Granpooba

Let me finalize my feelings and thoughts on this subject. Being a retired Corporate Pilot I can only relate to one hell of a lot of training and flying is summed up as " HOURS UPON HOURS OF BOREDOM, SHATTERED BY SECONDS OF SHEAR TERROR ". And by this I mean, you can train your birdies all you want, to navigate here to navigate there. And that may work for you and your birds for years. BUT !! Its only going to take a split second for something, anything to startle your bird and cause it to fly away and possibly fly into something or hit something and either cause a serious injury to itself or even possibly death. I will continue to clip my birdies wings. And keep them from harm and in my life. End of subject for me ! Sincerely, Dave

I clip our birds wings ! Simple, simple !! Reason being : Would you want your bird flying full force into a window or a clear glass paned door. Breaking its neck and dropping dead if front of you ? Well, would you ?? Have heard of this happening time and time again.

Don't cover any of our birds cages at night. The room is very dark and their is a small night light by each cage. I neither agree or disagree with covering of cages. All that I know is that when I put our birds to bed at night , they all sleep very well. And do not wake up or hear from them till about 6:30 or 7:00 AM. The reason that I do not cover cages was explained to me by a very knowledgeable aviary person, years ago. I was told that should the bird be startled at night or have a bad dream, the bird could fall from its perch or flutter about in the cage, possibly hurting itself because it is so dark in a covered cage and their vision may be impaired when first awoken or startled. This is the simple and only reason I do not cover cages. To each their own, I guess. Sincerely, Dave

Hi Greg, Sorry, I can not help you with Billing wearing his beak on his cage. I would like to see him in person and see what he is doing before any advice or judgments are made. My male Eclectus rubs his beak on his cage bars. Usually he rubs it back and forth on a horizontal bar. But I can honestly say that he is NOT wearing down his beak in any manner that is harmful to him. As for taking a bath, I may have some advice in that department as I had almost the same problem with one of my greys. One grey for the most part would love to get misted from a misting bottle. My other grey hated it and would always try to fun away. Even though from time to time he would splash in his water dish. Because of the trouble with Marty and his bathing , I opted for another solution. Which was I purchased a MISTING BOTTLE from I believe it was Dr. Fosters & Smith. It is a pressure bottle that after you fill it, you pump it up to the pressure your decide. Then you have a little valve to turn and it will start to spray. It gives one of the finest misting sprays that I have ever seen or feel. And guess what? Now Marty will sit their and allowed to me misted/bathed. You can hardly feel the mist and he probably does not even realize what it happening. Thats the only solution if have for bathing at this time. Because on the other hand, my Ecletus loves to shower with me, then get blowed dry. And I sincerely doubt that your are ready for that adventure yet. hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Sincerely, Dave

I totally , totally disagree with the statement that no bonding occurs between a bird and a human in a pet store. When my grey came into the pet store. Other people would come in and try to pick the bird up, only to get bitten or snapped at. One person even made the statement " That is a mean bird and it will never get sold ". I said, watch this !! I extended my hand to Scarlett and the bird stepped right up. I said , give me a kiss and I received many kisses from Scarlett. The bird bonded with me in the store. Would not go to or want anything to do with anybody else. Whenever I walked into the store, the bird would fly down from its perch, walk up to me and wait for me to pick it up and hold it. If this is not bonding in a store, then I really would love to hear another description of what it is ? After all is said and done, Scarlett came home with me and we have had eight very happy years together. Scarlett has even mellowed to allowing other people play and pick the bird up. My wifes grey was also picked out from many other greys in a store. I know they bonded in the store. And I have bonded with many other birds in a sore. So, once again ............ not bonding in a store is a totally false statement in my mind ! Sincerely, Dave

Hi Judy, Can not pin down Paul's behavior. But to me, it does not sound normal at all. Even with a clean bill of health from the vet, I would take Paul to another vet. And what I mean is that I would check around your area for a highly recommended AVIARY vet. I would not care how far, I had to travel, I would get Paul there. I do not want to alarm you. But his behavior to me, does not sound normal at all. I could be wrong, but the only time I have ever heard of a bird leaning or lies down, is when the birdie is seriously ill. Perhaps I am wrong and for your sake and Paul's, I sincerely hope that I am wrong. And I hope that somebody else has another opinion. Or a solution. BUT!! Once again, if it were me and any of my birds showed this kind of behavior, I would be on my was to a good aviary vet. My best wishes and good luck to you and Paul. Kindly let us know what you find out. Sincerely, Dave

Thank you folks, for your replies. Personally, I feel that caring for your pets yourself, sure does reduce a lot of trauma that any pet has to go through, in a visit to the vet. How many people personally trim their birds feathers or nails ? I have had my grey " Scarlett " for about eight years now. And I am sure that if she had a crooked beak, that I would have noticed it by now. Her beak was only a little off center and only required trimming the bottom a few fraction of inches. I'm not against vet visits. But two stories can be relayed here. My first bird , which was a female Solumn Island Eclectus, was lost on the operating table. Only because she got egg bound and the vets did not clear her properly the first time. I still miss that little girl. She was a great calming factor in my life. The second time I visited the vet was with my male Solumn Island Eclectus. He was loosing feathers on top of his head and some around his body. WELL !! After $800.00 in tests, the vets told me that they could find nothing wrong and did not know what was causing the feather loss. WELL !! Weeks later, I found out what it was. While in a pet store where my wife had purchased her grey, I was chatting with the owner who's mother also loved and had a male Eclectus. I explained my birds condition and what he and I had gone through at the vets. He said my mothers bird had the exact same condition and all it is is a SEVERE MOLT !!! A trained aviary vet could not figure this one out ???? Especially after $800.00 in tests !! Well thats the end of my two vet stories. And if at all possible I will choose my own doctoring over any vet's. And like I have said all my life ............ NO GUTS !! NO GLORY !!

Just wondering if anybody has ever had to trim the beak on their Greys ? I recently noticed that the lower beak on one of our greys was slightly off center to the left. And that a groove had been worn into it by the top beak. The lower portion was sticking slightly out to the left.:unsure: I know that vets have taken small grinders to beaks on other birds and trimmed that way. But I could not see putting my grey through that trauma. So, I just took a large nail clipper and trimmed the lower portion myself.:woohoo: Surprisingly, my grey just pretty much sat their and let me trim his beak, as if he knew that what I was trying to accomplish and only trying to help him. To tell you the truth, he seemed much happier and talkative after his little trimming session. So, I am just wondering if anybody else has ever had to do this ? And if anybody approves or disapproves the the way that I went about trimming his beak.:whistle: Thanks for your time and consideration.