water dish of course is room temp. But if I'm drinking something with ice in the glass, she loves (this summer anyway) to slide her beak on the outside of the glass, then uses her tongue to pick up a few drops of the cold condensate. Then she begs for a few drops of whatever is in the glass, given to her off the tip of my finger. She also loves a teensy drop of warm coffee off my finger in the morning. (Yes, I do know about caffeine, etc, but it's a teeeeensy drop and it's fine ).

Yes, they do seem to know who is the regal one in the house and whom is the servant. Hahah Nancy, and Muse, I agree that having a routine before bed is a good thing. HRH responds well to having a good daily rhythm that is somewhat predictable. I keep it flexible enough so that she doesn't freak out if we're not home during supper time, or if I have to leave for the day, etc. but all in all she has a rhythm that is pretty predictable and that she can feel secure within. I also continue to without fail, give her a great treat whenever she goes "home," so that it is always a pleasure. If I walk with her to her home and she notices that I am not also carrying a little piece of grape, or nut, or what have you, she will look me in the eye and say, "Go get the cookie, you."

Honestly, as crazy as it sounds, I'm almost afraid to even *think* of HRH pooping in a water dish, because she has an uncanny way of doing things that I think about. It's almost eery the way that works. Does anyone else's grey seem like they almost have ESP? :D

Kilaya is so beautiful, and looking very alert and ready for a life of mischief. I really enjoyed reading the story of how he came to be with you. Beautiful name, by the way, does it have a particular meaning? I'm always interested in how humans come to name our companions.

Hahaha! The first thing that came to my mind was Maalik singing it to the tune of "Smoke on the Water," by Deep Purple. It's hard to imagine a Grey in the house not accompanied by laughter. They just crack me up.

Rebecca, thank you for taking the time to give us the update. It is good for you, especially, to have that information so that now you can put your mind to rest even though your heart is broken.

HRH gives the commands! Upon request, she will recall, step up or down, hop onto the scale, position herself for beak and talon buffing, hop into her carrier, and move to a perch inside of her home while I clean it and change out dishes if I need to get those done quickly. Otherwise she just hangs out while I do that. She will also step from her cage top onto the door for me so that I can pick her up from the door. She gives me high fours, and when asked, "how many" knows two and four reliably, and one and three a decent percentage of the time. I will "Go get the cookie." "Take me out/up/there." "Get the water." " Go cook the cookies."

I believe that in Germany, that companion parrots can only be purchased and/or adpted in pairs, and breeders are reqired to inform prospective puchasers of that. It is part of their minimum requirements to keep a parrot law. I think Dave did a great job of explaining why orgs' require that in certain cases here. Personally, if I were to ever consider puchasing a baby parrot, I would puchase two and seek the guidance of their breeder in which two to select.

Hi loco. I am not a vet and can only speak from personal experience. Both my (departed) 'zon and CAG lived long and happy lives at over 7k ft, my CAG even in spite of chronic respiratory issues (unrelatred to the altitude, from abuse and neglect). HRH Inara thrives as do my avian vet's birds here at 7300ft. I would suggest asking your avian vet about transport issues if any from being reared and housed at low altitude and coming up to adjust at high altitude. Birds are birds, afterall, and fly high changing altitude rapidly but who knows what if any affect a move may have on inner ear organs, etc for a brief time. An avian vet and/or some of the breeders here would know. PS. You will love it out here.

Oh Loco, my heart just breaks for you at the sad news of your beloved Oprah's death. What a terrible shock for you all, and there is not a person here who cannot put her/himself in your shoes and either recall their own pain at the loss of a beloved companion, or imagine how their own hearts would break in the same situation. Oprah sounds like she was so loved and quite the little character! My girl is also a TAG, and she has me completely wrapped around her little talons. I don't ever want to imagine waking up without her helping me greet the day. It must be so very hard for you right now. Wish I could help you on the CAG front, but I'm at 7300 ft in the Rockies these days, although spent part of my youth living in the lower east side of Manhattan and in Brooklyn. I get it that upstate is not just Ithaca, Albany, and Troy. I can see why you're Loco -- it's coooooooooooooold up where you are!

