Dave007

It is a bit extreme. It looks like what happens to a beak that's been constantly scraped and/or rubbed constantly across the bars of a cage. Raraely does the tip get affected but the area above the tip, in your bird's case, the side above the tip is being thinned out so your vet will have to repair that by shortening the tip before it possibly cracks. If you can go sooner than your date, do it. Check out whether you see your bird rubbing his beak side to side on the bars. It will normally happen when a bird is in the cage,<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/12 02:45

post the pic.

It takes time. If he won't come out then he wants to stay in. He may wanna come out on his own before dealing with you. The g/f has nothing to do with it. She didn't do anything special to get him to come out, right? Your bird is only doing what's comfortable. Has he done this from the very beginning when you brought him home? How long have you had him? Is it just recently that he's started doing this? Does he step up onto you when he's on top of the cage? Does he step up onto you in other areas besides the cage? Lots of things here that you never spoke about.

Like everyone said, the beak rubbing is normal. Some do it more than others. You've been told about making sure you can see your bird and learning how to read the body language so you know what he's about to do. But, you should stop letting him on your shoulder. That's one area you can't see and your bird may just be one of those types that like to bite ear lobes or jewelry or necks or pieces of clothing that are being worn. Lots of greys do that and the more they do it, the better they get at doing it.

I'm not sure I understand what you said about the bird's original living situation with the original owner ( breeder). If the bird was originally a breeding bird, then aggressive behavior isn't unusual. Breeding greys are well known to be aggressive to people, but you said that your bird is very sweet and periodically becomes aggressive during a hormonal period which is also normal. That hormonal period usually lasts about 1 to 2 months for a male and longer for a female. Then the bird reverts back to it's normal self. He screams-- well, many parrots can pick up that habit and many parrots may yell during a hormonal period. They can also pick up that habit when living with other people. Many parrots can do other things when they're in a hormonal period but not scream or they can scream. Other things they may do may be equally annoying just as screaming is but many parrots can pick up those habits and it won't have anything to do with a hormonal period. """""""" failed to educate his last owner as to the perils of parrots entering sexual maturity. """""" That may be true but there really isn't much warning that needs to be said about any grey, male or female, concerning a hormonal cycle. The bird simply needs to be left alone because they're are normally short tempered, agitated and don't want the normal amount of interaction with their owners. These hormonal cycles only occur 2, maybe 3 times a year, and that applies to pet greys as well as wild greys. As far as length of sex life---in the wild, greys will mate 2 or 3 time in one year and that can happen up until the greys are approx 20yrs, give or take 1 yr. By the time they're 30 yrs old, they're usually dead. Breeders living in a home can bred up to 25 to 30 yrs depending on whether the hens are in prime condition, are healthy, haven't been overbred and have been regularly checked by a vet to see the condition of sex organs. I personally believe you got a bird who reacts in a certain way when a mating cycle comes and it goes away when the cycle subsides. There's no way to stop the screaming when he's sexually aroused just like there's no way to stop a bird from biting during a sexual cycle ( if he/she is a nipper). Taking on a previously owned bird usually means that a person is also taking on the bird's past behavior and personality.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/11 18:19

I personally don't think you have a big problem. I'd even say that your bird will thank you for thinking about it. he'll definely be more comfortable as soon as the strangeness of the missing leg is normal again. A one legged bird isn't as serious as you think. Slight adjustments need to be made but it won't stop him from wanting to come out to play. I agree with you about asking the vet. Remember that he's still a baby and there's plenty of time for him to live as a one legged bird. The surgical procedure is done frequently.

Don't get too upset. It happens every now and then. Just simply leave the egg with her until she tires of the egg and pays no attention to it. That'll happen between 25 to 30 days. When she's totally ignoring it, remove it. Right now, if another egg comes, do the same thing--leave the eggs with her. If you remove the eggs immediately after they're laid, that will stimulate her to create more eggs. Pine shavings should never be used in bird's cages because they can help fungi grow pl;us hold bacteria and other germs. A bird who's in a cage with shavings and starts to flap it's wings can stir up microscopic wood dust into the air and up their noses causing serious breathing problems. Plain newspaper is the best thing to use.

I don't have any handicapped birds right now but I know of many people that have them. I know of a one legged bird, another bird with both feet missing, birds that are totally missing one of their wings, a totally blind bird etc. They're all living happy lives. He should be fine with the use of only leg. Parrots can adapt exceptionally well only on one leg. You might like to make sure all his perches are attached to one another or at least close enough so he can reach & pull himself up using his beak. You can build him a large play gym and encourage him to use it. You be surprised at how well they can get around with a disability as long as they're given the opportunity & encouragement to try. Your vet will discuss the process and just remember to ask as many questions of the vet as you want.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/11 07:37

He had a sudden, unexpected event associated with arterosclerosis ("hardening of the arteries"). It was either a fatal arrhythmia, heart attack or stroke, which caused him to die suddenly with no suffering. The day before, he was perfectly fine acting no different than normal. He plucked some of his feathers. Much less than many other greys do. He had a chronic plucking problem in one area of his body. He was a plucker when Irene got him and nothing she did increased his plucking problem. For a grey to live 31 yrs, she was definitely doing something right.

