Dave007

Greys have that type of beak which only means that the beak above that left to right line which to you looks like a crack is simply the beak above that crack starting to die out so that a new layer of beak can come in. There is no ridge. That's just a trick of the eye.

That seems like a legitimate reason to get one especially since your family may get upset. Since you can't find one, check out Ebay in the UK and go to bird products section. They usually have a large array of items there. I was serious about the sock. A sock is used by some people who have birds with permanent skin damage all over the body from plucking and chewing. Most of the time that bird/birds will never have a feather on it again so people use the sock to cover the breast, neck, back and vent areas. Usually, it's a permanent thing. Cockatoos are most prone to this. The reason for it is to ward off different infections that can get on and into the skin causing big trouble. A friend of mine has such a bird. The bird is totally naked. So, he's made about 3 of them from socks so that that they'll always be a clean one available for the bird. For the occasional visit somewhere, a sock may help and you can color coordinate it to match the clothing you're wearing that day. Just remember what they say-----*A sock a day keeps the poopies away.*

Why would you wanna put diapers on your bird? By the way, the name of this item is a contradiction of words the item has nothing to do with any type of flying or flight. Nothing can be put on or in it for a bird to fly or control flying. BUT---if you really desire to get one of these items but can't find it anywhere, simply get an old sock. A sock works on the same principle. Take an old clean sock that's a bit firm.cut a slice into either side of the sock. This is to let the wings out. Go the bottom of the sock and about 2 inches from the bottom, cut a slice from left to right ( about 1 1/2 inches) This is to let the tail out. The bottom 2 inches of the sock will be a loose pocket with nothing in it. That's the area the bird can sh*it in. Oh,forgot to say this---any color sock can be used to add style.

Well Dan, whatever you did fixed the problem. Your post is #163 and post #162 finally showed up. Thanks

Hi , welcome to our perch As far as the weak leg/claws, it's probably a partially splayed leg. If he's lasted this long, there shouldn't be a problem in the future. What type of perches------- Natural wood branches that are different thicknesses are best for weak feet that don't have strong gripping power. The branches can be taken off of dead trees. Put a few odd sized branches in the cage and that'll given him a chance to squeeze the feet tighter and looser. The odd sizes allow your bird to find the best thicknesses he likes. Playstands can be made of them too. An example below------- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/P1010002k.jpg

Clipping such a young bird is one of the worst things that be done to a bird who hasn't developed muscles, wing control, landing and lifting abilities. A baby bird will never achieve things when clipped at such an early age. Keeping an unclipped bird calls for some sacrifice on the owner's part and the need to learn about the importance of flying. Another example--is it good to declaw a cat because it scratches around a house and displeases the owner?? Read this http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190512-WingClipping-Part-1-Objective-Neutral http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190511-WingClipping-Part-2-objective-neutral'>http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190511-WingClipping-Part-2-objective-neutral http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190511-WingClipping-Part-2-objective-neutral http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190509-WingClipping-Part-4-Objective-Neutral

Hmmmm---Have to say this The person who runs a legitimate bird rescue,adoption center is usually a person that feels that no more parrots should be bred for any reason in order to create more parrots. Their feelings are that there's enough parrots in the world and their main concern is to rehome the existing parrots in the shelters. It doesn't matter whether the baby birds are being given away or are being sold. Most shelters object to that. Legitimate shelters won't breed more birds. Legitimate shelters also think that there are too many breeders of all types of parrots and feel strongly that it should stop. I'm familar with many shelters in many different states and they say that their main problem is getting people to rehome existing birds. The last thing they wanna do is draw in people who've heard that there's babies for sale or are being given away. Basically, it's called ---conflict of interest There may be people who work at a shelter and want a baby bird and the shelter owner will tell the person that he/she needs to go to a different place to get that young baby bird. There are very simple answers to all of your other questions above but first read this. Many people here will even try to convince others to adopt existing birds. Many people here have adopted rescue birds and that applies to many species. The only requirements are that a person/persons have some type of past experience with mature parrots. Birds in shelters are usually older, have been a few homes and need forever homes. I strongly respect the people that take that attitude. For those that don't have that prvious experience and want a bird, going to a shelter to get a bird that hasn't even been born just doesn't sound right. I have greys that were much older when I was given the birds. They didn't do what the young birds do but in my eyes I succeeded in making them happy and they in turn made me happy.

