danmcq

EFGriffith wrote: It is good to hear you are doing some serious soul searching and extending the deadline. :-) Only you can make the dicision, one way or the other and you will definately be in my Prayers. :-) Karma to you for displaying such a deep respect for your bird and it's love for you!

Lend Me A Bird "I will lend to you for a while, a bird", God said. For you to love him while he lives and to mourn for him when he is dead. Maybe for twelve or fourteen years, or maybe for two or three. But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me? He'll bring his charms to gladden you and should his stay be brief, You'll always have his memories as solace for your grief. I cannot promise that he will stay, since all from earth return, But there are lessons taught below I want this bird to learn. I've looked the whole world over in search of teachers true. And from the folks that crowd life's land, I have chosen you. Now will you give him all your love; nor think the labor vain; Nor hate me when I come to take my lovely bird again? I fancied that I heard them say, "Dear Lord, thy will be done, for all the joys this bird will bring, the risk of grief we'll run." Will you shelter him with tenderness? Will you love him while you may? And for the happiness you'll know forever grateful stay? But should I call him back much sooner than you've planned; Please brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand. If, by your love, you've managed, my wishes to achieve, In memory of him you've loved; be thankful; do not grieve. Cherish every moment of your feathered charge. He filled your home with songs of joy the time he was alive. Let not his passing take from you those memories to enjoy. "I will lend to you, a Bird", God said, and teach you all you have to do. And when I call him back to heaven, you will know he loved you too. (Author Unknown)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/12/30 01:36

Awww, what a beautiful bird Astro is. Welcome to the Flock!!

OK Dave, I don't want any trouble in Paradise. :-)

A BIRD WITHOUT WINGS. By Anne.M.Kenyon There isnt a song that anyone sings Thats as sad as the song of a bird without wings. The song of a bird confined to a cage, The song of a bird who has felt human rage. The song of a bird thats ignored night and day, No sign of good food, no toys, and no play. Hear that pain as this lonely bird sings, That is the song of a bird without wings. The bird that is ill, knowing no-one will care The bird whos life is loveless and bare. The bird, who in fear has panicked and bit And therefore been screamed at, sworn at and hit. These are the birds who sing their own song, Quietly, sadly, but all day long. If you care, you will hear what this lonely bird sings, This is the song of a bird without wings. But sometimes, along comes a person who cares, Then the bird hears the song that the RESCUER shares! And the bird stops to listen, and tilts its sweet head, As it hears new sweet words that its never heard said. Can you sing to these birds? Help them learn a new song? Can you show them their pain will not last all life long? Oh PLEASE be the person who lovingly sings, And gives flight to a bird, A bird without wings. A.M.Kenyon

A BIRD WITHOUT WINGS. By Anne.M.Kenyon There isn’t a song that anyone sings That’s as sad as the song of a bird without wings. The song of a bird confined to a cage, The song of a bird who has felt human rage. The song of a bird that’s ignored night and day, No sign of good food, no toys, and no play. Hear that pain as this lonely bird sings, That is the song of a bird without wings. The bird that is ill, knowing no-one will care The bird who’s life is loveless and bare. The bird, who in fear has panicked and bit And therefore been screamed at, sworn at and hit. These are the birds who sing their own song, Quietly, sadly, but all day long. If you care, you will hear what this lonely bird sings, This is the song of a bird without wings. But sometimes, along comes a person cares, Then the bird hears the song that the ‘RESCUER’ shares! And the bird stops to listen, and tilts it’s sweet head, As it hears new sweet words that it’s never heard said. Can you sing to these birds? Help them learn a new song? Can you show them their pain will not last all life long? Oh PLEASE be the person who lovingly sings, And gives flight to a bird, A bird without wings. A.M.Kenyon

Thats GreYt news Penny! Rikki is a very well behaved birdy in the vets office. Congratulations on getting a good checkup and the Band removed. Good luck finding Red Palm Nuts. Weve been around that block a few times here. ;-)

