Dave007

This should tell you all you need to know. One addition to it---- You'll need to have your bird quarantined in the country you arrive in. That can take between 30 to 90 days. If you're going from your country to another country which isn't the US, you'll have to find out the rules from the country you're actually going to. You'll also have to use an airline that has special areas on the plane to transport pets. Not all airlines accept pets. http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/movinginternationally.php

Testing camera on tripod--bluebirds/nestbox/parents/chicks/feeding --in backyard Click on the picture

If your bird is making other sounds in parrotese but not words, then your parrot hasn't stopped talking. He's taking a break from human language. When they do that, they'll continue to make natural bird sounds but he won't mimic human words. It happens often and most of the time, the words slowly come back. He may also becoming more affectionate. You may be rubbing and petting in the wrong areas. If he gets too stimulated he'll stay with you for longer periods of time just to be touched. But, your vet will be more able to focus on whatever problem there may be.

Look at a *time out* as a way to distract the bird from what he's doing. He wants contact but he's in the mood to nip. So, putting him back in the cage is breaking off temporary contact for a while. I don't think that what's going on has anything to do with a child who has a complete digital setup in his room. If you told that child that he needs to go to his room and also NOT play with any of his gadgets then he would get the idea that he's done something wrong that you want stopped. Anyway, putting a bird back in the cage doesn't make the bird wanna do it some more when he gets out. The mind of a bird and a mind of a child are 2 totally different things and birds don't seek revenge or develop an attitude just because a person doesn't wanna interact with that bird when he's getting a little too rough.

You asked ""Now, another question, is this something that will continue or will he eventually stop if I keep returning him to his cage?"" No it won't stop. It may lessen a bit. Right now, it's a sign of some affection but as they get older and eventually become sexually mature and will do the same thing, only more intensely. That's the time to not touch the bird in any sensitive areas that will further excite him/her sexually. If you do that and stop, eventually your bird will bite you because you're leaving the bird sexually unsatisfied. Read the Body Language thread and it'll explain more in detail. No, the cage has nothing to do with what's going on.

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You're welcome. Got any questions, just ask. We're here to help. Good luck.

As far as socializing, there's no difference between them . Both need that. As far as other differences, there's many but those differences may not apply to every single bird. Example---lets say that a congo is known to bite alot. Not all congos will bite alot but others will. Example---lets say that a timneh is not known to bite. Many will not bite but others will. It's strictly an individual thing because none of the birds have an exact personality because they're really not machines. Lots of other differences between the two weren't mentioned because you only wanted to know about the subject of one-person differences. Probably color and looks are the least important things as far as differences.

It's extremely important to make sure that all people in a multi member household get involved with the new bird so that the chances of one-person bonding is greatly lessened. Eventually, a bird will like a person for certain things and other people for other things. It's called socializing and it's very important that it be done in homes that have more than one person living there. And as Dan said, there's much hearsay and false facts about greys/timnehs. Both types need to be socialized.

That's truly a horrible story. So many greys don't talk and that's not unusual. They're not machines. First of all, to you, a huge pat on the back for doing what you did. Beat the bird?? Too bad I wasn't there. There aren't that many stories about people beating birds because it's a hard thing to do. So, these poor excuses of the human race had to go out of their way to do such a thing. You know something, my day has just been soured. One thing about that cage---the size may have been for a larger sized bird and it may be necesary for you to get the proper size. If that's necessary, we have loads of pictures of cages and loads of opinions about the cages. Many are inexpensive. Really, really, good luck to you. Now, I'm pissed off big time.

No matter how sweet, kind, loveable, cute and adorable your grey is right now, if he gets the idea that he can go on your shoulder, I guarantee you that in the future, he will give you an another absolutely free-of-charge lobe piercing for your next set of new earrings that you buy. If you wear a chain on your neck, they're able to snap and break it without even trying hard. They love shiny jewelry. Another reason for not doing the shoulder thing is that if you use some sort of hair grooming item in your hair, they will get to it because they love to preen hair. If they do get to that cosmetic, they will swallow it and that's a no no. Some birds also like shiny jewelry, shirt collars, cheeks, eyeglasses. Another thing about the shoulder is that when it comes time that you don't want him there, they will give you a struggle when you try to catch him. They'll race over to the other shoulder and they might bite if you persist. When up on the shoulder, you can't see what he's doing but he can see everything you're doing and it's easy for the bird to avoid whatever you're doing to get him off. Just like so many other greys, you have a *no shoulder* bird and it's difficult if not impossible to stop that biting habit so you need to immediately stop letting him on your shoulders permanently. There's other greys that won't do any biting at all but it boils down to personality and attraction or lack of attraction.

