kiwibarb12

Beckette likes to dust - that is to say - she likes to add dust to every thing. All I want her to do is learn houw to undust!!!!lol Her other talent is house remodeling. she disapproved of the lino in the kitchen and proceeded to remove it - bit by bit! And the cabinets met her disapproval also so she has been trying the same thing with them- removal bit by bit. Unfortunately , my funding isn't uup to her ambitions!:laugh:

Well, I have my forever love (besides Beckette ):laugh: I was divorced from the man I was married to for 13 years, and no way did I want to repeat that, so for 10 years all I did was work and raise my kids. No dating no sex, no nothing! Finally after 3 years of therapy I was ready to try again, so joined an online dating group, and since I was new, got a few replies. Joe was the first one that I talked to to suggest we actually meet, and he wanted me to name the place. Being a bit of a bookworm I suggested Barnes and Noble a bookstore. I was so nervous that I couldn't stay where I said I would be and was prowling the stacks. I got a phone call from him asking where I was (he thought I had chickened out!). We meet, he bought me a beverage, I went to his house two days later, and pretty much didn't leave thereafter. We have been together for almost two years now, and its like nothing I ever have had or could imagine. I know he loves me because he tolerates Beck the house- and toe-eater.

My TAG , Beckett , was a rehome. He was 10 when I got him, I have had him almost 2 years. a month or so ago, I realized there was something wrong with him. After dinner I sat down to watch tv with Beck on my shoulder. He was very quiet, and still, fluffed up and breathing hard. I realiszed that when I came home, he hadn't called to me. he was sitting crouched down. I didn't know what was wrong with him. When he pooped the poops were urind and urates only - no feces. After a time he seemed a llittle better, so I put him in his cage and went to bed. The next morning he seemed about the same, so I wnet to work and called my vet clinic who had no avian vet available until the next day. I called the one that I used to use all the time,until I moved. I took him in - he xrayed him - and I just knew that he had a bowel obstruction due to a tumor (I'm a nurse) and he would need surgery! the xray was conclusive- she was egg-bound! with two large eggs. I elected to have him gas her down and remove the eggs. He was able to get the first one out - the second one was thinned shelled, and broke in her way up. he wasn't able ot remove the shell fragments because of the risk of rupturing or lacerating internal membranes, and doing more damage than already present. I got Beckette back shortly there after, she was very groggy, and leaking mucus from the cloeac. Her vent feathers were mucky, and she couldn't poop cleanly, as if she didn't have control of her sphincter. I watched her very closely over the next couple of days - especially her poops. I had to wash her vent off a couple of times to her indignation . Thankfully, she passed the shell fragments without any injury or damage. Ihave read statistics that suggest that over 50% of birds with eggbounding die. Since then I have been altering her diet to ensure she gets plenty of variety and calcium rich foods. One thing the vet had me feel was just proximal to her vent, when she was full of eggs I could feel the shape of the egg under her skin. If your hen is egg bound you will be able to feel the egg. Advice my vet gave me - calcium rich diet in natural foods. Keep her out of anything that looks like a nest ie cupboards, boxes and so on. Decrease light exposure to somewhere between 6 and 8 hours a day. No petting on her back - keep toys away that brush across this area, if she becomes aroused ie drops wings and crouches down, immediately stop what you are dooing and distract her - i pick her up and move her so she has to pull in her wings or use them for balance. I was scared senseless when she was sick and am dedicated to stopping this from happening again. Anything you can do to stop your hen from laying is a good think!! good luck.

agree with judygram - i have a TAG that loves me and hates Joe,my partner. If you can avoid that you would be very lucky. Would make for a very harmonious household. You also might want to avoid stroking his back - if he is sexually mature, it may make him horny, and prone to unfortunate behaviours during the breeding season. :blush: Greys are great birds, and fun to have around. You are in for a great ride!:ohmy: :laugh:

I have read that if you get another bird, and they don't actually get along well enough to play together or hang out, they still appreciate the company, that they would miss each other if one or the other left the flock. I have a TAG and a budgie - and they don't physically interact, but I know that the TAG enjoys watching the budgie make an undignified clown of herself. She also growls at the budgie if she is too noisey. I was very surprised the first time she did this. My point is is that another bird would be a flock member.

regarding the biting question - I went for a year and a half with scabs on my hands from Beckette biting me. It never occured to me to withdraw from her because it for the most part was my fault for not seeing and respecting her boundries. At the moment I am scab free, and loving it:) , but if I do something dippy, I expect to get bitten and probably will:woohoo: . I'm not sure if your question was asked from fear of bites, but I think that humans don't speak grey well enough to never get bitten. Just my (very) :blush: humble opinion. Of course Beck came with some issues from her previous home- such as lack of contact, so I think I may have acquired some of the bites from sheer persistance. Which in the long run , has been good for both of us.

Thanks for this post - I had really fast response from all of the manufacturers. Since Beckette wouldn't eat any of them, I ended up grinding the pellets in a coffee grinder (not Joes):laugh: , and storing the powder in the fridge. When I need a quick meal for Beck, I mix the powder with applesauce or juice, add millet and chopped up cashew and warm a little. She has to eat a bit of the pellets to get the seed. Better than straight seed, and it gets her used to eating unfamiliar things. Not bad for free stuff!

and they are - but you aren't there - you had to go to work and they needed you in the arctic circle to fix global warming, and your grey learnt penguin while you were there. I wish there were no infectious parrot diseases, so all parrots died only of old age, in loving homes or forests.

