JennS

Vannah loves the boxes too! We ended up with 3 eggs and a broody been over the bigger boxes, but the smaller ones she can't climb into are just as well recieved. I make her treat toys with paper towel and toilet paper tubes too. Too keep her off the base boards we put down a rug with the edges over the baseboards. We wedged pool noodles between the legs of the coffee table to keep her out from under it. That worked for keeping her from chewing on it too. We close doors to rooms where she likes to explore unsupervised as well.

I'll have to try it. I hope she doesn't hold a grudge against the toy, and I can get her to like it.

I tried to shake things up for Vannah recently with some more challenging foraging toys. She was not having it! She never got a bald spot, but the feathers in her cage were enough to give me a scare. I took the new toy out and she settled down. She'd never reacted to a toy that way, but I'd never hidden her almond from her before...

Maybe since you have a few weeks and a college near by you could look for a baby sitter on campus that would be willing to learn about caring for a CAG. Maybe look for a teacher on summer break. They should be patient and nurturing. Kinder or first grade. They are used to noise and messes. My Vannah just went on vacation at her former companion's home. My others went to my parents. I'm lucky that way I guess.

I would tend to agree with Talon, though not certain. My Vannah makes little wheezes and clicks in her breathing when I've been gone all day. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it is similar.

It was 30 days from the first egg last Saturday, and the last egg it will be 30 days this Saturday (5/29). Interesting behavior changes and mood swings going on. Monday morning (5/24) she rolled all 4 eggs onto the grate. She had rolled one out a few days prior, and we took it out of the cage. Since 4 were on the grate and it had been a couple days, we took one out again (now there are 3). She carried one back onto the fleece and has been caring for it. she was picking at the others so I put them back. She rolled one off the fleece, and put another one between the folds of the fleece, and the third one she is still tending. She was allowing us to pick her up briefly and then going back to her cage. Now over the last 3 days or so she is getting very protective and nipping at both of us. I don't mind just letting her be and get this all through her system, I am just hoping that we aren't doing something that is harmful to our relationship with her. Has anyone else had their girls hide their eggs? Should I get her a pair of long ears to wear?

Thank you everyone! This makes me feel a little more at ease about giving all of them these types of things. What do you guys think about the foam toys? I've seen some at the stores that look like they were made with craft foam or something. I can see them pinching of pieces and rolling it in their beak. I wish my girls liked swings! Piper has never liked them, and Dusty used to hang off of swinging toys, but not sit on a swing. Vannah is missing part of a toe on both feet, and hasn't shown much interest in swinging. After this egg thing is over, and I have time this summer, I want to spend some more time with her on getting her flying. I think that will help her confidence on her feet too.

I am looking through this section and seeing toys that involve straws and other soft plastics. My husband and I have always steered clear of toys with the shreddable plastics for fear our little ladies would swallow it. Since Vannah has joined us we have continued to stay away from them. I am wondering now if this is a bit of a mistake. We give them all wood, paper, cardboard, and seagrass toys to shred. I guess the feeling has been that at least those items will somewhat digest because they are biodegradable. There is nothing guiding our thinking other than our overly cautiousness. I was also giving Vannah swatches of flannel and cotton rope (un dyed) to chew on, and she was working them over so well, she would have little strings at the corners of her mouth. She'd let me pull them away, but they also seemed to still be in her mouth, so now I am second guessing that as well. Longish story I suppose. Quick questions... Has anyone had issues with their birds shredding, then swallowing the pieces from straws, plastic nuts/bolts, aglets on shoe laces, etc? Does anyone here use fleece, flannel, loose rope or string in their bird toys? The only way I have been able to look for potentially swallowed parts is by gaging the amount of destruction and the debris field (never having been able to determine anything). Ideas anyone? Paranoid bird mom (aka:JennS)

Well, other than Miss Vannah trying to become a mom for the first time at 28, our flock is doing well! My Husband is looking to retire in the next year, which is exciting because his job is on the hazardous end of things. I am finishing up my 16th year teaching and getting ready to move into a brand new building (from a building that we have shared with a second school for the last two years). Our 2 other fids, Dusty and Piper turned 20 last month and haven't been too rattled by Vannah's moodiness. They have been with us since they were weened off of hand feeding and ready to be somewhat independent. They are a GCC and a Cockatiel respectively. I was hoping our cockatiel wouldn't take the hint and try egg laying again. So far, so good! In two weeks we will have Vannah's 29th hatch-day too.

Thank you for looking for the threads and linking them here! Vannah hasn't laid a new one since last Thursday. It is a total of 3 now and each time it is easier on her and there is less blood on the egg. I have kept them all just in case the dummy eggs don't work, but I think they are. She has started coming out of her cage more often, though rarely wants to stray far. Yesterday she came looking for loves with me. She wanted to be held and snuggled, but at the same time was nipping at me a little. After a little bit I made her go back to her cage because she was almost aggressive about it. With her behavior changes in the last 4 days, I think the laying is over and she is just tending the 5 dummies on her fleece. What I have been doing: 1. Flaking cuttlebone into her food (she won't use one whole) 2.Made some bird bread with extra calcium in it. 3. My husband makes her eggs when he makes his breakfast (no salt or add ins of course) 4. Now that it is warmer through the day, we open the blinds in the room for more natural light cycling. 5. No more big boxes to play in and chew on. We gave her one to chew up a while back (she LOVES cardboard and fleece) and it was a bit to big. She crawled in it and started chewing it up from the inside out. I thought it was cute, but in hind-sight I think she was nesting. We are learning together I suppose. Here are a couple of pics. **After writing this, I went and looked at the links, and apparently there are somethings I did that may not have been best practice. I exchanged her eggs for dummies. It says not to disturb them at all, that she may have more if the real ones are removed. She seems to have accepted them though. The other thing is that I put the fleece in there and the other thread said not to change where they sit. I change the fleece out to keep things clean though. She watches me very carefully, but allows me to do it.