"""So Aloe gel will be of no use then to just the feathers?""" ***aloe gel should only be used for skin areas, cuts, serious irritations and bald plucked out skin, dry skin, scaly areas. Feathers can't absorb the gel. Feather shafts can't absorb the gel and the only time the gel works is when it's used on areas that absorb the gel.*** Putting gel on feathers is like putting gel on a hard surface such as a finger nail. It may make the finger nail shiny but the nail doesn't take it in. From what you describe, your bird may be going therought that adolescent stage. Those are the areas I spoke about. I've had birds that did that when they were also very young. If I'm not mistaken, you also asked about how to use aloe juice. Everything about aloe juice and instructions can be see here---- http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189967-100-natural-aloe-vera-juice The aloe juice can be used anywhere on the bird but it does it's best work on skin and inner feathers that aren't waterproof such as breast feathers. Spraying on those feathers won't stop the aloe from going into the skin.

If you don't have experience using aloe vera gel, it would be best to simply buy a small bottle of 100% aloe vera gel at the pharmacy. Using an aloe plant is messy. It's interior is a thick yellow gel substance which doesn't sink into the skin as fast as store bought gel. Using too much of the plant gel will be like putting vaseline on the bird. The gel and juice are 2 different things--one is sprayed all over the bird and should be aimed at areas that aren't waterproof. The gel is put on the same way as a first aid cream is used. If you really wanna buy an aloe plant, there's no special scientific name that you need to look up. The common aloe vera gel plant when in season which is the warm months of the year can be purchased at supermarkets, department stores that have a small plant section, garden stores, flower shops. As with almost every other plant that's sold, it comes with a clear plastic wrapping on it you'll see the words *medicine plant*. It's the cheapest, most common aloe plant that's sold. It's a succulent which is also in the catagory of the cacti family. Basically, it grows like a weed. It's hard to kill the plant. If grown outdoors, it goes dormant and looks dead when the cold months arrive. It'll come alive again in the early summer. All aloe plants follow this pattern. If you wanna see more about the aloe vera plant, simply type in ALOE VERA PLANT in your browzer and hundreds of sites will open up telling you all about it. No matter where you see the info on Aloe vera Plant, you'll also see the words *medicine or medicinal*. All aloe plants have that gel in it. It's simply because of the price of the other types which stops people from using it. I raise hybrid exotic aloes and I can tell you that a simple aloe vera plant is very messy, gooey and difficult for the non experienced person. You asked about whether it should be put on the feathers---no gel, no matter what type should be put on feathers. It serves no purpose at all as far as chewing feathers and it can clog open shafts. As I said in another post, aloe gel should only be used for skin areas, cuts, serious irritations and bald plucked out skin, dry skin, scaly areas. Feathers can't absorb the gel. Feather shafts can't absorb the gel and the only time the gel works is when it's used on areas that absorb the gel. The person here is only talking about his bird chewing the feathers, not plucking them. Plucking and chewing are too different things. Many baby to very young adolescent greys chew feathers especially the upper parts of the back and also the tail and many times, it's a phase that they go through especially when the bird in every other way is acting normal, given exercise and a decent diet. Jay should know about the cacti/succulent plants because it's the condition of the soil and climate of Arizona where 80% of those types of plants are grown and then are purchased by whosalers in most of the US. A photo of the common 'medicinal' aloe vera plant that can be purchased and used all over the place

""but I almost feel like this was a parent fed bird that got pulled from the nest and sold to me as a hand fed bird, she is WILD,"" This is just to make you understand what you've got there---- All parrots are wild and will remain wild throughout their whole lives whether they live indoors with people and outside with other members of a flock. As far as *pulled from the nest*, parrots that stay with the parents for a long period of time are the most well rounded types of parrots. The longer they're with the parents, the more they'll learn about being a parrot so being with the parents is a good thing. Whether the baby parrot was fed by the parents or by the seller of the bird makes no difference at all as far as what he's doing right now. It's simply the way he's reacting towards things concerning stepping up. At his age, the biting is defensive. As you just described, she's still unsteady and may not be quite ready to take on the chore of learning different things. A bird who is being hand fed by a person isn't the same bird after he's weaned and independent. It's at that point that he/she must get used to many things that he already knew about as an unweaned bird. He needs to get used to many of those same things as an independent bird. Your bird is still a very tiny baby.

That routine sounds good to me. Most will adjust to routines. All 3 of the mini macaw species basically eat most of the things greys eat and visa versa. That doesn't apply to large macaws. """"straberries, grapes, bananas, pasta and cheese """" Too much fruit isn't good. It's too acidic and it's not nutritional. Fruit once in a while is ok. Pasta is ok but don't overdo it. No more than 2x a week--1x a week is safer. Cheese can be given once in a while. It should be a hard yellow brick cheese such as cheddar. Any white cheese is a no no. Once a week is plenty. Try to incorporate many more types of green veegies in there. The darker the better. """almonds,""" At least one a day. Packed with goods things and make a good treat or training aid. As far as when to feed certain items which are soft as oposed to hard, you have to wait and see if your bird starts getting the runs from eating soft foods in the morning. If so, the feeding regimen has to change BUT because you have pellets in there all day, you shouldn't run into that problem.

Such an unnatural item. Birds weren't meant to be wearing diapers. Female dogs weren't meant to wear panties and male dogs weren't meant to wear jockey shorts. I would truly be embarrassed if friends came over and I had to explain why I put diapers on my birds. When I see a bird with a diaper on, it reminds me of an extremely unfortunate man who's had his prostate removed and must now wear Depends. Just because it's sold as a bird product doesn't make it a good product and there's loads of other animal products on the market that fit in the same catagory.

A blue front isn't a hybrid A yellow nape isn't a hybrid An orange wing isn't a hybrid All are standard breed amazons It may be possible that the matings of the 2 types that Jay is referring to may have created a bird that looked like an orange wing but the offspring isn't a orange wing, just one that may look like it Go to Jay's room ( Amazon Room) and you'll see multiple pictures of Amazons. All are standard amazons. There's no hybrids; there's no mutations in the pictures. None of the birds in those pictures would have any desire to mate with each other. There's even more pictures of others that could have been put in but at the time, pics weren't quickly available and they too would have been standard amazons.

As far as the flying on the head--that's not a good idea if you already know the end results which I assume has happened more than once. That's also a common rule for people who keep birds on their shoulder and the bird starts to bite ear lobes, clothing, jewelry and of course, the cheecks of the face. People are usually told that their bird is a *no shoulder* bird. When the bird is very tiny, it'll accept affectionate caresses and petting from adults and children but as soon as the bird becomes more independant, it's truer personality starts to show. Greys aren't fond of children and at 10 yrs old, your son still a child to the bird. Most of the time, children have to be kept away from birds if the bird is aggressive. Most of the time, that whole scenerio will somewhat change as the children are around the bird more often and have a non touching relationship. No absolut facts and future events can be stated right now because at 17 weeks, you've had the bird a very short time and it takes a much longer time before a bird gets used to and accepts the huge amounts of things that he now lives with which includes people. You may hear that the same thing that's happening to you isn't happening with others but I can tell you that what you're talking about is extrtemely common. There's absolutely nothing unusual going on.

""""I wouldn't recommend putting aloe gel on an open wound. """" I very strongly disagree with that. The aloe gel is often used for open wounds that are created by serious plucking. Actually, it's the best thing to use on birds who have seriously irritated or thin open wounds. Those areas don't heal because the areas stay very irritated with open sores and will cause a bird to pluck at the area even more. Aloe gel is excellent for open wounds and loads of people have been using it on all types of open wounds, bad scrapes, bloody joints. Vets also recommend using it on open sores or wounds. The bird in the picture has a very minor wound that can happen for different reasons. My quaker has done that to my timneh's feet and legs many times and they always turn out to be bites that involve lots of blood.

Ok, I'll use more a specific description so you can see a better picture---splayed foot. The whole area of the leg and foot doesn't have to be in a splayed position. It could be a leg, a foot or both. Having a splayed condition does or doesn't have to involve the hips and comparing a splayed condition that 2 different species may have can't change the name of the condition. Now you're saying that he moves it, stands on it. But his foot won't close. The more exercise and normal movement the bird does right noew will make that area even harder to correct if it can be at all. His open foot is already adjusting to an open position. You know there's a situation that's present. He doesn't and he''l carry on as if nothing's wrong. He's already doing that. A person can break their arm in many different areas at the same time or just 1 or 2 or 3 areas. It can include the arm socket or not. Either way, the person has a broken arm. And by the way, you asked me whether I'm sure? I'm only sure about 2 things 1--death 2--taxes

