Dave007

I'm not trying to upset you here but there are other things involved. I went to her website too. Just like you I couldn't find anything concerning birds. I saw 2 photos of one particular 7 yr old dog that's listed as * special needs*. Has to do with shaking. The thing is this..if the dog was 7 yrs old in 01, that makes the dog aopprox 15 to 16 yrs old. Considering that it's a Great Dane in that picture, that should have given you your first clue that something was amiss. Great Danes generally live 8-10 years, but with responsible breeding and improved nutrition they can live to be 11 to 13 yrs old. Those 2 pics on her website shouldn't even be there. I don't really know if you're kidding around about the violence you intend to put on this person but if you really are intending to do this, watch out. You're making yourself look hotheaded and explosive here but I can understand your feelings here and you have every right to feel this way. You really gotta go back to when you purchased the bird and look at this from a different angle. What guarantees, warrantees, exchanges or refunds were included in the bill of sale? Did she supply you with different vet's names to go to immediately in order to get a well check? What kind of written material was supplied concerning the bill of sale? Did she have an official name on the bill of sale? Yes, she may be a breeder of the birds you mentioned but then so could my neighbor down the street be a breeder. That doesn't mean that good stock will be there. The price may be good and the general all around visual appearance of the bird may look good but that doesn't make it so. Another thing concerns where you saw the birds for sale. Craigslist allows anyone be it businesses or private people to put anything they want on there. The way it's put on there can fool people and many times, people get screwed. I'll give another example--EBAY. Even though EBAY isn't allowed to sell animals of any kind, lets make believe that they do. A person can advertise that they have a bird for sale and make the ad look good. Most of the upsides of the ad will include shipping, age of bird. There's nothing mentioned about *well checks* refunds, exchanges, warranties. It's your responsibility to get abird checked by a vet and if there's something wrong, you're stuck. The person posts the price, the fee for the shipping, the time it will be shipped, the airlines that will be used. Another thing about private ad services--rarely does a professional animal breeder advertise on that type of service because they're bound by certain rules that are in the bill of sale. Selling an animal that way would actually decrease the profit that thy're looking for. I'm only posting this because it seems like you're gonna get into some trouble if violence is used and you'll be on the bad end of the deal. You may have someone bail you out but you'll have a record permanently. PS--Don't buy animals from Craigslist. You're only asking for trouble. Many people like to say that they got great deals on Craigslist but very often, many other people don't say anything about the bad deals simply because they're too embarressed and don't wanna be looked at as being stupid.

Healthy weed? Hmmm, that depends on who's ingesting it and what year it was grown. Lots of different kinds.

Well, since there's nothing wrong with your bird unless the vet finds something, the best thing you can do is to see if this was a random one time attack. All parrots bite. Many times, the person can see it coming and other times it's so quick that a person will think a bird did it without thinking. Some birds will be in the wrong position and will bite out of discomfort. Other birds will bite when they're in areas on a person in which biting will be easy. Other birds bite when they see something attactive. Other birds bite when they're startled. Other birds bite when they can't get to the place they aimed for and the person tries to retrieve the bird. Some birds bite when they're being rubbed in the opposite direction of how their feathers are growing of. So many reasons, but the best thing right now is to look for permanent changes concerning the biting. Most often it's random and most of the time, it's a one time incident. Punishment really doesn't do any good ( I'm not saying you did that). So just watch and see what happens.

Any recent easily seen changes in your color of clothing, drastic changes in hair style, new glasses, new things put around his cage, recent arguments between you and C? Any changes that you can think of? New jewelry?<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 19:50

Principals of flight. Many people wanna teach their birds to fly. Many have had bad or short clips. Most of the time as time passes, the person sees a little more flight feathers growing in but they're coming in unevenly or not coming in at all. The most drastic is the bird that has a few flight feathers on a wing but is totally missing others from the same wing/wings. I'll use a hawk as an example because many times they're easily spotted and remain in an area where they can be seen for a while. Hawks have between 7 to 9 flighht feathers depending upon the type of hawk it is. If you look upward, you'll see hawks in the sky and they're not flapping their wings, just floating around looking for prey. When you look at a hawk's wings, you won't see spaces, just solid closed wings. What's happening is that air is surrounding those wings but not going through the wings. This allows the bird to float around on air drafts. Then, the hawk spots something and comes down. Looking at the wings, you'll see spaces between each flight feather. he wind is no longer keeping the bird afloat. The hawk descends rapidly but has control of the wings and has the ability to tighten each wing when needed. So, many people wanna teach their bird to fly. The bird has it's flight feathers cut short or has a badly done clip. Unless a bird has all of the feathers that enable it to go up or down, it's very difficult to *teach* a bird how to fly. So, here's two pictures of birds going up or down and each bird has the proper amount of feathers in order to do that. This first picture is a bird that started very low and is going upward. The bird needs air to hit the wings in order to get lift. Notice that the wings are closed and no spaces can be seen This is a picture of a bird who is already in the air and is now looking to descend. Notice that the flight feather have spaces between the flight feathers. The red lines show the spaces. So when a person has a bird who has very short flight feathers or many flight feathers missing, the air will constantly go through the flight feathers and not allow the bird to get air under those wings to fly from one area to another with perfect control. If you've seen birds that are being trained to fly from one person to another person who is apprx 30 ft away, you'll never see those spaces until the bird is ready to land on that opther person. So, this is just an explanation of flight and how it works and doesn't work when many things are missing. Clipping makes flight feathers very short. Those are the only feathers that are clipped. A bird who is missing flight feathers needs lots of time to grow back those feathers so that they'll be useful in learning how to fly. Many times, when those flight feathers grow back, the bird is very leery of flying especially when it was never allowed to develop coordination and muscle strength and forward power. This is one of the reasons that I'm against wing clipping because it interfers with what should come naturally simply because it's a bird. PS--this is also why birds have even more trouble when wings are clipped at a very young age. Hope this helps.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 19:34

I'll try to give the principals of flight in a few minutes. I need to make a few markings first on one of my photos to point out a couple of things concerning flight but before I do it, I just wanna explain something that has to do with a bad job done on an animal and it's consequences. Later on you'll see what it has to do with clipping a bird. The animal is a dog. A person decides to take a male dog to the vet and have it neutured. So, the person brings the dog to the vet who then cuts off the dog.s balls. The procedure is successful. The dog has no problems. Now, another person decides to go to their vet for the samme procedure. The dog goes through the procedure but the vet nicks a certain area/areas. In many situations what happened leaves the dog with less control over bowel movement. It prevents the dog from holding it in. Manty times, when the dog is sleeping, a couple of pieces of hard fecal matter comes out while the dog is sleeping. These pieces are usually 1/2 the size of a walnut. End of that story. Will be back and some people may benefit from what I'kll post.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 18:18

What you're referring to (aloe oil) is actually aloe gel. The gel is used as a medicinal product when the bird has a very small spot that's irritated or cut or bruised. It's also used to soften certain areas such as the legs and toes that are irritated. Look at the gel as a first aid cream is to a human. What you need to get is a product call 100% Aloe Vera Juice. It can be used full strength or mixed with water. It's used in a mister and sprayed on all parts of the body. It's important that the skin is also soaked with it. It isn't toxic, can't hurt if swallowed. Many people here use the product with success. It's used when the bird is molting, or plucking or chewing. It's also used as an addition to baths. After the bath, the bird is sprayed and there doesn't have to be anything wrong with the bird. The gel can clog many areas where feathers grow from and the more they clog up, the more intense the plucking/pulling/chewing. The juice can be purchased at Walmart for apprx $8.50. It comes in a 1 gallon jug. Other pharmacies sell it but Walmart has the best price. PS--At his age, it's very possible that what he's going through is what is referred to as the *first major molt* which occurs around the same age as your bird is give or take a month or two. It's not the same as the partial baby molts that young birds go through. Many birds who go through this type of molt have a hard time handling the drastic change that's occurring. The skin is dry, the feathers are stiff, dry and somewhat dead. Many birds have little problems. I should have also said that whatever baths he gets should be increased on a weekly basis. Doing that also soothes the skin.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 02:52

Why do I get the feeling that you're partial to asian food?

How old is he? Where's he plucking? What area? Seeing any feathers? What do you mean by " Ive oiled him for dry skin*. What oil?

