Dave007

The best to get are parrots that can live happily in a cage---budgies, lovebirds, parrotlets. You simply have to find species that will be happy with that type of living style. All of the three I mentioned can also get along very well in a cage. (budgie/budgie) ( parrotlet/parrotlet) lovebird/lovebird}. All are considered parrots. Lovebirds can be a bit noisy. Also, softbill birds are good for that life style. Good luck. Hope the baby is healthy.

I really don't think that at 20 yrs old you'd be ble to start a human mimicing program with him. If he wasn't worked on as far as talking in the past when he was young, he probably won't find it appealing now. It would be alien to him. Actually, the bird does talk right now but only in it's natural parrotese language. The thing a person has to do is learn what he's saying in his own language. Tricks? well that's hard to say. All birds are different and each has certain things around them which appeals to them. Some find tricks interesting and others don't. There is no definite answer to Tricks. Most people who decide on adopting a rehomed bird take the bird as is. They can always try different things but an adult bird has a baggage/history that they bring along with them to a new home. For a 20 yr old, thats a lot of baggage/history. Caiques are totally different than greys personality wise.There's always the chance that the 2 species won't even like each other. Other people here also have different species and sometimes they need to watch out for possible aggression. What caused the grey to get along with an Amazon was accoplished through nature. *****end up with a bird that does little more than eat, sleep, and poop.**** Well, that occurs no matter what the age of the bird is. Greys need to be handled dferently than caiques.

Yes, that's posssible but just inderstand that doing that was legally stopped in 1992. No more exported birds were allowed into the country un;less except when thbe bird was put into official quaurantine for months and that only happened when the person could prove legal ownershp on the bird. But even then, the age of the bird remained unknown. Official quantine only had to do with various diseases. Official quarantine is extremely expensive and depending on the state ,quarantine could last as much as 2 mt. Also, very few airlines transport birds from one country to another. It's even hard to transport a bird from one state to another. Quarantine is still required. Look at th band--if you see no cut marks on it, that means it's a closed band and the bird was hand reared by someone in the US or came from a plce that breeds lots of birds and sells them tio pet stores. If you see a cut mark that means that the oner put any info they wanted. I'll give you an example---I f I had a grey with no band, I could buy an open band and put cerain info {lets say year 08}oniy which would tell the potention buyerr that the bird was 6 yrs old BUT I know for a fct that the bird is actually 15 yrs old. There's no way to prove I was lying. I doubt that your bird came from thattime when exporting was legal. Ghat'd so many years ago.

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to trace legband information unless a person knows the actual breeder. If the bird is no more than 2 weeks old, a closed band is put on the bird and the breeder gives a person the informtion concerning that number. The band is called a *closed band* and can't be removed by a person because of possible injury. The other type of band is called a *open band* which can be put on the bird anytime the owner wants so matter what the age is. It can also be taken off quickly. The info on the bnd caan be anything the owner wants. The numbers TRM have nothing to do with a state. The next 2 letters only refer to a quarantine station in the US and some are no longer in business. They were run by the USDA. The last 2 numbers may have something to do with the number of birds that were sold in any particular year. There was never any quarantine station located in AL. Your best bet is to look up general info on the net concerning legbands but I doubt that you'll find any particular listings for states ond year of birth.

As has been already said, simply keep your hands out of the cage. Your bird is sending you an obvious message--Keep your hands out of my home. Loads of other rgreys do it. Also don't let others poke their fingers in the cage. Biting will get worse. Soon you'll see blood.

I need to disagree about aloe vera juice soothing injured feathers. The juice has no effect on injured or uninjured feathers. Aloe juice is strictly for conditions of the skin. Just like water, the juice will simply roll off a grey's feathers without any penetration. And you should check and see where that blood is coming from. Bloody areas need closing agents such as aloe gel in order to slow down bleeding areas. The gel works the samr way as first aid cream works on people. As a matter of fact, many people use aloe gel for cuts and bloody areas.

You should continue with the food he gave you. I would be careful about store bought baby formula. You should call up the breeder and ask him/her what the formula was and get instructions on how to make up something that's at least close to what he was feeding. What your bird is doing with your fingers will happen frequently in the future even though the bird is weaned. Make sure you also have solid food around now. It's time for more solid foods plus formula.

It all depends on the bird. Some like it in it's original form out of the container all by itself in a spoon. Others like it spread on bread or put on other bird foods. Others like it when it's melted down to a thin consistency and dripped onto different foods or food mixtures such as chopped up veggies. Making it thin usually requires a microwave. That's the way I use it. At first you need to experiment different ways to feed it. Many birds have to be deceived in order for them to accept it.

The answer to that has already been posted by me.

1- AviPollen 100% Natural Bee Pollen - 16 oz --Has nothing to do with feather plucking/chewing 2- AviGlo 100% Organic Red Dende Palm Oil--Has nothing to do with plucking. It's a basic food they eat in the wild. Contains certain necessary vitamins. 3- Feather-In AntiPick Treatment ---will work but it's a long term product. There is no product that fixes that problem quickly. Also, the condition of the bird's feathr/skin area may not completely get fixed because some skin areas may have been seriously damaged and no feathers can grow back. We can't make judgements on that because the photos don't really tell the whole picture. Frm what I can see, the problem doesn't seem to be very serious. Other birds that have been helped with feather In have looked worse than your bird. 4- Featheriffic! Feather Conditioning Supplement---has nothing to do with plucking/chewing. Those types of products work on softbill birds such as canaries, budgies, finches. 5- Avi-Cal Plus Calcium Supplement ----Most of the time, giving calcium supplements won't work. Calcium comes from natural foods they eat such as vegetables which is a normal item they eat in the wild. So, your best shot is Feather IN but remember that there's no quick cure. It took a while to pluck those feathers out so it's gonna take a while to grow them back in. AND, when using the product, there might be minor set backs because of the way the feathers are growing back in. One feather that's growing may irritate another feather that s growing in so the natural thing a bird does is to pull out the feather that's causing the irritation.

It is vitally important to be patient, gentle, and considerate of your new Grey. He doesn't know you. He is in a strange place with strangers. He will undergo a brief grieving period. He has lost all that was familiar and loved - the other babies he played with and his beloved and trusted caregiver. The adjustment, as far as food, cage, and toys are concerned, should be a brief one. It will take a little longer for him to know and trust you. The bird-human relationship is based on love and trust and this takes time to develop. Without love and trust, there can be no relationship. If you have other companion animals, keep them quiet or away from him for the first few weeks - because of safety considerations and because the bird needs time and space to adjust to the presence of predator animals. Don't overload him with too much confusion or noise. If you have children or grandchildren, caution them about running up to the cage, gesturing wildly, speaking loudly, or screaming. Birds often are frightened of children because of their abrupt activity, sudden noise, and impulsiveness. Adult family members should be cautioned to avoid sudden movements or speaking in a loud voice. It is vitally important to be patient, gentle, and considerate of your new Grey. He doesn't know you. He is in a strange place with strangers. He will undergo a brief grieving period. He has lost all that was familiar and loved - the other babies he played with and his beloved and trusted caregiver. Don't invite the family or neighbors over to see him just yet. Let him come to know you. Be careful to avoid accidents - take your time. Try not to let any "bad" things happen. Once he knows and trusts you, he will be able to accept an accident as just that. Hold him securely. Don't let him fall or be off balance when on your hand or knee. Don't push him into accepting intimate petting until he is ready. Remember he is just a baby and will need more sleep and more food than an adult bird. If you have a sleep cage, use it so he will have undisturbed sleep. Give him all the food he will eat. He will not get fat. He has weight to put back on after weaning. He should have food available at all times. Weigh him daily for at least the first 6 months. Record the weight. Learn what is normal for your Grey - there will be small weight changes over time. Small losses - a downward trend for several days will call for a trip to the avian vet. The vet should see him immediately if there is a large loss on any one day.

More than likely the Pluck no More won' t work. There's another product called Feather In thats different because it leaves a coating on the skin and feathers thourhout the day. It's sprayed on and anything left in the sprayer by the end of the day has to be discarded. A new amount is mixed the next day. It can be bought at a place caklled Avitech. It can be bought online. No matter what you use just remember that the skin is the most important part that should be soaked down. The bird should stay soaked and eventually he/she will dry off. Your problem could be caused by very dry skin or a very dry atmosphere. If you have your bird in the sun for long periods of the day, that could also cause it. The amount of bathing could not be enough. A vet visit may be necessary or your bird may be a chronic plucker which is different than a acute plucker.

The use of tethers and leg braces was discontinued on pet birds about 15 to 20 yrs ago. The only place they're now used is on predatory birds that are shown around the country. There's 2 types of birds---Flock birds and predatory birds. Predatory birds are loners and trained to stay with one person. Predatory birds don't spook as easily as flock type birds. They're trained to stay with the handlers until they're told to do certain things. Those certain things usually involve another person.They a;lways come back to the handlers. Flock birds are constantly aware of everything around them and will spook at the slightest thing the same way they do in the wild. Broken bones, broken toes are common. Vets discourage it. Many of the accidents can't be repaired. You may be having trouble with the harness DVD which tells me that two people need to be involved in putting it on. A video showing how easy it is to put on a bird means little if that bird is docile and has had the harness off and on many times. You're not the first person to have that trouble. Be inventive. Use 2 people on a regular basis.

As far as bonding, yes and no. They could be 2 males and no eggs. Close friends They could be 2 females with one or the other laying eggs ---infertile. Some female greys have done that. You can have a male and female who have accepted each other as cage mates but don't mate even though the female may lay eggs. A bonded pair. You can have a male and female --the eggs are there. The eggs are not fertile. After that happens a few times with the same result---That's a bonded pair. If there's a male and female and the eggs are there and the eggs are fertile That's a proven bonded pair On the selling market, there's a big difference between the two (bonded---proven bonded) many people waste their money if they're looking for a pair of breeders because they don't know the difference Should you separate them? Personally, I feel it's not a good idea. They've already bonded with each other in some way.

Welcome to the board. Looking foreward to hearing about your greys.

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http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/dentist.html

No, it doesn't make sense. Loads of people here have birds that have the same personality that your birds have. The last thing they would do is get another bird to *make the bird happy*. They simply accept that personality and work with the bird or decide that the bird needs another home that has more experience with aggressive birds. Breeders are aggressive birds. If you think that he'll calm down a bit after getting him a breeder bird, think twice about that. I have the parents of one of my male pet greys. About 5 yrs ago, the female breeder tried to attack and seriously hurt her own offspring. She bit him and his leg was bleeding all over the place. Luckily, I was there and was able to quickly separate them. I take complete blame for that. I wasn't being careful. I accidently got distracted and brought the pet bird down to where the breeding pair were. My pet grey was on my shoulder being very quiet and I forgot that he was there.

I personally think that you're being cruel to your bird because for the last 7 yrs, you've been your bird's mate. As it stands , your bird is a pet bird and it should remain that way. Your bird isn't lonely. Only owners think that way. There's nothing wrong with getting a second bird if you intend on just having another pet. Like any orther grey they would need their own separate living quarters. Breeders don't make good pets. There's a possible chance that the breeder will try to maim the pet bird. Pet birds aim their allegience to the owner. Breeders aim their allegience towards another bird, not people. Breeder birds know the difference between pet birds and other breeder birds. Be extremely careful. If you've never bred medium to large parrots before, expect lots difficulties. It's not just a matter of putting 2 birds together. There's lots of knowledge that a person needs in order to breed greys. Just because someone says that it's okay to try it out doesn't make it right. People saying something like that should have lots of experience when it comes to breeding big parrots.

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?198523-Bubble-Poop

*****I am playing catch-up with Oscar trying to give him everything he clearly didn't have before. I secretly fantasize about re-releasing Oscar into the wild, which of course would be impossible to do for many reasons...******* What a bird in the wild never had before is something he'll never need in the future when living like a pet.. Only you can decide to give what you wanna give. The most important thing he needs right now is a secure, friendly, healthy home to live in. Forget about those thoughts about re releasing him even though you know you won't. Instead, put this thought in your head. **If I ever released him, it's guaranteed that he'll die (and he definitely will because Dave told me so). My Oscar is very lucky to be living with me cause he's safe, sound, happy, healthy, well fed, ornery and is being given that wonderful chance to be a huge pain in my ass and he's probably as happy as a pig in shit.***