Dave007

You'd be surprised at how much birds communicate with their owners using parrotese. It would take time but a person can actually learn what a bird is saying. The one thing you can be assured of--no matter what it is, your bird will say the exact samnething when it applies to an actual sound or noise or human talking that it hears. A bird may start to cluck when a person comes home or for the human taliking bird, he may say *how are ya*. A talker would have leaned that from the owner. The clucking is something the bird has incvented and can't come from a person. Both birds are doing the exact same thing but using different languages. Microwave?? Buy another one with a different sound, put both on and your bird will have double the fun. So will you. PS---that cat call whistle will probably remain and will be associated with you and he showering together. You're nude? He may do a wolf whistle.

There's a lot of variables here. He's already said things so he's a bird that talks. How much he talks depends upon how much a person talks to the bird and how those sounds are embedded in the brain. Some talk very little and others will talk alot and then you have a middle of the road talker. Many find that making sounds is enough because they're not sounds heard from a person such as what you said about chickling sounds. Some find that the human voice is very appealing and will lean towards that. Whistling is probably the most natural sound a grey does. I tell people not to practice whistling with their baby because it'll come naturally and adding to that isn't necessary. ***is it norm for greys to say a few words at some point only to never speak again? *** Yes or least they'll only speak those words on a regular basis without adding to the vocabulary. On the other hand, there's those that are late bloomers. Birds can start at 6 mts up to 2 yrs. These times are variable. Both CAGS and TAGs can go thru all of the above. As far as deciding the bird isn't a talking bird, there's really no way to answer that concerning a bird who is under the age of 4 yrs old. The words he originally said were words that you said and he may have been words that he found to be pleasent. Constant talking to him and around him will help you decide whether the bird is attracted to human sounds. you may say things to him and he'll respond by doing a certain sound consistently. Well, he's talking but not in human lingo but he does understand and has his own response. One of my birds has to verbally kiss a nutraberry before taking it from me. He also has to nudge it. Why, I have no idea. I know he didn't learn it from me or my wife. ****how long did it take for your parrot to "never shut his trap"? *** That depends up on how pleasent the bird likes the words he's heard.

You'll definitely see obvious differences and actually, that's a good thing. The personalities, likes and dislikes of certain things will be different. Attitudes will be different. Being more sure of itself will be obvious. TAGs aren't like CAGS in that department. A TAG is more bold and will like being in your face. In the future, a TAG might like to show that it's a bit of a bully. A TAG will be more brave with outside things such as moving appliances or may try to nip at a rag that's wiping down a cage if the TAG is in the cage. CAGs would much rather avoid that. Basically, the TAG is very outgoing. The CAG isn't. But the only way people can actually see all of these things is having them side by side in a home where they can be observed on a constant basis as time goes on and the basic nature of each appears.

Well, since you've gone thru the wars with Ana Grey and was promoted to sargeant, you should have no troubles.

It looked like he was dancing to some music even tho there was no music.

Sometimes red tail feathers fall out 1 or 2 or 3 at a time. Even more can fall out. The red feather is dying and they fall out and get replaced by others. The amount that fell off was just a coincedence. The next time it may be another amount. The bird isn't molting. Those feathers as well as wing feathers fall out all year long at no particular time. That's not molting. All the other things you're seeing is molting and it's not painful. There's no difference concerning a younger or older bird. They all molt once or twice a year. If you're not seeing loads and loads of white fluffy feathers areound, expect to see that.----that's also normal.

The eye color changes because of the melinan that the iris contains. Age changes the iris color as the melinin ages. As judy says, it varies from bird to bird. All a person really needs is a birth certificate of the bird. How slow or quickly the eye color changes isn't important. After 4/5 yrs old the color has reached it's full development and after that, the age of a bird can't be known except for what the person has been told.

It's best to separate them until the hormonal stage passes. I don't know how long their hormonal state lasts but keeping them together just increases the hormonal actions of the *horny* bird. If satisfaction isn't guaranteed, one could get aggressive with the other especially if the *horny bird is very dominate. Hormonal stages do pass though. That whole hormonal thing goes on with many species and it doesn;t matter whether the birds are the same sex.

Thick, lumpy. chewy, mixed flavored oatmeal. 1 full coffee scoop for each bird. Quaker Oats generic. 1x a week

Congrats to you. Here's hoping for the best. Think about a male though. Your other birds need a man around the house who will guide and protect them through thick and thin and give out solace and comfort.

