Dave007

It's very possible that you're getting paranoid over nothing. You never weighed your bird so you have nothing to compare the weight to. Just like most parrots, there's different sized birds of the same species. Small Sun conuires usually weigh about 98/99 gms up to 105/110 gms for larger Suns. Your vet already told you that there's no problems but you've instead decided to follow a groomer's opinion. Who's opinion do you trustl, a vet or a groomer? Messing around with a bird's regular diet by adding a % of this and subtracting a % of that just because of the contents of these foods that have higher % of this or that could be harmful. You really don't need foods that are fattening. Who would wanna fatten up a healthy bird? That applies to other parrots too. Many people have tiny TAGs and trying to fatten them up will only cause problems. Oatmeal won't put weight on a parrot. Heavy thick pastas won't put fat on a bird. Nuts have no fattening agent in them. The only bad thing about nuts is that not enough birds will eat them. Eggs won't put weight on a parrot and these foods are usually fed by spoon or scoop. So called 'fattening' foods such as seed won't put weight on a parrot. That's a falacy. Seeds may not be the greatest thing for parrots but it has nothing to do weight. It has to do with arteries. Ever hear the expression **If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it***

Most companies ship their cages in 2 boxes. The boxes are usually flat. 1 is for the cage and the other is the stand. Most of the time, grey sized cages are pretty heavy. many times it takes 2 people to bring into the house but that depends on how your house is built. If you have a stairway to walk up to front door, you'll need 2 peope. No stairs, then the boxes can be pushed in. But the best way to handle the boxes is with 2 people. The base with its parts are put together. Then the cage is assembled and connected to the base. It's better to have 2 people. It can be assembled together in any order you like. Total weight of the 2 boxes is approx 125 to approx 150 lbs. As far as where they ship from, they have their merchandise in warehouses. It usually takes about 10 to 15 days to get to you but times can vary. Each company is different. It doesn't matter if the cage is SS or powder coated. It's usually UPS or maybe Fedex

Good, having that easy train of thought usually brings success. Bonding isn't all it's made out to be. Many people have a hard time in a house when a bird is only bonded to one person. That's why I always say to people that have just gotten a baby bird that the most important first step to do is to socialize the bird into all members of the family. It's better for the family and the bird if the bird accepts the whole family as opposed to only one person.

By the time a bird is 21 yrs old, it's usually set in it's ways. The personality has pretty much developed. yes, you both should work with him eqully but don't expect the same types of results that a person gets when their bird is a baby. No one can tell if he'll seriously bond with anyone. Your best bet is to get the bird to like you both and be happy with that. ~~~I have known him for about 21yrs, so he knows me but never bonded with me. I'm hoping he will once he settles into our home.~~~ Don't wish or hope for that. Liking botrh of you is more important that the bird bonding with one person.

I don't know what you did in order to measure your grey's weright but their weight is judged by their frames. Small, medium and large boned greys have different weights. If your bird is eating properly there's little to worry about because a grey who is losing weight rapidly is a sign of a sick bird. You never said anything about your bird being sick. As far as an amazon/eckletus, they do have a tendency to gain weight but the only things that can be done is lots of exersise and a proper diet. Normally, I wouldn't recommend fruits but there are good for obese amazons but there's good seed and bad seed. First, seed intake must be lowered. They should get a varied diet containing a mix of commercial formulated feeds and seed supplemented with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables or any healthy human food. Fruit, such as, raisons, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, plums and bananas should be added to their diet. They also like chopped vegetables like broccoli, which will help supply them with calcium, and green peas, sweet corn, carrots and carrot greens, beet greens, lettuce, watercress, sweet potatoes and sprouts. Amazon parrots particularly like corn and beans. They especially need the vitamins and nutrients found in vegetables and should be fed more vegetables than fruit. Any fresh foods that they do not eat should be discarded after 24 hours.

I completly agree with the people who are leery of this product . When I look at this device, all I see is another item to control a bird. One thing I must say--there's nowhere in the video that says that it's a replacement for a flight harness but from looking at it I can see that its a replacement for a tether which allows about 7 to 10 ft leash which doesn't allow the bird to fly away! The tether was the first restraint made and sold to control birds and it still can be purchsed. Then the flight suit was invented. A tether also has metal clasps just like the ones pictured. Look it up for yourself. A tether is an item that aloows a bird to be walked around in the street or kept on a shoulder. The first thing people say or think when they see this item is *replcement for flight harness* Look at that coiled cord. Do you really think that a parrot has the strength to stretch that out?? And where is there any info on how a bird can return to the owner???

There is no specific list of what they can eat --the general food is all types of green and red veggies which can be served different ways. Fruits but not too often. They have no nutritional value. general parrot mix. Parrot pellets. There's many brands to choose depending on what country you live in. Baked chicken is good including the bones. What they can't have is avacodos, chocolate, onions, caffeine, fried foods or fried treats, heavy amounts of salt.

In ideal situations, many of these questions can be asked but many times, there's no time to get into the complexities of surgery. It's difficult to shop around for a vet when surgery is quickly required and the reason is because as everyone knows, when the bird shows symptoms, there isn't a lot of time left. Also, surgery has progressed to the point that many of the above questions have already been combined. Just as with humans, equipment can be different when performing the same procedure. There's 2 types of equipment used to perform an endoscopy. Which equipment is used depends on who the gastroenterologist is. Do you routinely prep the birds for surgery? ( I assume that the word that was left out was prep) If he's an avian vet he either does do it or immediately refers you to a surgical specialist that does . Avian vets try to avoid lawsuits. Avian vets are required by law to list all the procedures he.she are capable of doing. Do you have an avian intensive care unit for surgical recovery? Just as with regular non avian vets, there's always a post surgical unit to put the animals that have had surgery. There is no other place in a avian vet's office to monitor birds Will sutures or surgical apparatus be removed? Since non dissolving sutures are used, protection is used so that a bird can't pick at the sutures. Without it, the surgery would be a complete failure. Who monitors the birds after surgery? At an avian specialist's office all vet techs are required to know monitoring procedures and are also required to treat emergency problems that often require immediate attention. Basically, the reason for that is infection, asperation or body damage. The bird is recovering so it needs to be monitored. It's the same thing that goes on in surgical procedures that are done with people. The special nurses are required to deal with problems that occur especially since 75% of major surgery requires anesthetizia. When might my bird go home after surgery? That really depends upon the severity of the procedure.Lengthy stays in the recovery section will be reflected in your final bill. Can my bird receive a blood transfusion, if necessary? Avian specialists will use all medical procedures that require it to be done. The surgery would be a failure without doing that. They are also required to get the owner's permission to do certain procedures. The price of blood transfusions will be reflected in your bill. Blood transfusions are only used when the bird is pretty close to death. What type of surgical equipment do you have for birds? Only another vet would be able to understand the different types of equipment used for the multitude of procedures that are done. There's other things that can be added in this post but I'll just end it off by saying that if you really want the answers to the above questions, it's best to contact your avian specialist long before you actually need his/her services. If You don't like the answers, shop around for another specialist. In the meantime your bird is still home, healthy, singing, talking, biting, eating well and as usual being his/her usual pain in the ass. This method will also give you a chance to check out A,B.C, D equipment that the specialist spoke about. If you needed immediate surgery, do you decide to get into a conversation about the equipment that will be used and it's success rate?

"My first question is will they let me know when its time to get them their own cages?" It should have been done sooner especially because of an adult grey's eventual personality. But you lucked out with no biting aggressive issues. """Is there any harm in allowing them to be together?""" Only time will tell. Any changes will require an immediate change. Maturity is #1 on the list. ""I also have been wondering if this will limit my CAG's human language development because she has someone to speak parrot to? "" Yes it will. Greys learn to mimic the best when they're alone in their own cage. Parrots will always speak parrotese to each other if they're in the same room but having their own private home ( cage) is important. If you're keeping them in a cage all day long, that'll cause problems because conure to grey sized birds need time out of a cage.

*******keep all the other food in his cage at all times, changing every 2-3 hours for fresh food....******* Carl I think what he meant was to take out old fresh food (veggies, fruit) every 2 to 3 hrs and replace them with a new batch of fresh foods ( veggies--fruit). The reason for that is because veggies wilt and get soggy or too dry after 2 to 3 hrs.

Like many other brands Hagen is a good brand but it's possible that your bird may not like granules. Many times, parrots will ignore certain ones in favor of another. it's a trial and error situation. I think that if you contact Hagen, they'll send out samples of their different foods. Also try Lafeber foods. I know for a fact that they will send a huge variety of foods, even ones you don't ask for.

Use the other rooms here to get more answers. Ther's a bird food room here as well as others that deal with certain subjects

Well, in order to see what feather it is, 1 or 2 still photos would still need to be seen.

No there isn't any quick fix. Greys don't gain weight quickly and from the looks of him, he doesn't look abnormal. Just remember that with greys, weight also has to do with the bird being a small or medium or large sized bird. The larger the structure, the the more weight it'll have. There's people here that have TAGs that vary from 265 to 325 gms and there's nothing wrong with them. As far as food, the most important thing is a healthy, varied nutritional kind of food but that also won't put weight on a bird. Any weight gain takes a long time to happen.

I assume that a vet or vet tech did the clipping. From your video, it looks like a flight feather that's sticking out. With a wing cutting, the direction is the same as the actual shape of the wing. When the wing is cut in a straiht line starting from the top shoulder down to the long flight feather, normally the length of the flight feather will be the shortest. In your case the flight feather was left longer instead of it being contoured. BUT you would need to post a still photo of that wing stretched out in order to get an accurate visual as to what feather is actually sticking out. Your video doesn't provide that. Your bird is darting around playing--the wing can't really be seen because the wing is closed. What is sticking out is from a front view so which feather it is can't be seen. It wouldn't be right to give info as to what to do especially if it involves a flight feather which has a blood supply in it. Take your bird, stretch it out, have someone take a photo of the wing streched out. Then turn the bird unside down ( like a bird laying on it's back) , hold the feather out and take another photo and post them. That'll provide a top and under view. That's the only way that advice can be given. OR you can simply take the bird back to the groomer and have the person fix it.

