danmcq

Welcome Nikki and Tango. After having Tango for 7 years, I'll bet you have many stories, photos and videos to share with us. We love hearing others stories and seeing their photos and videos.

LOL!!!!!! Nothing like the Pterodactyl coming out in greys during an intensive play session. Thanks for sharing this.

Plastic Bottles = Big Fun!! Dayo loves to play with them as well. Thanks for sharing this.

Judy and Timbers mom hit some favorites on the head. Yams/Sweet Potatoes, Carrots (raw and/or cooked), 15 bean mix fully cooked ( you can freeze can little baggies), leafy veggies like Dandelion, Kale or mustard greens, broccoli raw. Alos they like eggs scrambled boiled etc. with the shell chopped up and cooked in it (good calcium source) Chicken meat and bones, Sharp Cheddar Cheese. I always put some Red Palm Oil in eggs or other cooked items which is a necessity for greys, one of their staples in the wild is the red palm fruit.

GreYt update on Gilbert. It is wonderful to hear of the progress he is making in your relationship. Do you think it is spossible on those days that he wants nothing to do with you, that their is something different about you, like nail color, certain clothes you wear, perfumes etc.? It could just be as most adult greys though, sometimes they feel like some loving and other times they just want to chill and reflect upon things.

Welcome Brad. GreYt looking young grey! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Some birds like a little formula their entire lives. It is perfectly fine to give them this.

One question on the diet. Do you also provide some high quality seed mix and unsalted nuts such as almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios etc.? The reason I ask, is a pure pellet diet is not a total diet in and of itself. Of course I assume you are also providing plenty of fresh veggies as well.

This forum is a better place with your presence Ray. Thanks for all you do!

If the cage is big enough for both birds i.e. 30 x 30 x say 4 to 5 feet high, the Grey should stay in it. If it is smaller than what a grey should be in, put the grey in the new larger cage.

I always look forward to an update on Isaac! Your right, they always want to "help" us in whatever we are doing. It's GreYt to see you encourage him. It makes them feel like the are useful and are an asset to the flock unit.

I would personally get them separate cages, but ultimately you are the one that will decide when or if you will do so. I would suggest sooner based on the current age of your grey.

She is studying and noting those sounds, tomorrow you may be hearing a few of them. The last time I had some construction here a few years ago, Dayo picked up the nail guns and not long after the workers left, guess what sound he would do over and over just like the nail gun going off 10 times in a row. Fortunately after a few months he quit using that sound, well every now and then it stills POPs up.

Hagen makes good products for parrots. Rather than purchasing whole bags of parrot food and finding that they are not accepted. I would suggest going to each website and getting their phone numbers and calling to ask for samples. Most are more than happy to provide them.

Training and learning go hand in hand. If you trained a human child, a pet or a student in school to do something, they learned and comprehended it at some point in time. That is how all humans and critters learn by both seeing, hearing and doing. Example, a feral child that has not learned language by age 6 is most likely from the studies I have read to never learn it. Language is not something we just know, we had to be trained by listening and learning from our parents and peers. Otherwise we would all just be grunting and making odd sounds that would convey very little. I love hearing stories such as Alex's of creating their own words for items. Creativity is a wonderful thing to display true comprehension of our language and how it fits in to that bird brain, cork nut based on texture and taste make perfect sense in the world Alex grew up in. Dayo makes up words and sounds as well and I find it highly intriguing in getting a small glimpse of how language is being assimilated in his mind based on our words and actions. It gives great feedback on where to correct and work on things that may be undesirable. However things such as cork nut, I would not touch, it is just too unique and makes perfect sense. This just goes to show that there is no need to compare to humans, birds think in their own realm of our world and we need to capitalize on paying close attention to these details and use them to build upon.

Welcome Steve and Skippy. Thanks for the video, it was enjoyable. Skippy is highly interactive both physically in play and talkative as well. It seems skippy has landed in a fun and loving home. Thanks for taking him in to your home and making him a part of your life. You could nip off the small portion of primaries on each side that are hanging out without harm. Just make certain it is a clean cut with a sharp set of scissors. I don't condone wing clipping, but I certainly will help in answering questions about it when asked. In regards molt, both my Grey and conure are going through one now. In regards weight, it is very individual to each bird based on frame size. One weight does not fit all. If Skippy is eating well, happy and playful, he is fine. The most important thing is to weigh your birds once a week in the morning after their huge poop. Doing the same time weekly will give you a running average and you will know when weight starts dropping due to illness if it exceeds 10 to 15 percent. You cannot state that a bird is underweight just by feeling the breast bone. That is just too subjective to personal opinion on how it should feel. Weighing weekly is the best indicator you can use.

Such a sad loss of a much loved young grey. You have my condolences Kim.

Sarasota - Isn't comprehension and a display of cognizance almost the same? One cannot exist without the other, in my opinion. LOL at going to pottie.There is no doubt your birds do indeed comprehend the meaning of it and used it in real-time asking the workers a perfectly valid question. For all your birds knew they could have been going in there to take a shower or bath.

It certainly does show cognition!

Burt is certainly cognitive in terms of using the smoke alarm sound to indicate danger. One question, when you use the term parroting when you are calling the dogs. You don't believe Burt is using his cognitive skills to help you call them? The reason I ask, is because at dog feeding time, I will many times ask Dayo to call Chloe because she in the back bedroom and he will call her with a loud set of whistles and then yell "Chloe, come on Chloe!!!" for me which brings her running. It believe this is cognition, not just parroting. At leadt thats my opinion of it. When Dayo is just sitting and going over lists of phrases etc while daydreaming, I call that parroting.

Greyt introduction. Welcome to all of you. Jagermeister will be an easy name to rememeber, he and I were good friends at the local pubs in germany for the 5 years I spent there.

Dave is always spot on. I have whistled to Dayo since he was a wee lad. I did this intentionally and he has a plethora of the, such as Andy Griffith and other such songs a s well as grey natural wolf whistles and many others whistles I have done for years. After all these years, he has become very creative and makes up his own melodies along with some beat-box sound percussion's etc. It is very entertaining here at times. As Dave has stated, when dayo wants to contact call, he will come out with many various loud whistles and of course also call for using various human language phrases. But the whistles are predominant when he gets in a fret over where one of us are.

GreYt post Sarasota! I keep following any and all news in regards Dr . Pepperberg, Griffen and Wart. I think it is hard for all of us to separate logic from anthropomorphism as well because it is so human. But, logic was here long before humans entered the plane of existence. Just logic around at all the physic's and order of things. As my friend Spock always said "Live long and prosper". :)I do know Dayo is self aware. He recognizes himself, me and my wife as well as the dogs in mirrors in various places throughout the house.

Wingy - That is exactly how Dayo has been taught since we stated visiting him at the breeders at 6 weeks of age. Every action and item is named when we do or offer something. Greys learn just like every other creature, from seeing and hearing. The key thing with greys, is they can learn our language , speak and combine that with the cognitive abilities to communicate with us over time.

Thanks Jay and Maggie. I will leave the decision on whether or not to make it a sticky to Janet since this is her room.