danmcq

Hi Mark - How is Lola's eating and weight doing today?

No, that was in the very distant past. This thread is 7 years old. ;-) Can Ya Dig It? :-)

OoooOoOohhhhhh, what wonderful photos. Darn, it makes me want to go get another baby grey RIGHT NOW!! They are just so cute and adorable at that young age. Enjoy these early months!! Thanks for posting these. :-) Your poor dog looks sooooo sad, as if say "you like this clutz? I am truly disappointed". ;-)

LOL Jen!! I love your "List" and theories. :-) IN regards young, clumsy and falling, especially in the cage or on any hard floor surfaces. Please ensure there are towels or blankets in the bottom of the cage or around it where they may fall. The hard surfaces can cause damage versus a carpeted or towel/blanket cushioned fall will care the crap out of them, but they'll laugh and give the same amazing feet of daring again. This is how they do eventually become coordinated and very acrobatic....... all the better to quickly move and bite the Sh&T out of you before you can even blink. ;-)

I agree, no visits after the move of your Grey to a new home. 30 Years ago we had a Saint Bernard my wife and kids, including myself loved dearly. We had him from the time he was a 6 week old fur ball until he was a 200 pound Mammoth at 6 years old. Being such a HUGE dog and the Large home we owned at the time, we had some devastating events occur and had to move from a 2300 sqft home to a small apartment. Needless to say, Goliath needed a new home. We finally found the right home for him on a 200 acre ranch where he could run freely and the new owner was a great man. He encouraged us to come and visit anytime. We 2x over the first 2 weeks. After the last visit, the rancher asked if we would never come back. The reason was very sad. Goliath would moan, lay in one spot and not eat for 3 days after each time we visited. It was torture for him and the new owner. Needless to say,it was hard, we still lovingly think of Goliath to this day and know he had a great life. We did speak with the rancher over the phone many years afterward and Goliath loved his new home with miles to run free. he lived to 14 years old and died a happy and much loved "Family Member" of the second family.

LOL!!!!

Nice Avatar LuvParrots and it's sounds like your new baby girl is progressing very well and settling in quite nicely. Now, I need to go find those photos. :-)

I love this thread and the Photos Caroline. What a lovely flock your are building there. All their progress and interactions are really amazing having come along well under your expert guidance. :-) Thanks for sharing all this!!

Welcome Snakeeye!! The others have given you GreYt ideas and thoughts to digest. You'll find other strange behaviour besides the chicken scratching as time progresses. It's nice having you here and looking forward to hearing more and seeing photos. :-) Caroline - Karma to you!!

Madness008 wrote: You are exactly right Madness. It is ultimately YOU that needs to make this decision based on your interactions with him, the way he acts now with present owners and strangers etc and ultimately just your gut instinct. No bird is perfect and neither are humans. Even if you raised one from infancy, you have no way of knowing what your going to encounter and lovingly deal with over the years and decades. Looking forward to hearing how this progresses and I applaud you for really pursuing the path of re-homing a Grey in need of a final home. :-) Everyone here has different stories, as you know. Every Grey is an individual, just as each human is. The bottom line is, love overcomes all things. When my human children grew up, became independent and didn't want to be cuddle muffins any longer, it did not lessen the relationship, it just moved it to a different level that is still enjoyable and full of love. Remember, love is unconditional and spans all time.

Thats good progress already. Casper gives good advice on using treats to get her to due things. Sometimes they can be used as a distraction while you have them step up and they don't realize what they just did until it's too late. ;-)

WOW and nice to meet you too. :-) Thanks for posting your photo, it's always nice to place a face with a name.

Caspers link is spot on. Your Parrot is safe, but you may die of Pneumonia if you don't take care of yourself. ;-) :-)

Welcome emsgma214!! I am sorry to hear of the huge life change taking place. Thats a tough one. I applaud you on your actions and the responsibility you feel in finding not just a home for your pets, but the right home with people that you are prequalifying. Your plans on making the transition for your Grey sound wonderful and spot on. It's great that they also have taken to opportunity you offered to help in the transition. Dave gave good advice and it seems you had already set most of his items to do in place. Please do tell the new owners about this forum where, as you can see we care greatly for both the people and their Greys and other pets. :-)

Welcome Sehar and Flock!! It's GreYt having you here. If Timmy accepts and wants a feeding, then by all means do so. The weight is fine for a Timneh, just weigh him daily at the same time, normally first thing in the morning after the take their first poop is preferred. This will give you a constant reading you can track and establish a good baseline of his weight. He sounds like quite a character at only 4 months old. :-)

