Dave007

Do you breed Congos and/or Timnehs? 1----That should be pretty obvious. You wouldn't be going there if he didn't breed them. A simple phone call will tell you what types of birds he/she breeds. A breeder doesn't have to sell all species of parrots. Actually, most breeders don't. Is it possible for us to visit a group of babies, and have our baby select us? 2----Asking if you can visit is fine. If there's a clutch to pick from, then it's fine. Asking about how to pick one out is up to the person. The breeder doesn't really care how you pick one out. Anyway, there's a chance that a bird won't select you. That's a fallacy that people put too much importance on . You could be going on a day where none of the chicks are showing no interest in anything. Can choose that our baby be weaned onto Roudybush pellets (and the normal fruit and veg selection)? Could please let me know the size pellet they use? 3---You can't tell a breeder what food you wanna use in the future. He/she has his own food that he uses. A person decides to change things including food with a bird when they finally own the bird and it's home. It's got nothing to do with a breeder. Can you please make a note of what fruit and veg our baby has enjoyed- and what their favourites are? 4---That's the usual process that breeders do when selling a bird. I would like to buy a non-clipped baby who has learned how to fly. (Not negotiable) 5----You can ask about an unclipped bird. It's the breeder who makes that decision. If you don't like that decision, you go somewhere else. As far as flying, a breeder never trains a bird to fly. That's done in the home of the owner. That's like buying a puppy and asking the breeder to housebreak him and train him to walk with a leash before sale. If a person goes to dept store to buy a mattress, the seller doesn't tell a person what's the most comfortable way to lay on it. Would like our baby socialized with kids and dogs please if possible. 6----It won't be possible. Again, the breeder doesn't train a bird for these specifics. Those types of things are done at home. What sort of environment will our baby be raised in? 7------you can ask but that type of information is what a person finds out about long before he/she buys a bird. A breeder can give you the basics. We would love to buy a few toys for our baby to learn to play with please, so that it can come home to us with some familiar belongings. Is this ok? 8---This is what all people do before bringing a bird home. That's pertains to all species of parrots. It has nothing to do with a breeder. We would very much like our baby to be introduced to a harness (aviator preferred), progressively from a very young age, to the point where it is comfortable wearing it with no stress or reaction when it is close to weaning. It is important for Adam and I to be able to take our Grey out with us in public, to relative’s houses and on holidays- and harness training can be extremely difficult if it has not been introduced from the start. We will compensate/buy any equiptment required. 9-----Nothing that you're talking about has anything to do with a breeder. All of these things are done when the owner has a bird home. A person goes to a store and buys whatever equipment is necessary. A person starts to teach a bird how to fly when they own the bird. The breeder has nothing to do with what you decide on for the future. Taking a bird outdoors is a long process and it's done very slowly by the owner. If an owner has decided that certain areas of training are difficult then that person puts in extra time to learn that training. I will not buy a baby who is not at least 15 weeks old. Especially for a Congo as they mature and develop so much slower than the smaller Timneh. (Not Negotiable) 10---- That's up to you. The breeder doesn't have to sell weaned babies,he doesn't have to sell unweaned babies and he doesn't have to change his policy. Some will,some won't. If a person is unhappy with that policy, they look at other breeders. There's sections here that deal with clipping and they have nothing to do with breeders. On the whole, people are told not to buy unweaned birds. That info comes from other bird owners. I would like to know the birthdate of our baby. (Not negotiable) 11----That's a common practice and a breeder doesn't have to be told to do it but if it's not done, a person simply asks for one. All in all, a breeder is in the business of selling birds. He's not a trainer. He doesn't customize a bird concerning the customer's likes and dislikes. A breeder doesn't change foods that have been successful just because a person has heard that a particular brand is better than another. He doesn't have to change his/her policies.

I would suggest hard items such as wood ( hard wood if possible). Put a heavy duty cow bell hanging in the cage. They let their frustrations and energy on those bells. They're well known for their wood chewing talent and hours of chewing keeps the bird's mind occupied. You may have a situation where the surrounding air has gotten dry. Make sure his area is a bit humid and also not too hot---69 to 71 degrees is warm enough. Bathing/spraying---make sure you use cool water and bathe more often. At least 2 x a week. If you're using aloe spray, make sure you don't dilute it. When your bird is soaked from the skin outward, let him drip dry. No towels, no hair dryers. The longer they stay wet, the better it is.

