hveusnthbrige

I've read avian vision is so incredible that this is the primary reason why providing a full spectrum pet light is a good idea. Living without UV would be about the equivalent of you or I living with only a black light to see with. I should try to find that paragraph in that book again... I've got so many birdy books though lol.

Any pictures? I've got pics of my baby in the photo thread and on my profile.

I bought a Cockatiel from my breeder to see how well it would manage at home. It did great so I liked that part. I even tried to take it home unweaned but they wouldn't let me! +1 point for them right there. Their price was not the lowest. It was moderately high yet not ridiculous. They offer 1 free grooming, 1 free week of vacation boarding and 1 month of free food to go home with the bird. I visited the shop for several weeks prior to the cockatiel purchase and then many more times before reserving my Grey. I was watching for how they handled their birds and listening to them give advice to their customers. I asked many "loaded questions" that many other shops had fallen for and taken the obvious answer to. Example: Is a fully clipped Cockatoo safe to come outside on my backyard deck with me? Most will say sure it cant fly! (Actually cockatoos are very lightweight and can fly while clipped given a slight wind.) or another question, Pellets are alright to feed the bird 100%? Most will say no, yet some horrible stores will advise fruits and veggies as not nessecary given a pelleted diet. They tried to persued me not to buy the bird for a short time informing me of all the "bad things" about birds... plucking, screaming, attention, maintenance, etc. -A bird is so sensitive of a pet in that a poor one will cause you unmatched frustration. Search for a breeder as if you were looking to hire a CEO to run your billion dollar company. I hope my methods mentioned above help you! Read lots of magazines and books, do your homework for several weeks while looking for birds. And most important!!!!!-> NO PRESSURE! <- Leave a store that attempts to force you into reserving a bird or buying it on the spot. Ideally they should send you home to think over a purchase before letting you proceed with it. Good luck on your search! The more effort you expend the better the bird you will find.

Here are some more pics of my little give me food and attention "GAHH!" screaming baby: He's coming home in 4 to 5 weeks and expected to be weaned in 2 weeks or so. I'm so excited!

Like CD mentioned, my breeder will not allow my baby to come home until he is 100% competent eating solo and has 1 full week of self sustained eating. This will likely turn into about 18 weeks from hatch to home for me. Just watch out, when you hand feed a baby yourself you become mommy. Thats all well and good but do you know anyone that married their mom when they grew up? Not likely, in 1-2 years your bird may choose another person to be their life mate upon reaching sexual maturity. Just be prepared if it happens!! Nonetheless, grats on the new family member! I hope everything goes smoothly for you both. I've commonly heard Amazon and Caique owners typically have better Grey's because the curiosity and playfulness from those birds is easily transfered from bird to owner, to Grey.. which is good!

This is the cage my Grey will be moving into. I got a Medium Kaytee/Super Pet cage: 32" x 23" x 37" Inside http://www.kaytee.com/products/cages/ with the play top. I'm a student so I really can't afford much. My cockatiel lives in it at the moment. I like this cage for a few reasons: -You can open the entire front panel and lift it off the hinges.. cleaning, attaching perches.. etc. -It has 3 captured(a curious parrot won't be flipping them that way) feed bowls that all can be taken out from the outside. -It's all welded together so the noise of climbing on loose bars is not possible. -Powder Coated a nice colour of dark grey with silver traces all over. Bad things I've found so far: -Some of the bars have snapped off their welds. -There isn't really a platform the bird can come out and sit on, or a way for the bird to get from inside to the playtop on its own. More of a personal feature mostly but I will build something just the same.

Sometimes people also think a fluffed out quivering bird is showing signs of illness. In the case of my male 'tiel, its because the hen is within sight. He's displaying and puffing himself up, holding his wings slightly away from his body. Your Grey might be trying to look big and representative for his new flock members... It's interesting your Elmo is already playing with toys after only 3 hour or less. Both my birds took about 2 weeks before they stopped cowering and shivering with fear in the corner of their cage upon coming home, lol.

Ahh Thanks all. That's some tremendous advice! I think right now I'm going to end up letting em have his primaries while he's young. If something like Caspersmum's experience develops where he's using his flight ability to exact terror on the world then he's as good as grounded, lol. Maybe he'll turn into a sweet loving bird and never attempt to be evil... in that case, more power to ya buddy!

I think I should clarify more into what I was asking. I'm aware of the pros and cons and all that mumbojumbo, and I can see it creating a little friction between bird keepers. What I was more asking is, what is YOUR experience with YOUR Grey? Safety aside, such as what xxbeccyxx mentioned about confidence being heightened.. also things like independence and curiosity... clumbsiness.. Shortly my breeder is going to pop the question to me about this.. So you want his wings clipped?? Right now I'm thinking I'm going to leave them intact for reasons of the aforementioned points. I'm certain someone can tell a story about their clipping experiences.

Recently looking at pictures of various Greys on the forum I see some owners let them keep their primaries intact and others give the 4-5 snip. I know it's more based on their enviroment.. glass, mirrors, access to exits of the house, etc. Yet still I'm interested to hear about the experiences of clipping and not clipping. Both my 'tiels are clipped and they fly around just fine, but a Grey's attitude toward flying can't be compared to a totally different bird.

These pictures are making me jealous! I don't have my Grey home yet from the breeder... but I think I can retaliate with some cute baby pictures in only a few weeks when he starts walking around.:cheer: Great pics everyone though, I for one am throughly impressed and makes me glad I picked a Grey.

Hello all! I'm new to Grey forums and this is my baby Grey! He/she is about 6 weeks old and is likely to come home in around 2 months I'm told. I will give it a name once a gender test has been done but if its a boy, it will be Mirek. Havn't decided on a name if it's a girl.. I liked April but my cockatiel hen got that name! The breeder is Exotic Wings in St. Clements, Ontario, Canada. Great people in a small town family shop, they have more birds in their store than several aviaries put together. http://www.exoticwings.com/home.html Thanks everyone! -Geoff