Muse

(emphasis mine) Amen. Marden made that noise, every single night when I came up to bed. Just thinking about it tears me up. I'd give anything to hear him one more time.

You have a treasure there that is worth more than all the gold in the world!

To add my .02.... Peck had his band removed but WAS NOT micro-chipped (back then I am not even sure they microchipped birds). Thus there was no 'paper trail' to prove his legal importation, and thus when his family decided to move out of the country, he could not go with them. Make sure if you are getting a band cut off, you have the bird chipped while at the same vet so records exist to prove that your bird is who you say they are (i.e. - captive bred, or legally imported pre-ban). On the subject of entrapment - I had always been told a well-fitting band isn't much of a risk but TWICE Alex managed to hang his on a grapevine wreath in the aviary. The second time, after freeing him, I went right in the house and made an appointment for the next day to have the band cut off. He was microchipped at the same time. He was close banded by a breeder (likely a mill-type as he came from a Petsmart). Even his "well-fitting" band was able to get caught up. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of bands. Just make sure if you have bands removed, you keep good records.

Very good advice, Ray. If there is one thing I have learned in all the years of developing relationships with animals is not to ever subscribe to pre-conceived human notions of how animals "ought" to behave. I think we try too hard to put everything in neat little categories, when it's really so much more complex than all that. Our Grey and Amazon are in love. It amazed me to see it develop. She wanted to be near him from the first day he was here. And he was entranced with her. When they first had the chance to be near each other, their first interaction was him trying to feed her. Megan was at first very bitey and aggressive with me. Time, patience and love changed all that. Rasa has been a sweetheart to me. He's a bit less so with hubby but I believe he's jealous because Megan adores her daddy. Rasa has not been too bad this "season" however Honey... well that's another story. But even though she's a bit more high-strung right now, she still hasn't been what I'd call aggressive. They are so incredibly beautiful and there are times when Rasa just takes my breath away. Beautiful pictures, Ray, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the information. I hope you and your flock are all safe and dry!

What beautiful pictures!

I am so sorry for your loss, Steve. I am sure Misty can feel your sorrow. It's wonderful that you both share memories of your mother.

Adorable! Clever bird, indeed! And so nice around the little birds!

I worked today but daddy was home, so no plucking in the daytime. She got to spend time with daddy, and I gave her love and attention when I got home, before going to work in the garden. Finally at nightfall, I was beyond tired, and starved. We decided to go grab a bite to eat as opposed to dirtying (more) dishes and when we got back, there were three feathers. Ugh. Last night we put the harness on her and took her out with us. She got the last laugh. While we were eating, she cut the threads that held the strap of the harness around the little buckle, so that when I took it off her, it came apart. She's SO smart. I think her next harness will be chainmail, lol. We do have some of those sock buddies if you want to try one on Isaac. Megan won't wear them. She throws a huge tantrum and stops eating. I tried waiting it out and she dropped 8 grams and I caved in and took it off. And she isn't really plucking. She snips. Right now she's moulting as well, so I have to look at all the feathers to see if they are a 'snip' or one that fell out. I understand your frustration.

Greys seem to have such wonderful personalities, and maybe that's what draws the nicest people to them. This is a fantastic group - one of the nicest forums I have seen on the Internet. Thank you all for your kind words and support. It really means a lot to me.

A little over a year ago, we adopted my Little Man. I couldn't call him my baby. He was fully an adult and his personality showed it. I didn't teach him anything. He taught me everything. He taught me a new language. He gave ME commands. He recalled to me, but not because I trained him. He never accepted one food reward for flying to me. He came to me because he LOVED me and wanted to be near me. That made my heart soar. Over time, we learned to trust and our relationship blossomed. I thought he had a sinus infection. It turned out to be much more insidious. He was in heart failure. The more I see of this, the more I am beginning to believe that they do not belong in cages. Peck makes four birds in two weeks that I know of personally that have been diagnosed with heart failure - two that have died of it - and just today I read about another bird being diagnosed with heart failure on Facebook. It's long been known as established fact that a sedentary lifestyle CAUSES heart and arterial disease in humans. It's my firm believe that this bears out in birds. They *need* to fly. It's truly the 'cardio' exercise. I have heard many 'expert' vets blame heart problems on "high fat seed diets" but many of these birds were on pellets for either their whole lives or the majority of their lives. I believe it's not the diet. It's the lack of exercise. Peck had only started to fly, and it was for very short hops. I noticed more and more over the past few months he'd call me to get him instead of flying to me. And I indulged him. Would it have made a difference if I'd have made him fly to me? I suspect the short little flights were far too little, and far too late. I would give everything I own to have found a way to save him. My heart is so broken. I loved him with every bit of my heart and soul. I picked him up tonight and his little carved wooden box now sits next to Marden. I hope they are both flying together in Heaven.

