Echo's Mom

So I thought I would post a couple of pics of Echo! Hanging out on the boing that has to be multicoloured Just how much damage can a grey do to a wooden chair? Watching the cat drink from his bowl Having successfully chased the cat away, it's now her turn to drink Just hanging out!

That is a great pic!!!! I started to read your thread, but 156 pages is A LOT!!!!!! I'm just happy to read that she is a well adjusted grey having fun in her new home!

Naturally!!! Nice mess too!

Thanks all, and to Dave! That's pretty much what I thought, but am no longer 20 when I thought I knew everything, and it's always good to double check LOL We've done so much manipulation with dog breeds that I'm sure even the dogs are confused!

Did you know that a parrot can chew through it's boing and fall off it's perch in about 3 minutes?

Time flies when you're having fun eh? LOL pun intended! Happy hatch day to Alfie, and many many more!

OOHHH you have a koi pond!!! My pond was finished just in time last year for the water to freeze LOL It's all thawed out now and full of debris, I'll be draining and washing it this weekend, and then filling it back up! Hopefully I can get it all balanced and running to put fish in this year, and of course the plants!!!

Welcome! You have to come back and check in ... we want more pictures please!

The other day I was talking to my 8 year old nephew about Echo and how she's such a great parrot. My sister (his mom) chimes in that not all parrots are nice (giving me the evil eye LOL - he really wants one!). And he says, well can't we just get one from a really good breeder like Marion did with Kyleigh? (Kyleigh is my dog who comes from a phenomenal breeder of GSDs). I had explained to him in easy to understand language about how they can breed certain traits of dogs (I was trying to explain that just because it's a "pitbull / GSD" it wasn't aggressive - my sister is not a dog fan either!) So here's my weird question, because quite frankly, I was stumped, and I've been thinking about it. Is it possible? If yes, what would it entail, and if not, how come? (My thinking is because they are hatched LOL!) Keep it simple LOL I need to to understand it enough to explain to my nephew because I can guarantee you he's going to ask me again! thanks!

Katana - for me it was pretty easy since Echo is obviously as laid back as I am LOL In the winter time I sew a lot - pretty much from 7-10 most evenings, so Echo is up later in the wintertime! While we are in the basement, it's not your typical basement! All of the lights in the basement are full spectrum, so Echo is getting lots of sunlight. (It helps me too!) Echo is NOT allowed to land on my sewing machine (she pooped on it ONCE and cost me $1500 to have it fixed - I was pretty ticked to say the least!) Picture a really big rectangle. At one end of the "short" wall (15 feet long) is Echo's set up ... the tables with her perches on them, and her sleeping cage. To the left, running along the wall (about 25-30 feet long) is my sewing area (I stop about 5 feet away from her tables!). My sewing machine is in the middle on a sewing cabinet, and then I have some storage containers. To the right, running along the opposite wall is my office area - my computer, printer, etc. The other end of the rectangle has a massive wall unit that I built (yup, me!) that goes from the floor to the ceiling and is about 15 feet long. This is my "storage" area for Echo's toys and my sewing supplies and yes ... ALL MY EVER LOVING FABRIC and other crafts (there's WAY more fabric that ANYTHING else in there!) And the entrance is beside the wall unit. I built the "door" - it's a real door, but the hinges attach to the wall unit, and it doesn't close like a real door, but rather with two eye hooks - one on the top, one on the bottom (the kind with the sliding thing - sort of child proof). I figure Echo might get one open, but not likely both - and she hasn't yet LOL And in the middle is LOTS of floor space (have to have somewhere to lay those quilts down to baste!) and that's where we also dance and make lots and lots of noise! So that's my set up and it works really well. Echo is allowed to sit on my shoulder, my head or the back of my chair when I am sewing or on my computer. Sometimes she walks down my arm to get to the sewing machine or the mouse, and all I do is lift up my arm and say go fly away and shake my arm a bit, and off she goes. (She has come back and dive-bombed me because she didn't want to go back LOL), but all I do is duck and then pop my head back up when it's safe and laugh ... Now that spring is here, I spend TONS of time outside working on my garden (I live in Ottawa, ON, Canada - so when the weather's nice I'm outside LOL). Echo spends most of her evenings outside with me in her cage soaking up the rays. I don't really have to worry about predators coming near her cage because my dog is always outside with me too! And not many wild animals / birds come near a german shepherd LOL (I don't like in the country, but in suburbia, so there aren't really many wild animals!) I hope this helps!