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Welcome to the world of parrots. They don't eat all of some things, eat alot of other things, fling a lot of food out of a bowl, go after certain things first. The best thing to do if you feel that a waste is there is to buy a different brand. That even applies to treats. there's some very expensive ones out there and some birds won't touch them. Get a less expensive one and the bird devours it and it can work visa versa. Same thing goes for veggies etc

Pictures can be deceiving but to me, that swelling looks like it's on top of the upper part of the wing. The area that gets swollen is under the face in the chest area. Anyway, get to a vet quickly. Just about any one who gets an unweaned chick also goes to a vet very promptly. After feeding a bird looks like this after being fed. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/May22b.jpg

You're Welcome. I'm glad that you're relieved about color blindness. It can be a problem for people though. I feel bad for people who have to put up with that situation. I guess I'm lucky.

In the shell. Birds like to crack them and they're easier for the bird to hold on to while eating. They roast them in the shell but you can get them without the shell. Up to you.

Congrats---looks like a match made in heaven. I'm mean a match for you and him. I hope you're happy.

Always remove all peanuts from all bags of parrot mix. They're raw, can contain mold spores that can lead to aspergilosus. Take tyem and give them to the squirrels and other out door birds in your yard. The peanuts in the bag don't taint or contaminate the other items in the parrot mix If you wanna give peanuts, go to a supermarket that sell *fresh roasted human grade* peanuts. They usually come in a clear bag. Make sure is says human grade

Let me put it this way---I've never seen a color blind parrot. I've never heard of a parrot being born this way. BUT, if there was such a thing as a *pet parrot* being normally color blind as we know color blindness to be, that parrot wouldn't have the ability to move around a house freely. It would fly into things it couldn't distinguish, it wouldn't eat many foods that are given, it wouldn't play with many different colored toys. IF a parrot was actually color blind, it would be in the area of the blue and red spectrum that people don't have. Therefore, if that area was affected the bird would still be able to see all the things that exist in a house and even many parts of the outdoors. The only problem that parrots and other birds have sight wise is with clear glass in a home. Clear glass has had all rays of the sun taken out when manufactured so a bird can't see something that isn't there anymore.

Living in the wild or hand raised pet bird, it doesn't matter. They're not color blind. The only parrots that are color blind are dead ones. Just because the bird is a pet and doesn't have contact with the outside world, that would never affect or influence a bird's sight as far as color. Birds can be totally blind but that's usually an external deformity or an external injury.

All parrots can see color. Their range of vision goes into the infrared part of the spectrum, which means their vision is better than humans.They need color vision to see which fruits are ripe, and good to eat and which are not. It is well known that birds have better eyes sight than most creatures, the parrots see a wide variety of color including some we as humans can not see. There's a good chance that your bird may not like any colored toys so the best thing to do is give toys that are bland, beige and look like wood. Wood is a favorite chew item for greys. Many greys and other species don't like colored items. It's not uncommon.

Your grey is in this age catagory. It's hard to give an exact number. 6 weeks http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/JD6weeks1.jpg 7 weeks http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/JD7weeks1.jpg 8 weeks http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/JD8weeks-11.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You would clean the bird off by taking a very soft paper towel ( 3 on top of each other) put very warm water on it and stroke the dirt from the top of the bird down to the tail. This must be done very gently. If the dirt is around the beak, eyes, nose, also do those areas. I have no idea how much you're feeding , how many times a day you're feeding but we have a basic hand feeding schedule in a special section on the board in the nursery room-----**How to feed a Baby Grey*** This is extremely important------ You must go to an avian vet and have that tumor above the right wing and immediately have it looked at. It's urgent that you do that. You need to do it quickly..

Einstein is back!!! So, for all the new people who haven't seen or heard a very talented bird, I present to you------- EINSTEIN

Almost all rice that people eat is boiled before eaten no matter what country it is. Giving rice is fine as long as you don't make a daily habit of it. Maybe 2x a week in small amounts. The food that's given to a parrot should consist of the standard veggies, some fruit once in a while, some human type foods such as pastas once in a while and some parrot mix. Putting lots of butter on the rice isn't a good idea. I don't know what that yellow stuff is on the rice. I don't know what that stuff is in the lower picture but if the rice is well cooked and the kernals of the rice can still be seen like in the above picture, it's fine. The rice shouldn't be mushy like a paste. A small amount of spagetti sauce can be put on the rice. Rice that's very salty is no good. White or yellow rice is ok. I don't know what *basmati * means but any rice you give should be plain. If you find that the rice you're talking about has additives, then don't feed it.

I just took them from one place and put them there for a picture. When Gene moved them, they were a little surprised and just stood still enough fo the pic. They didn't realize what I was doing. I tried with one other pic but they were finished and wouldn't stay still. Yeh, they'll be feeding for about 3 more mts. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. They'll let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/DaveVP/talkative-african-grey-parrots-fo-adoption-4cccd85407c53101db951.jpg 2 on the left are 4 days younger

I didn't know they were not popular. You're the first person to say that about birds in the UK. We have members here from the UK and they never seem to have problems finding a parrot and they never said that peroots were not popular. One thing I can say is that you don't have to worry about getting an unweaned bird. It's against the law to sell unweaned parrots in the UK. I can't help you as were to find a breeder but you can do this Go to the GREY LOUNGE here. Click on NEW TOPIC Type in Looking for Breeders in the UK. Give a little history of your situation, your part of the UK and see if you get responses.

I'm using the # 14 as a hypothetical. 1---look for a breeder who has a decent reputation. 2---make sure the breeder will fully wean the bird and will also say that the bird isn't quite ready for sale because it needs to be weaned a little more. 3---Don't accept a bird from a breeder that says it would be nice for you to finish weaning at home and tries to convince you to do that. . That's a common mistake that people make. 4---If you are picking out a chick, ask if it's possible to visit the chick once or twice before being sold. 5---Make sure you get good paperwork concerning warranties/guarantees/ refunds in case of problems. 6-- make sure the seller will allow you to have the bird examined after sale in case there's problems. That's called a *well check* The breeder may also do this before sale but it doesn't have to include the sexing of the bird. Males and females are alike. 7--Don't buy from large pet shops. They don't know the actual origin of the bird and the health conditions of the breeders. They buy their birds from brokers ( middle men) 8--Don't buy a bird that has be to shipped by plane or other transportation. That's buying sight unseen and if there's a problem, the buyer is the loser. 9--Don't purchase a chick that's already been clipped. The bird will have a hard time building up natural muscle that can only be had by flapping and test flights. 10--if you're having problems or have decision problems, go to a bird board that you trust and experienced people will help you with advice. Most breeders are reputable but there are scumbags out there. Some people here can tell you about them. They've had run ins with them.

It could be both. Plucking can start at an early age when a bird isn't fully weaned. When I say fully, I mean that just because one person says that the bird is weaned at 14 wks doesn't make it so. That type of bird can be nervous. Genetic----taking 2 birds who arent in good shape such as birds who've been overbred countless times will pass on many weak genes in their bodies to the chicks. The breeders aren't prime stock and it shows up in the chicks.A bird who is totally weaned makes for a very calm bird. A bird who is not totally weaned makes for a very nervous, high strung bird and in a grey, that isn't good because the first thing they do is pluck. Another example-------puppy mills. Breeders who are over bred, in terrible condition. The puppies are wonderful looking but have mqny weak points that werepassed on by the parents and those bad points show up at a later date. Usually those are medical or mental problems.