Texas These are simple examples concerning mixing different macaws. I'll only use 2 species here although this apllies to all macaw species. A blue and gold has a certain personality that only they have. They live to a certain age that's documented. A Military macaw has a certain personality that only they have. They live to a certain age which is also documented. So, take a military and breed it with a blue and gold and the chick's actual length of it's life is then unknown because it's been altered. The personality of the chick isn't the same as it's parents because 2 personalities have been intermixed and there's no way to tell what that final personality will be. Actually, some hybrid macaws can turn out to have terrible personalities. What personality the chick develops is called pot luck. Mixing different macaws because of the shorter amount of time it takes to breed certain species only creates weaker chicks. A certain equal amount of maturity should be present which can only be obtained by breeding 2 birds who are the same thing. The health of the chick may be altered because the requirements of each species has been altered/mixed. """"On Macaws, I support crossing breeds to improve color and friendlyness. """" Creating hybrid macaws has no effect on friendliness. There's no guarantees concerning friendliness. Changing the color? Yes changes do occur. Actually, that's the main reason that people mix different hybrid species of macaws. There's a market for oddly colored birds. Color shouldn't be the main reason to get a macaw or any other species. The baby that arrives can never be bred again in order to go back to a pure strain. They can breed with any other macaw and the final results will be unknown as far as color because no hybrid macaw has a dominant gene anymore. Finally, a person has a much better chance on learning how to adjust and deal with a new baby macaw that has a guaranteed type of personality, life span and household acceptance such as a blue and gold or a green wing or a military etc. each of these birds have different personalities and mixing different personalities isn't such a good idea just because of more vibrant color and perceived friendliness. The only reason people will mix these birds is because it's actually possible. It doesn't make it right. Most other species of birds won't go near each other even though they are the same species and look almost identical. A yellow naped amazon won't breed with a yellow crowned amazon. A yellow crowned amazon won't breed with a double yellow headed amazon. A Lesser Crested Cockatoo won't breed with a Greater Crested Cockatoo---both are almost identical. An Umbrella Cockatoo won't breed with a Mollucan Cockatoo A congo african grey won't breed with a timneh african grey even though people will swear that what they have is actually a *timgo* It can only be produced by a person and very little success happens. A person who has a *timgo is usually the owner of a Timneh that has the normal colored beak but has a vibrant red colored tail and is a bigger bird than a regular timneh. If Timgo were actually available, there would be a huge market for them simply because of their genetically different color. Fortunately, getting that type of bird is hard to do. Congo greys incubation time is different Period of time to eggs hatching is different. Parental habits concerning chicks are different between Congos and timnehs concerning how they do things. Methods of feeding chicks is different between congos and timnehs. Personalities are different with pairs of timneh breeders and pairs of congo breeders. And I can mention loads of others and that's why I think intermixing for the final minor results is bad. There's just many pure bred greater amount or lesser amount of colored parrots out there that are easily available. Unfortunately, most of the end results of mixing macaws can't be seen until the birds are much older.

That depends upon what you mean by cold. Indoors, a grey can handle 65 to 71/72 degrees fahrenhiet. Cold winds are a no no. If a heater is needed, put one in. The space of the area the bird is kept in has to be large if a heater is used. Very cold weather means less humidity which isn't good. Also an area that's very damp and clammy isn't good. Most people who have birds in large areas which are surrounded by lousy outdoor weather such as in the UK usually bring their birds in for the winter.

Your bird has a condition which is actually a deformity in the upper bone of the leg and toe digits. It's called *splayed leg* and it's too late for any vet to do anything to straighten it out past the age of 7 to 10 days. It has nothing to do with calcium and phosphorus deficiencies. A splint is usually put on the leg so that the bone can readjust to grow straight but it can only be done while the bones are very soft and pliable. That 7 to 10 period is also the same time that bands can be put on babie's legs but by the time the bird is 2 weeks old, the toes can't be bent backward to accept the band. With splayed leg the toes remain in the position you now see. With that condition, the foot stays flat with the toes extended. Sometimes the foot tends to point inward or outward. Sometimes 1 or 2 toe digits point upward or outward. He does feel sensation there but that sensation won't make the foot tighten up like a fist. As far as leading a normal life, you have nothing to worry about. The bird usually adjusts itself to that condition. His life will be as normal as other birds. Even birds who are missing a complete leg can adjust to that situation. Uaually, the seller spots that problem quickly and has it repaired but that time period has passed.

Maggie Wright

If you wanna save some money, go to a petstore that has a large supply of different sized brushes that are use to clean out the various sized tubes that are hooked on to aquarium filters. There's different sized brushes and all can be bent in all various angles because when cleaning those tubes, the brush has to bend into extreme positions to scrub out the gunk in the tubes.