Well we are on top egg number 3. The dummy eggs came Wednesday and we put those under her. She seemed to want to incubate them, but in the last 2 days she leaves them for a while to sit with me. She seems very healthy, I just worry now about if she will stop.

There is another egg tonight. Still standing on her perch again. She went down to the egg this time after about 15 or 20 minutes. I put the original one back in there too. She didn't pay any attention to it the first day so I didn't think she would need it. Now she's sitting on the fleece I put in one corner with both of the eggs. Not sure what to expect from here.

Vannah is still with us 9 and a half months later. She is definitely her own bird. It is hard trying to keep track of her because as soon as you open the door she she's off and running (still won't fly). I find her everywhere! Under the bed, the coffee table and the toilet... behind chairs, stools, and random furniture. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was a cat! She talks all the time to me and has conversations with herself. Her newest phrase is "tickle, tickle". Not sure if she picked it up from us or if she just remembered it. It's not something we say often. Though she is great with wood to chew on, we have found she is starting to prefer fabric. She also likes cardboard boxes, but that seems to put her in an egg laying mood.😳 Took the box away Thursday morning when I found the egg on top of it. She seems to be doing ok now, but see the post in the health room if you have thoughts about what to watch for on that. I am a little concerned that she might be hiding symptoms or issues from the egg...ya know because thats whet birds do. She is still just tolerating my husband, but even that has improved. She is tolerating her little "sisters" less though. If they are near she reaches for their tails or barks at them. They are smaller than she is, but have been with us for years. One is a Cockatiel (Piper) and the other is a Green-cheek Conure (Dusty). I figured Dusty would be the one she'd go after if anyone because she flies around and lands on Vannah's cage, and Piper keeps to herself and my husband. Vannah always goes for Piper first though if she's close enough. If she's more than 3 or 4 feet away its like she doesn't exsist though. With Dusty, as long as she's not occupying the shoulder where Vannah wants to snuggle, Dusty is fine. Weird. Well... more later I supose 🙂

Thank you! I may try that. Right now she's on a mix of Zupreem and Kaytee. Our stores are a bit limited in what they carry since last March. I'll see if I can find the Harrison's.

Vannah is 28 and layed her first egg on Thursday morning (4/22). She 'layed' it while standing on her perch and it fell onto a piece of cardboard at the bottom of her cage. I wasn't there when it happened, but it had what we call a morning poo and some blood with it. I dont know if that came later or at the same time as the egg. Her behavior changed only slightly a few days before the egg came. She went back to normal pretty quickly too. My worry is the blood. She hasn't continued to bleed. After I found the egg, I checked her for injury and she seemed to be fine. She has had very small amounts of blood in her feces, so small I couldn't tell until I got a kleenex to clean one up. Her feces are also very loose. Yesterday (4/24) she was sitting with me and had small amounts of clear fluid leaking from her vent. I just don't want to miss anything and lose her. Does anyone have experience with egg laying that could shed some light on how she is doing?

Vannah has her flight feathers. Her previous owner clipped her wings once about 20 years ago. She didn't start plucking, but she was so offended by it, he never did it again.

I love the drawer idea! Vannah loves crawling under things. Her newest favorite hangout is under the coffee table. There's only a 3 or 4 inch clearance, but she loves going under there. Huey is a cutie. His story gives me hope that Vannah will fly someday.

Is Huey a grey? Vannah flaps her wings while perched on my hand. She gets a little lift on one side (kind of weird) after a few seconds she's winded though. I need to be more diligent about working on that.

I am sure her diet has changed since we just brought her home in July 2020. I'm not sure how much it's changed though. She ate fruits and veggies and a seed mix before, but we couldn't nail down how much. She still eats those things, but we added a pellet mix and cut the seeds back. We introduced some specific veggies at the recommendation of members here to help with the nutritional content of her food. She also gets an occasional walnut or almond in its shell. She enjoys playing with them before eating. (They are also an 'in' for my husband whom she doesn't really care for.) Though fully feathered, she doesn't fly. Her previous human said he didn't think she knew she could. We tried to interest her, but she doesn't seem to want to.

Thanks! I didn't think about it as special furniture, I guess. We don't know what we want yet, but thought getting opinions from people with birds might be helpful. I am always sitting on a blanket now that Vannah is with us. She chews on anything in reach and is by far the worst about it out of the 2. She's put holes in blankets and sweatshirts and loves to try and get to the rivets in my jeans! I guess I figured those of you with more experience with large birds might know something I'm not thinking of.

We are about to replace furniture in the room where our birds spend time with us. Not because of them, but it is old and falling apart. With three birds in our house, and two that have enjoyed trying to chew the leather off the current furniture, I was hoping for a little discuss on fixes or types of furniture that have worked well for some of you. I have even considered metal garden furniture with replaceable cushions. 🤪

She has gain about 30g since last July. In July she was 396, early November she was 413, now she's 432. Is this Ok?

It has been fast! I was so worried about doing well for her and hoping that she would transition ok. Our experience with her has been such a blessing!

Vannah is 28. She spent her last 22 years with Jim, who she adores. Her first 6 years were with Virginia. In both cases, her humans were getting "too old" as they put it (80ish), and wanted to make sure she was settled in a good home before they passed. Jim used to take her to visit Virginia before she passed away too.

Did you try eating it with him? I had to do that with a couple of things. Like eat some in front of her, then ask her if she wants some. He might do better now that he's out of his few months of tantrum too.😀