Go back to Photobucket and click on Upload.. Another screen will open . Look under the white area and in small letters you'll see Customize your upload options --------------click it and This will pop up 100x75 160x120 320x240 640x480 800x600 1024x768 (recommended) 1280x960 Click on anyone you like---Voila!! Resizing is done. In the future all pics that are put there will be that size until you go back and click on another one that you like PS---320x240------640x480------800x600 seem to be popular sizes used on PCs

Response is in the GREY LOUNGE

Everything you said is normal. These things can happen once in a greaqt while but they uswually happen to adult birds. Yes, she is tired, a bit listless, a bit sore. It's normal for her to not wanna play with things..THis can happen because of an overactive gland. She'll stay that way for a while.and won't show much interest in things. What may also be bothering her is not seeing the egg. There may be a chance that she'll lay another one and you should leave it alone until she shows absolutel no interest in and that may take a week or so. Don't put any nesting material in the cage. If she's an out of the cage bird, leave the cage door open. Do all the things you normally do. Feed her the same foods--but no grainy foods. By the way this same thing can happen to a male bird too.

***I call the store and Gentleman sad it takes a week that he be back normal*** The man is right. It may even take longer than 1 wk and if this is the first time he's been clipped, That'll make it even longer before he goes back to normal. He may feel nervous. ***Today Tuesday he still not talking and wants to padding all the time **** (don't know what padding is) Very normal. That has to do with getting things back to normal. How long? Well each bird is different. Also, if the bird was handled roughly, that can make a bird take longer to get back to normal. He'll definitely eat and drink but he may not do it arond you.

There's really only one thing to recommend here since any further help isn't available and I know you're not gonna like this. There's many people here that have had many different problems ( serious and not so serious) with their birds. They've gone to avain vets and have been seriously disappointed. Sometimes they're also told that there's nothing that can be done by the present vet. The next step that was recommended to them was to find another avian vet who may have a totally different way to deal with the problem. This not only happens with animal vets but it also happens with specialists who deal with people. They may be specioalists but that doesn't mean that they're always right. Yes, I know it's expensive but I can't think of anything else to suggest. I'm not a vet so there's only so much that can be suggested.

Incubation time is different with CAGs and TAGs-27 to 29 days for TAGS--For CAGs ---31 to 33 days. Artificial Insemination needs to done. CAGS and TAGs are different in size so body size is important as far as connection and most importantly, in the wild CAGS and TAGs will only mate with their own kind. The two types won't even live near each other. Breeding different macaws has been done for years. They're one of the few birds that will do that although in my opinion, that's also something that shouldn't be done. It's only done to change the color of the bird but many people don't realize that many other things are being changed too.

The bird eating out of the bowl is definitely a CAG, not any type of hybrid. The bird is also extremely young because there's no iris color yet and as far as the tail goes, all extremely young CAGs have that darkish color near and through the shafts and ends of the tail. And that color will leave when the bird eventually molts them out. If that bird is small, the only reason it's small is because it's a small boned grey. There's small, medium and large boned greys.

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Hi Dan--It sounds like you're starting off on the perfect right track. Taking it nice and easy, introduction to the family, not forcing her to do things, giving the bird time to get used to things are just perfect. You're gonna be a good parront and just make sure that you check in for any info you may need or just check in to chat. Good luck.

******I really never meant for this thread to become so controversial ******** Only the two methods are controversial. Actually, the word should be curiosity *******I understand that sexing, like a few other hot topics on here, could be hotly debated.******* On this board, sexing has never been a hot topic. There's just no reason for that. The methods starting with the oldest to newest methods---- 1------visually looking at a bird and deciding on the sex by the visual shape of certain areas ( head and eye angles).--the big problem was that a bird had to be a fully mature bird and yet, that method wasn't 100% 2------surgical sexing which was the first guaranteed way to sex a bird. This method is guaranteed to be 100% successful, results are immediate but the procedure was aninternal. 3------DNA testing which guaranteed the sex of the bird with no internal procedure. This results are 100% guaranteed but the results aren't available for 2 wks. Vets won't suggest the internal method unless told to do the procedure. So the only thing people here want to know is why an internal method was chosen over an external method. There's absolutely nothing more ( information wise) that an internal surgical exam will tell as opposed to a DNA external test. Quite a while back, breeders were actually happy when DNA testing was introduced and guaranteed. It allowed a breeder to tell customers exactly what the sex was and the bird never had to leave the breeder's home until the customer was finally ready to take the bird home.

If possible, wet or dry or both but focus in on the areas which you are most worried about ( worse looking areas ). I can show you pics of pluckers who have no feathers at all. They look like chickens so your problem many not be as bad as you think. As far as that product-------- Type in AVITEC.COM On the left, look for PLUCKING/SCREAMING---click on it Third picture from left ( spray and jar in picture) click on it there's 3 choices 1---premixed bottle 2--small jar, powder in it (8 oz) 3--large jar, powder in it (16 oz) ------- Get either 8 oz or 16 oz jar with powder in it. Stay away from premixed bottle 1 rounded teaspoon powder to 8 oz room temp water in a sprayer ( comes with it's own tiny spoon. Shake well--Heavily soak your bird down once a day. If any remains in the sprayer, use it on any other birds sitting around if you have any. Discard what remains at the end of the day. Repeat the next day and remember about the soaking and no towel drying. Your bird may stay wet for a few hrs and that's good because it gets into the skin.

Hi A grey or other parrot which has picked itself bald will scratch alot. The skin is irritated, new feathers are trying to push out which makes a plucker want to pick more. They go after the follicles. Certain areas are more sensitive than others and the bird focuses in on those areas too. So, the problem doesn't go away easily. It does take a bird a long time to ease that problem. There's things that can be done but it is necessary to first get a vet exam. There could be infections but since you're not able to see a vet, you may wanna trying bathing the bird very often and purchase an item called ALOE VERA JUICE which can be purchased at pharmacies or large stores which have a drug department plus you can get an ointment called ALOE VERA GEL. The juice is for spraying the bird all over and the gel is for coating areas which are very raw. I don't know where yopu live but there's another item you can purchase online which is very good for that problem. It would be helpful if you can post 1 or 2 closeup pics of the bird's area. It's hard to judge how serious the problem is. Some people may think the problem is severe when they post but it may not be as severe as the person thinks.

There's male and female names here plus names that can apply to both. Maybe this'll help .Sunny--- Vergil ---Paco---- Floyd--- Skye ---- Poncho--- Taz --- Sparky --- Ozzie--- Buffy --- Roxy---Joey --Maxie ----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

The problem isn't rare. More than likely, the bird was born with that shqpe. People get it filed at different times. There's no set amount of time that it needs to be done. Some are more severe so frequent filing is needed. Your bird's upper and lower beak are close together so it shouldn't be a big problem. She may be uncomfortable by the time that 3 mts is up but it's not painful. If there's no problem with eating then things are cool. It shouldn't impede anything that the bird does. Have a few pieces of wood in the cage so that she can chew it when she feels like it. It's good for the muscles. It may even help her to slightly file the beak a little.

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Well, if your grey sees some good things between you the Zon, it's possible for your grey to do the exact same thing (mimicing another bird--your zon)) to get in on the action.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *****Right time to be sharing things about such a scary bunch, too. This being Halloween & all.***** Perfect reply

Yes, it's fine to give because as opposed to regular milk that people use, (coconut fluid is also milk) coconut milk has 50% more calcium than dairy milk—yet is completely lactose free.

This wheezing sounds like a long lasting sinus infection or lung activity. Sometimes the lungs wind up not working to their optimum. Some vets give nebulizers. Sinus infections can include asthyma just like what people can get. There's a variety of drugs that can be used. Some vets use Muco-mist or Acytlesystine or baytril but only your vet can make that decision. These types of meds open up the air sacks. Even though there are other drugs only an exam will decide if they can be used. Your bird may have an allergy to it's own dander. That does happen with different species of birds. Your bird may have been left with a partial, permanent wheeze from past bouts with it. With that type of condition, signs of past nasal problems will come back once in a while and leave just as quickly. It's really hard to give good advice other than to say that any type of breathing problems or sinus problems or Side effects from meds need to be checked by a vet, preferably an Avian Vet. I don't know where you live but in many states there are clinics that will help for a lower price. I'm sorry that you're getting an uncaring vet. Many are out there and the only thing is money, money, money. I wish there was more that I can offer but I'm not a vet. Good luck. Wishing you the best.

Yes, that happens all the time with greys and you should have mentioned the grinding of the beak just before sleep time. You would have gotten a correct answer. And no, it doesn't have to do with any beak deformity.

Heather is right. They don't sneeze nor do they cough but they can make those sounds from things they're hearing and what may sound like a sneeze or a cough may have absolutely nothing to do with what they're hearing. Birds make sounds that may sound familar to things we know but aren't related. That cough you may be hearing could actually be a branch cracking in the wild.

If you think that your bird has a under or over bite, a visit to a vet is recommended.