Talon

Congratulations Melissa!! I am so happy for you! And of course I am the proudest Mom of all! You have done a wonderful job with the advice and photos you have offered to share here. Your photo-shop tutorial is the best! I know you will do a wonderful job here! CD picked the best! And besides, you have him and I to keep an eye on you!! :laugh:

WOW! I love the motivation everyone here has! You are all doing exactly what I had hoped, in sharing ideas, and helping keep us all on track. Every little bit helps!! So lets keep at it, and continue changing our lifestyle to a new healthy and happier you, one post, and one word of encouragement at a time.:cheer: :cheer: I love the idea about a parrot friendly gym!! :laugh: {Communicate-0002011B}

Hi Rosie, and Welcome to our Family. You will love it here, and will learn lots. I hope to hear more from you, I'm sure you have a lot to add to this family. We love pictures, so feel free to post them.

My Avian vet says< "Absolutely NO human saliva!" We humans DO carry harmful bacteria in our mouths.

Thank you Ken. I am happy to hear of your monthly newsletter! I missed that on your web site, but I will be signing up for it!! I also look forward to seeing your documentary.

Hi Angel, and Welcome to our family. I believe it is fate that you ended up with Angel. I look forward to hearing more from you! Very nice picture!! :cheer:

Hi Kelly, and Welcome to our family.

Okay, I just made this post elsewhere, but I will repeat it here. My avian vet highly recommends lacto plus anytime our grey is ill. You put in a tsp. to 1 pint of water and use it as their drinking water for 2 weeks, followed by 1 tsp. to 1 pint of water of organic apple cider vinegar for 2 weeks. He advises all his avian patients to do this every 3 months, to keep their systems healthy from bacteria. He will use this method instead of antibiotics as much as possible. It does help a great deal.

Tami, I am so sorry for the sad news. My vet highly recommends lacto plus anytime our grey is ill. You put in a tsp. to 1 pint of water and use it as their drinking water for 2 weeks, followed by 1 tsp. to 1 pint of water of organic apple cider vinegar for 2 weeks. He advises all his avian patients to do this every 3 months, to keep their systems healthy from bacteria. He will use this method instead of antibiotics as much as possible. It does help a great deal. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Please keep us posted.

Beccy, set it up! You'll be glad you did! :woohoo:

Harley, are you returning Harley, and replacing him with another Grey?

Thank you Ken for your reply. I am very HAPPY you have joined us here. We are a wonderful group of bird owners who are always looking for the best techniques to help with any issues that arise. We really are a family here, and I Welcome You. I hope you visit us often. We have a lot of fun here, and would love to hear from you as much as possible. Please let us know of any upcoming workshops you may have. We have members from all over the world, and I am sure that they would love to see you in person as I did. Best wishes, Penny <br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2007/11/07 04:12

Yes, Spooky, I would love to see a picture!!

That was cute! I have never seen Talon jump like that! I didn't know they could. :pinch:

Nice for you Kristin! It was 56 here, and very windy!! :unsure:

How about music while you walk? Or Podcasts, those are fun to listen to. :cheer:

That is so cute! Thank you for sharing that with us!!

Dan, I agree with you. I have been fighting with Talon for 2 years to get her on a pellet diet. I bought 12 different brands. I did manage to get her to eat some of the Roudybush mini's IF I mix it in with the parrot seed mix from the pet store. I do about half and half. She was on Zupreem fruit pellets when we got her from the breeder, but she decided one day, she no longer liked them. I do give her fruits and veggies. She loves the dried veggies that come from Dr. Foster and Smiths, and their fruit mix. She will get fresh as well, whatever I have on hand.

{Feel-good-0002006E}

Judy, that is the nicest post you have ever written. Thank you girlfriend! Love right back atcha! {Love-000200BF}

Do a search on the internet. There are no specialists for ophthalmologists that I could find, but there are Avian Vets in Florida.

I hate this time of year. It gets dark way too early! {Feel-bad-0002009F}

I think they are all different. Talon did say her first word at 4 1/2 months. But it was quiet. It took a few more weeks until she was consistent with her words. We also stopped whistling to her, and spoke real words in the hopes that she would pick that up instead of just whistling. It seemed to speed things along, but that's just my observation.

Lisa, that is very nice. And so cheap too! I'm sure they will get used to it, it will take some time though. Be patient!

Talonsis and I went to a Ken Globus Workshop today at the Pet Exposition in West Springfield MA. It was a hands on workshop, although we chose not to bring Talon. We don’t really have any issues with her, so we didn’t feel the need to have her there. We did however, learn a lot of techniques that will be very helpful in reacting to any behavior issues that may arise. These techniques will also help my youngest son with his parakeets. Ken really stressed the importance of the OWNERS energy level when you are handling any bird. I found that was one of the most important lessons he taught us. Also, the importance of the owner being, and maintaining (throughout the birds lifetime) the roll of being the dominant one in the relationship. He offered many techniques for overcoming biting, stepping up, and how to protect yourself from being bitten. He talked about the “Birds Hate Gloves” myth, and my favorite, “Most Birds Hate to Be Touched” myth. I highly recommend attending his workshop if you ever have the opportunity. I know there are many critiques out there that think his techniques are rough, or that he forces the birds to do something that they don’t want to have done to them, and the birds just give in. That is not the case. I imagine that those critiques really haven’t attended a workshop, and witnessed his work. He takes birds that are unmanageable and in the time span of 10-20 minutes, has that bird stepping up, being petted, and offered to a stranger to spend time sitting with and being touched. I watched these birds that had many different issues, relax, and trust his handling of them, next he would work with the owners to teach them how to properly handle them, and the birds preferred his calm techniques more so than their owners. Here is the link to his web site: you’ll find much more info there, as well as his upcoming workshops. www.thebirdwhisperer.com After the workshop, I thanked Ken , and told him about our forum here. He asked me to email him the link to Greyforums.net. I hope he will come here, check us out, and perhaps answer some questions we may have.