Dave007

*****when a Grey bends their head down as if requesting a tickle or scritch--but then they twist their head around quickly and bite you! Those are the magic words. You're simply misreading body language and there's a huge sticky here concerning body language. And there's special ways to conduct yourself around birds who are in a hormonal state.

******Don't they realize they are not dogs? (In fact most are SMARTER than dogs!) They live longer and require special care that no one seems to take in to account when getting a BIG bird!********** Now now, lets not get into who's smarter. 2 different types of animals, 2 types of clasifications ( wild--domestic) 2 totally different types of talents. I've never heard of a seeing eye african grey nor are they absolutely loyal. People have totally different problems concerning the 2 types of animals. I can guarantee others that any dog living in my home will never have that "one person* favoritism but if it did exist, that dog would.nt bite the unfavored person. I do know my dog will protect my birds but I can't say the same for the greys. The length of time that they live doesn't have anything to do with the quality or intelligence they have. Actually, what you're saying has nothing to do with the price of tea in China. I absolutely know that my greys can definitely smell Teflon but they can't be taught to smell drugs or cadavers or bombs or guns.

Look at this click on the second picture down. It's a video. Portions will have to be changed because you have one bird. It's an excellent mixture and can be made in any country. http://parrotnation.com/2010/08/08/chop-shot-by-shot/

Tropicmix is made by Hagen which is an excellent company for parrot food. If your bird is eating that, there's no reason to change. People change when their birdis totally refusing the present food. Any changes you wanna make should be in the fresh veggies area. As far as shipping, companies won't ship to other countries. They may put you in touch with canadian companies that also sell the same products. If you really need to change your bird's dry mix, try the ones that are available in your country.

20 yrs of developed habits, likes, dislikes takes much longer to change than a very young bird. Certain things you mention may never change or only slightly change. One thing you should immediately stop is using the oft bottom material. Your bird's behavior is nesting behavior and allowing a pet grey to do that is a very bad thing which can lead to other bad things. Go back to a few sheets of newspaper and never change to soft fluffy material. If there's no grating in the cage, your bird will chew on anything that's on the tray. It'll yake a while for her to accept things from you and that's natural. She has to really know about you, trust you, feel comfortable with you. Rehonmed birds have baggage which they bring along with them from owner to owner and it can't be gotten rid of. Baggage is basically habits and attitudes created in other owner's homes.

There's a few different subjects in the above post that you wanna talk about. So, the usual thing to do is break up any posts that have multiple subjects and put each into the proper rooms. This area is only used as a welcome and intro area. Each room has it's own heaading. ******I am a great believer in alternative theropys and wondered if it might be ok to use a calming oil like lavender on Timmys blanket or maybe burn some camamile to help him relax a bit more?.******* There are no alternative therapys for parrots concerning relaxation. A parrot simply relaxes when it wants to. If a bird is sick, it needs a vet. Burning any type of candles around a grey can cause major illness and or death. If the bird can smell it, the smell can kill it. So called *calming oil* has nothing to do with parrots of any species. None of the items you mention can help a rehomed bird settle in. Time and patience and contact with the bird is what's used for rehomed birds. And that can take quite a while OR not. There's many areas here that speak about health and training and items that can or can't be used on parrots and that also includes foods. So continue to ask questions but you'll need to rely on experienced people who'll guide you through many areas. Just put the questions in the proper areas and more people will respond to your posts.

Some interesting facts--- They are definitely the true parakeets. That's a proven fact.!! They have feathers. They can fly. Like other parrots, they have a beak and use it for eating and biting. Like other parrots they come in different colors. Lots of information can be found on Austrailan bird boards because those species of birds are a favorite in that part of the world.