With many pets, it isn't a problem. Many pets do that simply because it's different then their own food. It IS a problem to the owner who's watching the feeding frenzy. About the only thing that people who worry about this thing can do is go to a reg vet. Many people don't and many times, a dog will start eating certain poopies that don't taste good and aren't appealing and that animal just stops eating the poopies for good. For some dogs, it may taste like candy. Can't really tell you more.

If a bird hates every vegetable except broccali, the owner should be extremely pleased. Of any vegetable brocalli has the most vitamins in it as opposed to most others. It's time to break out the bottle and celebrate.

That's a problem the dog has, not the bird. It has nothing to do with how tasty and yummy the droppings are to the dogs. It may have to do with what's in the droppings from food that the bird eats. Many dogs eat bird droppings and many other things that he/she shouldn't be eating. There may be a vitamin deficienty in your dog. Maybe not. Only a regular vet who works with dogs and cats and other 4-legged animals can tell you about that situation. If you need to keep the dog away from the bird, then do it but if you don't mind your dog having a little tasty birdy poop then leave him alone. Just remember that the vet can tell you if your dog is missing something from his system. Sometimes dogs and cats do it out of habit.

That's what I said--clear unobstructed view of a round surface area. Dropped it from the most comfortable spot, a perch. He had a firm grip. He measured out a perfect angle and-------BOMBS AWAY!!!!! Nothing like a bird shittin from a tree branch. By the time it hits, they're gone.

He pooped on your head? Listen, you probably deserved it and it was overdue. It was only a matter of time until he had a good accurate clear target to pump his lump and drop his dump.

My opinion here is that there should be no VERSUS in this thread Parrot mix----- Parrot seed vs Pellets. One of the big debates that never will end as long as there's people out there saying that the opposite of what they use is absolutely no good and has no nutritional value. Many new owners of parrots are immediately told to start feeding only pellets. Other people who've owned parrots for a while are told to completely change to a pelleted diet. Personally, I think the pellet should be part of a diet and not considered the only diet. The most picked on seed in parrot mix that causes debates is sunflower seed. Sunflower seed is in just about every parrot mix made today. Whenever the subject of parrot mix comes up, it usually has to do with a parrot's daily diet. With some parrots, sunflower seed might contribute to obesity if that particular species is prone to obesity. Other debates have to do with what nutritional values sunflower seeds actually has. Some people are totally against giving those seeds. Others find it okay to give in moderation. Others buy parrot mix that has safflower seeds in it as opposed to sunflower seeds. Because parrots enjoy eating sunflower seed as well as other seeds in parrot mix, some people believe that it hampers the act of changing a parrot mix diet to a pellet diet. Other people believe it slows down the parrot's desire to accept fruit and veggies. Sunflower seed has received a bad rap over the years when it comes to the dietary needs of birds. But keep in mind, years ago, there were not the sophisticated seed blends that there are today and many people would just provide sunflower as the only seed source for their birds. If this was the case, then yes, sunflower would not be balanced nutrition for any bird. But today, we have seed manufacturers that spend time and money on research in order to create balanced seed blends that include seveal other ingredients more than just seed. Some have pellets, dried fruit and vegetables, nuts, grains, vitamin and mineral enhancements added to the seed mix. There are seed mixes that are void of sunflower, and in it's place, safflower is substituted. Safflower is a good seed also, but not very different in it's composition compared to sunflower. But because it's NOT sunflower it is more widely accepted. Most of today's parrot mixes are very nutritious and should be a part of every birds diet. The optimum words being "part of." Along with seed there should be pellets, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, etc to make what could be described as a balanced diet. Nutrition is very much a debatable issues when it comes to birds and no one will ever be in complete agreement with what is the best diet for any of the birds we keep. The idea is to offer a wide variety of nutritous foods and hope to develop good eating habits with your bird. All of the above is just my opinion but it's been my experience that parrots don't have a shorter life span if they only eat parrot mix. I own a couple of birds that refused to eat fruit and veggies. At one time, nothing I do would change their minds. I had some tricks up my sleeve to make pellets a part of their diet. The same applied to fruit and vegetablesThey're perfectly healthy, active, feisty and sometimes, big pains in the ass. I also believe that parrot mix should be available in their cages all day because parrots and other wild birds don't eat the same way that people do. Fruits and veggies should be given but I always tell people not to get overly upset when they won't accept pellets. AND, also remember that fruit and veggies can't be left in bowls all day. Many parrots just don't like pellets. Loads of people will confirm that. What I say to people who are getting overly upset when pellets aren't accepted is this---'in the wild where there are flocks of parrots getting ready to fly off to get their everyday basic food, do you think that they're gonna purposely avoid their natural food and try to find out where that * pellet tree* is located?' It just doesn't exist. I've raised parrots before pellets were invented and I've never had any problems. I feel that a varied mixed diet of parrot seed, parrot pellets, veggies, fruit and various human food is the best way to go but again, this is just my opinion based on true experiences and the results I've had only led to healthy, robust birds and the customers I've sold those birds to have had no complaints about the general health of their birds. I always fill them in concerning a varied diet but I'm not one to tell people to totally avoid one thing as opposed to another thing. I also tell people that the bird they walk away with will not like everything that's given to them. Pellets have their place concerning their nutritional value. They also have many vitamins in them which are good for birds. I also tell people that it isn't important to get a certain brand of pellet. All brands are basically the same. It's simply a matter of what they like and will eat with regularity. Vegetables---I alway tell people not to worry because their bird doesn't like a big variety. There's plenty of vitamins in vegetables and the only thing a person has to do first is try out all the different types of the dark green vegetables. They're better than light vegetables. Again, this is just my opinion based upon 23 yrs of experience dealing with all sorts of food and that also includes all sorts of food that weren't available.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 04:47

""""1- should I take the bell away? 2 (less important, but curious)..I've never had him sexed. Does this "prove" that he is male? My current vet thinks "he" is a very large female, but I am not convinced."""""" =============================================== 1---No, it's very common for greys and many other species to react to bells in many different ways. What your bird is doing isn't unusual and that bell willeventually act as a toy to fight with, bang around and screech at and also sleep and snuggle with. So, no, leave the bell there. 2---Male vs female...it all depends on where the male's and female's wings are facing. A female will flatten out the body and spread the wings outward and level with the ground. The male will spread the wing out less but will curve all the flight feathers downward as if he's covering another bird under him. Other parrots masturbate against swings, chains, toys, bowls and perches. Again, when the male does that, the tail aimed downward. The female's tail is aimed upward. I don't know if your vet is an avian vet but an avian vet would have suggested that a DNA test be done in order to determine the sex. The test is 99.99% accurate.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/03 03:55

It's very hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem is. Yes, the dog probably scared her and she's decided to stay where it's safe. It may not have looked serious to you but it wasn't happening to you. As far as her not liking you, I doubt that she would stay on your arm for a couple of hrs if she didn't like you. She may be in a situation where her habits are changing. After all, she's going into that adult stage and many greys when getting to that stage become somewhat more aloof, distant and enjoy staying by themselves in a cage. Some playful activity often lessens. None of these things are unusual but I can tell you that when greys start behaving like that, many, many people get upset. The first thing people do is blame themselves. Usually, it'll take a grey quite a while to form a new set of habits. Your best bet right now is to let her *come to you*. It can take a while but greys are very curious and eventually they won't like being ignored and will investigate. If your bird is used to coming out of the cage and is safe with the cage door open, keep it open for a longer period of time. Give some treats to her by hand such as pieces of almonds or walnuts. Do this when she's on your arm and when she's in the cage and if she's on a playstand. Do these things frequently but don't expect anything back from her. Add a few new toys one at a time to perk her interest in something new. If you use a playstand, have one near you. That way she's near you but doesn't have to be touched by you. Believe it or not, that calms birds down and helps them to relax around a person. As far as your husband going away, well I personally feel that it has nothing to do with your situation. He left a long time ago. It might mean something if your bird really liked your husband but you said she didn't. Another different reaction by her in the future might occur when he gets home but right now, that's only in the future. The only thing I can suggest is that you just go along with the situation and let her get comfortable in the way she wants to get comfortable. Understand that that 3 1/2 yr old grey you have is no longer that sweet cuddly bird that you originally purchased. Greys are only like that when they're young but eventually the *grey* personality emerges and it has nothing to do with liking or disliking you. Your main concern is knowing that she's healthyn and if she is, it'll simply be a waiting game.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/03 02:05

Natural perches or straight perches would be good ideas as long as they're slightly thicker. A budgie that old that has that kind of problem can't really be corrected. The natural perches should also be straight like store bought perches. The person probably used plastic because some plastic perches have some grooves in them that a bird grips. Plastic perches aren't very good because they're not warm and don't retain heat like wood does.

It's best to give a time line. How long ago did this incident happen with the dog?

"""""well ... i am already considering having them in seperate cages ... """" Don't consider it. Just do it. It doesn't matter whether the other one is aggressive or not. Putting 2 greys in one cage can make one or the other aggressive,not only to each other but to you too. It can can affect the personality of either. It can stunt the mental development of each other. It definitey will stop either bird from developing it's own complete personality. It won't allow a bird to customize it's own living quarters. There's other reasons to not do that but the ones above should help you make up your mind.

You say he falls off the cage when he's around the roof opening and you also say that he goes back in through the main front door. A roof opening is easy to climb through when the bird is going upward. It's another thing to go downward especially when your bird doesn't fly but only falls off the cage. Everytime he falls off the cage it's a bad experience and nothing pleasent happens cause there's no nice landing and that'll continue as long as he repeats it. I believe you should close up the roof opening and just use the main door for him to go in and out of. The higher up an unclipped bird who doesn't fly, the more dangerous the fall. As far as the talking/whistling, many greys do that just to get the owner to open the door so they can get out. After they get out, many greys will stop talking or whistling. Some will start playing with toys and others will just sit on the cage and relax.You need to keep very alert when he's out of the cage and concentrate on letting those wings grow back. That's extremely important for a bird who has no balance. As far as stepping up, you have the advantage. He can't fly away so just practice the stepping up lessons with him on the floor.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GOL2eZtp2V0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBl9BXLom4&eurl=http://www.buzzfeed.com/endswell/santa-claus-bailout-hearings-3f2&feature=player_embedded

NAMES ( MALE & FEMALE ) Sunny--- Vergil ---Paco---- Floyd--- Skye ---- Poncho--- Taz --- Sparky --- Ozzie--- Buffy --- Roxy---Joey --Maxi ----Dusty ----Sammy---- Gumby ---- Cisco ----Paddy -----Romeo--- Buster---- Sunshine---- Scooter---- Moonshine ----Sugar---- Sweetie ---- Tazzy------ Petey---- Juan ----- Tiger -----Tweets ----Keiko---Cody---- Okie -----Rexxy----- Chipper -----Minnie ----- Bart----- Ricki ----Kiwi ----- Sunny -----Reba ----Tino----- Buddy---- Angel ------Yuska -------Zelda ----Tookie -----Harley ------ Buster -----Zoey -----Jax----- Ricky------ Princie ---- Mokie-----Coco -----Penny----- Molly ------ Peaches -----Candy -----Ozzy------ Bandit -- Oscar ------Tango------ Sweet Pea ------ Hogan ------Harry------ Sophie----- Rosa ----Robbie ----- Casper ----- Elvis ------ Chipper--- Sweet Pea -----Nibbles----- Sparky------Mickey----Suger ----- Dusty------ Rocky------ Belle

This is something I invented and now do... I'm sure that at one time or another, a couple of kids knock on your door and wanna tell you where they're from, wanna tell you about the scriptures and they're also trying to sell you a bible. They're about 18 yrs old and are just repeating what they've been told to say and they annoy the hell out of me and set my dog off with the barking. So one day, they knocked, I opened the door and they started their routine. Immediately I stopped them and with a surprised look on my face I say "hey wait a minute, wait a minute. Didn't you just see Jesus down the block? He was just here. Periodically, he stops by and has a bagel and coffee cause he loves my wife's coffee. He usually waants to rest a bit cause of his many trips. The only time he annoys me is that he always stops by and never tells me he's coming so sometimes I just in my pajamas and my hair isn't combed. He usually tells me how Abraham is doing and also tells me how Noah is coming along with the repairs on his boat."" Now of course, the 2 guys are just staring at me and I then tell them that if they hurry fast enough to go down to Sunset Ave cause I know he's visiting Mr and Mrs xxxx. So far, it's worked twice.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/12/31 22:27