Only the most experienced bird handlers will go that route and they'll be the first to tell a person that they shouldn't try something like that. One person can't deal with that type of training. Many birds have been lost by doing that because once outside, nature takes over and the bird reverts to it's natural instincts and flies away. That's why there's no training lessons for people who wanna try that. The closest thing a person can try are methods of flying that involve Aviator Harnesses. That type of item allows the bird to fly around but the person has complete control of where the bird is going. As the person gets much more interested in doing this and the bird gets more used to doing it, extentions can be added to this device which allows the bird to fly farther away but the owner still has complete control of where the bird is going. The bird won't get hurt because of the material the harness is made of. There's always a soft landing. And as far as Shanlung is concerned, even with his years of experience he would also tell a person to never try that. His first bird named Tinkerbell was always on a harness and as time went on, more and more length was added. He doesn't even own that bird anymore and hasn't for quite a while. He has a new bird in training.

Just remember that it was a vet tech and those people are trained to sell the products sold in the office. It not only happens in Avain vet places but also in general non vet offices ( dogs and cats). That's why the products are there in the first place.

Lets say that your bird does like it ( especially on a shoulder, lap or knee, wrist or arm). It doesn't matter whether it's a cartoon character or anything else. From a long distance, a bird won't pay attention to the visual but might be interested in the audio. Then, if your bird is close by ( near or on your shoulder. lap or knee, wrist or arm)and all of a sudden something scary comes on,( not scary to you but to the bird) a bird will react badly. Maybe an eagle or a hawk on a nature show on a PC or TV screen. The bird may fly away, flapping wings, showing nervousness, being a little leery of you, even possibly hurting itself Definitely, a bird won't come back to the PC screen again because they have the ability to remember. This definitely happens to birds who are exposed to the outdoors when looking out a window that they're close to. This may also happen to a bird when a dog or cat wanders by near a window. So, lets fast forward--it hasn't happened yet but what if it does. What are ya gonna do? So, is it is really necessary or normal to put a parrot near something that may have a bad reaction by the bird? Think about what you're doing. Your grey is a wild bird who is also a prey bird and you can't predict what will happen in the future. Is it natural to do that to a parrot? I think not. Parrots can't be trained to not be afraid of things.

Beans?? Just use the ones that don't him fart.

Mmmmm, Really? Oh well, to each his own. How about a video when you next floss?? I'd love to see you wiggle and flutter. It would be interesting. Maybe even enticing.

Greywings is right. He died from clogged arteries, not nuts. Nuts don't cause clogged arteries. It's an illness which any bird can get. He was 31 yrs old.

Concerning information on this board, read the sticky in the Health Room http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...ll-information !!!

Penny--yes, they're rats. Hundreds of them. But the man had a reason for doing it. The reason may be strange but in his mind, it temporarily relieved a large and extreme amount of sadness that he was going through. He was never cruel. He treated those rats admirably. They never went hungry. He treated those rats better than he treated himself. As someone else said in this thread, it was heart breaking to see what this man was going through mentally. Also on shows like that, theres many other individuals who also mean no harm. They've simply been taken over by their animals. Many of these animals ( dogs and cats) revert back to being feral. It's rough to see them. On the other hand, there's people on the shows who have a warped sense of hoarding. The animals suffer and eventually the SPCA gets involved and they in turn get Animal Control involved. When Anjmal Control gets involved, the person has no way of changing their decision. Besides taking the animals away, jail time and heavy fines are in the near future for those people.

Look at the eyes.Oblivious to everything that's going on. People and surroundings. A cage can be empty or full. It's the true sight of the real grey in the wild scratching and scratching in order to find things to eat. A definite act of nature at work. That's done because in general, parrots are scavengers and that's why it's periodically done by parrots even in an enclosed environment even if there's nothing to scrape at or eat.

PARTS---1----2---3---4----5 -------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwaiiiOQqlU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7reakT7h4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyK124zdv8A&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GacWkgwvj1o&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK7_-Bcjkb4&feature=related -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many times the scenario of a thread is imcomplete. I've seen this hundreds of times and I'll give an example. This subject has to do with breeding but this example happens in loads of otrher subjects in other areas in threads that are in many rooms here. 1--the original thread starter, no matter what the subject is---- ( I'll refer to that person/persons as A ) A comes to a board and posts what seems like a complete beginning to ending post. It seems like the subject matter has been totally covered. The repliers ( I'll refer to them as ( B--singular and plural ) Another B sees the post and start to address certain parts of the original post. That reply may be positive or negative. A then replies to B that this or that does or doesn't exist. A says that the original post wasn'tt mean to be like that and replies to negative answers that B said. More B then picks out something that the previous poster said and gives a varietion response. It could be positive or negative. A then adds more to the previous post/posts that wasn't spoken about. It could be any response negative or positive. More B then picks up on that piece of the post and adds more to the previous posters. It could be positive or negative. A then responds by defending him/her self about that/those previous post/posts. Almost always, it's the negative things that are said in the previous posts that A responds to. More B then responds the previous post and or posts and adds their take on it. It could be negative or positive. A then comes back and addresses the previous post and it's newest take in the previous post. Again, the negative is spoken about in defending what was said. I could go on and on about A and B but I'm hoping that people here will understand what I'm getting at. Basically the conversation has wandered off from the actual thread and gone into things that weren't mentioned. Those things are called additions. Many times, the subject matter goes by the wayside and an answer never happens In the meantime, the thread starter has spent most of the time painting a fuller picture of a particular situation post by post. If the subject is a touchy one, most of the Bs will come out as the winner because A spent lots of time adding and adding a more complete picture. The bad thing here is that A should have given a more complete description of things and asked many more questions in the origanal thread starter. Most of the time this is done unintentionally. Sometimes, the end result is a good one. A realizes that he/she has lots to explore and is happy. OR the end result will come out with A feeling that he/she was unnecessarily blasted and leaves. In this particular thread, only 2 questions were asked by A. So, my response (B) was simply a load of other questions and I left it up to A to choose. This thread ended negatively. The reason being that A has finally found a breeder's forum. In the US, breeder's forums are usually filled by experirenced people. Is it a good breeder's forum? Not when a response is * all you need is a good pair of breeders* That basically implies * experimentation* The US has very strict up to date laws concerning parrots including exporting and importing parrots. We have government rules about that. Other countries don't and that includes the UK, so I will say that when A says that other countries are far ahead of the US, that's a falsehood and even people in the UK and other countries are trying to amend their own rules. I know this is a fact. I'm in contact with people in the UK and other countries for years and years. In fact, many people from many countries wind up coming to US boards for the final complete information. Again I'll say that many people do that here in different sections and on other boards about loads of subjects and it'll never lessen or stop and many times, the thread goes by the wayside.

No, there's no safe parrot paint. No matter what kind of coating is on it, a parrot will work on it. They can eventually break into powder coating too. It does take a while. Any other type of coating with any type of paint will simply get destroyed by a grey much quicker than powder coating and yes, getting the cage powder coated again will cost a fortune. You can have two possible solutions---1, purchase a stainless steel cage which will cost a fortune or 2, go to EBAY in the bird cage section. You'll find very well made, powder coated cages in just about every style and size you can think of. The big difference is that the cage from EBay won't have a brand name on it. This type of cage would be good as a second cage even though many people buy these cages as the main one. Many here have purchased from EBAY. The cages are new, boxed, never been opened A and many have a BUY IT NOW option which means that bidding isn't involved. An example of price---The size you stated above would cost at about $450 to $500. On Ebay,the same sized powder coated cage would cost about $175 to $200.

Well, basically you want a breakdown of each grey's personality in general into adulthood. CAGs---very leery, very nervous, will try to avoid confrontation, will bite when provoked, don't care for small children who are erractic around them ( usually applies to playful young children darting around who are too quick and aren't aware of that type of personality), won't take to new things very quickly, will remain nervous for a longer period of time if children or adults make them leery, will definitely bite children and adults who are constantly acting erractic around them. They're very well known for their nervousness. TAGs----less leery, less nervous, will try to avoid confrontation, will bite when easily provoked. Being less leery and less nervous and more brazzen allows them to confront something with gusto. They will try to bite after having an initial run in with a child. They'll continue to try and bite at a later date when that child is around but not provoking the bird OR they'll stay as close as possible to the person who irritated them in the first place with the idea of biting. This also applies to inaminate objects such as loud vacuums, wiping down cages etc. TAGs will try to bite at objects whether they're on or off. CAGs will go out of their way to avoid these types of things. CAGs get very frightened and nervous and go on the defensive. TAGs get very annoyed and go on the offensive. That's their general personality. Compare the 2 birds to boxers CAGs--One who likes to use all types of defense and the whole 18 ft boxing ring until some good jabs and upper cuts can be landed. TAGs--would much rather go forward and quickly confront the opponent in the corner of the ring and likes to throw round house knockout punches. The TAG doesn't need an 18 ft boxing ring. He's much more content in an 6 ft boxing ring. The CAG is the boxer--------------------MUHAMMUD ALI The TAG is the puncher -----------------JOE FRASIER I only say these things because someone said that TAGs are better to have around children. Both are okay around children as long as that person knows the individual makeup of a CAG and TAG. Buying a bird because someone says that they're better with children doesn't guarantee that it'll be that way. That's what socializing a bird into a family is all about. Love for the whole family and visa versa.

Hi, welcome to the perch. It sounds like you're having fun to say the least. So glad that the posts here have helped. Be seeing you soon. Enjoy.