Talon

Wow! That was such a fantastic video. Took me back to all those things and how much I miss the simpler days. Thank you Dave, I really needed to see that tonight, as life had been overwhelming lately. Luv to you!

I know how you felt. I have 6 birds, 3 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 3 kids, and i am a single mom living alone with all,those mouths., and we lost the power in the snow storm last oct. we were without heat, elec, no water as we have a well, and no flushing of toilets, telephone and cell phone. I lost all the stocked up food in the freezer and fridge. I have a very small fireplace in the living room,and it was extremely difficult to keep it all together. It would go down below 50 at night, and barely 60 during the day. It was hard and worrisome. I do t think I would have thought about candlestick I have a huge fear of fire burning my house down....but good for you for being so daring in my mind. You did good! After my nightmare, I bought a generator....never again will i go thru that. I have too many living things I am responsible for.

I woulddefinately take the time off. You will have precious time that will help with the comfort of a new settling in routine. Your bird has its whole life to get in a routine where your ton, what's the hurry? It won't benefit either one of you to worry about a routine so soon in my opinion.

Bless you! You just made my day!!

My tag has a sleep cage. It has food, water and a few toys in it as well as a sleep hut that she sleeps on top of. She does eat late at night or early morning in it. Works well for her, she loves the quiet and gets mad nd bangs her bell if I'm noisy in the room.

I agree with Jayd....can't even watch it. It scares the be geezers out of me. But thats just my opinion.

Bottom line....You can't. You will wonder if our grey eas at all, they seem to waste more than they eat. it goes with the territory of bird ownership.

Yes Judy is correct. I have central air and use mine all summer. Keeping it from blowing directly on thir cages.

I am sorry, get well soon. YOur in my thoughts

Dan and Kim, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. But bless your hearts for being such a wonderful and loving home or Bently. You took a lost soul and gave him a wonderful life where others wouldn't. I know how much you will miss him in our home and by your side. Remember all the happy times and cherish the time you did have. Love to you both, Penny

Ray, I agree, it s very cruel to clip any wings, but especially one.....

As many of you know, Piper came to us with one wing clipped severely and the other not. It has been 8 months, and I see no sign of any flight feathers growing. Could it be possible that it is just deformed and not clipped? Or if it was clipped, wouldn't it have grown out by now? He won't let me hold his wing for inspection, so it is only a visual I have.

Oh, one other safety thing. My birds have a habit of quickly flying to the top ofthe door in a split second as I am closing the door, front door or bathroom door. I have twice not checked before I closed it, and got their foot stuck in the door while they screamed until I opened the door.......luckily there was nothing broken, only swelling and cuts that bled and a bird holding their foot up for 2 days cause it was so sore..... now I LOOK up before I close all doors. Don't want to ever feel that badly agai.

Great thread Nancy! Things to bird proof : Wires, medicines, cleaning supplies, toothpicks, salt and spices, coffee beans, Rubber bands, pens and pencils, paper clips, coins, dollar bills, keys they are toxic. Remote control, they will chew off all the buttons, all keyboards, batteries, cell phones, scissors, makeup, all things that have to be hidden at all times in my house. Cat boxes, my amazon wants to play in it.... As Nancy said, use the garage door for entry, even with guests! I had glass storm doors put on all my doors,many guess what, my guests are stupid enough to hold them open and slowly walk in or out even tho I tell them NOT too. I had a few close calls, and now it's the garage or don't come in. Even pizza delivery guys go to the garage. Oh, and hide the fruit, my birds will eat a bite out of every one, no more fruit bowls on the counter. Also, my grey LOVES to throw things on the flood, blows and plates, especially till they smash in a million pieces!

Wow nice to have a backup didn't know that was possible. It was -11 here this past week at night. Guess what, my furnace broke and would only come on sometimes. It was 52 degrees when I woke up 2 mornings. My poor birds......I rushed to put small heaters towards their cages. They were cold, but did okay.

My tag once climbed onto my Parakkeet cage and with her beak ripped out the entire talon on the parakeets foot.....blood everywhere and it happened in the link of an eye...I have 6 birds and NEVER trust them arou d each other without a watchful eye on them. They tolerate each other but rarely play together.