Welcome onetteselfish, Pappy and Maya!! It's GreYt having you here. It will take a while for the two to get comfortable with each other. I am uncertain of what you mean when you say that Pappy "Drops"? But, if they are not attacking each other when out in the same room, your ok. It will just take time for them to become accustomed to one another. Pappy was your only Grey or Parrot and now a new intruder has come into the house and is taking away some of your time and attention I would assume. They do become jealous at times. You will just need to closely monitor their interactions as they take place to ensure neither of them gets hurt. Looking forward to hearing more from you. :-)

The time in the evenings and weekends with your Grey would be sufficient. Many of us work all day and spend time with our Parrots in the evenings which they all cherish. Just ensure you have a large cage with plenty of exciting toys and foraging items to keep him happy and entertained while your both at work during the day. It good to hear you asking the right questions before making the big decision. :-) Also Welcome Tony!! It's GreYt having you here!!!

As all the others, have so well stated, learning to fly short hops and flying is a challenge to those poor birds that were not allowed to fledge properly and left the breeders clipped. The first step is encouraging the action of flapping those wings and building the pectoral muscles, cardio and respiratory system. This is done by moving your hand with them perched on it up and down fast enough to start the natural action of flapping when they feel the falling sensation. If you become excited and encourage them, they will respond and get excited and happy too. Once you have them flapping good and without huffing and puffing from a 30 second session, try letting them hop/flap to a near by cage, couch, chair etc. only a foot or two away. Make a BIG DEAL out of it with lots of excitement in your voice, hand clapping etc. or what ever they respond to with like enthusiasm, maybe even a treat. Once they can fly a few feet and land fairly well, move the distance out a little, 3, 5, 8 feet etc. To get the farther distances, play a game like Peek-A-Boo. I did this with my Grey to encourage longer flights as a game with me or my wife as the target. Hide 3 or 4 feet away behind something like a refrigerator. Bow down out of sight, then excitedly pop your head up and say "Peek-A-Boo", then go down again. You'll start seeing them anticipate when your coming up again and then they will reach a point where they just can't stand it any longer and they will fly over to look down upon you. :-) It will reach the point that you can do this from most any distance you know they can fly and they will start playing the "Peek-A-Boo" game with you. They will eventually, as their skills increase start flying around corners to reach you, as you duck behind them. Dayo still loves this game and will always start flapping and saying "Peek-A-Boo!!!" and expect then game to begin with me or my wife running behind something or down the hall and around a corner and yelling peek-a-boo and he comes flying like hell to find us. :-) The bottom line is make anything you want your bird to do fun and exciting with some type of reward, whether just attention or treat treat and they will enjoy it immensely and look forward to the challenge. You will find a much more confident, coordinated and acrobatic bird emerge, that continually starts challenging himself on his own in new ways of having fun in flying. Dayo will now hang from a chain about 2 feet long suspended from a wine rack, bat and scream at it for a while then fly like hell while still holding onto the chain which draws tight and makes a perfect arc as he fly's until it returns him to the wine rack where he eloquently lands on it and releases the chain. Then back down for another round. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/12/03 15:49

Just hang in there kiddo!!! The one and only thing you have in life that will never change based on monetary or living conditions, is the love contained in your family unit. No matter what, through thick or thin, you all have each other for support and love. That family of course extends to the non-humans, namely your pets. They are in love with you as much as you with them. It's great to see you are thinking more of their welfare than your own. But, in reality, if you could ask them if they would rather leave and go to lavish resort, with all the money, time and attention from strangers, rather than live with you at a challenging time. The resounding voice you would hear from them all is they will never leave you of their own will.

It sounds like Chloe is doing wonderful and you have done a fine job in helping her to wean and get on to Harrison's. They are such a joy at that age with their funny little noises and clumsiness. Enjoy those moments and get lots of photos to reflect on and of course share with us. :-)

Wow, very impressive Carolyn!! Mika is one smart cookie. :-) Let me know when she's ready for some beginners quantum physics. At her rate, just a few months away. B)

Nice looking baby grey you have there. :-) Thanks for sharing those photos!!

Thanks for the update. It sounds like you and your "Unnamed" Grey a getting on great. :-)

Hi Penny, She will remove that damaged flight feather all on her own. It will bug her and you'll see her working at it. They get along fine without human intervention in most cases. No, I stated it takes up to 2 years to have ALL Flights come back in. It just depends on Rikki's molt process and if more are damaged as this last one. They are unprotected unfortunately by supporting feathers and damage can occur easily from a hard crash or hard playing and flapping wings. Rikki could gain them all back in a year, depending again on the molt process and damage that may occur overtime as they come in.