Thank you, Nancy.

Thanks so much. I have not even had time to read the forums. I am actually up way past bedtime right now as I am working. (Yes, I'm nuts but they were desperate and needed me. I so wanted to say no). Peck's extended illness and the acuity and level of care really put us behind and I am slowly catching up. I loved him with all my heart and soul and I feel so broken now that he is gone. I just pray for strength to face each day.

I think we will have to come to your house for dinner... yum.

Zupreem is high in sugar, the fruit one contains petroleum-based "food colorings" and it contains menadione, a synthetic vitamins proven to cause hemolysis (breaking down of red blood cells), and is cytotoxic (cell-killing) to the liver. I am not familiar with Hagen feeds and cannot find an ingredient list online. It does say on their website that Hagen is higher in fat than other foods. http://www.hagen.com/hari/docu/tropgra1.html "One of the major differences between Tropican and other products is our significantly higher fat level. When we fed other products to our birds they developed wet, smelly droppings. These products are basically glorified farm pellets and probably are least cost formulated like poultry feed (they actually look like chicken feed). These products have minimal levels of essential fatty acids and amino acids. HARI then decided to increase the caloric density of our formula with more fat, so that the bird would have to eat and drink less. Our guaranteed fat level in the High Performance diet is a minimum 9% but we actually run the fat at 10%. This is about twice the fat found in other pellets. HARI has had no obesity problem but more importantly has no skinny birds either. Other breeders who use diets with the lower fat levels report skinny African Greys and Cockatoos unless they supplement these pellets with oil seeds such as sunflower. Any pellet that has to be supplemented with oil seeds or fruits can hardly be called complete." (My personal take on this is that any company that is saying a pellet is "complete" and disparaging feeding fruits is not making any kind of good impression on me, but YMMV). There are only three pellets I have found that don't have menadione - Harrison's, Goldenfeast Gold'nobles and TOPS (which I have heard may have gone out of business? but this could be just rumor - hard to tell as they are illegal to sell in NC so I don't buy them). I am not overly fond of pellets per se, but we do feed Harrison's in cases of birds needing nutrient dense feeding. We offer Goldn'obles but there is so much fresh food available and they get a varied mix of seeds/nuts/dehydrated fruits & veggies/greens that not much is consumed. I have not yet smelled any bird feces that was foul, however I would recommend a probiotic. We use Benebac here but for birds that like it, we offer Kefir, which is a dairy product however it is 99.8% lactose free (and I am sure of that as I am lactose-intolerant and can drink a huge glass with absolutely no symptoms whatsoever). Megan's lasts stool sample was very high on gram-negative bacteria (not good) so instead of putting her on an antibiotic, our vet recommended Benebac daily. She hated it so I bought some (VERY yummy) 'toddler' yogurt that was low in sugar and mixed it in and she ate it right up. Two weeks later on re-check, her sample was perfect. I always recommend having a fecal checked at the vet whenever there are any significant changes, as bacteria are only one thing than can cause irregularities to fecal samples. It's best to let your vet lay eyes on the sample under a microscope so they can give a definite diagnosis.

As a former psychiatric nurse, I have to say I agree. I think this starts for whatever the reason may be, but may continue for the reason you stated. It's the same reason people "cut" themselves. Physical pain releases endorphins, emotional pain does not. Therefore, to sooth the emotional pain, a "cutter" will created physical damage that produces pain, and the endorphins sooth both. I really believe there may be some connections to bird psychological behaviors. The more I see of "aviculture" the more I am beginning to believe we are creating a whole set of mental health issues in birds in the most well-meaning way. I think that hand-feeding causes a disconnect between baby and parent birds, and causes un-natural attachment to humans, who can never be what another bird can be for them. We have a badly plucked Goffin here, who has not plucked one feather since being here. But we let him out of his cage each day, with a female sulfur-crested whom he is in love with. Was his plucking out of frustration for his unrequited love? Or was it something else but the blossoming love was able to cure it? Megan has done much better now that she gets a "Calming Skin and Feather" tea every day. She still has her episodes - like throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get enough attention. But for the most part she's leaving the feathers grow. I don't think there is ever going to be an easy answer to this. Humans have been trying to diagnose, treat and cure mental illness in humans - with whom we can usually communicate very fluently - and have been largely unsuccessful at even comprehending most mental illnesses. How then can we think it would be easy to help these creatures that we only barely understand.

