mjames74

Echo used to just say "gotta go poop". But now she says "gotta poop, gotta poop, gotta poop pooooo" funny as hell. Started that one all on her own. Never said it to her like that.

Mine loves to hang off the curtain and pull the house phone off the charger and throw it on the floor.

Grats on the test being negative. Found this a while back, for those who haven't seen it... Will make you cry and smile at the same time. But moral of it is, no matter what, never give up.

Got the right mind to email em' and set up the trade and mail them a paint bomb or a roadkill dead skunk or something.

Probably the same kind of person that in a pet store, first thing they ask is which is the best talker.

I thought I had Echo started yesterday. Mixed w/ hot water and made paste. Chowed down for a bit, then threw some out of the bowl, then proceeded to turn around and poop in her treat bowl, then trurned it over. When she doesn't like something she gets the message across pretty clear. The pooping in the bowl was a new one. Oh well back to the drawing board.

Someone linked this video before, but I wouldn't think about it either unless the cage is this big. Big enough for 3 and they are still far enough apart to have their own area.

The eggshell of an egg is the highest calciumyou can get. When you give her the egg I'd grind the eggshell down fine and mix it in. With a bowl and the bottom of a spoon you can get it to a powder with some work. I give mine an egg 3 times a week and one of em' with the shell cause I don't know for sure if she eats enough broccoli cause the does throw some to the dogs to watch them eat. Cheap entertainment to her I guess lol.

I'd wait and just give her high calcium veg/fruits/nuts. Broccoli, almonds, egg /w the shell ground up, etc. Laying an egg takes a huge hit on their calcium level.

Oh yeah they know for sure. Mine has taken words it has learned and has formed it's own sentences. See the "messy bird - talking" thread for a few examples.

Echo's got the speech to context down pat. Tells the parotlet Cricket or the conure Emmy to knock it off by name when they get carried away. "Em/Cricket... Knock it off." (if the don't stop usually followed by a "oh my god, shut up"). Now she put the words together herself. Birds names, shut up, knock it off, omg, shut up was all learned seperately mainly from yelling at the dogs and she'll tell one of them "Duffy" the same lines. She'll get on the floor and say "get on you're cage" as she waddles and hops away. She'll say "Michael" and I reply "what?" and she says "what are you doing?" or "love you" all learned seperately too. There's a few others but you get the idea. It still amazes me how they learn independent words and form senteces with them.

Echo does it constantly. Learned it from hearing the real thing. Did it the other day and just happened to lift one of her legs when she did it, just coincidence but I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Oh she picked up my first name finally, Michael. And I'm working on a new toy with her, she's still in the getting used to it stage but hoping in the next video she'll be playing a tune for us.

Well a store does always have the right to refuse business to someome. Neglect sounds like a good reason to refuse a sale to me.

Yeah I take the inside paper out. So it's pretty much just cardboard. And like I said we don't smoke around them. But I think birds are more durable that people tend to belive. Once of my relatives has a scarlet macaw that chews cigarette butts. Doesn't eat them just chews them up and makes a mess with them. They've had the bird since I was a few yrs old. The bird is like 33 now. I tried telling em it's bad for it, but kinda goes in one ear and out the other. But I think he's hooked on the niccotine in them from absorbing through the tounge probably. So in short I don't think the boxes are bad. I could be doing a lot worse.

Well at least it's a good chance the one coming to get him feels the same as you. Most people won't buy a bird that looks like that as a first bird or impulse buy.

I'd say go get some formula for baby birds and mix it and feed him with a syringe if needed. Might not keep it all down but it will pobably sit better than solids right now. I'm no expert but it's what would make sense to me since it's got more vitamins and all plus it's wet to help with the rehydration.

I don't breed but if I did I wouldn't let a grey go at 6 wks just on the liabilty. Even if the person knows what they're doing it just wouldn't feel right. Only exception would be if I was selling to another known breeder. Just too much can go wrong. I'd wait until it's twice the age you want to take it. 12 wks. Then it should be cage ready and be eating seeds or pellets along with it's formula. At least then you can sleep at night cause it will eat the solids at night I know you are eager and excited but I would definately wait until the bird is more stable and I guess you could say more "durable".

Time wise maybe 6 hrs. But that was learning the knots and all and learning how to do it. Now that I know I would say I can probably do it in half the time 3-4 hrs or so. Materials was 3x50' rolls of rope and a spool of twine. Around $25. I could have done it with 2 rolls I'm sure cause I wasted a lot learing. So if I were to make it again if I used 2 rolls and the twine it woulda been about $18-$20.

Never was a boy scout, just a good researcher. Looked up about every knot in the book trying to find one that would keep the rope straight when coming out of the knot. Finally decided on the diamond stitch variation to the chinese cross knot: http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/cross-knot.html and the whipping at the rope ends: The knot is a pain to get used to but once ya get it you can fly though it. took about 1 1/2 rows to get it down. Then about 4 hrs after that to finish it. Don't know what other pointers to give, never was a good teacher. as far as measuring each knot takes up roughly 2" of the legnth on the 3/8" rope. Will probably be a bigger reduction with bigger ropes. Just something to keep in mind. I have a question though. Is manila rope safe? If I make another I'll probably get it from home depot. It didn't say if it was treated or not. Didn't know if anyone already researched it or not.<br><br>Post edited by: mjames74, at: 2009/01/10 01:00

On the cage. Doesn't quite know what to make of it yet.

The tie offs.

Close up of finished ends. Get a grip doesn't use whipping on the ends but I figure I'd extend the life of the ends a bit.

Ok it's done. Didn't use a tape measure or a spacer for the holes so not too bad I guess. It wound up roughly being 2x3. Get a grip sells that size for around $60 I think and the rope and twine cost me about $20 so can definately save money. I know how much each knot subtracts from the length so when I make my next one it will be a lot better and will probably use a bigger rope. This was about a 100' of rope in all. My brother said I should make them as a hobby and sell em. To quote him after seeing it done. "You should sell those, that's bad ass." lol Echo still kinda cautious about it. She was for a few days last time she had a net too. I might move it though. <br><br>Post edited by: mjames74, at: 2009/01/10 01:01

LindaMary wrote: I was listening to a song while reading this and a line of the lyrics came though and hit me as appropriate.

well we don't smoke around the birds. and she'snot eating it, just likes to tear them up same with any foraging box. she usually only spends about 2-3 min on it, just enough to pull out the inside paper then she's done with all of it. about the same time she spent on the foraging boxes so figured this was cheaper.