Giannine

LOL at "It's why I call her my second wife" Poppy just does these little jumps/startles fairly often and then will immediately be fine. She just startles easily so that is what I am wondering about being normal or not. I was saying she isn't flighted but her wings didn't get butchered as you said the breeder did yours. She did learn to fly before she got clipped and I am not sure if I will allow her to become flighted because of the risk of her escaping from my house. I have 6 kids at home still and her cage is on the main floor just a short distance from the front door and the sliding glass door going to the back yard which is opened and shut very frequently to let our Boxer outside. The front door is in front of her cage and the sliding glass door is to the side and both are in her direct line of sight. With this many people in the house, I just think it is too great a risk, even aside from the doors (toilets, kitchen, etc).

Poppy is extremely affectionate with me all the time and would be on me all day if she could. Her jumpiness seems to be mostly after I first get her and then she will settle down. When I was typing my earlier post, I had just gotten her from inside her cage and she had been with me for about 5 minutes or less. Poppy isn't flighted but her breeder did not clip her wings too short.

Hi everyone, it has been a bit since I updated here. Poppy is doing great. She is 9 1/2 months now. I do have a couple of questions I would like advice for...is it normal for her to be jumpy when she is being held? I am the only one who handles her and she absolutely loves me holding her but I noticed she is very jumpy. Even as I type this, she is hanging near the back of my neck and jumped when I picked my phone up. Also, after I have spent one-on-one time with her for a bit and need to tend to other things, I try to put her on her cage or the play tree and she does everything she can to avoid getting off of my hand. I always place her behind the perch or branch so it is between me and her and she has no place to go but the perch but she has learned that she can hang upside down from my hand to avoid stepping onto it. Sometimes she climbs down from her cage to walk to me. I use my laptop at the dining room table which is directly across from her cage in the living room. Any advice would be appreciated!

You're welcome. The day I replied to this thread was the last day I used my wax warmer:( Oh well. Good smells and a clean house always put me in a good mood. Guess I'll just have to settle for a clean house void of any smells. Cinnamon scent isn't too appealing to me. I am going to start making all natural skin care products in the near future and may research some safe ways to still enjoy scents in my home. Even with essential oils we have to be careful. Some are dangerous for birds (Tea tree and eucalyptus are some, I believe).

Her eyes will change. They all do from their baby eyes.

Welcome:D Looking forward to seeing more of Rosie

I would be confident enough to bet money that burning anything around birds for a prolonged length of time is unsafe. I read somewhere something about the actual burning puts something into the air that is unsafe for birds. I got Poppy and Olive just this year and have had a hard time giving up my wax warmer but I am going to. At least on the main floor where they are. I came across this method of ridding odors from the air naturally and will begin using it: SPRAY BOTTLE RECIPES In a spray bottle, mix 1/4 cup baking soda with water and shake well. The baking soda absorbs the odor. Add a few drop of extract such as lemon, orange or vanilla as desired. Spray undiluted white vinegar in the air. The vinegar smell evaporates very quickly, taking odors with it.

Chris seems to be the most proactive bird advocate in the N.W. At least from what I have seen. He is very, very passionate about rescuing. I was trying to research the fate of the Monk/Quaker parrots in Yacolt, WA and came across an article by him and the efforts he made to try helping them. Congratulations on your new additions!

Doobie is adorable:D "Markings" are worthless for determining sex. A blood test will yield quick results. Welcome!

Side question: When do I graduate from fledgling to whatever the next one up is? 500 posts?

That is HUGE progress to not even react! We are on day 4 and they should be done today. They woke me up at 6:45 working right outside my open bedroom window:mad: None of the days have been near as bad as when they were getting all the old shingles off on the first day. Poppy has pretty much just been ignoring it all and acting as if nothing is going on. I am very grateful for that!

Yesterday was very quiet. Almost as if they weren't here. Today they are doing some hammering and there is a generator going and she is whistling away in her cage happily. I have a court hearing for parenting plan modification which is why I couldn't get out of going but it looks like we will be negotiating outside of court and I won't need to go. I kept my 15-year-old home from school just in case. She has been acting like her regular self and I started saying, "Ohh loud noise, huh Poppy?" Like someone else above said they do, and just act normal. So far, so good

I waited to leave until they finished at around 7:00 pm. I had no idea replacing a roof was so insanely loud. My lights were flickering all day and the booms, scraping, stomping, banging, etc. were just ridiculously loud all day. And constant. 12 hours of constant loud noise. It is supposedly a three day job so we have two more to go. I feel really bad because I have to be gone for several hours on Thursday so I won't be here to comfort her. She was fine tonight after they left. If this affects her negatively, will I likely know right away or is it possible something will pop up later?

Ugh...the noise has become insanely loud with the whole house shaking plenty. I did get the guys to cover the sky light. Seeing them up there really freaked her out. I put her in her carrier that she flew to me in since that is all I have and took her with me to go pick up the kids from school. That was her first time in a car since I brought her home in August and that scared her too so I figured it would be better for her to be scared in familiar surroundings rather than unfamiliar. I did call Costco to see if I would be allowed to bring her there with me while I did my grocery shopping and they said no. Have any of you brought your Greys to Costco?

She is acting surprisingly normal. She just ate some yams with me and is now on her tree rubbing her beak. She is still a bit jumpy but seems to be taking it all in stride for the most part. I will put her in her cage and cover it partially if I noticed her getting too jumpy and falling off of things. Thanks you guys!

Our roof is being replaced and they just started this morning at 6-flippin'-something-o'clock. I came downstairs and my son said Poppy was really scared by the pounding and stomping across the roof and had fallen a couple times. I'm hesitant to even get her out of her cage today because I'm afraid she will be getting spooked constantly and I'll end up getting her off the floor all day. Any advice? What would you do?

I might give it a whirl with Poppy. She is pretty open to new stuff and quite the little explorer

LOL Too funny

How cool is that? LOL She really and truly sounds as if she is very happy to have that sheet covering her cage at night time. I cover my birds' cages because they are in the busiest room in the house and I would like for them to have a sense of peace and calm and not be distracted by every movement of our 7-person household. I would cover them if they had their own room, though, probably. For some reason, I feel like it gives them a sense of privacy, as well, that they might appreciate. It seems more cozy.

I got a good chuckle out of this! I do agree that change from all he has known for 17 years has to be confusing to him and you should expect to hit some bumpy patches in the road along the way but KevinD gave great advice—don't try to force him to do anything. He needs time to adapt to his new surroundings and lifestyle and even though he already knows you, he may need to fully build trust since stability as he's known it has been suddenly taken from him.

Wow...you know, the fact that Timber was a bit under 274 grams at age 5 when you got him makes me wonder if he was not properly fed by his previous owner. He goes to you who feeds him his fill and he eats and gains the weight that should have already been there...

I am very glad things worked out for Dwight to go to someone he knows:D Congratulations on the new addition to your household! I look forward to seeing and hearing more from you about Dwight

I am new and will need to look up your other threads to get the story but it sounds as if it has a great ending! Congrats!

Thank you Kya! There is a CAG on Youtube named Poppy and she is the Grey that started my fascination with them. I also fell in love with her name and didn't even consider another name for our TAG. I definitely don't like her beak in my mouth and will be doing my best to discourage it:)

Some sites say 300 grams as the base weight and a few in the 275 range. When do they plateau weight-wise? As in what age are they considered full grown physically?