Muse

She's a good talker! How cute!

I am so sorry for your loss. It's so hard to lose a child, whether that child is human or has feathers or fur. The pain still goes just as deep. I pray for healing for you and your family.

I suppose I should join the club. My first year with the Greybies was filled with frequent bites. Megan now obeys a firm "Don't bite!" in situations where I know she is prone (like when I have to reach in her cage to clean or feed) so I am not losing blood or skin nearly as much. She still attacks my head but that is less a bite and more hair pulling, lol. Mar, however, is hormonal at the moment, just in the beginning stage. I stroked his back the other night while he was on daddy, and he gave me a warning 'nip' - fast and aggressive with a very gentle bite at the end - to let me know he wasn't in the mood. Most of the time he is super cuddly and affectionate and welcomes all touches, but when he starts to get hormonal, he can go from cuddly to biting in less than second. He's a bit less gentle with his bites to daddy at this time, as well, often bruising or breaking skin. He bit me on the finger last night because I was moving him to the stand for his "pooportunity" (a word coined by my niece). Normally he willingly moves over, does the deed, and is immediately praised and put back where he came from without incident. This time he decided he did not want that, and let me know by chomping a finger. No broken skin, just a nice, beak-shaped indent. I am always glad when hormones subside and I get my sweet baby-bird back.

I also avoid 'color added' including 'human-grade' food colorings. Why put something in that isn't needed?

As a child, I used to eat whole apples, core, seeds and all. The lack of effect may be due to seeds passing intact. I don't know how much cyanide is in each apple seed, but I do core the apples for the birds just to be overly cautious.

I bought one of their online 'courses' at one point, and as soon as I saw they advocated food rationing, I sent for a refund. They did cheerfully refund my purchase, no questions asked. I refuse to hold back food in order to starve my children into submission, and in the refund request, I told them as much. Yes, it makes that 'positive reinforcement' even stronger when the animal is so hungry they will do anything for the 'treat' but I don't feel that is fostering good relationships. But then again, I don't want a flock of circus performers. My babies behave well enough for me, and that is all I ask for them. As a parent, I see it as my duty to provide their basic needs, including keeping their bellies full and their lives as happy as I can. This doesn't include being stingy with anything - food or my love.

I have two, a 'store bought' one that you have to rotate the trays, that takes FOREEEEEVER to dry some things, and the Excalibur. I wish I'd have just taken the plunge and bought the Excalibur to begin with. No rotating trays and the food dries SO much faster! I have used it for everything from some really wonderful grow-your-own organic catnip to making tisanes (dried fruits/leaves that make herbal teas) for myself. I adore my Excalibur and would not part with it.

I have one, and I love it. I bought it with the birds in mind, of course, but found it useful for MANY things!

Looks really great! Did you use any heat while dehydrating?

Thank you very much!

I must admit, Daddy helped. He handled the Greybies and I handled the little budgie (who is doing MUCH better after only 2 doses of antibiotic!). The WORST vet visit ever was all five fur-babies. Four cats and a dog for yearly exam/vaccinations right after moving here. Ugh. I will *NEVER* do that again. I thought I was saving time, but it was just too much.

Interesting is a good term... at times. Chaotic also comes to mind... hehe. Especially just before breakfast, or when watching Marnie the Indian Ringneck parrot on YouTube.

Hehe. Not too much trouble though. Of course, they aren't 'trained'...in the sense of hand-raised birds that step up on command. Mama (Auna) was severely neglected. She was a year and five months old, and had grown up in a little display cage in a chain pet store. We only got her because it killed me to see her in a tiny plexi-glas enclosure every time I shopped there to buy supplies for our spoiled Greys. She'd been there so long her flights grew out, and no one there knew what to do. She escaped a couple of times in the store and I think they traumatized her catching her. She's very afraid of hands. She will step up, but ONLY on a stick, though with much patience I have gotten her to accept gentle touches and neck scritches. We got her a friend because we worried she'd be lonely, and unfortunately, he turned out to be more. We were then blessed with the three grand-fids. We lost daddy to a tragic accident. We believe he fell from hanging upside down from the top of the cage and hit his head on the way down. They raised the babies with no help from me (except for keeping the nest box clean) and were excellent parents. The babies fledged with the parents' encouragement, are not banded, and have never been clipped. They don't 'step up' on command, though they do "Go back" when asked. They are also pretty good about accepting redirection when they get into something they shouldn't. I absolutely adore all of them!

