Dave007

Dan is completely right. It takes a lot of patience to do that. That's a great step forward. Pretty soon, your arm will be like a branch and he'll learn just how to land in the same spot with confidence. He'll also prefer to land on you instead of other things. Probably, your arm is much more tempting. Good luck in your future training.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/04 18:25

That's not something that can be answered here. There's no written laws about that nor are there any laws that say that they have to or not have to exterminate. The manager/managers of the complex can explain the situations concerning monthly visits of exterminators to your complex.

You gotta long way to go. Probably when you're a real old lady with crutches, no teeth, sitting on the porch knitting and telling your great great great grand children what it was like during the old time digital days

Really. Hmmm

Right, leave them alone. Think about for a minute--what could you possibly do with a baby or adult bird when it's growing new feathers? Pet him? That won't help the feathers grow out. Squeeze the shafts? That won't help the feathers grow out . Pet the bird going in the opposite direction of where the shafts are aimed? That won't help the feathers grow out and do that to an adult bird and I guarantee you he/she will bite you instantly with no warning. Baby birds and adult birds are always irritated when feather growth is occuring. Adult birds will become moody and short tempered. Baby birds just fall asleep. A bad follicle /shaft will cause a very red irritation mark and it'll look inflamed and it needs to be taken care of. Your baby is just growing in his first set of feathers with no problems.

You're hand feeding a baby bird who's first set of soft pin feathers are finally coming and you wanna help him cause he looks uncomfortable. All greys and other parrots are uncomfortable when new feathers grow in. That's par for the course. There's nothing you can do anyway that's gonna help him but you may irritate those soft gentle areas of the skin where the pin feathers are coming from. Plus, it isn't alright to do it to an adult bird unless there's a special problem going on and with an adult bird, there's a very good chance that you'll get a very nasty bite when messing around in those areas. Almost all birds are irritated when new feathers grow in and all can be very short tempered if you mess with nature.

Well, you will hurt her and who ever told you to pull them out is crazy. When you pull a feather out of the tail or flight feather, there's a 85% chance of bleeding because both areas are known as blood feathers. Also, you may not only pull the feather out but you may also pull the follicle out at the same time--do that and no feather will grow there permanently because all feathers need a root (follicle). Tail and flight feathers aren't the same as the rest of the feathers that molt out with regularity. Blood feathers fall out whenever they die. It could be one feather, it could be three feathers, maybe 2 feathers, maybe no feathers for a very long time throughout the year. You'll need to wait for that damaged feather?feathers to naturally die and fall out. Just because a feather is chewed or broken doesn't mean that it's dead.

Your bird has a physical deformity which is called partial splaying. The birds show have never been removed from a nest that young. The birds should have stayed with the breeder until they were fully weaned.A bird that old doesn't belong in an incubator. . It should be in a brooder. An incubator won't help the bird's condition at all. Only your vet can make a diagnosis as to how serious the splaying is and a small brace may be required.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/03 18:46

Your present cage is ideal for a grey who is known to climb all over the insides of a cage. The new cage above may look nice but it's not suited to a grey or amazon who need the ability to move around a square or rectangular cage especially on the interior of a roof. In the new cage, the inner part of the roof will be used very little. Greys like flat surfaces when they finally relax. The right side is very short and your bird would have to go under a roof to get there ( the side with the small playstand). The cage you're showing is made for long tailed parrots who like to perch in the roofs of things. Some people here have them but the best type to get are the models that are similar to what you already have. There's plenty of cages that are larger than the present cage you have. Looking that your present cage, it seems fine but the next size larger would be ideal. On your present cage, there's a large playstand --on the other it s very small and the bigger the stand, thebetter since the bird stays out of the cage alot. Lots of things can be hung from the playstand into or on the cage. PS--one other thing I forgot to say--Greys are well known to perch and rest on the highest thing that they find. Concerning that new cage, the highest point is that V roof. The bird would feel uncomfortable up there and there's a chance that he''l lose his balance and fall or hurt himself with such thin bars. Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/03 18:35<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/03 19:42

She says that because she can only handle her son having 1 baby. There's gonna be a lot of press. Magazine offers. May a movie will be done,

"""""" I also found out too that my oldest son is expecting a baby as well! """"""" Hey,never mind the baby bird. Your son is the real star here. It'll be a first and we all heard it first on Birdforums.

Nothing is set in stone. As your years with a grey increases, those heavy immovable stones eventually turn into very light weight pebbles.

The term scritch, also known as scritchies, skritch, or skritches, is given to the act of gently scratching someone's back, neck or between the ears in an affectionate manner using one's fingernails (or more lightly with fingertips), or the claws of a fursuit or plushie. It's considered bad form to try this on strangers, or those furs or fans of fur not comfortable with the idea or the act. It is generally better to pat a fursuiter than to scritch them, as it has less chance of matting the fur. Bird people have added the word to their vocabulary It's been proven beyond a doubt that the bird really has no feelings about the word one way or another. There's only one thing important to them---*call it what you want but you do it or else you'll be in deep doo doo!!*<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/03 00:05

You're right. Judy's farmland probably isn't as bad as yours. Her horses, milk cows and her different poultry stock need a warmer climate. Luckily, she has a good sized barn heated barn for the hogs she raises.

