Dave007

Parrots are scavengers. The basic all around diet for parrots --different veggies, as green as possible, some human type foods plus a decent parrot mix and if a bird likes them then pellets. Pellets aren't important though. Many people are told to give pellets but many times, they go stale and have artifical ingredients in them. Some people think they're great but others don't. Personally, I don't find them important but that's just the way I feel. People try to replace parrot seed with pellets. I don't think it's very important to do this. I have birds that hate pellets and there's no problems. Additives like vitamins should never be added because they mess up water and other food that vitamins are put on. If vitamins are needed a vet is the one to recommend it and instructions are given as how to use them. Just beause a pet store sells them, it doesn't mean that they're good for the birds. Pet stores sell lots of things that aren,t good for birds. A grey needs a basic parrot mix in his cage 24/7 because they eat all day long. There is no breakfast , lunch or supper. The person who started this thread was upset when the owner of a new pet store said that he added vitamins to his seed mixture and she did the right thing to avoid that food. BTW, you still haven't told us whether you have a grey or not??

Yes they contain the same levels of everything that sunflower seed is supposed to have. If there was such a thing as low fat sunflower seed, no one would be discussing the pros and cons of giving sunflower seed. PLUS----sunflower seed does have vitamins and is low in colesterol BUT unfortunately, those stats apply to people. Go to your MD and ask him/her whether it's a good idea to eat sunflower seeds. Ask about their vit levels. You may be surprised.

All sunflower seed be it hard sunflower seeds or oil sunflower seeds come from a variety of sunflower plants. There's no difference between the sunflower seed in parrot mix and the same type of sunflower seed in the backyard. The same thing applies to oil sunflower seed.

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Well, get that D ring. Hardware stores. It only has one piece that moves. They're used in parachutes, Bungi cords, on straps that hold down items. It's impossible to move that piece because of where the spring is. Very light weight. about 3 in length. You were talking about a lock that he couldn't open??? A D ring isn't a lock. It's better than a lock in your situation. A bird can't hold it and open that piece at the same time.

Popped 2 pieces of what???

You don't need a padlock. Just get a D ring. It can hook on the cage door and the surrounding area that the door lock is located. It's impossible for any bird to open that type of item.

Well, just understand that people here are patient, very helpful in the biggest and smallest and the major and the minor things and your only requirement is to ask questions, even questions that you thnk shouldn't be asked. You'll get opinions, tricks to do things, methods to do things concerning all sorts of things. Just look at all the rooms that are here. Lots of info, lots of exchange with many people who're willing and ready to help. Greys are complex birds but people can give you opinions about what's going on. Like I said, ask away. You owe that to your birds. PS---One other thing, when posting, use the different rooms depending upon what you wanna talk about. You'll get more responses from people.

Just about everyone has given good advice about many basic things concerning the human to bird or the bird to bird relationships. But everything here isn'tset in stone. What may happen right now with your birds may be in your favor. On the other hand, maybe not. One of the best things to do with pet greys ( for the person who has more than one) is to keep them in separate living quarters because greys each have totally different personalites from each other. The only way for you to experience the very intricate and detailed personality WITH YOU is to keep them separated. That allows each bird to show their full personality without any interference from another bird. You'll never know that full scope of each bird when they're together. They can play all day, they can hang out together but each bird has to have it's own place to go back to which is HOME which is the cage. Each bird designs a cage to their own likes. It'll be different than the next cage. Wanna practice talking to them? Again, they need to be separate because both birds may repeat the exact same thing or not repeat it or only one may repeat it. How does a person know the bird's capabilities? Separate HOMES. Wanna have a specialized relationship with each of those birds? Separate HOMES. Wanna see who's more jealous or possessive? Separate HOMES. Wanna let each bird feel very relaxed when it feels like playing with it's own toys? Separate HOMES. Wanna watch as each bird's personality develops? Separate HOMES. And I can tell you that your birds have come no where near what their final adult personalities will be. There's a lot of other reasons for separate HOMES and none will hurt the birds as far as their liking each other. Wanna see who's the more dominant or passive bird? Separate HOMES. It's very possible that keeping 2 greys in one cage will actually hamper one or the other as far as showing their individuality. But, if you wanna put them together than go for it. My opinion is that greys are so drastically different from each other that I would wanna enjoy each bird by letting them show me their differences. All greys are different and that includes breeding birds. What may go on at your breeder's house is not necessarily the same as what goes on in another breeder's house. I have breeders. When breeding season is over, all are put into a communal aviary. I and my wife can deal with all of them. We;re the owners and they've lived with us for years but if you came around them in that communal area you would see very different birds. I'll put it this way---you would really wanna get out of that aviary quickly. Everyone who gets different parrots thinks about breeding them in the future. It's only natural. But as time goes on you'll see that because your birds are very complex you'll forget that idea. Basically, everyone is saying to keep them separate. Is that so hard? Everyone knows where their birds are at. Let each develop separately. There's not really much more to say, at least from me. Look through the whole thread. Recheck what people have said. Focus on good individual relationships with those greys. Like Jayd said, you may be confusing the words bond and friend. You say that you don't know much about raising greys. Dealing with greys is different than dealing with other parrots. Dealing with Amazons is different than dealing with Cockatoos which is different than dealing with macaws which is different than dealing with conures which is different than dealing with eckletus etc etc etc. People here aren't telling you what will or won't happen. They're telling you what may or may not happen and they're trying to put you on that safe and happy path. Anyway, you've got a lotta years to go by before you may or may not consider breeding these birds. Even in the human world, identical twins need to be dealt with separately because each excells where the other doesn't.