An Irish New Year Toast to All - I have known many, liked not a few, loved only one, I drink to you. May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live. May the grass grow long on the road to hell for want of use. May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent. As you slide down the banisters of life may the splinters never point the wrong way. May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my Grandmothers teeth. May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends gathered below never fall out. May there be a generation of children on the children of your children. May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight. May your neighbors respect you, Trouble neglect you, The angels protect you, And heaven accept you. May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, may good luck pursue you each morning and night. May the strength of three be in your journey. In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship and never in want. Here's that we may always have a clean shirt, a clean conscience, and a guinea in our pocket. May I see you grey and combing your children's hair. May you die in bed at ninety-five years, shot by a jealous husband(or wife). May your doctor never earn a dollar out of you and may your heart never give out. May the ten toes of your feet steer you clear of all misfortune, and before you're much older, may you hear much better toasts than this. May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going and the insight to know when you're going too far. May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies, quick to make friends. But rich or poor, quick or slow, may you know nothing but happiness from this day foward. May the frost never afflict your spuds. May the outside leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms. May the crow never pick your haystack, and may your donkey always be in foal. May the sound of happy music, And the lilt of Irish laughter, fill your heart with gladness, that stays forever after. May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty. May you live long, Die happy, And rate a mansion in heaven. Beautiful young people are acts of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art.

Very nice updated photos of Hootie. He is looking fantastic after the last month. :-)

Well welcome Adhaincroi!! Even though most of us know you from your attempt to find the owner of Roswell. It's GreYt to hear Roswell is flourishing under your care and the vet check up gave an All Clear. Looking forward to hearing more from you. :-)

Welcome cazy62!! Judy gave good advice in advising you to ignore the behaviour. You probably already know this, after having Holly for 7 years. The key is NOT to reward bad behaviour by giving them what they want, namely attention. Use Positive reinforcement when the screaming stops right after it stopped. Give a treat or go and retrieve from the cage etc. The positive reinforcement treat or attention entirely depends upon what the screaming is for. It's GreYt having you here and looking forward to hearing more. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/12/29 16:54

Dave007 wrote: Great point Dave! :-) Now that you mention it, I do not think I have ever read in any publication or online articles that mentions what happens when they age. Most only discuss the importance of a well socialized bird and how it should know step up, be friendly, cuddly etc. I do not believe the Parrot community has realized that they have set up almost every first time Parrot owner for a shock as they age. Hmmm, will need to see about notifying and requesting some in the parrot community to "Revise" some materials. ;-)

Nice photos of Cosmo. Thanks for sharing them. :-) Using the image upload feature on this board will not allow you to upload more than one at a time. If you wish to post multiple images in one post, use photobucket.com and then simply past the URL from each photo in to the thread. As you post the URL, it will look similar to my example posted above in the first response to you.

Jessica, Just out of curiosity. You mentioned Rouge was still at the nursery when this happened. This will not make the pain go away, but they are responsible for that Grey and should provide a replacement free. The bottom line is, they should have never let you take Rouge home until they were certain all was well.

I am very sorry to hear of Rouges passing. My prayers and thoughts are for you.

Nice and amusing video Jan. Thanks for posting it. :-)

You must use an image editor such as mspaint to reduce the width to no more than 500 pixels wide. This is so the image will fit the website and trhead format. Just open the image in mspaint, then use the image properties to reduce it, save it as another name like reduce_abc.jpg and then post that image to the site. You can also get a free account on photobucket.com, upload your images there. Then select the copy and then paste that into your thread which will look like [/img]www.photobucket.com\yourphotos\imge.jpg[/img]|.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/12/28 17:11

No, I am not having any issues at all. It could be your ISP connection is a little slow this morning. :-)

What a beautiful baby Grey. :-) He is new and you may need to take it slower and just let him get used to you and his new surroundings. I am uncertain how you are offering to step-up, but if your hand is too high, he will need to use his beak to pull himself up. If your not doing so, please slide your hand under him and up a little against his under belly which should trigger him to naturally step onto your hand. They will perch where they feel most comfortable, safe and secure. I assume your reference to a cover and light is in reference to when you cover him at night? If so that's fine. :-)

Hi Journeyman, I was replying to Hruns post, not yours. The air filtration system you selected is definitely top quality. :-)

Thanks for the updated Blog David. It is very introspective. It brings to mind the thought of celebrating life's every moment while we have it. Thus, a lesson learned from all of nature, as you so well put it. :-)

What a cute photo. :-) I see more children toys besides Legos arriving here soon!! Thanks for posting this.

The problem I see with this air purifier is it uses only convection as the mechanism for moving the air. The other issues are it may "Sterilize" the particles, but with out a hepa filter the particles will not be removed from the air. Four Hundred degrees is not nearly hot enough to literally incinerate those paricles. I would recommend a multi-stage hepa air filter that has the CFM to take care of the area you are going to place it in. If it's your whole house, you will need one for each room for best results.

Hello Rierie, The others have all given great advice you should read carefully to find the answers to your questions. You stated "Charlie is starting to bite. I don't know why. It is like he is saying leave me alone." Yes, he is around 5 months old now becoming "Self Aware". Meaning he is starting to decide he may not want to do something you want him to. He lets you know with his beak. It is the way parrots communicate with each other in the wild and with us also. It will become more common as he continues to age. You will really need to start paying close attention to his body language or your going to get a hard bite, which in reality you wil sooner or later as we all do. :-) Secondly you wrote: "The other day I tried to get him to play hot potato game with my daughter and her boyfriend, but he wouldn't go to the boyfriend at all." Do you mean your grey was the "Hot Potato" and being passed from one to another? If so, that is not a fun game for him and I am not surprised he tried to bite people as he was being offered to another person. This is very dangerous for those other people and even you if your bird gets frustrated enough. It WILL result in a terrible bite to someone and make your bird become very leery of other people. Rather than what you are thinking, which is I can assume to be socializing or desensitizing your grey. It;s just the opposite in fact. Your grey will choose "Whom" and "When" it wishes to interact with someone. Please warn all that just want to walk up and offer their finger or hand to them. This will get much worse as your grey ages and people are going to get some serious bites. I have many people coming in and out of my home. Especially now at this special holiday season. My Grey does stay with me or my wife happily perched on our shoulder. If he decides he likes someone, he will fly over to them on his own and interact with them on whatever level he feels comfortable with. I never let anyone approach my Grey whether they know him or not. If I know Dayo does not like them or if his body language through Talons clenching harder on my shoulder and body weight starts shifting forward occurs... I know he is taking a defensive posture and it is too risky for that person and warn them quickly. Please be careful with any kind of hand games you play with your grey. Whether it is in trying hand-off to another person or playing with a toy in your hand. Your Grey will start to think that the hand is the "Fun" and "Bite" target very quickly and it will become very hard to stop once imprinted.

I believe the root cause of this type of behavior is very simple. They want your attention and act just like a child does when they want a parents attention. The striking part about an African Grey parrot behavior, is that this bird species is intellectually as bright as a five year old kid would be and his emotions too are similar to what you can expect in two year olds. Thus, his behavior is governed by his intelligence which causes him to demand a lot from you and that means that he will need constant attention and also an environment that will help in stimulating his brain and senses so that he feels happy and contended and thus will remain on his best behavior at all times. This all boils down to, your out of the cage, he's in it. He is going to do everything he can to get you to open that door so he can come out, get full attention and be with you. If the food throwing, chirping etc. does not work, then many times the acrobatics in the cage will begin which are quite entertaining followed by an oratory discourse of everything they know. It's the kisses, what are you doings and I love you's that gets me every time. :-)