Please be aware that we do not have an avian vet amongst our members and any advice given is based on previous personal experience. Answers and Opinions are given here but may not apply to your particular bird/birds's medical problem. If unsure GREYFORUMS.NET urges members to seek advice from a qualified avain veterinary specialist in any such circumstance. Please remember, BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/02 17:49

Periodically, you'll find old or ragged or partially chewed feathers with the quill in the tray because many times, the quill also dries up. And, the feather you found didn't come from the main areas that molt out regularly through the year. Just look and feel quill and you find it hard, thin and sometimes shriveled. It was either covert, tail or wing feathers.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/01 22:15

1 yr old? he's molting

Well, your worrying will now disappear. First off, they're in separate cages. That should always remain the same. Second, they do need to be let out to socialize with each other. Third, it doesn't matter what their sex is because you'll be treating them as pets for good. When hormones kick in with either bird, things should remain the same--separate cages. Both birds are infants. Treat each bird equally. There will be different personalities. Someone told you that you made a mistake? That was yesterday. You've done it and now is the time to think about the tommorrows ahead.

I deleted the message above that was about giving birds coconut milk when a bird is sick just because it may be good for humans when they're sick. The problem is that no one knows if coconut milk is actually good for ill birds but someone might actually decide to use it just because someone else said it was good for ill birds. If a bird becomes ill or an existing illness worsens no one will here take responsiblity nor should take responsibility. No specific illnesses or diseases were mentioned.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/04 02:26

"""""""Chimay's only been with us for a week,"""""" You should have said that before. I thought you had the bird for a much longer period of time. The only thing going on is him getting used to you both. One week is in no way enough time to make any judgments about anything. He's still a stranger in your house. He has to get used to your family, his surroudings, the natural everyday habits that exist and his environment and all of that takes much much more than a week. It takes months for all of that to happen.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/31 21:24

Good luck

Just like people, greys go through those times where it will seem like one person is starting to emerge as the favored one. This especially happens with younger birds who are going into that stage where independence is showing itself. People don't know that the baby bird that was purchased and acted the exact same way with each family member is gonna change in that area. Unfortunately a lot of people aren't told about this phase when getting a grey. The older the bird gets, the more selective and choosy it gets. The bird can act differently towards 2 different people and a classification of * one person bird* comes into play but that's not what's happening. What goes against this type of behavior is 2 people trying to *right* the situation in order to bring that bird back to a situation of equality between the people. Very bad idea. It just ain't gonna happen. Greys eventually like one person for certain things and another person for other things and not only will it continue but the bird will also reverse the picture and start treating the other person differently. This goes on and on as the bird gets older. By the time the bird is a full adult, it's pretty much shown the whole picture. Between the ages of 6 mts to 5 yrs, you'll see many changes in the bird's attitudes and as long as nothing traumatic has happened, those changes will naturally go on. You want your bird to like your husband more. Ok, make him do the cage cleaning, the feeding, the treat giving etc. Reverse roles. Stay out of the picture. Have both people do the same things. This doesn't mean that the bird will all of a sudden will take to the person receing less attention but it does show the attention attention that 's gotten from two people. Most of the time, this goes on with physical relationships with a bird. I'll give a small but important example because this type of small example can cause problems if misunderstood. I'll use one of my greys. Smokey is now 9 yrs old and from the time that he flew with accuracy, he likes to fly to my arm and doesn't really wanna get off. I could leave him there all day and he'll stay all day but if I try to pet him while he's on my arm, he will bite my hand but he insists on staying there stuck next to my armpit. He really doesn't fly to my wife alot. Now for the wife--when she's sitting down he'll fly right over to her bypassing me and he expects herto pet his head, his neck, his eyes. If she continues,he'll just stay there and accept it. He'll fly over to me sitting down and only wants to perch on my knee but doesn't wanna be touched. Does he dislike me or favor her more? No. He's just accepting people for different things. Now for feeding--when I put bowls of food or water in his cage while he's in the cage, he expects me to rub his head and rub his beak. When my wife does the feeding and tries the petting he will nip. Why, well I stopped trying to find out a long time ago because they have their likes and dislikes concerning many major and minor things. Your bird is going through a phase--one of many phases that happen to a bird that's eventually leaving that cuddly stage. All greys leave that stage.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/31 19:55

Odorless to you, yes. Odorless to birds? Can't really say for sure. It's not mandatory for exterminating companies to make chemicals that are odorless to all animals. Dogs and cats find the chemicals repulsive and have the ability to run away. If they do that then the spray isn't really odorless except to you. Most sprays are oily and made to stay at an area for a while. You need to call the exterminating company and ask about that. You can also call your vet and ask about professional exterminating chemicals. He'll know about that stuff. It would be just guessing here. Loads of different sprays and pastes are used. The vet will know about it. If your whole apartment is being done and the vet says that they'll be problems, you'll haveto put the bird with a neighbor until the chemicals dissipates.

Just stay away from maple trees. make sure the branches are somewhat dead. Usually, they're already fallen to the ground. You just take the branch in the house, lay it in a tub or slop sink, let it soak for about 1/2 hour. The reason for that is that the bark gets very soft and very easy to peel away. When you peel it away VOILA,you have an extremely hard, knarled, crooked, knotty branch and you can put it anywhere in the cage. You can make short branches, long branches--any size you want. Scrub it with some soap cleaner, let it dry off which will be very quick because the bark is no longer there. That type of perch reduces the chances of the bird slipping off a branch by 95%<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/30 20:26

In the UK, you also have the EBAY branch. Go there and type BIRD CAGES. You'll see pictures of loads of cages. I've been there. The prices are good, the quality is good, they offer many styles and styles, they give specific infiormation about each cage including a few photos of any cage you're looking at. The big difference between the store bought cages and the EBAY cages is that the EBAY cages don't have a brand name on them.