Well, I'm very new here, but am on a GSD forum, so I know just how much an awesome mod is welcomed and needed! Congrats, and I hope you never have to put me in time out! Marion

Actually, two of us did answer your question, me and neoow responded to you. Good luck,

OMG I know eh? Those WERE the fun days!

HMMM, I see quite a few people have viewed your post, but no one has responded! I'll jump in. Please keep in mind I have ONE African grey (almost 7 years old) (I used to have a quaker but she died two years ago). I also have a cat (declawed and about 4 years old, just got him 6 months ago) and a long coat German Shepherd Dog (almost 4 years old), so my experience is limited. I've always had animals. From the time I moved out on my own (at age 18) to now, I've always had cats, and then added dogs, fish, ferrets, degus, hamsters, etc. In my late 30s I fell in love with a wild crow. I lived downtown and somehow I tamed this crow into eating out of my hand. From then on, I wanted a parrot. I did TONS of research. I went to community parrot meetings and spoke with people who have parrots. I was invited over to visit their homes to see their set ups, see the mess parrots make, hear how noisy they are, see how much damage they can do. As an animal lover, and a pretty easy going gal, none of this really bothered me. I don't own $5000 sofas / tables, etc. (I shop at Ikea or upcycle furniture), so whatever would get destroyed could easily be replaced. Your biggest "negative" - you're young. You have so much life ahead of you that having a parrot can and MIGHT make you resentful of things you want to do, but can't ... or you might just saw whatever and take off for the weekend. I am NOT saying you WILL do this, it's just something that people think about when they see "that age". Of all the pets I have had, it's easy to board a dog, or have someone come over and feed the cats / fish / reptiles / hamsters, etc. It is NOT so easy to have someone come and look after your parrot, or even find someone who will take them to your home. I'm lucky with my Grey - I have two parrot sitters that I trust fully with Echo, and she has a blast when she is at their house AND when mommy's NOT there. Neither one of these sitters can get near her if I am anywhere in the house. Plainly put, if Echo knows I am there NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can pick her up. Not even with her T-perch. I was gone over night once, and I had the parrot sitter come and check on her to put her to bed. Echo was in her home, on HER turf. She couldn't catch her (Echo is fully flighted). So, Echo didn't go in her cage that night LOL ... and my friend told me that the next time I went away to just drop her off with her. Parrots are EXPENSIVE. Just the parrot can be about $1000-$2000, and then there's the cage ($600-$1000) and the toys - millions and trillions ... take the US national debt ... that's about what parrot toys will cost you! All kidding aside - they are expensive to "maintain." They can destroy anything and everything in their path. They can destroy a $40 toy in 5 minutes. Or, they can be absolutely terrified of that $50 toy and it sits in a box collecting dust for 5 years. Parrots are very emotional and sensitive creatures. If / when you get a girlfriend ... how will you react if your parrots absolutely despises your girlfriend? Don't think it won't happen ... it has and does, and will continue to happen! You are IT for your parrot - you are EVERY SINGLE THING in the world to your parrot. Some greys attack the phone when their owner is trying to talk to someone. Imagine what that beak and those wings can do when they are flying at your face and they are TICKED OFF? I don't know how many pounds of PSI a parrot has in it's beak - but I can give my grey a walnut in the shell, and in the space of 5 seconds, she's cracked it open. Imagine that beak on your finger ... or your g/f's finger? You mention you have a ball python and a husky. Parrots are TERRIFIED of snakes ... so you won't likely be able to even have them in the same room. (Think prey and predator!) Your husky ... well, my first dog was amazing with both my parrots (when I had the quaker). Echo used to groom my dog's ears, and preen her fur on her scruff and actually curl up and sleep in the crook of her neck. It was adorable. My current dog would eat Echo in a heartbeat - Echo is lunch in a box as far as my dog is concerned - she simply has a MUCH higher prey drive and gets a VERY intense look in her eyes when she sees Echo flying around. That was enough for me. I never took ANY other chances. You're a student ... are you going to keep living at home? Do you have neighbours? Depending on where you live, your neighbours might not appreciate your grey squawking it's head off at 6 am an 6pm ... or even throughout the day. I live in suburbia and have a huge lot. Echo's room is in the basement. If I am outside working in the garden and she's calling for me, I can hear her as if I was in the same room. She's THAT loud. I can hear her across the street at my neighbour's house when she's whistling for me to come home. If you live in an apartment building people will NOT (and actually don't have to!) tolerate that level of noise! So I've covered most of what I can think, I'm sure there's a million more things that I could have covered! Lots of luck, and hopefully others will chime in! Marion

OH wow!!! You're going to have some pretty happy birdies (once you actually get that together!) Good patience on your part! I'm pretty sure I would have hired someone to figure it out!

Kins2321 - Hello! Yes, she does have a sleeping cage (I did mention that in my original post LOL) ... she puts herself in there for her afternoon naps, and at night when she goes in, she even closes the door!!!! Thanks for bringing it up tho - had I not thought of it, and there were problems, that would have probably been the most likely reason OMG you took away my BED!!!!!

I'll join in! Dear Echo, while you are 99.9 % of the time the most FABULOUS parrot a person could ever hope for, I would really like to eat a cheese and cracker by myself JUST ONCE. I think I was able to do it BEFORE you realized how good they were! But now? As soon as you see a plate with cheese and crackers on it, you become a bit psychotic! And how mean is it of me to put a big piece of cauliflower right beside it? I know big chunks of cauliflower are scary, you prefer the much smaller pieces ... but too much cheese is not good for greys!

Love those toys - I have the same ones for Echo, except the "boring beige" is coloured rope because Echo doesn't like boring beige!

A cat flirt pole is a piece of wood (or handle of some kind) with a rope attached to the end and a big feather for the cat to chase. Echo doesn't like the feather, so I rest the handle across the top of my computer, and the feather dangles .. serves its purpose beautifully! However, it's obviously not enough of a deterrent for my keyboard (which is only about 8 inches away from the feather LOL)!

These responses are great! And yes, she does love to destroy things!!!! She probably has more toys / stuff than she needs, but at least I know she's never bored LOL She actually is not a fan of the cow bells. She does love the cat balls with the bells in them tho! She kills those pretty quick and then chases the bell all over the place ... now that's a heck of a lot of fun to watch!

Thanks Dave and SterlingSl for your responses ... For training I meant like tricks and stuff ... I see all kinds of videos of "trained" birds and often wonder if I'm preventing Echo from having "more" fun ... things like putting a ball in a basket, mini putt, etc. I admit I tried a couple of them, but it was either Echo wasn't interested, or I wasn't doing it right LOL ... I had a little ball for her to put in the hoop and she destroyed three of them in about 15 seconds flat (I'm pretty sure she had more fun destroying the ball than me trying to figure out how to get her to put in the net LOL) I guess on a parrot forum, you see more threads on people needing help for problems, rather than, hey I have a great bird and pretty much no problems LOL Echo talks but not HUGE ... she knows the cat and dog by name and does call them, but they can't come into her room, so they never get very far ... it is funny to see them react to hearing "my" voice call them! She has more loud noises / calls / whistles than vocabulary ... some of them can be a tad annoying (you know the one whistle that is repeated about 30 times in a row) ... but I've discovered if I holler out ... new sound please, she'll change it up a bit! I'll be interested to read other's responses! Thanks again,

I've read all kinds of stories / bad things about Greys (before I got mine, and during that time of course), and yet, I've never had anything like that happen with Echo. This has got me wondering about a couple of things: 1 - how many people have had their greys since they were little (i.e. you are the only "owner") 2 - of you people, how many of you have zero problems with your grey? By this I mean - no plucking, no never ending screaming (not the normal loud parrot noises, but the kind you hear that make you wish you'd never got a parrot in the first place b/c it's been three hours and it just won't stop!) 3 - of these "healthy" greys - how much interaction / training, etc. is done with them? I'm simply curious about how we all do things with our greys (or other parrots of course, but I only have a grey to chat about!) For me ... I'm Echo's only owner, I got her when she about between 4-5 months old. She's almost 7 years old. I'd never been around birds before, but I did do lots of reading, and chatting with people, and meeting their parrots. I've moved 6 times since I had her, and once was in an emergency and she was literally put in a travel cage and dropped off at a complete strangers house for a month (I knew the person very well - she has parrots, but Echo had never met her). She's never plucked (knock on wood), she's nailed me a couple of times, but of course, they were my fault LOL ... I actually thought I could be faster at grabbing something that she could be WRONG! The only thing I have really "taught" her is to step up onto my hand (and if she won't do that and I NEED her to step) I also have a t-perch that she LOVES to step up on because she ALWAYS gets a pistachio when she does (no, I'm not above bribing Echo to get what I want!) She's fully flighted and I've never had any problems with her flying around the house (granted she doesn't have FULL access to the house or she'd be eaten by the cat and / or dog!) She's not caged at all except to sleep and she doesn't destroy stuff (OK, her toys don't count, and neither do the keyboards that I forgot to put away!) I'm pretty laid back and don't freak out about a lot of stuff. I put a lot of thought into setting up her area ... keeping in mind that since she can fly, she will be able to get anywhere she wants. My routine is pretty much the same: Up at 5 am - out for an hour run with the dog Back at 6 - dog is crated, cat locked in bedroom - Echo is out with me while I shower and get ready for work Leave at 6:30 - I leave some music on low for her to listen to while I'm at work all day Home by 3:30 - spend 1/2 hour on computer (my computer is in the same room as Echo) - music is cranked and we sing and yell REALLY loud while I check my emails and play with her for a bit 4-6 I'm out with the dog 6-8:30 eat supper with Echo - and I spend 2 hours in the room with her doing stuff (I quilt / crafts, etc.) and she gets to help as much as I let her (she is NOT allowed to sit on my sewing machine. She cost me $1500 to get it cleaned because she pooped on it! (It's a computerized embroider / sewing machine - I had to get a bunch of electrical / computer components replaced LOL) 8:30 or so she's off to bed ... Does this seem like a pretty average day? Or am I a really boring parrot owner? She has lots of perches / boings / toys, etc. to play with and she does destroy them all at one time or another .... I'm simply curious ... and I just really that lucky? Thanks, Marion

I've replaced 3 keyboards because of Echo's mischievousness LOL The first time, I blamed her hahahaha ... OMG How COULD YOU? You have 8 million toys, and you destroy my keyboard? The other two times, oh yeah, my fault LOL ... and my current keyboard, has 9 keys missing, so I'm due for a new one soon! I have an all-in-one touch screen computer, so Echo is NOT allowed on my monitor! She doesn't like the cat's flirt pole, so that sits on top of my monitor to keep her from landing on it!

For me it wasn't that hard to arrange. My cat and dog would likely eat Echo if they got the chance, so her room is completely shut off from the predators LOL I was already leaving her out all day while I'm at work, and she wasn't getting into any trouble. So I figured, what the heck, let's try no big cage and see how that goes. It's been awesome!

Hello all, So after many years of cleaning Echo's cage, I decided that I was done with it! I'm VERY fortunate in that Echo is not overly destructive of her environment, so she gets A LOT more freedom that some parrots do. I took down the cage, and lined the 15 foot wall with tables, layered the tables with newspaper, put her two perches up there, and she has a night cage - 3x3x3 for sleeping in. I hung two hooks from the ceiling, bought a large wooden dowel (we'll see how long that lasts LOL) and hooked that up to the hooks, hung her perches on the dowel - which is OVER the tables that are covered in newspaper! Cleaning now takes about 5 minutes - pick up a layer of newspaper and dump in the compost! Change water bowls (2) and life is good! Does anyone else have parrots that aren't in their cages during the day and only have sleep cages? Marion