Makena

We don't feed Makena peanuts... not because we are scared of them but because we just haven't tried them yet! Dan, you have mentioned before the ingredient statements for the harrisons which list peanuts very close to the top... is this ok?

Here is a nice article from the Boston Globe yesterday.... http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/11/death_of_gifted_parrot_stuns_scientists/

WHAT ARE YOU YOU TALKING ABOUT JUDY?!?! I AM NEVER IN A BAD MOOD!! :evil: Just kidding, I think my fiance would beg to differ... I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate you... And after 5 years he still doesn't get it that I can be in a bad mood and it isn't because of him! I like to think that Makena is the same way... Hormonal imbalances :silly:!!

Oh yeah... good call on the squirt bottle Talon! We do the same thing!

Yesterday Makena was in a horrible mood... I think he was mad at us for having a dinner party the night before! For the first time ever he didn't want to come out of his cage, was nipping at us and being very rough with his toys. We basically just left him alone all day and let him do his own thing. Today he is back to his sweet self, out of his cage, chatting away, not nipping and getting lots of head scratches! I have to say though... yesterday was kind of nice. I was able to get a lot of work done around the house! I wouldn't worry about it... they have moods just like us!

Where I live it gets down to about 70 at night and up to 95 during the day. Our upstairs where we sometimes take Makena to play can easily get to 92. It never seems to phase him. Only once or twice have I seen him drop his wings and pant a little. And at that point I immediately took him downstairs. Judy is right, they live in Africa and are used to high heat. As long as they aren't in direct 90+ degree sunlight I am sure he will be fine. I would be more worried about the cold... but hopefully someone else can comment about that!

Makena makes all his little cute baby noises when there are other noises in the room... He loves to try and out perform the coffee grinder, washing machine, dishwasher, or our conversations!

Thanks guys so much for the kind words!! You are so right Monique... I think it's that creepy crawly feeling that is getting to us the most! We were very worried yesterday about the effect of the medicine on him. He was very shaky and having trouble keeping his balance. He spent a good portion of the day sleeping. Today though he is like a whole new bird! He is running all over the place, getting into things and chatting up a storm! We gave him a full soaking shower which he really enjoyed and spent a lot of time preening after. He is just about to pass out for his first nap of the day... aww... he eyes are getting soooo heavy ! We cleaned and sanitized his cage the best we could but have decided to buy a steam cleaner to really do a good job. After going to 5 stores today we couldn't find one, so I guess we will order one online. Plus I imagine it will come in handy for lots of other things! Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for your support... There sure is a lot of heart and soul in this forum!!!!

I'd say that deserved a nip...

Hey why isn't anyone else posting photos is here?!?! O'well... I will keep filling it up!! How much is that birdy in the window, chirp, chirp... The one with the little red tail!!!

Aloha Bill! I have been trying to get my fiance to become a user... but he says I do enough talking for the both of us :silly:!! Maybe he will follow your wonderful example!! Welcome welcome welcome!!!

Makena will eat sliced tomatoes, but not chopped up ones! Finicky little guy! Today was pretty funny... I had him on my shoulder while I made a sandwich. I sliced some tomatoes, he had to have a bite. I pulled out some lettuce, he had to have a bite. I pulled out the cheese, he had to have a bite... Then came the pickles. He looked at it, acted like he wanted it so I gave him a very tiny piece. He started munching on it, spit it out, then gave me a look like "why did you give that too me mean lady"!! It was pretty funny !! Good thing he didn't like it.. I can imagine pickles aren't the best thing to give a bird! Joe, try peas and corn. Of all the fruit and veggies I have ever given Makena those are the 2 he goes NUTS for. Giving him a bowl of peas and corn keeps him busy for an hour ! And once you find a fruit or veggie he likes start adding additional things into it. Hmmm... I all of a sudden have a strange craving for sliced homegrown tomatoes, with fresh basil and a little bit of garlic salt... My favorite!!!

Have a great time! Don't work too hard !

You NEVER want just one wing clipped. This can cause major balance problems resulting in injury when trying to fly or land. It would be like a plane flying with only one wing... Just a heads up!

