JennS

I am a little curious about this, and what I should be doing. We have window shades open during the dayon the south and easy side of the room my girls are in. Their cages are on the north and east walls. None are in direct sunlight, but have natural light all day. Is that enough?

So we have been working on the veggies. Vannah is always asking for apple now, and I give her a piece of that or grape in the afternoon. She is eating carrots, broccoli, and romaine (the dark leafy kind, not the caesar salad hearts). She is eating the snap peas when I won't give in to more fruit. I have yet to find kale or swiss chard in my little town, but I'm sure I'll find it somewhere. I have tucked some pellets into her seeds for good measure until she's accepting more veggies. She is pretty insistent about getting crackers too. I found some unsalted that have flax seeds and a few other seeds on them. We have that as a treat too. I cooked up some beans, peas and lintels and I'm giving her a little of that. She's trying it, but not eating much of it. I'm giving all of this to our littles as well. Piper has never taken to any of this, and is still ignoring it. Dusty is loving it!

I did get the ok from the vet. I am trying to be careful to give equal attention in they way each likes it. It will be a little harder when Vannah finally decides to allow me to hold or pet her. Right now she just talks with me and wants me around. Dusty (my green cheek) is very feet on. She always wants to be held, get head scratches, and to run around on me. They are accepting of each others role... at least today. Piper, my cockatiel, just wants my husband, so we are good there.

No bites to speak of from my grey...yet. I just got her home Sunday. She holds my finger or butt's it with her top mandible so far. Dusty, my CGC on the other hand...I have scars with stories of their own! But she still cuddles up with me and rolls around in my sweater (when its not summer).

Here is my flock and I. Me (Jenn) and Vannah. Our little girl Piper on my shoulder, and Dusty in the foreground. Both with us for 19 years Cory and the neighbor's dog Buck.

The only item on the list I gave that was new is the sweet peppers. The rest we were told she eats. Some on a regular basis (bananas, papaya, carrots, and celery) the rest was a once in a while thing. I took a look at your website and saw the chops and other goodies! What a fantastic idea! Another question is how much should I be offering her every day? She has been fine until tonight. She started asking for more of some of her favorites toward the end of the day and was repetitive about it. I wasn't eating, and there wasn't any food in the room other than hers. It seemed kind of weird.

I don't anticipate them getting along, and probably won't allow them to be out all at the same time unless my sole job at the moment is watching them. My other two are a cockatiel and a green cheek conure. The size difference scares me too much. They are also both 19 years old, so not the spring hens they once were. I think my biggest worry is that they hear each other and my littles seem to be getting jealous. Vannah of course wants to know all about the rest of the house. She tries to look out the door when we come and go.

How does the top close? My Vannah is proving to be quite the little engineer/escape artist. We need to get her a new cage and we were thinking about the 'sunroof' style (as we call it) but are worried about her safety...and that of the baseboards.

Are we going about this the 'right' way? We are taking a bit of a risk every time we let her out of the cage, but she really likes to be out and doesn't stray to the floor too much. I hope bribing her back in is ok. I try to make sure I don't leave the room right away after doing that though. She's not in the same room as the others yet and don't want to associate being in her cage with being alone. Any suggestions about how to go about this would be great. Especially since we have the flock separated at the moment (quarentine...although she was in a single bird house). I am hoping the vet will tell us we can put our three girls in the same room sooner rather than later. It's harder on all three.

Thank you. She is eating some of the veggies and fruit. She was getting peanuts at her previous home and loves them. I have been reading about how a fungus can be present on them though, and stopped providing them until she sees the vet tomorrow. We weren't told about any other nuts that she accepts. Didn't even think about sprouts, but I will try it. She seems to enjoy bananas, carrots, celery, sweet peppers, corn, apples, mango, and papaya. I tried a cherry with her (cut and pitted) nd she didn't touch it. We were told she was too interested in citrus, but thought I'd try it. We have broccoli, cauliflower and pea pods we want to try with her. We are only into our 3rd full day with her though and don't want ti stress her out.

Our new to us Grey came to us eating seeds, fruits and veggies, and the occasional cracker or chicken. She is still taking the that diet, but our other smaller birds are on a pellet and seed diet with the fruits and veggies. At 28, do I need to work her toward some pellets too? I would kind of like to, but don't know if it's something I should put at the top or bottom of the list in getting her acclimated to our home.

I am a new member and just introducing myself and our newest addition. I have had little birds, a cockatiel and a greencheek, for 19 years. We resently had the opportunity to adopt a 28 year old African Grey named Vannah. She has lived with same companion humans for the past 22 years and seems very well socialized. They offered her to us because they are in their late 70's and wanted to have a choice in where she goes instead of waiting until something happened to them. She was the only bird in the house, but she did have a dog for a while some years ago. We brought her home July 5th, and since then she has warmed up to playing with new toys, having us clean her cage and perches, and is eating well andtalks more every day. She won't step up regularly yet, and ignores requests to go inside her cage or to leave the baseboards alone. We just entice her with something better tasting and she kind of goes where we need her to. Does anyone have a suggestion about how long we should wait on really reinforcing the stepping up? We are trying let her settle in and relax in her own way, but I don't want this to become the 'new normal' for her.