There were two nuns One of them was known as Sister Mathematical (SM), and the other one was known as Sister Logical (SL). It is getting dark and they are still far away from the convent. SM: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for the past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants. SL: It's logical. He wants to ****us. SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes at the most! What can we do? SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster. A little while later... SM: It's not working. SL: Of course it's not working. The man did the only logical thing. He started to walk faster, too. SM: So, what shall we do? At this rate he will reach us in one minute. SL: The only logical thing we can do is split. You go that way and I'll go this way. He cannot follow us both. So the man decided to follow Sister Logical. Sister Mathematical arrives at the convent and is worried about what has happened to Sister Logical. Then Sister Logicalarrives. SM: Sister Logical! Thank God you are here! Tell me what happened! SL: The only logical thing happened. The man couldn't follow us both, so he followed me SM: Yes, yes! But what happened then? SL: The only logical thing happened. I started to run as fast as I could and he started to run as fast as he could. SM: And? SL : The only logical thing happened. He reached me. SM : Oh, dear! What did you do? SL : The only logical thing to do. I lifted my dress up. SM : Oh, Sister! What did the man do? SL: The only logical thing to do. He pulled down his pants. SM: Oh, no! What happened then? SL : Isn't it logical, Sister? A nun with her dress up can run faster than a man with his pants down. And for those of you who thought it would be dirty, Say two Hail Marys!

Very normal. They will even fluff more when they're asleep at night. It means total relaxation and contentment. Expect that for the rest of the bird's life.

That's a sign that the bird is nervous and unsure of what's coming. Let the bird relax and don't chase it. That eases up as the bird gets to know you and feel more relaxed.

-------------

There's really no experients are are needed. Palm nuts are their natural food in the wild. The nut is surrounded by palm oil which they also eat. It contains the vitmins that are needed. Unfortunately here in the US, palm nuts are extremely expensive and hard to get and they're in small packages.. What isn't hard to get is the red palm oil which is fed in different ways. You can take a favorite nut (Unshelled), put between 5 to 10 drops of the oil in the shell and you'll be doing your bird a great favor. There's many other methods too.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hn18yxEWfhQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Speakers on

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a5fsWW7U774" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Speakers on

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G4wi3V8HRMg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Speakers on---mental stimulation

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/giQf8mYmRaw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Well, some of your questions can have exact answers and some can't. It depends upon the bird's situation, how long the situation has been going on and positioning of feathers. The first thing is molting-----flight and tail feathers fall out because the blood supply in them is dried up which causes them to fall out. New ones ready to come in at the exact same time. This type of feather loss isn't referred to as moting because it can going on all year long when the flight feather's blood supply dries out. 2 things can happen to the broken feather--it will fall out or the bird will put it back in place. You never mentioned when this situation happened so no time can be given right now. If a feather is causing pain or is in danger of damaging other feathers, it needs to be taken out. If you have no experience with removing flight feathers, it must be done by a professional and the reason is because there may still be a blood supply in that feather. """BTW ~ We HAVE given her a day to remove it herself,"""" Most of the time it takes much more than just a day for the feather to fall out. """""It's NOT a live feather"""""" Never assume that a flight or tail feather is dead. A severely bent feather won't bleed. A broken feather who's interior is exposed will bleed so that's something you shouldn't judge. """he believes performing their own grooming is an important & necessary skill, something that in the wild, CAG's spend considerable time doing.""""" That may be true but the vet doesn't live in your house and only you should decide if there's possible problems. It's no big deal for a vet to pull a feather out. The whole thing takes about 20 seconds. The open area at the base of the wing is then clotted so that any blood there stays there. """"""...I think he suspects we over-react just a bit"""""" That's really none of his business. On to clipping """""" angle - does this make sense to you guys? (beyond the 'clip controversy';we have the neutral opinion is every bird/situation is different)*We want to give her a light clip AT LEAST until she's out of molt, any reason not too? Our thinking is that the LENGTH of her flights coming out are what creates the dangerous possibility one will get caught, torn from her skin, OR jab into her if she were to land on it at a certain"""""" There's pros and cons about clipping. Feathers will take much longer to come back in whether a bird is clipped or not. My opinion is ---No clipping. It doesn't do anything to a bird as far as feathers growing back in and a bad clip can hurt a bird's ability to get around and it's bad to do that to an adult bird that's used to flying BUT, it's up to you. """"*Should we, or do you, limit activity during major molts? ~ """" No bird can be limited as far as activity goes. That goes against nature. Molting feathers are simply falling off and new ones are coming in. What's to limit??? Toys on the floor----birds will do just as you describe. They will also hang upside down in the top of a cage and fall straight down to the bottom. Did she get hurt doing her 360? I think you got more hurt than the bird did. So, in closing, if the feather sticking out is banging into things, have it removed or wait till it falls out. The length of time it's been displaced says more about how long that's gonna take-----maybe a week, maybe 2 weeks, or 2 days or tommorrow.