HRH Inara spends a couple of hours or more out of her cage in the morning, during which she helps cook and eats breakfast, checks the weather out the window, then scouts for The Squirrel(!), does flying exercises, scolds my Joe if he dawdles too long in "You go byebye. Get to work!", and takes her shower. She then likes to just hang out upon her cage (with the door open) while climbing around, chatting back and forth with me, and then she will for some reason these days rather than going back into her cage on her own will climb down onto the floor walk over to me and lift her foot and will say "Let's go home." So into her cage she goes and she contentedly hangs out there snoozing, snacking and playing until late afternoon when she will ask to come out. At this point, she helps make and munches salad for supper and if there are no major pots and pans involved on the stove, she continues to hang out on my shoulder until she moves to her perch by the table and joins us for supper. After which, she likes to spend time flying again between perches or from perch to me to perch to perch, etc. When she's had enough, she then just likes to sit on my knee until she starts to yawn and then it's back to her home where she begins to slow down and settle in for the night. This is usually about 7 PM. She then starts the entire routine over at 6:05 - 6:15 in the morning. Winter hours she gets up much later and goes to bed much earlier. Inara makes it known when she prefers her time in her "home." She has an entire wall of floor to ceiling windows (for the summer) to look out of and can watch the trees, wild life and other birds. She's almost always very cheerful about returning when that falls within the parameters of her own daily rhythm. If I move to put her into her cage and she does not want to go, she gently lets me know by pushing at my hand with her beak and making kissing noises. So I give her a few more minutes and then she's usually ready to go. This is usually at bed time, or if I have to rush her schedule a bit if I have an out of the house appointment. She's great about asking to come out when she wants, and if there is no danger (like hot pots on the stove, or little kids visiting) I always go and get her out. When in her home, I keep her door shut, because I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback who now is quite friendly with Inara (and vice versa) but given our RR's strong prey instinct I would never put either of them in the position to have a tragedy happen, if I was not right there. So no open cage policy here, but lots of freedom to come and go dictated primarily by HRH Inara's own daily rhythms and her requests to come and go. She will say, "I want to go out there and see you." or "I will help you cook," or other variations that let me know she's ready to socialize or simply hang out and play on one of her mobile perches. It apparently works well for her, as she is a very healthy, happy, easy going, secure little gal. EDIT: I should have said that I am semi-retired and so am home most days all day, thus a lot of flexibility around HRH's wishes.

Holding good thoughts for you and Roxy that she will get to be home on Monday and will continue to do well. Such a scary thing when someone we love so much becomes so ill. Sounds like you have a really good vet, but even better, Roxy has a great mom!!

"You be the bird, I'll be the feather..." This song reminds me of each of us and our rehomed and rescued fids, but in particular you, Dee, and Miss GG: Love goes on forever, that's what's up

Well, HRH continues now to ask for a shower every morning and sometimes a time or two after that and hops right up to go get them all. She has become a shower fanatic this week in particular, perhaps because it has been raining every day, which is very unusual for our climate and she sees and hears all the water outside of the window. Her latest version was yesterday afternoon with, "I want to go out there and get the shower." So I thought that she may have meant, that she wanted to go outside and be in the rain. Having my hands full with other things and not willing to put her in her travel cage, put on my own rain gear and go out, I merely took her and misted her in the shower as usual -- and she was okeydokey with that. Here she is just after this morning's shower: Water drops still clinging and feeling wet and sassy. This too may pass after the novelty of being able to have me shower her at HRH's every whim wears off for her. She's also now enjoying several times weekly brief "beaky talons" -- the bird equivalent of a "mani-pedi" where I lightly buff the tips of her talons and beak with an emery board. She hangs onto her cage and closes her eyes with a look of bliss. Next, she'll probably start asking for crown jewels !! The white part near the tip of her beak is a remnant from her old home, where she had worn down her beak and her neck feathers from trying to constantly get out of her cage. It's slowly working its way to the very tip as the rest of her beak continues to grow in nice and healthy.

How darling!

Sorry to laugh, but the first thing that came to mind (after many years of working with Juvenile delinquents) -after your recent nasty bite day, is that it is nice that GG is "using her words." LOL (even if they include buzz saws). Loved the "Dirty Laundry" reference, now that is stuck in my head. It's never a dull moment at your house, Dee!

Yepski. HRH does the scrub jays, the blue jays, the magpies, and the ravens --- all at pterodactyl levels, but only when I'm walking out the back door and have left her inside. She also imitates the mourning doves and asian doves (non-native but now becoming native here) but she does those very quietly.

How betrayed you must have felt to be on the receiving end of the birdie equivalent of a sucker punch. Looks like Miss GG's limit is one pine nut julep...after that she becomes a bit unruly. Kidding aside, no one can be expected to be a bottmless well of unflappable calm. You, Dee, are someone who is as close to that as I have ever known. You having a "human" day after the bite that broke the camel's back is natural and healthy. I think it is fine for our companions to get clear signals via body language when we are displeased. Miss GG appears to have had a Gillian Anderson (X-Files) day: Trust no one. She allowed herself to get comfortable and then got aggressive around the treat. It makes me wonder if in her past she had someone who teased her with food/treats. She is certainly a complex and very well loved girl. Hugs to you and here's to a brand new day.

Welcome to you and Gizmo! Am sorry to hear of the death of your Yewbie. It is lovely that even in that sadness, you have room in your heart for Gizmo. It sounds like you have a great plan for allowing him plenty of time to acclimate to his new srroundings while you get them parrot proof. We all love updatess, photos, and never tire of hearing about all that transpires. So glad you landed here.