Beckettes favourite toy is a hanging bell that she can beat the he$$ out of, her favourite food is cashews, and whatever I am eating, her favourite person is me, her favourite person to bite is Joe, and her favourite time is the weekend because she gets to spend more time with me.:laugh:

Maybe Serpico is Italian for stinky :laugh:

Had a CAG, and a quaker who liked to fly around the house. He made the mistake of landing on Peppers cage, and lost a toe. I had to find him a new home because I didn't want Pepper to hurt him more. Be very careful if you proceed with this idea.

Beckette absolutely hates the vacuum cleaner - she runs to the top of her cage and growls until I get far enough away from her cage. The fartherest thing from her mind is bathing.

My TAG makes a thumping noise,like the sound of a stick hitting something - and the interesting thing is that he has taught- or the budgie has learned how to make that sound. Abet in a very small, high pitched way. Laughed my a$$ off when I realised what Mickie was doing. Has anyone else got bird to bird noises or word learning, and what?

Kiss that bird on the beak - after all, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose - unless he is a grey!!:woohoo:

I have ground up pellets in a coffee grinder, moistened with apple juice, and microwaved until warm, then added baby food(jar) of sweet potato. sprinkled with sesame seed and she was in heaven. She even ate some of the pellet mixture - I know because her poop was brown, not green.:sick: Is a sneaky way of getting her to eat pellets.

my TAG was in an unenriched environment for the first 10 years of her life - no toys because she didn't play with them. Now she has lots of toys and plays a little with them - especially bells. she beats the 2#$%^$$ out of them when she is frustrated or angry. Better them than me. some of her toys I have had to show her how to play with. When she gets the idea then she knows what to do with them, and goes to town! I don't think she is ever going to be a great player, but she enjoys her life, and we have fun together. Veggie ideas- frozen!!!, and try him with them frozen, and thawed and warm. Beckette wouldn't touch them to begin with, but now eats the occasional one. She loves birdie bread and I can put veggies and fruit it that and it gets eaten. I made a big batch of bread and have frozen it for later use. Also add red palm oil to the vread and heat it a bit. a lot gets on the floor of her cage but some actually goes into her. I also make her scrambled eggs in the microwave and add seed and sesame seeds to it, and she actually eats that. I have about 10 minutes in the morning so her morning food is "fast" and nutritous. Apple juice makes lots of things mmore acceptable- like mushed up pallets, and you can warm that up also. If you find something he likes chop it up and sprinkle over his food so he tries something new even when he isn't trying. sneaky is the key!!:laugh:

oh,oh don't shop at the kids store - go to ebay and put in baby rattles. I bought 20 for $17 - used, which is way cheaper than buying new. lots of soap and water and they are fine.

I gave Beckette a scrambled egg (microwaved) mixed with a seedless bird mix from parrot on the porch. She loved it!!! I've also given her homemade birdie bread warmed in the microwave which she enjoys. I have been cutting back on the seed and she is getting much more real food. and she is actually a lot more open to eating something she hasn't seen before. if I sprinkle sesame seeds on it she will try it.

correct me if i am wrong,but aren't tomatoes supposed to be bad for greys?:unsure:

You know - that looks like the faux chinese salad they serve at the cafeteria at work. yumm.

Changes in poop was one of the things that clued me into taking Beckette to the vet when she became egg-bound. It saved her life and I for one am very happy to be the poop inspector in my house. or you could call me the poop police. or crazy. or the owner of a TAG. Take your pick.

Looks like a texan longhorn yellowbelly titmouse to me. very rare due to the unfortunate tendancy to gore their mates in the throes of passion. You are very lucky to have seen both sorts. I understand that you could make a fortune if you can capture them.

I totally agree with people who think that the bad language will limit the homes available for the bird when the original owner pops off. I love greys, but i would really have to think about taking one that mindlessly repeats swear words. I have a hard time tolerating that from people I associate with, in appropriate context (not that I don't swear on occasion), but from a bird that doesn't know what is appropriate and what is not would be worse. that sounds prissy, and I don't mean it that way, but loving an animal should mean being responsible in all ways, not just what seems fun in the short run.

I keep my house cold - 68 degrees and my TAG is just fine. Just a question - have you any books on african greys? There are several really good books out there that give basic info on grey care. I'm not saying you don't know what you are doing, but as you know it is very scarey to have that baby in your house, and be totally responsible for it. Having said that, when it comes to our birds, there are no stupid questions- just stupid people who won't ask them.:laugh: I was lucky and got my TAG when he was 10 years old, so I (darn!!!) missed out on all the stress and anxiety of baby and childhood and puberty!!:woohoo:

I know this sounds a bit weird, but if your daughter makes stones regularly, then have her drink 8 ozs of real lemonade a day. I work in a urological surgical suite, and there was an article in an English urological medical journal that suggested the lemonade reduced stone formation. Just something easy for her to try. ............. and now back to the gyms? not that we are nagging or anything:lol: