Muse

We have had three now. Megan, the high-strung, bitey diva, Marden, the puppy in a bird's body, and Peck, the practical joker who knows he's smarter than his human housemates. They are truly all so very different.

I know I sent this before via Facebook, but I thought maybe I should add it here as well to benefit others reading this thread. Here was what Matt replied regarding trees: "I recommend crape myrtles and river birch - those work real well and all you have to do is take a hand saw and cut them down before the greenery starts growing again in the spring. A butterfly bush works nicely too." My note on this - please remember when buying trees and bushes - get from an organic nursery as places like Lowes and Home Depot and Walmart get their plants from nurseries that use neonicotinoid pesticides (as well as other pesticides) that are bad for honeybees and probably just as bad for our birds.

I have that problem with several birds, including Megan. I just do the in-cage stuff (filling bowls, filling foraging toys) when they are out of the cage. I also keep a dowel handy in case of attack, I get them to step up and move them farther away. Even though they are flighted, they don't often fly to attack. And sometimes just holding the dowel in between beak and my flesh is enough to block the bite.

I have found picking a 'special' time for each bird helps. With Megan, her special time is right at bedtime, and in the afternoon while I am cleaning in their room. Rasa also gets his 'mama time' then. Peck's time is at night when everyone else has settled down and mama is doing up the last of the dishes. He comes out to the kitchen and flies from one stand to another, supervising and serenading with the beautiful songs of his homeland interspersed with microwave beeps, lol. This seems to keep everyone happy, except for Megan, who is still plucking as I am working (outside the home) at the moment.

Megan's been in and out of plucking, despite all attempts to stop it, as well. Sadly, it seems to correspond to my employment (which is sporadic). I am torn. I really do not "need" to work, but the money I make REALLY furthers what we can do as a rescue. I am hoping once we have an outdoor aviary and she has room to fly, she will stop. Wild birds don't do this. (She won't "live" in the aviary as she is way too human-attached to just toss her outside but she will be given LOTS of time to spend outdoors as she did in TX when we had an aviary for them). I feel your pain and the frustration. I feel like I have failed as a parront. But then I remind myself of the trauma we both went through with Marden's death. He was my son and her constant companion and they were bonded to each other. Even with Rasa, it's not the same. While she enjoys Rasa's attentions, she's not cuddling with him or allopreening. Isaac has a fantastic life and lots of love. You've done right by him and that is the best you can do. If he continues to pluck, you cannot blame yourself. Don't be afraid to show pictures. A grey is beautiful whether they pluck or not. We love them for their fantastic minds and personalities, not for how perfect their feathers are.

In doing research on the ingredients of this product I found this. This ALONE was enough to cause me not to consider using this: The top ingredient in the list is "aconitum napellus" aka monkshood aka wolfsbane. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/102/23/2907.full "A 28-year-old man was admitted to the Emergency Department for syncope after several hours of violent vomiting and diarrhea. A few minutes after arrival, he complained of palpitations followed by a sudden loss of consciousness. An ECG showed a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia degenerating into ventricular fibrillation (Figure 1⇓). Because of recurrent major ventricular arrhythmias, resuscitation was necessary for 1 hour. The patient was eventually admitted to the Coronary Care Unit. Physical examination, ECG (Figure 2⇓), chest x-ray, echocardiogram, and routine blood chemistry were all normal. A history of a previous suicide attempt with rat poison was discovered, and a small bag of Aconitum napellus (wolfsbane, monkshood) seeds was found in the patient’s trousers. After several psychiatric assessments, the patient confessed to ingesting an unknown amount of these seeds for a suicidal purpose." Granted, this was an INTENTIONAL over-ingestion. However it goes on to say: "Aconitum napellus is a beautiful plant with blue or purple flowers (Figure 3⇓). It can be found throughout the world, and it has long been known to be a poison.1 The roots and seeds are freely sold on the herb market for treating musculoskeletal pain. They contain highly toxic C-19 diterpene and norditerpene alkaloids of aconitine, mesoaconitine, and the less toxic hypoaconitine; these compounds activate voltage-dependent Na+-channels in the heart and brain.2 3 The margin of safety between analgesic and toxic doses is very low. In the past, the plant was implicated in some cases of murder. Typical manifestations of poisoning are gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiovascular, with malignant ventricular arrhythmias.4 Treatment is essentially supportive. No gross or histological cardiac abnormalities have been observed in the few autopsied cases.5 The problem of unregulated herb selling is now under discussion in the Italian Parliament. A new law will soon be passed to regulate herb selling. " ALL medications are based on substances from nature, we as humans have just taken God's work a step further (or several steps in some cases) and 'improved' or synthesized on the substances. Herbal drugs are still DRUGS. The substances are just not refined, AND there is no guarantee of purity or of AMOUNT of active substance. Ever grow hot peppers and have some that are FLAMING hot and some that grow extremely mild despite being a supposedly "hot" variety? Plants do not always contain consistent levels of their active substances. More on the same plant: http://www.fsijournal.org/article/0379-0738%2894%2990412-X/abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1359321?dopt=Abstract http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644%2803%2901131-4/abstract Most articles refer to Chinese patients as the use of this herb arises from Chinese herbal medicine. To me, the risk is just not worth it. I am a registered (human) nurse, a huge medical nerd, and not a big fan of massive amounts of substances compounded into one medication. Especially with herbals where you cannot be sure of exact dosages of active substances. I am going to run this product (not the ingredient) past one of our avian vets and see what she says. She's actually certified in Chinese Veterinary medicine including being a certified veterinary herbalist.

A friend of mine who is a vet and somewhat of an expert on Amazons said they are famous for redirected aggression. I haven't seen it yet with Rasa. He does get on alert with the husband but so far hasn't bit anyone. I think he is staying on his best behavior trying to impress Megan. But I predict the husband will get bit eventually, because I can see the jealousy in his eyes when Megan goes to daddy.

I agree! Who would have thought our most bonded pairs would be a sun conure and a cockatiel (both boys) and an amazon and a grey? They truly do choose who they love.

I am glad he's watching over Sophie! You are so lucky to have such a great family.

And for anyone that gets a harness without the DVD - I have one I will send them. I didn't need it as Mar just put the harness on. Just like that. He was such a good boy. I have to wonder if he was really an African Grey at all, or just an angel that looked like one.

We had a pair of babies, raised together from the time they were pulled from their nests. The male, Marden, died this past January. Megan stopped playing, and did not want to go in the playroom. We adopted a wild-caught male, around 20 years her senior. He's not a typical 'pet' bird, he's super smart and prefers to teach me as opposed to me teaching him. I liken them to bratty siblings. He's mellowed, and they get along now, but at first his main goal was to see if he could poop on her (and on me). He'd climb onto the net in the playroom and try to bomb us from above. He kind of lost interest once he'd 'won' that game. There has to be a big element of trust for birds to play together. Will he and Megan ever get to that point? I don't know. A wild Amazon has stolen her heart and is seriously courting her. Peck seems to prefer my company to anyone else's anyway. I personally like to see birds have others of their own kind. Not necessarily the same species, but another peer that is close to their same size (though the friends they choose for themselves don't always follow this rule). Everyone here has *someone* (feathered) except Peck and Ariel, and he does get playroom time with Megan. Ariel has only come out of her cage once. She's a Fischer's lovebird and the most shy, timid bird I have ever known, but with lots of patience she is finally coming around. I think there is a type of companionship they can get from another bird that we cannot give them. After all, I cannot fly with them. I cannot properly preen them. I can't 'beak' with them. I see their bonds, and admit I am a little jealous at times, but it's good for them.

Fisher's nuts now has them in little packages. I found them at Wal-Mart where the nuts are for baking. They are a fatty nut, so they go rancid fast so I like getting smaller bags.

I think a skilled flyer would have a better chance - probably with flighted predators, and definitely with ground predators - than a clipped bird. Also, I believe it is easier for a flighted bird to "come down" from a tall height as they have more confidence in their flight. When they know they can fly, they are more apt to do so. I am not sure about the plucking, I'd really like to see a serious study done on this.

The vet was amazed at how well he behaved. From the growling I heard, I expected to see blood or at least a band-aid on the vet or the tech, but no... he's all bluff. He's back to normal already, eating well, singing his beautiful native Grey songs, and trying to 'break' Riley for rodeo. Had I not intervened, he'd have probably gotten his eight seconds. The dog was NOT amused but not harmed. He went back in his cage for the rest of the evening after that stunt. What astounded me is I was literally about three feet away. He was on the door to his cage, climbing up and down like he always does, when he spied the dog wander in. Peck was almost upside down but let himself drop and missed on the first attempt, flapped and landed on poor Riley's back. I yelled, the dog yipped, and Peck hung on. I grabbed "the stick" and said "STEP UP RIGHT NOW, MISTER!" and I think he knew from the tone of my voice that I meant it. He stepped right up on the stick and went right into time out. Riley was unharmed, I think it just scared him. (It was poor Riley that Maks did this same thing to, years ago). He does this to me all the time, landing on my head. I am a bit more understanding than the dog was. I can't believe he did this right in front of me. He's going to be getting all his out time in the kitchen until his cytology labs come back and he goes back into the 'bird room'. In the kitchen there is more room for the muttlets to give him wide berth, which I guarantee Riley will be doing after this.

Peck was fine Saturday night, and when I got up Sunday, his breathing sounded noisy, like he had a head cold. One nare had discharge around it, dried, and looked wet inside. Being Sunday, I sent a message to the vet office re: getting an appointment in the morning. As the afternoon went on, it got worse. Bubbles, then clear draining running out. At which point we headed for the emergency vet. A couple of things seemed odd - it was very strictly limited to one side. And the onset was SUDDEN. Very sudden. Turns out he somehow had gotten a small piece of wheat or oats in his sinus. Probably from regurging, which he'd been doing lately. The vet cleaned it out and sent him home. We still had them do a culture and sensitivity test, just to be sure. Never again will I chuckle at the parent with the child who put an eraser up their nose.

It is live, much of it. I know Matt tops off many of the younger trees and they continue to send branches out. I don't know what all of them are but I do know one is river birch, however not sure that would grow where you are. They need a lot of water. They are AWESOME trees though. We had ours trimmed (unwillingly by Asplundh) and I have a ton of branches I made them save. Too bad you don't live closer! I'd share! Let me see what I can find out about what kind of trees they have in the aviaries at Project Perry.

I think the OP probably did have the bird's best interests at heart. And I agree, you're friends did the right thing. But they actually had a legitimate problem. There is a huge difference between that and someone just dumping a pet because they don't want to take any time for them. Rasa was that aggressive with his last owner, which is why she was considering euthanizing him. She didn't want to feel guilty if he attacked someone else and seriously injured them. So far, knock on wood, he's been peaches with me. He's too busy swooning over Megan to even think about being aggressive. The worst he does is lashing out at the bars on the cage if he gets woke up at night. (I get the same attitude from my husband, lol). He has not yet bitten though he's had ample opportunity. We have several 'perches' (we call them step up sticks) and he hops right on and has only once lunged out and hit the stick next to my hand when he could have easily taking a bite of the hand instead. Then he just locked gazes with me as if he were studying my reaction. I must have passed his test as it hasn't happened since. I think fear plays a huge part. Often it is a case of animals that sense fear and realize that something that fears them is prone to attacking them so often they will attack first to try to gain the upper hand. I am glad you rescued the little Grey. Looks like he came out well spoiled.

We went with Holmes because they actually state this on their website: http://www.holmesproducts.com/service-%26-support/product-support/product-faqs/heaters/general-information/heaters-general-faq.html "Are any Holmes® heaters made with non-stick coatings as these materials can be dangerous to pets? No. Holmes® heaters are not made from these materials."

Megan bobs hers to music and says "Dance!" lol

Wow. Megan does that, only with big BITES out of the door. >.< What a good birdie you have there. And pretty handsome, too!

Have you tried pine nuts? That is what broke the ice between Megan and me. I was the only giver of pine nuts. They were her favorite and she'd do anything to get them, even if it meant being nice to me. Find the one thing Maggie loves more than anything else and then make your husband the only place she can get them. Good luck!

I agree. Though I can even understand job changes, etc. It's the ones who just got tired of the bird, the newness wore off, they don't like the mess, the poop, the noise, and they want to dump the bird while making back the money they spent on it. Those are the ones that make me grit my teeth. And it's funny, you talk to some of these people, and they tell you they have season tickets to ball games, or a cabin at the beach where they go on the weekends, etc, etc, but they 'just don't have time anymore' for the bird/cat/dog/other pet. Sadly, Jazzy's changes of finding a really good home are not too great on CL. A lot of 'flippers' troll CL looking for profits to be made. I've seen quite a few rescues who have been CL pets, and some were CL pets more than once or twice. Sold and resold like used furniture. And it makes me sad.

Actually, I've seen a lot that don't do so well. I think it depends on how bonded they were the previous owners. I saw an entire flock of birds spiral into all kinds of depressive and self-destructive behaviors when their owner died suddenly of a burst aneurysm right in front of them. Birds can suffer trauma and it does affect their mental health, as it would any intelligent being. I agree there are some people who might have extenuating circumstances. But sadly, a large percentage of rescued birds are simply given up because they've become inconvenient. Here's a good example from a very quick trolling of our local Craigslist: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/for/4616612135.html " I am selling because i got a 4 month old Senegal parrot" (aka "I found something bigger and more showy so I am dumping this 'amazing' cockatiel like yesterday's trash") http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/for/4675967143.html "not no cheap bird" and "$1000 firm" (doesn't give a 'why' just a 'firm' sale price as if the bird were a car or an antique dresser.) http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/for/4643253302.html Love these kind - "My daughter has only had him a month and she has decided she doesn't want him anymore." Way to teach your kids about responsibility and commitment. (We have FOUR birds here at our rescue for that exact reason but with one the "daughter" in question was a toddler.....Shaking my head at that one. Yeah. That poor bird has serious issues.) This has nothing do with being judgmental. It's facts, plain and simple. This isn't a case of hardship. It's a case of lack of commitment. It doesn't take judgment to see that. I am sorry Dave, but we will just have to agree to disagree on this point. With over thirty years of hearing the same excuses when rescuing dogs and cats it only points to one thing - people who can make excuses for their behavior will do whatever they please, regardless of how ethical it is. Even more sad are the ones who mistreat animals but still hold them for 'ransom' - (like that "firm" $1000). That just flat-out disgusts me. I watched a macaw get sold this week on CL - thankfully to a group of rescuers who pooled together to pay the 'ransom'. This bird was in a filthy cage with no toys, outdoors on a patio with no shelter, plucked, the woman 'rehoming' (aka selling him for $500 WITHOUT the nasty cage) claimed she didn't "have time for him" and felt sorry for him but wouldn't budge on the price. She stated "If I can't sell it I will just keep it because I am not losing money on this." If you consider this judgmental, that is your opinion and you have a right to it. I consider it calling a spade a spade because it's not going to turn into a heart or a diamond no matter how many times you flip it over.

Megan has that, but also a play stand and that is where she sleeps. Going to have to try to get a picture of her all hunkered down in 'her spot'. She's pretty good, she goes and wakes daddy up. Once he tried to go back to sleep and she decided to dig a nice hole in the carpet. He knows better now. When Megan says it's time to get up, it's time to get up!

Very nice!!!