kiwibarb12

danmcq and judygram - did you get jollyballs for your AG's, and how did they like them?

come on - there must be more than two smart birds on this forum! Lets hear about them. :blink:

Huh? I thought it was on a road??{Emotions-0002011C}{Nature-00020085}

My cats pretty much ignored my CAG. I think they were pretty intimidated by his size. The dogs were interested but soon figured out that birds were bad juju when I was around. Both cats and dogs lost interest really quickly. I never fully trusted them, but I had Pepper fly onto one of the dogs, and he just lay there and waited for me to come and get the small feathered nusiance and rescue him. The cats just stayed away from him.

Beckett got her name before she laid eggs, because I thought with all her grey and very dignified maroon she looked a bit like a parson/priest. Thomas a Beckett just sprung to mind - so , Beckett - now Beckette with a silent "e". Of course , not all her behaviour is particularly dignified!:lol:

I gather you have (very) short debates, nevjoe :blush: :blink: :laugh:

please don't take this the wrong way, but why are you breeding George and Gracie? I think its wonderful that you rescued all those birds - and that IS a bunch!

If you live in the States go to ebay and search for baby toys. You can get bunches of rattles and things for about $1 each, in a bundle. My green cheek conures love them as foot toys and Beckette gets to play with them hanging. And its much cheaper than buying in a store!

Interesting reason to come to the States. I came from NZ to learn how to quilt, so we both have odd reasons to immigrate. :laugh: :blink:

Oliver - if you have changed your routine with your conure then from what i have read, you may make your conure think he is no longer top bird in the pecking order. Let him out of the cage first, greet him first, feed him first, then go to the grey. It is hard not to fuss over the new boy, but, just like dogs, you need to establish who goes where on the pecking order, and since the conure was there first he should get preference. You need to continue the habits you had with your conure, and make new ones with the grey. Kind of like kids - don't forget about the old one when the new one comes along - even though it needs more care.:blink:

i have been giving Beckette a small corragated cardboard box to chew up. Its not big enough for her to get into (still paranoid about egg binding and encouraging nest behaviour), but big enough for her to have major fun with. Easily replaced since I work in a hospital. I don't want to encourage Beck to chew books since i have books all over the house, and don't want her to get confused as to what is ok and what is not. She is smart - but not smart enough to discriminate right book for wrong book.

congratulations, and commiserations. I have a rehomed TAG, and she is a pistol. We are now tight, but it took a bit of doing, but it never seemed overwhelming. I have to admit I wasn't fond of the biting, but I eventually learned what she was trying to tell me, and now pay attention. I am a good "owner"! now.

Welcome - and how did you come to name your grey Tui?

oh oh - one of my long lost relations died in Africa from a car wreck, and I was the only one they could find. and he was LOADED!!!, and I am the inheritor. am I lucky or what!!!!! and the one that called me via IM, just IM'ed me , and asked again if I wanted the bird. Obviously, on line I look silly! Luckily, I'm not as silly as I'm Irish looking. :lol:

Mr Spock is too funny - I bet his wife rules the house!!! hehehehe

If she really won't eat the larger pellets you could grind them in a coffee grinder and add them to fresh food. That way they won't be wasted, and she won't know that she is eating them. (have to be sneaky sometimes). Or mix them with apple sauce, heat slightly in the microwave and serve. Or add to birdie bread and cook. It apparently doesn't change the nutritional content. i really liked the visual aid! Very effective!{Communicate-0002011B}

Great advice!! Beckette had a really annoying noise, and by completely ignoring it she has been doing it a lot less recently. Rewarding the behaviours that you like is a lot easier than trying to break a bad habit that you don't. Its actually hard to praise good behaviour because you don't really notice it. Especially something like being quiet. So you will have to make an effort to notice the lack of noise - not just give a sigh of relief. :lol:

Wohoooooo - isn't that the most magical feeling!! When they trust you enough to step up. I will warn you though - sooner or later she is going to bite you. Doesn't mean that she doesn't love you, just means that she bit you. Actually, you are doing something that i think is great - you are talking to her like one intelligent individual to another. They really can understand a lot more than we think. Enjoy your bird