Oh my! What a horrific story. Thank god you kept a cool smart head and knew what to do. Many others wouldn't have. I can only I imagine the terror you felt inside. I am so happy for a happy ending, I was afraid to finish reading what I thought would bring me to tears of sadness. I actually never realized that that was a dangerous product for our fids. I havent given the "air" a second thought, although I dont use it. I do have a can in my bedroom....thank you for the warning. And go have a bubble bath, light some candles, and have a much needed glass of wine!

That is adorable!!! Loved it!!

I have 2 greys and they are very different. One LOVES to cuddle up next to you, rest her belly on the couch and insists on constant rubbing, patting, beak rubbing, soft gentle little pats as she naps. If I dare stop, she will beak my fingers or lightly nip them and put her head under them to get me to continue. My other one will occasionally when she allows it, will want the top of her head lightly petted with only one finger in about 3/4 inch strokes for about 4 times, then she peeps loudly and nips you letting me know STOP! She will do this for a few and then she's done.

I agree with Ray. Nilah will pin her eyes really fast when shes excited, she will fan her tail and puff her chest out with her wings open a bit to show her pretty colors. She also will pace back and forth as well. I don't see eye pinning when she is mad. She keeps her temper inside so you can't see it. She will just fly, attack, or bite and fly off before you ever knew what was going to happen. She shows no signs when she's mad.... She does have an attack mode when she's in her cage, don't EVER put your finger near her cage, or she will BITE! She is very protective over her cage. It's HER domain, and we are to stay clear. She will r each thru the bars just to let you know, it's HER home. Quite funny to see, I'm usually giggling when she tried to assert herself like that.

I will look into it

I have a tag, cag, amazon, cockatiel and parakeets, not to mention 3 cats (1 is completely blind) 2 dogs and my daughter has 2 horses. I also am working full time as previously was vey part time, and hold 3 jobs total. ATTENTION is the hardest part individually to each. When I come home, I let them all out of their cages, try to sit and watch a little tv to relax before I cook dinner, and most nights, they are so lonely from the day, I have2 dogs cuddles with me, a cat or two, and always 2 birds on me. It tells me how much they miss me... I always include them in everything I do when I am home and talk a lot to them hopefully to,make up for the time I am gone. I wish I had MORE time to spend with that many birds, but I do the best I can and on the weekends, they are out all day, plus they get about an hour and a half each morning with me.

Please make sure ALL your folders are cleane doubt in the pm system. There's a limit and it will clog and prevent it from working. As for the other problems, there is hacker software in place for iPads and mobile devices so the forum doesn't work quite as well with those devices ..

Love that last one!

