Greytness

Was it a one time occurrence, or is every poop as you describe? Is the poop bubbly? If it's continuous or bubbly, then you absolutely need to take him in for evaluation and most likely medication. Did Ruby have any eggs, beans or sulfured fruit prior to the stinky poop? A friend of mine's grey had horrible smelling poop from having eaten those particular foods.

I believe he does. It's difficult for him to trust us yet, but I'm thrilled at how quickly he's becoming acclimated to everything. Five days!

Ah, yes, the dreaded spider webs. It's amazing how they can create webbing over every single corner imaginable. Broom them all down on one day? They're all back again the following day.

He was. Crash landed into a pile of my son's laundry, making it the one time I was appreciative of the messiness in his room!

I have an outdoor aviary, too. We installed a paneled roof onto it to keep wild bird poop from getting inside the aviary. Took @SRSeedburners panel recommendations, purchased from Home Depot.

Thank you! Still lots of trust work left to work towards, but I am utterly amazed by how quickly this happened! He's extremely cage protective, and understandably so. But once he's away from his cage, he was so much better. Sydney was able to take a maiden voyage flight around the room, too. First flight for him in over 8 years!

After 3 days here, our little guy has emerged from his cage and stepped up for my son!!! He always knows how to communicate with birds and animals. My heart is full!

Maalik has that business-like 'Hello' thing going on, too. Speaking of Maalik, one of the many things I absolutely love about him is that he'll 'ring the doorbell' as someone is walking up to the front door! His cage is positioned by the front window, so he as a great view of our front yard. We know when packages are arriving, the water is being delivered, and he also helps us screen solicitors!!

Sydney is big on making telephone call sounds, and Maalik is big on answering them. So now I have phones ringing and birds answering them all day long!

Thank you! I appreciate your kind words. We are learning and experiencing together. I'm as much an open book as he.

Thank you for your recommendations! I discovered him doing something adorable this evening. He was holding onto the side of his cage and would lean back to grab his toy and make it swing. The swinging motion made the toy glide back and forth across his back, and Sydney was completely still while the toy was massaging his back. Once the toy had stopped swing, he'd do it again. He needs to be touched; to feel touch, and this is how he's accomplishing it at this point in time. Tomorrow I shall add another toy for him to explore.

I actually don't feed my fids any beans, except lentils on occasion. Primarily I stick with cooked whole grains, hemp seed and ancient grains.

Welcome! Your CAG is a very handsome guy! Greys need to progress along on 'grey time', which is difficult for us humans to always keep in mind.

It's really super simple and such healthy nuggets of goodness. The sky's the limit as to what you can add, or want to hide for that matter. Mine aren't pellet eaters in general, but they get their fair share inside the birdie bread! As for thawing, I keep a small container in the refrigerator that's usually a 3 day supply and then replenish from there.

It's really very easy and doesn't require a recipe other than your imagination. The base that I use is Harrison's pellet ground into flour like consistency You can use any pellet of your choosing. Remove to a separate mixing bowl. Then food process anything you want to add to this 'flour'. I always add those things my fids won't eat unless it's disguised. For my crew it's bell peppers, kale and most anything orange or green. I always add sweet potato to all my birdie bread. Add enough water to get it to the consistency that works for you. Add whatever cooked grains you have, spread your creation onto a pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 350. I crumble it, freeze and use as needed.

Our basic go-to daily chop is baby chard, sugar snap peas, sweet potatoes, pomegranate arils, a grape, blueberry or two, banana, slightly cooked broccoli and my homemade birdie bread, concocted using Harrison's pellets as its flour to which I add ancient grains, hemp seed, kale, red bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, and anything else my fids won't eat if offered separately in chop. I also add quinoa, barley, oats and fresh lentils to my birdie bread. In the evening they can have a small serving of high quality large hook bill seed mix without sunflower seeds. I add a small serving of their favorite nuts, including pine nuts and unsalted roasted deluxe nut mix that I get from Trader Joe's.

Those look good enough to eat! Any added sugars?

Thank you. I'm torn over this one. Part of me is considering going ahead with the filing earlier in his rehab, before he's slowly learned to trust us. Another part says to just allow him to chill and become acclimated before we introduce something scary.

2/3 consumed. Very happy to see that he took to fresh food so readily. I have a birdie groomer coming over tomorrow to clip my fids' talons. Sydney's nails are pretty long and was thinking of having his filed back as well. Do you think it's too early to do something like that considering all he's been through? He's demonstrating cage bound behaviors at this point in time, so I don't want to overwhelm him. The good thing is that someone else besides me would be doing his filing..

Good morning everyone! A bright new day filled with endless possibilities has begun! Breakfast is served! First go-to food item on this menu? Pomegranate arils! Num! num!

The poor little guy is doing a bit of back and forth movements and some light panting. Trying to leave him be, but I just can't stop checking in on him and talking with him. I'm gently rubbing his toes whenever I get the chance so that he can begin to ascertain that touch isn't a scary thing. This will be the first night where he won't have to be anxious about sharing the night with the rats clambering all over his world. And that he won't have to sleep through the night with one eye open.

It happens very easily. I said I was done at 11, and then here comes Sydney! While he's obviously very nervous about all the changes, he's beginning to vocalize. His little 'hello' sounds as if he just took a hit of helium before speaking. It's absolutely adorable!

Would you like to rescue him from us? 😉 No, truly we don't know how things will evolve. All I know is that my son's plan was to rescue, rehabilitate, and then find him a home. We already have 11 fids, and don't have plans to add any more. But...you just never know!

Thank you everyone. Here are some images of his deplorable conditions. Made me weep to see them. My son has been hand feeding him fresh fruit and veggies through the bars of his new cage. He already loves broccoli and my homemade birdie bread.