I did find a couple of sites that gave some good information... http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=15&cat=1829&articleid=2699 http://www.birds-online.de/gesundheit/gesparasiten/spulwuermer_en.htm It sounds like they get it from being in aviaries or crawling on the ground. They can also get it from contaminated food or water, but how it gets contaminated I am not sure. Makena was born in a large outdoor aviary in the middle of the rainforest. It was a great place in that it is so much like their natural habitat... although he was around A LOT of other birds. Being that it was outdoors, there were a lot of wird birds like pigeons, chickens, mynas, cardinals, doves, etc. EVERYWHERE! It isn't surprising that he picked up the parasites. It does however make we worry about all the birds that are still there. I guess if one has it, there is a good chance they all have it. We just feel so dirty... We try to keep such a clean home and I give Makena fresh food and water several times a day. I know it isn't from us, but you still question your parenting! Today we are going to do a major scrub of the cage. I guess it is really important to get the poop off of everything as it can harbor eggs. Just another good reason to do a thorough wellness check. They don't commonly check for worms as they are so rare.<br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/09/09 21:54

Makena is 4 months old today and he tries so hard to talk. It is really cute, but sounds mostly like R2D2. His new thing though, which I am not 100% happy about is he is mimicking pigeons!! We have hundreds of them around our condo constantly... so it isn't surprising he picked it up!

LOL!!!! {Feel-good-0002006E}

Photo editing?? I don't understand, I thought they were real.... Like a new type of bird evolution or something! {Feel-good-00020069} I might just have to make one of those my desktop background... On my work computer :silly:!!

As others on here have said it still looks like your little guy is a baby. I am sure it is only a couple months difference from the date they told you. The pet store shouldn't have lied... but as long as he is happy and healthy I wouldn't worry about it! In the big scheme of things what's a few months ??

Aww... thanks for your kind words Judy ! I had no idea worms were a problem for birds either... now I know. He said we are lucky to have brought him in when we did. Apparently just like in humans the worms can grow so big that they actually block the intestines and kill them :ohmy:! I guess that is another good reason to monitor weight... Rapid weight loss is one of the symptoms.

We must be the most unlucky grey parents ever when it comes to parasites!!! Makena started throwing up/regurgitating a lot of his food when we were feeding him. We were very worried and immediately called the vet. He said it sounded like a yeast infection and to get him in so he could swab the throat and do a gram stain. Well the throat swab came up negative for yeast, so he examined the poop under the microscope. Well sure enough it turns out little Makena has worms :sick:!! He said that he probably got them from his parents in the aviary... So as it turns out we had to end up giving him the medication that we were trying to avoid earlier for the lice. He administered "Ivomec" orally and are told it should get rid of the roundworms and kill off any left over lice. At least we get to stop using the lice spray, I hate that stuff. We have to bring in another poop sample in a week to double check... but hopefully they will be gone! Makena is doing ok... he was a little shaky earlier from the medication but seems ok now, just tired. We, on the other hand are quite frazzled and worried about our child. Hopefully there are no more problems as our nerves and pocketbooks can't handle it! Maybe you guys should start an "ailments" room for people to talk about sicknesses and vet visits. I would probably be the #1 poster !

And if you would like to see a before picture... this is him at exactly 10 weeks old. Also notice the little down feathers sticking out all over the place.... He had them everywhere, but they all were pretty much gone by about 14 weeks.

Here is a picture of Makena taken a couple of days ago. He is 4 months old today. So that can kind of give you an idea of what a 4 month's old eyes look like. When we first got him you could barely distinguish the pupil, now there is definite distinction. I think the bands have different meanings for different breeders. Makena's says "Aloha, HI 473". I guess it is a code that only they would know!

I am so sad about this... We love watching the Alex videos, in fact we even say some of his sayings to Makena... like "can I have a nut" and "head tickle". I felt like I knew Alex without ever meeting him. I will continue to be impressed by the amazing work Irene does and hope his death brings more awareness to her organization. Her research has shown the public what amazing and intelligent creatures greys are. Thanks Alex for all you have done... We will miss you. You will never be forgotten...

{Feel-bad-00020072} That is sooo sad... He was 30 years old. I can't even imagine how horrible Irene must feel... My heart goes out to them.