Probably, loads of people will chip in and try to help. This is just a few thoughts. 1--first off, it's imperitive that you get these birds checked out by an avian vet. Expect it cost quite a bit because in your situation, the birds have never been tested plus they've been in a house with things that have been contaminated. You'll also have to keep both away from your other bird for at least 2 wks. I'm not insulting her but most animal hoarders love their animals but the more there is, the less care they get. You'll probably need to get new cages. The present ones have been contminated by bad air and fecal matter. As far as handling, the only thing I can say is that it'll take quite a while for the birds trust you enough to let you handle them. As far as the toes, the vt can tell you about that. Any plucking problems can be checked out by the vet. Any breathing conditions or problems can be checked out the visit. Although they may not like it, they both need to be misted with coldish water. Soaked as much as possible. Under wings, breast area, tail area. You'll need to feed a basic parrot mix until they settle down and then you can add the veggies and fruit to the diet. No vitamins or supplements in the drinking water. Others will chime in and we'll be hear for you. Good luck and pat yourself on the back for taking in and giving a home to these adult greys.

PS---I forgot to tell you that the reason for leaving the eggs with her is because if you take them away immediately, that'll only cause her to lay some more eggs quickly which isn't something your bird or any bird should do. She won't replace any eggs that are already there.

Nothing weird is gonna happen to your grey. What happened does periodically happen with older birds even if there's no mate around. An clutch can be 2 or 3 ad sometimes even 4 eggs. What your bird was doing was her following nature's method of nesting. she was trying to buid a nest and they use anything that's around. The reason that all the eggs should remain with the female is because her next step is incubating them. When she's doing this, she'll have no desire to lay more. After approx 28 to 32 days, she'll know the eggs aren't fertile and she'll start to push them away and ignore them. That amont of time that's passed will allow her internal organs to gain strength and muscle tone. Also, with most adult birds that have an occasional clutch, they'll usually have no more. Just don't make a big fuss with her. Don't constantly pay a lot of attention to her. Let her do what she needs to do. If a 4th egg comes along, don't worry about it. No more will come. ****We also made the connection: we have a male Canary that sings a lot! They are both within eyesight of each other in the big downstairs room. We used to have an albino Cockatiel in the same big room about a year ago and she laid a few eggs. Maybe its the Canary?*** What other birds do around other birds doesn't cause birds to do the same thing. There's a certain time of the year when greys are ready to breed and it has nothing to do with other birds. By the way, the eye color at any age has nothing to do with the sex of the bird. It only indicates the approximate age of the bird. Young, adolscent, adult.

Everyone gave you the perfect advice. Most of what you're talking about is used for budgies and finches--nothing larger. Greys and other medium sized parrots eat large sized foods such as what's in parrot mix. Usually, there's even a picture of the type of birds that a certain sized food is used for. The smaller the bird, the smaller size is the seed. They should have a large amount of veggies too.