About the two Greys: they came from the same breeder, who had two pairs of parents. One produced several babies, the other produced only one (Marden). Megan was the first hatch of the other pair, who have continued to breed to this day. As far as I know, Marden's parents have not produced any other offspring as of the last time I spoke with the breeder who has them. They are unrelated but they grew up together and have never been separated. When my husband bought Mar for me as an "early graduation gift" (really more of a "going through OB clinicals and seeing all the mommies with new babies blues" gift), I spent every single day except for clinical days at the pet store bonding with him until he was finally weaned and ready to come home. During that time, my husband played with the other babies, and Megan bonded with him, so we really kind of had to buy her as well. She chose him. Mar has bonded to me, loves me, follows me from room to room, cries if I get out of sight, but when daddy comes home - all bets are off. Both birds turn their full attention to daddy. He travels a lot for work, while I worked a normal schedule so perhaps it was just missing him. But he is so good with animals. All our pets love him. The smaller birds (especially Alex, our Sun Conure) prefer me over daddy though. I guess because I spend more time with them than he does as he tends to favor the Greybies. Megan is a little high-strung and stubborn and pretty much fit the profile of what everyone told us a CAG would act like. We went through a rocky period where I bled daily from at least one finger. She would actively lunge and sink her beak in. I don't know if it is jealousy or just the fact that I expect her to behave. Mar started out more calm, confident and fairly compliant. The first day with him, he decided that my glasses looked like great fun to play with. We went through a few repetitive "Not yours!" discussions before he decided it was best to leave them alone. Now he only grabs them as 'hand hold' to steady himself when shoulder-riding. Meg has turned out to be less willful and will usually cooperate with I break out the "mommy" voice. Mar just flies off. Megan has not bit me in a long time unless you count her attacking my hair. I am not sure what is up with that, but if I do something like bend down into her cage with her sitting on the door or veranda, she lunges out and grabs a beak full of hair. She doesn't hurt my head, so I don't think it's truly a 'bite' but it is discouraged, nonetheless. She is the talker. She started talking at only three months old. She has a huge vocabulary and uses sentences and can change inflection to use them as statements or requests. She is also very demanding. "Ready for breakfast" and "Want some water" are her favorite phrases. Any food that isn't poured from a bag is "breakfast". She has daddy trained to play a game we call "Fly, little birdie!" She grips his fingers and he swings her in an arc. At the top of both ends of the arc, she flaps her wings. At the bottom of the arc she holds them close, flips upside down and often goes "Whee!" She also loves to do my job. If one of the other birds is bad, she's the first one to admonish them. Maks bit me one day, and I picked him up and walked towards the side of the room that his cage is on. She said "Get up on that boing!" She also loves to tell the other birds "Bad bird! Don't bite!" and "Step up, step up RIGHT NOW!" She also carries on one sided cell phone conversations. Evidently I say "Uhhh. Umm." a lot when I talk on the phone. Mar rarely talks. He can. He just doesn't. He is great with sounds, though. He gets the dog in trouble often by perfectly imitating the bark. He also does a perfect blue jay routine. He's learning to caw like the crows now. He can be a cuddle bug, but only with daddy. I guess I don't sit still long enough for him. I could tell so much more, but it's been a long day. I was up half last night with a sick budgie, and today we took the budgie and the Greybies to the vet. The budgie for a respiratory infection, and the Greybies got badly needed nail trims. I will share more later, and thank all of you for the kind replies!

Awww! Sweet bird and cute pictures!

I'd never thought about the attacking a child scenario. But then again, we can't have human children, which is why we have all our feathered and furred kids. I guess that is why I'd never considered it. Thank you for the explanation.

Here is a link to the pictures of the fids on Flickr. They are in an album (Flickr calls it a 'set') called "The Flock". http://www.flickr.com/photos/59819856@N05/sets/72157637294412743 Hope this works.

Okay, uploaded a few pictures to an old Flickr account, let's see if they work: Mar's cage: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59819856@N05/10664209004/ Meg's cage: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59819856@N05/10664215094/ Just cleaned, I hadn't added toys back in yet. Already they are throwing food and water, and pooping before I even get the toys and bowls in place. I steam mopped the floor as well, and Mar sat right on the front of the cage and managed to miss the throw rug with a large "present". Notice the dog in the background, cleaning up the tidbits of food. This is why we must wipe the poo up quickly. :eek:

Thanks to all who replied. So far all has been okay the last few days. I think the change in environment has made him a bit more 'flighty'. I am going to start looking for a different cage. For now, he's sleeping upstairs every night. He doesn't like going "up to bed" at night so much, but loves it in the morning because he gets to wake me up. This morning he starting barking like the dog and cawing like a crow and Megan admonished him "Birdy QUIET!" with a strong emphasis on the word "quiet". It sounded very command-like. (We have an afternoon 'nap time' called "Birdy Quiet Time." Megan has truncated that to "Birdy Quiet").