Many pairs of breeding parrots pluck out feathers from each other. Usually, it's the female that does this anfd if the male simply puts up with it, then there's no problem. If it was hurting him, he would definitely react to what she's doing. Quite a few different species do the same thing to each other. Some females actually pluck out their own feathers during a mating cycle. As far as humidity, there always has to be humidity with breeding pairs. Dry heat can make feathers brittle and dry heat isn't good for eggs which can also become brittle and crack. Even pet greys need humidity because they have skin which frequently becomes dry.

Most people didn't get their birds treated until the bird actually got the virus. There was no preventative vaccine available. A vaccination for polyoma is available. This vaccine is relatively new and can be given as a preventative. Baby birds may be vaccinated at 40 days of age and boosted two weeks later. They're considered protected two weeks past their second vaccination. Yearly boosters are recommended. This the standard procedure with this new medicine. Learning whether other bird owners got the vaccine or not shouldn't be how you judge whether to do it. You need to consult your vet and ask him/her for a professional opinion.

Although I agree with the statements concerning the aloe juice, I feel that it's still important that a bird should be bathed with water first. If a bird is afraid or dislikes water, he/she will feel the same way about aloe juice. Water as well as aloe will not clean a bird if it's not used properly. All fluid will simply run off a grey's waterproof feathers if applied only there. Using aloe juice on a bird who hasn't been properly cleaned and washed with water first will not benefit from any fluid. Aloe isn't meant to clean a bird. The prime reason is to work on the skin where the feathers come from.. Neither aloe or water will slow a bird's production of dander which is frequently referred to as dust. All greys and cockatoos produce this dander with the cockatoo producing the most. A while back I wrote an article about Aloe juice and no where in that article did I mention the use of aloe as a substitute for water as far as bathing goes. As far as importance, I never said that it would benefit a bird's flight or tail feathers. I simply said that the use of aloe on the feathers that weren't waterproof would benefit the skin of a bird as far as making that skin softer, less dry and less itchy. Aloe will also run off of a birds outer waterproof flight and tail feathers. Using aloe on a bird who is full of dander with dry skin is the same as a person using hair conditioner without first shampooing their hair. It's the act of misting or bathing with any fluid which the bird fears or dislikes, not what's in the mister. If any person needs to learn how to bathe their bird, it should water that's first used.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/08 18:59

The people who do buy that size cage usually do it because they wanna use it as a sleeping cage. It's most important that you have the proper sized cage exspecially during the bird's developing time which means baby. A sleeping cage is simply an addon. Some like the idea, some don't. The size cage you mentioned is for an extremely small bird The cage you should be looking at should be about 3328x55x Right now, the cage should be the biggest size you can afford. It will be the bird's permanent home.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/08 17:51

There's very little in the way of holistic medications on the market for your bird's problem. You said that you called the vet but have you also visited him? If your bird is a plucker who is a high strung, nervous type of bird and he seems to be this way all the time, then that's considered a chronic plucker. In most cases vets will recommend Haldol which has had good results. Diet--this won't necessarily make your bird's plucking any better but if you're only giving that one type of food, it's a good idea to purchase dark green veggies for all around good health. Fruit is good but it won't do the same as veggies. If you're feeding a few times a day and taking the bowl out after each feeding, keep food in with the bird all day because nervous birds tend to calm down a bit if they have plenty of food around all day.

Go to this site. It will tell you all about all types of mites and their effect on people. The only birds mentioned are poultry /farm animals Illinois Department of Public Health Mites Affecting Humans http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcmites.htm

A Picture of Assie's Bird, CLEO <br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/06 03:58

Those size bars are fine. he'll do ok.

As long as the bars are fairly thick, 5/8 is alright. 1 inch is also good but if you have a type of bird that you know will try to put his head through the bars, 5/8 is alright.

How long ago did this happen? When a parrot has a near shock type of incident, it may take quite a long time for the bird to get things back together in his head. many times, it affects the owner.

How old is he and how long have you had him?

I don't believe so. In order to diagnose mites, the skin has to be thoroughly examined and mites will leave a certain sign that they're present. That sign tells the vet that there's an infection. If you actually saw a black bug, it would be something else. Check wuith your vet but I doubt he's gonna find mites especially since you say he's indoors most of the time. Mites normally affects dogs and cats and mites get their nourishment from the dryed up tiny flakes of skin on dgs and cats. They bury themselves in that skin.Sometimes, those dogs and cats also have scabies which is another skin infection<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/05 20:43

Bebo Just to tell you a little something about mites---Mites because of their small size (most are microscopic) most go totally unnoticed.

How do you know he has mites? A regular vet suggested that? Unless your parrot is outdoors a lot, where he could pick up mites from wild birds, mites are unlikely. Mites are pretty rare in pet birds kept indoors. Is your bird itching? Plucking? I would take the bird to an avian vet only for proper diagnosis and treatment. Pet store mite sprays are toxic to birds. You really should visit an avian vet even if it's a difficult to get to--One of the chemicals ( you asked about is extremely toxic and when it's recommended for dogs or cats, strict directions have to be followed. Bebo---sorry, but the medication above is for fleas and ticks and most vets who recommend it are referring to dogs and cats. And those vets are usually regular vets. Pyrethrins was sometimes used by exterminators to kill cockroaches a while back.

Above the topic you'll see SEARCH FORUM Type in Aviator harness anf you see at least 50 responses concerning the aviator harness

She is right. The most common thing to use is plain old water which will take just about anything off feathers. All dirt that parrots get in the wild is washed away with water.