Beckette gets fed twice a day - in the morning I have very little time so she gets microwaved scrambled egg with red palm oil (about 1/4 teaspoon), and chopped up frozen veggies in it. I also give her birdie bread with apple juice or apple sauce over it(birdie bread is frozen), and baby food (organic) and sesame seeds over the top since the little horror won't eat it unless there is a treat on it. I also have frozen cooked oatmeal with honey, red palm oil, apple sauce and apple juice in it. I make a lot of this stuff on the weekend and freeze it in ice trays, and it lasts for weeks before i have to cook again. the birdie bread was 2 cups of flour - i used organic quirnoa flour, brown rice flour and whole wheat flour, 3 eggs, can of pumpkin, organic dried fruit, flax seed, millet, wild rice, bone meal - human grade for the calcium, dried cranberries, apple juice to moisten, and red palm oil - mixed it all to moisten, put in a large baking dish and cooked until a skewer came out clean. I cut it up into about 1" squares and froze it. I thaw it in the microwave, and put baby food over it as a sauce and sesame seeds for a garnish. Bird eats better than me! the red palm oil is because that is what they eat in the wild, and I got some at the organic store here. It was expensive at 14 dollars but I only use a little at a time, so expect it to go far. I also bought a mash mix at Parrotsonthepoarch that is great that I cooked and froze, so Beckette cant complain about being bored with her food. She also gets what we eat - last night we had chinese delivered so she got some beef, broccoli, baby corn and bamboo shoots with the sauce rinsed off. I don't know how much she ate, but she got it. Its actually a lot of fun figuring out things to feed her, she does enjoy it, and it is more rewarding than feeding the kids who usually turned their noses up at anything different.:woohoo:

If you bought her home yesterday, then she is nervous. If I was you I would leave her cage door open, talk to her, maybe read to her, give her treats and wait on the stepping up for a while. At least for a week or so. I know you want to bond with her right away, but at 2 she has had some life experiences that you don't know about, maybe good, maybe bad, so let her get used to you and your home before you try to physically interact with her.

regarding the persistant itch on his neck - is it just one side? My TAG rubs his neck when he wants pets. You might try to pet his head next time he does this. and congratulations to the both of you. I hope you have many happy and healthy years together

I have been thinking of an outside aviary, and love yours. could you share with us how you made it, and what is on the ground?

Am I correct in assuming that you can't get an exotic bird shipped in from out of the country? I thought that these people were preying on the ignorance of the people wanting birds.

So , is the bear cup a true albino since his eyes aren't pink? love the red factor birds, but would hate to see them bred just for it, because of the probability of genetic problems from the genetic "puddle". love that phrase by the way. Actually I really like the grey with the white tail. very classy looking, as apposed to the red factor who looks like she was putting on makeup and got carried away! :woohoo:

I have been wanting an AG , older, rehome or rescue, and have been looking online since there are none in Arkansas. I actually found one that looked legit, so replied. I went on line to day and found a request to add me to someones IM list. I thought it was probably someone on the forum who wanted to chat off forum , so oked it. I got an IM from a woman who offered me her cag, and I was just estatic.!!!!! Then she said it was 3 months old. I was suspicious at this stage. No-one gives a 3 month old bird away with out asking a few questions about housing , food, previous experience and so on and so forth - actually, I wouldn't give away any bird or animal without asking questions like these. Then the kicker = she wanted me to send her $380 to ship the baby. I said I would buy the ticket and have it at the airport waiting for her to pick up and I would send the balance when I got the bird. For some reason this just didn't suit her, so I suggested that she was a scammer preying on the desires of others and she should be ashammed of herself. Well! - the language really flew then! She certainly had a good command of the English swearwords. Just by the way she phrased things, I don't think English was this persons first language, makes me think this scam orginated from out of the country. So , no sweet bird for me {Feel-bad-0002006A} but it was fun egging this person on!:laugh: