Christina

Finnigan turns a year old in May and she is starting to molt. Her new feathers are coming in a much darker grey so I can tell all the new from the old. Also, one thing I have noticed when my B&G molts, he loses the same feathers on each side of his body. For example, he will lose one wing feather, say third from the front, the next day or within a week, the same exact feather on the other wing will come out. It seems a very exact science that is going on with their molts and very interesting. You can almost tell which feather he will lose next as he pays special attention to it while grooming. He won't pull it out, but its almost like he knows that one is no good anymore. I imagine its because the new feather is underneath, perhaps pushing the old one out and he can feel it? I find it fascinating to watch. We once had a caique who once she molted her feather, she would never touch it again, you couldn't even put it near her. Loki and Finnigan both love their molted feathers. Okay, I confess, I make Finnigan toys out of Loki's feathers and she loves them!

Finnigan is 272 and very healthy. Although, keep in mind, they do differ in size. It seems Talon might be a bigun. They are just a bit bigger than a conure, stockier if that makes sense.

Good post. The tongue clicking in my house means that you are very close to getting bit though. It's Finnigans only warning that bad things are to come if you persist in your actions. Thank goodness she came with a warning system.

I just voted clipped, but like most people, I'm letting her wings grow out, so hopefully next year, I'll be able to vote unclipped.

Makes me want to kiss his little face. How cute!

Don't worry over it Spence. When my husband first got his blue and gold, the vet finally told us to quit coming back (she was just kidding)! He was there for acne, he was there when he sneezed, he was there for a feather being out of place...she was like your bird is young and healthy, stop worrying and enjoy his company! Nyscha....now that is a funny story!

My finnigan isn't nessecarily "cuddly" but she does enjoy being with me and will put her beak right up to my lips so I can kiss her and scratch her head at least once or twice a day. It's a sure show of love.

Make sure that you introduce your grey slowly to the harness. If you just try to shove it over his head, you might ruin your relationship. We have a biker here who takes his blue and gold macaw on his bike with him everywhere. It's an old bird, but he holds onto the handlebars in front of the windshield so he escapes the wind. I don't recommend this, but I thought it was interesting. My birds recognize the sound of our bikes and know when they hear the motorcycles that we are home, then all he*& breaks loose as they start calling to us. Before putting your grey on your bike (in your pack of course), I would get him used to the sound and slowly get him used to the bike. Also, be aware that exhaust fumes are very bad for birds as their respiratory systems are very sensitive, so make sure he isn't getting the exhaust or placed behind the bike as you are getting him used to the sound. We have a blue and gold macaw and a TAG...they don't care for one another much and will mostly try to drive each other away. All their interactions are very closely supervised and they have seperate stands and play areas. I would get rid of everything with teflon. Didn't someone here recently lose their bird due to the George Forman Grill? Anyway, good luck!

Aren't little girls special? :lol:

The first time Finnigan ever did that, I thought she must be hurt or dying! Now, she does it when we play in the evening and when she gets started, everyone stops playing and looks at her! It is sooo funny. I guess that is because she is normally so quiet that when she gets going its like that commercial..."When EF Hutton speaks everyone listens", but substitute Finnigan there. :laugh:

I bought Finnigan for $500 from a breeder in Sarasota, but I found her at a bird show here in Tampa. Sounds like I got a good deal. She is TAG though, so less expensive than a CAG. But she was with a few other clutch mates when I saw her and she ran right to me. I picked up her loved on her a minute. Put her back, walked away, hemmed and hawed, walked back, she ran back to me, I said sold and she came home with me that day. I had been looking for well over a year, but just hadn't found "the one", and there she was, I would have paid $1,000 and still believed I got a deal, for I got the best bird in the world.

Sooo cute!

Sorry, don't know about Costa Rica...but I will say that parrots are treated much different than the more popular dogs and cats. Don't forget when you talk to them to ask about bringing your bird back into the country. Once they are out and exposed to other diseases, alot of times, the US will quarintine the birds coming back in and they have only a few quarantine stations, Miami and New York are a few. Here is the US site that you may be able to find the answer. http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DQ/faq_animal_importation.htm#petbird

I live in Tampa, FL. How did you like New Zealand Jane08? We got a job offer there...couldn't go because they won't take our parrots. Can't go without the family, although, I would have dearly loved to go to New Zealand.

This is sooo strange. I was in the parrot shop I frequent this weekend and brought in a flyer regarding some parrots I am fostering, hoping to find them a home. The nanday's name is Tookie. Cindy (one of the girls that owns the store along with Adelle) said, isn't that a great name, Adelle had an african grey named Tuki but she was stolen. Imagine my surprise after reading this post. I live in Tampa and Adelle grooms our parrots for us (I never thought of her being this Adelle). She does travel to south Florida quite often, but I didn't know it was to groom birds from a store she owned there. Anyway, to answer your question, no, Tuki was never recovered. Adelle did get some tips on her whereabouts, Colorado, and flew out there to try to find Tuki, but the trail grew cold and she never did find out if Tuki really was in Colorado or not. Cindy said that she believe the "ex" who is not a nice person, took Tuki to punish Adelle as he knew how much Tuki meant to her. She did say she would appreciate everyone keeping an eye out for Tuki as Adelle is still looking.

jdr, keep in mind that the red factor has the possibility of molting out at the first molt. I have seen breeders charge in excess of $100 more for red factor only to have the buyer be surprised when the first molt hit and their grey was in fact a "regular joe".

Okay, the dowel rod rolls...I think what I need to do is hammer or screw something into the ends of the dowel and maybe use wire as well as rope to connect it to the top of the cage. After looking at swings on-line, that is how most of them do it, they have something in each end of the dowel or rod that the bird stands on so it doesn't roll.

I made Finnigan a swing, this is how I did it: I took a dowel rod and drilled a hole on each end, I put a rope through each hole, knotted at the bottom to hold it in place. I strung it up like a swing, so each rope is attached to the top of the cage. My problem is that when Finni steps on it, it seems that the dowell is very unsteady. Its not that the whole swing swings, but the dowel kind of shakes. You know how you feel if you try to stand on surf board or raft, it just wobbles under you? Like that. I tried stuffing some felt fabric in the hole to occupy any space but it didn't seem to help. I also tied one side of the swing to the cage to try to steady it but that doesn't seem to work either, not to mention, who wants a swing you can't swing on. I feel bad because I used all these different fabrics and tied them all up in strips alongs the rope, like a preening area, and have some ribbon in there strung with beads and wooden stars and I put some mega millet in the beads so she would climb on up and forage. It seems like she tries, but she wobbles back and forth until she just climbs off. Does anyone have any suggestions on steading that dowel up for her? Thanks.

Here is another site for just the parts for toys. http://www.parrotasylum.com/naturalsx.html

I wonder if it has to do with the moon sometimes. Finni and Loki were both off their normal selves the other night, close the eclipse. Just quiet and grouchy. Finni even went into her cage and up her sleeping roost by herself when I was cleaning, like "hurry up mom, I'm ready for bed!".

That is funny. Finni does my hair too...thank goodness my hair dresser hasn't said anything yet. And I have made many a trip out and thought, Oh my goodness, I didn't check my back! :ohmy:

I went home at lunch today, got some lunch, played with the birds, which I am usually very careful about making sure they potty before they get on my shoulder. I did not do that today and Finnigan gave me a present. Thankfully, I noticed before I went back to work and I changed real quick...as I was running behind as usual because I had to fix up their cages (spoiled birds). I didn't look in the mirror before I left. Big Mistake! White shirt...black bra...very light tan pants...very orange underwear! :pinch: What kind of woman goes to work dressed like that? The kind of woman that owns a parrot!:woohoo:

I'm going for female. Do you ride?

Most the time, my parrot behaves better than my kids! :ohmy: Thank you for the compliments...I do love her so. She does have the red factor but hasn't had her first molt yet. My vet said that the red factor is caused by an abundance of iron in the parents diet and a majority of the babies will lose the red factor after their first molt. She said some keep it, but that isn't very often.

I finally took the pics off of my camera and edited them for the forum. I wanted to share. Some are of how Finnigan loves to bathe, in a hanging basket that I water and have on the concrete. One is just a pretty pic of her with a hibiscus flower. Sooo sweet. I just look at these pics and melt. My co-workers tell me that I should just go ahead and give in and take the pics of kids down and put the pics of the birds up! I wonder what they are trying to say?:unsure: Anyway, I hope this works, its the first picture post for me.