Well, I really have no idea what it smells like but we have 2 famous reknowned experts here that specialize in holositic products. Their names are Greywings and Jayd. They're extremely knowlegable and can give and get you the specifics concerning your questions. I don't know whether they're here right now but they will show up.

Palm oil is used to provide certain vitamins that they eat in the wild which is palm nuts surrounded by palm oil. It's the most basic diet for them in the wild. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?196827-African-Red-Palm-Oil&highlight=palm

If your only worry is how to keep your bird warm, this website has a varity of bulbs that do emit heat. They're made for birds and reptiles. 1----The thing you need to understand that these bulbs won't heat up the rest of your home. You would need a separate heater for that. 2----The other thing you should know is that you may have to have them sent to you from the US. Maybe Japan has similar items?? http://www.petmountain.com/category/299/1/bird-heaters.html

It's much better to use the aloe vera juice without watering it down at all, especially during a molt.

The common method used to introduce one bird to another is having them near each other ( each in the security of his/her cage). They need to see each other, make parrot noises to each other, react to the other bird ( yelling, growling, totally ignoring each other etc). Then both birds are let out together but not butting shoulders. Each bird needs the ability to walk away to the security of it's own cage. Then it's a daily slowwwwww process that will improve over time but you need to remember that this isn't what may happen. The birds may dislike each other and each will need to have their own time out individually. Lots of people here have similar situations. Clicker training is just that----training, and it's not used to coax a bird out of it's home. I have no idea what you mean by carrot on a stick trick. At 10 yrs old, your grey more than likely has developed habits, likes, dislikes that he/she will retain. Using your hand around him but not actually touching him will show you how enthusiastic he'll be but that too is a slowwwww process. Starting off with sticks is a very bad idea especially since the bird is an adult. THAT COULD cause problems in your future relationship. Yes, it's important to see what possible situations do or don't exist. Normally, when a person brings a new bird in a house that has another bird, a quarantine is usually done. Bother birds are separate from each other ( the new bird being kept away in another room) for 2 to 4 wks. Vets recommend this; bird owners recommend this; bird sanctuaries make sure it's done before the bird is released in with other birds. How much $ ? Well, that depends upon how many tests are done, how much the vet charges the catagory of the vet. He/she needs to be an Avian Vet. Regular vets don't really deal with birds frequently so expect to have about $200 to $400 on hand. Some people pay more;some less. The on;ly thing you can get as far as an answer is how much individuals paid. They nap frequently and stay stationary for extended periods of time. They're also quiet. Sporadic napping is common. We have a big thread concerning body language here that applies to just greys. The thread is a sticky. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?109373-Body-language-most-frequently-seen The small video you posted could be the bird trying to get attention, or reacting to the noise of the storm or just scratching the bars or simply climbing around.. More that likely, it didn't last long. And last but not least, you;ll need to let the bird get used to the new environment, new people, new routines that go on in a new home without pressuring him with so called training. He's 10 yrs old and may be obstinct.

Ana Grey sent me a fast delivery post card. She also said :eek:"please hurry":cool:

For the last 8 mts it's been difficult to get the palm oil from Swansons. They keep saying that they haven't received any from the manufacturer so Type in Amazom.com. On main page type Red Palm Oil and the first picture you'll see is a bottle of Red Palm Oil that's 33 ozs and costs $11.95. The price is great and the oil is pure. PS--Swansons was charging $7.49 for a 16oz container

Maybe renaming the room--PHOTOGRAPHY and VIDEOS will get more action. Loads of people are using video these days.

Anytime someone advertises birds that also come with eggs, 98% of the time it's a scam. This also happens alot on a place called Birdmart. They have a classified section that has loads of the same type of ad. It happens so many times that people are already used to it. The ads pretty much look alike. Most of the time, people just ignore the ads. Real shme that people would try to pull this off.

Just stay alert and you shoudn't have any serious problems.

Eyes are fine.Nostrils are fine. Just the edges if the beak (upper and lower) isn't a good idea if he's nibbling or pinching. On the other hand, you may not have any difficulty with edges. It's trial and error. When that time comes that he nibbles or pinches too hard, that's the end of the edges. He may be exploring though. Just be alert to what he's doing. All serious biting starts off by nibbling for some birds but not others.

Just scratch on the head. Don't touch the upper or lower beak.One day that slight beaking may get firmer and may hurt.