Actually, for those of you who haven't heard about not whistling to greys-----the reason is very simple and well known. Greys are the most natural whistlers in the parrot world and whistling to the bird just encourages the bird to whistle more and more. It has nothing to do with it's ability to talk. For those of you that have young birds, the time will come when your bird will get into a constant whistling mode and it'll have nothing to do with communication with the owner. In the wild, birds are constantly chirping around each other. The reason they're together is because they're flock birds. Chirping is the way they relax. If you need an example of non-communication concerning people, just listen to your bird start repeating all the things it knows in no particular order. this can happen in the early afternoon or early evening or just before night sleep. There is no communication with people. They're simply micicing what their brains are storing. Whistling is much more natural to them than mimicing words.

I don't think so. Sprouting is just another part of BIRD FOOD. Links that concern info have already been given in this thread and that can happen all the time plus there's loads of posts from the past concerning sprouting.

Hi and welcome to the board and that includes your aviary. many here have different types of birds and believe me, they do understand about having different birds.. Have a good time here.

So many young greys who are new members of a family will do that. It's not a trust issue. She's too young to be dealing with trust unless some traumatic, horrible experience just happened. Babies will be babies and right now you've had the bird for approx 10 days. That's not enough time to decide anything. The bird has to learn alot about you, the hubby, the house, the surroudings, the habits of both of you in the house. Don't be surprised if the same thing happens in the near future ( reverse with the hubby being the bad guy ). Stay calm and cool with her. Don't make a big deal about it. Give her a treat from your hand and walk away. Now, that's the beginning of trust. She'll get things from you without having to work for it.

My dear Zulu First off, you need to understand that no one gave him any advice concerning that post. He originally came here looking for advice and opinions. He got logical answers and he was obviously displeased. That long post above was a typical copy and paste piece taken from a scientific article. Whether it's true or not is not important here. More importantly, the poster hasn't the slightest idea what many of those words mean. His level of reasoning and intelligence is on a very low scale. More than likely, it goes way back to his grammar school days. A person like that needs to spend lots of time thinking up such a bizarre idea like that. It's time that was wasted. Who knows, maybe it was to much weed or a lack of love when he was a child or being rejected by his friends when he was young. Maybe he was made to dress in little girl's outfits. Maybe the parents thought he was a mistake when he was hatched. It could be that normal daylight unleashes the weird dark thoughts that presently exist. Maybe his brain is now similar to Swiss cheese. Now, he's back with a copy and paste hoping that it will reverse the correct logic that was already given. Yes, he may get a bird but that won't last since what he wants isn't gonna happen. I understand that you'll feel terrible about the bird but just know that there's many birds that fall into the hands of mental midgets. That's the way it is. There's nothing that can be done. Lets end this off happily. Just think of this-- he'll have to come out into the daylight to buy a bird. His thoughts may be compromised. His inner spirits may not allow this action. He may be haunted by inner light rejecting demons that constantly lurk around in the holes and crevices of a Swiss cheese brain.

1 CAG-------575 gms----------parents, male is 580 gms, female is 606 gms 1 CAG-------455 gms----------parents, have no idea what they weighed. I adopted him. 1 TAG-------325 gms----------parents, have no idea what they weighed. I also adopted him. A CAG shouldn't weigh a certain figure just because he's a CAG. The adult weight of a CAG has to do with how big the adult bird's frame is. Small boned, medium boned, large boned. The same applies to TAGs

Hi. If your bird's eyes are yellow/white, he would be approx 5 yrs or older.

which place are you talking about? I know Bird toy Outlet and they've always been a bit high priced on most of their goods especially cages. Powder coated is what most cages are made with. Been that way for many years.

Actually, it's no big deal, no great loss. The magazine is 75% advertising, 25% direct bird related subjects. The bird articles are very short, don't really cover the specifics of different breeds, They encourage people to buy birds simply because the birds are for sale. No rules on what to watch out for, no rules as to were to buy them. The reason they're going out of business is because the goods that advertizers sell can now be purchsed at a much lower price in loads of places. 5 yrs ago, they were the only ones that advertised an special air purifier that actually was able to thoroughly eliminate Parrot Dander and pet dander from a bird area which proved to be completely inaccurate. That was the first and last time that company advertised such a product. So, Birdtalk obviously took ads without finding out if the products were legitimate. And in the end to give it that homey touch they had kids send in drawings of birds. The kids were obviously just starting school. Without advertisers, any company will go belly up. The pictures may have been nice but even those things can be seen in loads of places.

As I've already said, the birds don't have to be healthy in order to do this and yes, it will affect their health and when chicks are constantly being born in multi shades of red in all areas, then yes, color genetics is being affected.