Congratulations!

I am going to pray that it gets better very soon. Wow, 72 an hour is pretty severe! Perfect storm, indeed.

I don't know if you are a fan of Felix LaFollett on Facebook, but someone shared a link to this website: http://www.organicpistachios.com/ We ordered the 5lb roasted no salt in shell ones, and they sent a good sized sample bag of unsalted shelled as well. Fast delivery, too!

Apnea raises the risk even further, because it invokes a panic response, repeatedly, for as many times as you stop breathing. It's the same time of response you would have if a stranger comes behind you and grabs you, covering your mouth and nose so that you cannot breathe. The body is programmed for survival and will go into a 'fight or flight' response - which sends BP and heart rate skyrocketing. There may not be some evil person trying to suffocate you, but in the case of apnea - your own BODY becomes that villain. Either due to obstruction of the airway (obstructive) or neurological issues (central), you literally stop breathing - in some cases this happens MANY times per hour while you sleep. Now think about how panicking over and over again throughout the night and you can see why it might cause elevated blood pressure and raise the risk of stroke or heart attack. I cared for a patient who had COPD and apnea. Her sleep study showed about 29 times each hour she stopped breathing. She was in and out of the hospital and totally unable to care for herself until she got a BiPAP (similar to CPAP but it actually assists both breathing in AND breathing out). Her main problem was not the lack of oxygen during the apnea but rather a build-up of CO2. The BiPAP literally changed her world. Apnea is far more serious than many people like to believe, so unfortunately many patients don't take it as seriously as they should and just are not compliant with their CPAP. Add apnea together with COPD or asthma (or even both) and you have even more risk for adverse events. I always tried to do get my patients to understand that it's not just about not getting "good sleep" but there are other serious risks as well. An educated patient is more likely to do all they can to work towards compliance. Dave, 25 years and you must be doing something right. Most of my COPD patients were given life expectancies in months. Sounds like your pulmonologist knows what he's doing!

Bluedawg - I was told that My Safe Bird Store = My Bird Store = Bird Paradise = A&E Cage company. Bird Paradise either owns or sources their birds from a breeding mill. Even if it meant paying a hundred dollars more, I don't shop there. This is the one we have here: https://www.windycityparrot.com/Parrot-Climbing-Net--Medium-Short-Includes-Shipping_p_2477.html We didn't buy it from WCP, though, we got it off Craigslist (for $50).

We had that problem from a collision, and our vet said to leave it alone unless I noticed any drainage (sign of infection). It healed up on its own. He may have taken a fall while in the cage and hit his beak. I second Nancy's concern about calcium. It helps build strong bones and beaks. I hope this heals up for your baby without any problems.

GOOD for you! It's not the most comfortable thing to deal with. Is yours neurological (brain forgets to breathe) or physical (something falls into place and blocks the airway)? If it's the latter, I read about a procedure where they can implant little supports to keep the airway open. I didn't dig into it too deeply as the patient was not really a good candidate for surgery at that time but it might be something to look in to. I hope eventually the CPAP works for you and you are able to get good, restful sleep!

I agree - see reasons in my previous reply to you. There are SO many reasons for plucking. Drugging a bird to get them to stop is like putting a band-aid on hemorrhage. If the problem is anxiety, I believe that there are less risky options, for sure. Haldol is still on the market for humans - because it's cheap. A high percentage of patients on Haldol are unable afford anything newer (safer). Sad fact.

Dave, with all due respect, as a former pscyh RN, haloperidol is not a sedative. While it does have a sedative EFFECT, it's an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia. It changes the chemical make up of the brain. It has very dangerous side effects in humans, some that can be fatal if not detected quickly. I am not sure I would be comfortable giving this to an animal. It can cause QT prolongation and Toursades de Pointes (literally "twisting of the points" of the EKG). In humans it is relatively easy to monitor cardiac status with a non-invasive EKG, however I am not sure how you would accomplish this in a bird. There is also the risk of NMS (neuroleptic malignant syndrome) in humans as well as blood dyscrasias such as leukopenia (decrease in white blood cells) and agranulocytosis (severe deficiency in WBCs). I am not a veterinarian, so I do not know how these effects translate in terms of avian medicine but this drug is not one to be taken lightly. I have seen serious adverse reactions in humans and in my opinion, it's a pretty serious risk.