Do you have your own grape vines or are you purchasing them somewhere? How much are you charging for a completed stand? You did an excellent job on this. My birds all love the grapevine wreaths. I bet they'd love one of these stands.

Is there any reason NOT to go with smaller bar spacing? Say 1/2"instead of 3/4"? He's had night terrors in the sleeping cage and never gotten caught up. I think it is a 1/2" spacing (it was formerly the Sun Conures cage before he moved in with the Cockatiel in a big 'duplex'). The towel idea sounds good but I am afraid a towel wouldn't survive his beak very long. He's destroyed three boings so far. He loves to tear the fibers apart. They don't spend a lot of time in the cages right now. Mostly if we run errands or if I am cooking or something else that isn't safe for a flighted bird to participate in. Other than that they spend most of their time on the stand in the kitchen, where they are right now. We are still settling in and I am still job hunting. Once I find a job, however, they will be in their cages during work hours. That's what worries me. If he gets stuck and can't get loose, I am afraid if no one is here he may injure himself.

We've had our Greybies since they were about three months old, brought them home when they were about four. They've always had the same cages, which they sleep in at night or when I need them to not be underfoot (like when I am cleaning the other cages). Last night, I was using the steamer to clean the Sun Conure and Cockatiel's cage. They were in Noah's side of the Green Cheek cage together, and I let Noah in with his mom and sisters. Everyone was behaving pretty well then Marden decided for some reason to have a panic moment and somehow got his wing caught between the bars of the cage in the back. He was up on top of the boing, near the roof of the cage and I blamed it on him being 'crammed' (self imposed) in the corner - which is how he normally sleeps. Daddy came rushing in and got him loose very quickly, luckily. Afterwards, everything felt fine upon assessment and he had no trouble flying. Now tonight, I put them to bed, and heard flapping and went back in and he was again stuck with the end of his wing through the bars on the door. As I was trying to help him get loose, he managed to free himself, but not after considerable loud squawking and some flapping around and trying to bite the hands that were attempting to help him. His cage bar spacing is supposed to be appropriate for his size (it's the medium size EZ-Care playtop cage). Inner cage dimensions measure 32" x 23" x 37" and outer dimensions measure 41" x 32" x 78" with 3/4" bar spacing. According to everything I have read, this is supposed to be appropriate size and spacing for a Grey. Although he is a fairly large male Grey, so I've been told - he weighs in at around 500g. I am not sure what he's doing in order to get caught up, besides flapping around in a wild panic. Tonight I took him up to the bedroom where he's sleeping with Megan (and Daddy, who went to bed very early). The cage up there is small, but used only for sleeping, and has smaller bar spacing. I am not even sure a wing would fit through the bars. Should I replace his main cage with a cage with smaller spacing? I fear him getting caught up in the bars when I'm not here. Luckily both times someone was right there with him. I just worry about the what if - it happens while I am gone to the market or something? Any opinions or advice?

SOOoooo true!

That is too cute. Hopefully the devilish intent is all that follows (and not an actual "bite daddy")!

Hehe, Dayo sounds much like Megan. She calls my husband Brian part of the time, and when that does not get her what she wants, she turns on the "Daddy" in a sweet, little girl voice. The "Brian" is in my voice and the exact tone used when I am about to request him to do something for me (aka giving orders, as he would tell it). As for me? Sometimes she'll say "Go to Mama?" but most of the time she doesn't address me personally, just demands what she wants. "Want some water" or "want out." When she's sleepy, she gets more cuddly and lets me hold her, and that's when I become "Mama." Mar does not usually call either of us anything because he doesn't talk much but he does call the dog "C'mere Riley", usually followed by a bark that sounds amazingly just like the dog. The other day, a truck pulled up. The dog was upstairs sleeping, and oblivious. Mar heard the truck and began barking away, then said "Riley!" He does know who I am, because when he's told to go to Mama or give Mama a kiss, he responds appropriately, as well as knowing who daddy is. All I have to say when my husband is on the road and coming home that day is "Daddy's coming home tonight!" and they both go into a frenzy of delight and Megan goes "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" He's their favorite person. I am just the maid, cook and personal servant, not worthy of being addressed by any name.