2birds

Ha ha, that's pretty cool that he poops only on the paper, I love it. They all seem to love to play with the things that are supposed to be off limits. As far as food and water, he'll get there soon enough. Poison water? Act like it's yours and not his, I bet he'll want it then. LOL

Sorry for your loss of Sunshine. He lived to a good old age. 18 yrs. is a long time to be close to a pet, I know you will miss him.

Aunali9, I have not made any comments on your thread because I have absolutely no experience with hand rearing a baby parrot and did not want to just repeat what I've heard. I'm here now to say that I'm really happy that you have resolved the problem with your baby and he is doing well. I'm sure that it was a pretty scary ordeal. Thanks for asking for help with your little guy, he is so dependent on you. Wishing you a lifetime with your friend and don't forget to share the fun stuff.

What a character!!

Oh no, I'm really sorry that you lost your baby. I've been there and I really feel for you.

Welcome Micky21 and Fifi. I'll have to say that Fifi does look naughty but beautiful.

Gabby is adorable. That's awesome that you get pics

What a beautiful little bird

I love the name you have chosen

I agree, I love both the Congo and the Timneh.

As far as I can tell from the internet, weeping cherry trees also have cyanide in them just like their cousins.

I'm going to look for those, thanks

Mine will be a congo. I will be going in about two weeks to see them. I live about two and a half hours from the breeder wish it were closer. I want to wait until they are a little older as they are only about three weeks old right now. Hopefully a connection will be made. Not sure on the gender and I haven't picked a name either. I figure it will come to me in due time. It will be fun comparing notes

I talked to the breeder yesterday and she said that after talking to me, her and her husband don't have a problem letting me take baby flighted. YAY!! An added bonus. They are letting the babies get used to harnesses. I'm really grateful for this, it will make training that much easier. Hopefully this summer I will be building a small to medium aviary in the yard so harness training will make it nice for not only outings to the aviary but also for socializing with other people and new things.

Hello to you and Gabby. Like you, I am also new to the forum and also waiting for my grey baby who should be ready to come home in July or August. I have two other birds as well but have never been owned by a grey. Being in the same boat we can share the excitement and the learning. Your baby is adorable. Once again, welcome.

Wow! I never thought about the sides of the air conditioner. I'm glad you mentioned it. Thanks

How cool is that? They are beautiful!!

I think that keeping it flighted is the better idea. I would be keeping it in one room to start with anyway and there is really no where for it to go. I would rather it gets really good at flying before clipping if I have to clip at all. I always keep the doors locked when the birds are loose so no one from the outside can just open doors. I'm not saying that it is impossible for my birds to get out but the chances are minimal as I don't exactly have a bustling household and I'm very careful. I like it that the birds can go where ever they want and they really don't cause too much trouble if they have enough toys to keep entertained.

Sharon and Kita, nice to meet you both. Can't wait to see pics and hear about your adventures.

Thanks for your eight cents Inara. When I got my Alexandrine he was pretty severely clipped and he didn't know he could fly either. He's pretty good at it now though, just a little clumsy.

I really like for them to be able to fly. They enjoy being able to come out of their cages when they feel like it. In the morning I will open their cages and when they get around to it they join me in the kitchen to see what is for breakfast. Sometimes Lilli the goffins will just climb down and walk though, I'll turn around and there she is waddling across the floor. It's pretty cute but I always have to look where I'm walking so I don't step on her.

I'm pretty sure she will let me make the decision, she just advised against it from her own experiences.

I have a question that maybe some would be able to answer. Actually I have a lot of questions about bringing a young bird home but one at a time. I will be getting a new baby in about 12 weeks. I have spoken to the breeder on wing clipping. Her normal protocol is after the baby is weaned and flying she will let them stay flighted for a couple of weeks and then clip them. After that she will keep them long enough to see how they are doing after the clip (a week or so) and then they get to go to their new home. I thought that it would be better to leave it flighted as my two other birds are flighted as well and that's what I prefer. She said that I could do that but in her experience it would be better that the baby was not flighted until it could get used to me. It wouldn't be able to fly away from me so I wouldn't be inclined to have to chase it around and capture it if need be and frighten it. Does having it's wings clipped diminish their confidence? I'm thinking that it does. If yes, how much? and is confidence easily regained once their new feathers come in? I got my Goffins flighted and he was a little of a pain. We did clip him but in a way that he could still fly just couldn't get a whole lot of lift but he could still glide. He was also an adult with a lot of flying experience so it didn't affect him too much. He is now back to being fully flighted. Does anyone have experience in both scenarios? Feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanks Lori

Hi, I'm Lori. I've come across this forum in my research on African Greys. I've lurked around for a little while and this seems like a great site full of wonderful african grey people. I have two birds at the moment, one alexandrine parakeet and one goffins cockatoo. My family also had amazons when I was growing up. I will be obtaining a grey baby in the near future and am looking forward to learning as much as I can about this specific species and chatting with other people with firsthand knowledge about them. This will be my first Grey. I'm looking forward to being part of the forum.