I found this very informative. This was sent to me in an email as a subscriber to WindyCityParrot.com. newsletter. I found it a must read as a reminder to us all. And YES for those who have a problem with it, it IS a copy & paste... Captive Birds don’t always understand the concept of safe, so it’s up to you to keep them out of harms way. For this discussion we’re going to focus on toxins that can work quickly, or take their time killing your birds. Look under any kitchen sink or bathroom cabinet and you’ll find it filled with lots of household dangers. If the name on the can or the bottle ends in “Sol” think Pine-Sol or Lysol - don’t use it around your bird, it’s a phenol derivative. You may want to save money by cleaning your bird cage with bleach (find a suitable bird cage disinfectant here) but bleach gives off chlorine gas which can be deadly (Remember Canaries in Coal Mines?). Spray deodorant, hair spray and scented candles are bad for bird’s respiratory systems. Even hand lotions have killed birds as well. Hand sanitizer is full of alcohol. Plug-in air fresheners, Febreeze. Ammonia, rubbing alcohol or even perfume can be deadly. Treated wood and new carpet, and even the cleaner Endust can negatively impact your bird. That’s a pretty straight forward list of the usual suspects but let’s look at some subtle items that could be mighty interesting to your bird - file under simple sugars. The discarded sweet roll Danish or donut. Anything with the glazing, even high sugar fruit cocktail. The simple sugar problem is when a bird ingests simple sugars these items ferment in the lower bowel and change from an aerobic (something with oxygen) environment to an anaerobic (something without oxygen) environment. Most birds have a certain bacteria that is in the small intestines and the bacteria tends to grow quite well under anaerobic conditions which then creates a toxin which causes an illness that can kill your bird in 24 hours unless antibiotics and fluids are administered rapidly. Speaking of food, let’s look at foods with low pH, low pH means the food is acidic like oranges, raspberries, pineapple and tomatoes that all can produce symptoms similar to sugar toxicity. It’s thought that when these highly acidic foods are added to the bird’s crop they lower the pH which slows or stops the crops normal function as a passageway to further down the gastrointestinal tract. So what happens is, toxic food byproducts are absorbed into the system which can cause dehydration, regurgitation, depression and sometimes even death. This also explains why we are telling people with plucking parrots not to give your bird any citrus/acidic foods or fruit. Overall birds need more calories than humans relative to their body weight but a third to half of these calories should be made up of high quality carbohydrates. Excess fat in birds gets stored in the liver cells or goes back to the bloodstream. If too many fats enter the birds body that can’t be utilized the fat gets stored in the birds liver. If a birds liver is overloaded it will gradually degenerate which can cause weakness, paralysis, seizures and even death. And although it might be cute for your birds take a sip of beer it’s important to remember birds have the ability to ingest more volume compared to their body weight than humans which means liver failure occurs very quickly. You’d think that avoiding tobacco arround birds would be a no-brainer but even chewing tobacco and marijuana can cause things like lung disease, feather picking and heart disease. A smoker who has tobacco residue on his hands or body can transfer that residue to a birds feathers during petting which then gets ingested when the bird begins to preen. Zinc can be a problem for birds, especially big birds like Moluccan Cockatoos because they are capable of chipping off pieces of metal. You have to be careful with cages that are pre -1995. The brass or bronze coating on metals can be harmful. Anything galvanized, and remember, brighter galvanized metal means there’s more zinc in it. The zinc could be found in costume jewelry and sequins, metal zippers especially the zipper key, loose screws, nuts & bolts. Speaking of heavy metal, things like tin which is in aluminum foil, gum wrappers and tin cans can be fatal AND there’s no antidote. Copper - think extension cords, pennies made after 1982 which have almost a pure copper coating. Exposed copper water pipes. Iron is certainly bad, which your bird can find in anything like the rust on an old bird cage. Culprits from curtain weights to costume jewelry, ceramics, stained-glass windows, Tiffany lamps, glitter from fancy clothing and even Christmas ornaments and foils. Celebrating with some wine? The foil top of wine bottles can contain lead. Miniscule amounts of lead can kill your bird especially those from South America like Amazons because they are very sensitive to lead poisoning which cause death in as little as 48 hours. Oh those Swarovski crystals that look so good around your neck contain a good amount of lead. These crystals don’t release lead in the bloodstream so testing won’t detect the lead but your bird can die quickly from internal hemorrhaging and the only way to fix this would be to surgically remove them once they’re identified via x-ray If you think you have a green thumb and have a bird you’ll not want to have a Japanese Yew, Philodendron, Oleander, Poinsettia, Dumb Cane, Redwood, Bird of Paradise, Mistletoe, Nightshade or Around-Sherry in pots around your home. The seeds and/or the pits of apples apricots. peaches and cherries are all toxic. Speaking of pits, in 1989 it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that avocados are toxic to birds and they can die within a couple of days after just one drop from avocado paste diluted in water. Avocados will cause kidney failure in birds so it’s just best not to have any avocados in your house if your bird is out of its cage and roams. Birds are lactose intolerant so theoretically you should never feed a bird cheese but birds don’t know they are lactose intolerant. Even if your bird’s system is strong and can handle small amounts of milk products let’s remember a lot of cheeses have certain kinds of gums that give it shape and texture which are non-digestible which can lead to gastrointestinal inflammation and possible obstructions. Coffee, caffeinated tea, soda pop, cocoa, chocolate can all affect your birds body muscles and may induce vomiting or make your bird appear tired or cause muscle tremors, seizures and possibly even death by heart attack or respiratory failure. Keep your bird away from all of these foods. Most seasoned bird owners are aware of the issues caused by no stick cookware but for those of you just researching a parrot as a pet please take note. Teflon or Silverstone that’s been heated to temperatures above 530° create vapors that are emitted from this cookery which accumulate in the lungs which cause fluid production and then anoxia or the lack of oxygen necessary for a bird, so it dies in literally minutes. I never understood growing up why I wasn’t allowed to play with fire or sharp objects unless of course I was in the kitchen. Kitchens are a bad place for a bird if you're doing cooking of any sort.