http://www.flixxy.com/magic-at-ces.htm Speakers on

Type in SWANSONS VITAMIN OUTLET. All of their thousands of products are much less expensive than other places because they're a huge vitamin outlet. I've done business with them for years. When their main page opens up, look for any area that allows you to type in the product. Type in Red Palm Oil. You'll then see the product which is 16 ounces. It will be listed as Red Palm Oil Because you only have one bird, that container should last you about 8 to 12 months. When the oil is purchased, it's thick in the container and has to be thinned out in order to use it. What I do is take an old small seasoning bottle,( like the type that oregano or parsley comes in )clean it thoroughly and then fill it with the oil. When opening the new container the oil has an orange color. The filled up seasoning bottle is put into the microwave for approx 25 seconds. The oil becomes very thin and the color of the oil is a rich red. I then take a wooden stick that's a little bit thicker than the ink tube in a ball point pen. I put the stick in the oil and let it drip on the pellets. Then I take the pellets and mix them in with their seed mixture. They don';t even know the oil is there. It can be used 2 to 3 x a week. The original container and the seasoning bottle can be put away wherever because no refrigeration is necessary. The name of the company that I give you sells it for $7.49 plus S/H per container. There are other companies that sell it but it's much more expensive. The product would have to be purchased online.No matter what company sells it, it's all the exact same thing. People who have serious digestive problems also use this product. If you decide to use this product, after microwaving the glass container should be allowed to return to room temperature before using. Price---$7.49 Amount of times to use---2x or 3x a week 1/2 teaspoon each use

For a grey, use a larger sized seed and only use 1/2 cup honey. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BHoH0RyAlI

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cS4f6wiQJh4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Speakers On

I feel the sameway as Wingy. Another thing about water bottles---many times nipples can get clogged and calcium builds up over time.

Nutriberies are used as a treat item. There's a bit of sugar and molasses in there which isn't good for a bird if it's given in large quantities.

I really don't think this article is such an eye opening piece of material because it can be misinterpeted by many people. First off, the article only refers to adult, mature, breeding age birds. People doing all the petting/sctratching/tickling in wrong places on immature birds only creates a nippy bird because the person doing all of this touching in the wrong places will eventually wanna stop and that immature bird won't want that person to stop and will eventually bite because the bird is getting excited and being left unsatisfied. I can't even remember how many times I've told people not to do these types of things to their immature birds. AND, I say immature because at least 85% of the birds here are immature/adolescent/baby birds. From the article----- ~~~~All cockatoos have an age that they reach “maturity” and this varies from 2-3 years for the small ones and 6-8 years for the big ones. If one disregards the information above and does things all wrong, much younger birds will begin to “feel” hormone production and suffer for it. These birds are confused and not understanding why things are happening or not happening.~~~~ Human terminology------hot and bothered Thatr simply refers to what I already said above that's underlined and it's been said over and over and over. Why has it been said over and over? Well, it's because of all the people who come here and ask "why did my bird bite me? I was only snuggling and petting him and he was loving it and all of a sudden he bit me. Is my bird mad at me? I feel so terrible.!! Most of the people here who own adult birds are usually aware of what they shouldn't do because of past experiences.

Well, the situation concerning you, your mom and dad, you going away to college, not spending much time with him, you getting married soon and leaving, are the most common reasons that people rehome their bird/birds. Retraining an adult bird is difficult. He must be about 12 yrs old now. You say that nothing's gonna change so my opinion is to try and rehome your bird to an experienced bird person. I know it's sad but I can't see how things could get better. There are some people here who own conures that may take your bird but I don't know who. The first thing you would have to do is give the board an idea where you live. If people are close they may contact you. Good luck and become a good MD.