Makena

Ha... we do the same thing! We have a webcam set up and can go on the internet on our cell phones or at work and watch him... I think you all are the only people who wouldn't think we are crazy for doing that!! :silly:

I have to ask... why are they only doing one handfeeding a day if he isn't eating his other food?? It sounds like he isn't ready to be taken off formula... Makena is still being handfed 3 times a day (takes about 40-50ml per feeding) and continues to eat his pellets and tons of fruits and veggies during the day. He was born May 8th. The vet said we should continue to hand feed him until he is no longer asking for the syringes. He starts making this "I'm hungry" scream in the mornings, afternoon and at night. Obviously every bird is different and I am no expert, just my experience so far... <br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/30 21:11

We cover Makena at night... there is a lot of movement in our condo and we don't want to disturb him. Especially since he is a baby and needs a lot of sleep. If he had his own bedroom we probably wouldn't... but until then we will give him his rest! Toni, you know what works great as a cover is a king sized fitted sheet...and they are easy to wash. Ross or mervyns is a good place to pick up clearance sheets, if you don't have any laying around! Good luck!<br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/30 11:15

Aloha Jasmine! We live on Maui but our little Makena is from Oahu! We got him from a breeder in Kaneohe about a month ago. I believe they have another one if you are interested in shopping around. PM me if you want more info... I feel you on the bug/rodent problem. Luckily we just moved into a new condo that as of yet (knock on wood) hasn't been invested with anything but welcomed geckos! Our last condo though was full of living creatures :sick: ! Also a tip for you... Apparently there is a problem with bird lice in Hawaii. Mainly due to all the pigeons, mynas, doves and chickens running around that are infested with them. Make sure when you do your first wellness check you have your vet stick a feather under the microscope and check for nits. Don't worry they don't affect humans and they are easy to get rid of on birds ($10 bottle of lice spray)... It took us a lot of freaking out before we figured that out :pinch: !! So welcome to the forums! I like yourself am a new member and have found this site so helpful and I know you will too!! Feel free to PM me anytime if you have any questions about my experience with getting a bird in Hawaii. Aloha!

Mende is so lucky to have someone like you... You have given that bird a life that most probably wouldn't bother to give. Just know that whatever happens, Mende loves you. And like dblhelix said, you are a huge inspiration to us here. Chat us up anytime you need support...

You are right lovemygreys... just like people I don't really like to monitor my weight though... too depressing! When we took Makena into the vet he said that sometimes greys can have a parasite (worms I guess?) that can make them very thin. He said he has seen parents bring their greys in that are skin and bone and never realized that they had a problem. He said it was never known because the grey was eating fine and because of all the feathers it is hard to tell an underweight bird. I guess that is one more reason why it is important to monitor weight! Makena weighs in at around 430g, he will be 4 months on tuesday!

Ahh you guys are soooo awesome! I think I am leaning towards Paris and Venice, 1 week at each place. And Joe I loved the poem!!!! And to find it was about food makes it even better !!! You better let us know when that cookbook goes to print. Now we have to pick a wedding date. We don't know a time of year yet. Our wedding might not coincide with the honeymoon. We are going to have a low key, 3 people on a beach wedding... We might have the wedding sooner than later, and spend some time planning (and saving) for the honeymoon! Neither one of us have ever been on a trip where we weren't on a serious budget... but this time I want to live it up!! You guys have been so much help, I can't thank you enough !!!

B)

We have one of those food saver machines with a bunch of canisters http://www.foodsaver.com/. The minute we bring a bag of food home we stick it all into one of those canisters and suck all the air out. We do it every time we open it... and not only does it keep it completely sealed, but it keeps it fresh as well. So far no moth problems here

Thank you guys so much for your help and kind words! I guess we need to get it in our minds that we can't see everything at once!! I am starting to lean towards Italy and France... maybe England... But I guess picking the country is the easy part... then you have to narrow down the areas. That is the whole reason why I was thinking about a cruise... because there is no thinking! But then again maybe that isn't the most desirable!

Haha.. you are allowed to be bored! My fiance and I have been together for 5 years and we have been living together for 3 of those...already have a house...already have a child (if you count Makena as a child )...So I think we are ready to tie the knot! I have friends who are jumping into marriage after 1 year and it makes me cringe :pinch:. That is funny you mention the wine thing. My dad owns a winery in the Napa Valley and had a magnum engraved for each of us when we graduated college. We plan to drink them on one of our wedding anniversaries. Hmmm... magnum=very drunk! Maybe we will only drink part of them! :silly: Being cooped in an a cabin for a few days could be very nice... Neither one of us have been to yellowstone :whistle: Hmmmm... my mind is racing!!<br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/25 11:38

They mountains sound great... Nice and cool.. Not tropical!! We are very torn on the whole cruise thing.. I have always been against it, but we keep getting told to do it by friends... I dunno. :dry: The reason we want to go overseas is because between the 2 of us we have been to almost every state (of course we have missed a few things B) ). We want to experience something "new" together and thought the best way to do that would be to go to a brand new country. Technically we live overseas... Hmmm... Maybe Australia or Asia... that is relatively close! When I say we want to blow money on our honeymoon... all I mean is that we are saving our money for a "decent" honeymoon!!! We will by no means be staying at 5 star resorts. But we will be together and that is all that matters! We have to pay for our own wedding which is why we plan to do the 3 people on a beach thing. We will be on a budget... but we also don't want to skimp. You only get married once (hopefully ) right?!?

So dblhelix I have to ask... if you could revisit one place where would it be and why???

Thanks Tari!! Well we already bought a house... And because of that are going to have a very small/"cheap" wedding... 3 people on a beach is what we are thinking . We could care less about the wedding part... we want to blow our money on the honeymoon!!! We got together in Florida so that is a definite option... Although both of us REALLY want to travel overseas as we have never been anywhere out of the US. I am starting to lean towards Italy... I have always wanted to go. Do we have any born and raised Italian members on here? I would love to hear your suggestions! Many mahalos!!

Tell the vet to check for lice or mites!! (sorry bad experience there!). Ask the vet to put a feather under a microscope and that should tell you if he has any nasty bugs. Many congratulations on your new baby! I am in your same situation.. and let me tell ya, there is nothing better!! Greys have so many little mannerisms.. have fun learning them all!!! And hey... where are those pics? We can't live without them!!!

We are thinking 2 weeks... Not too long... not too short... We can't leave our little Makena for too long We don't mind a little torture!!

Europe is our first choice! We are a little skeptical about a cruise and are wondering whether or not to try one. I would LOVE to go to Italy or France...but I want to see other places too! Maybe I shouldn't try to cram it into one trip Thanks for the input dblhelix.. we want adventure.. we live on an island in the middle of the pacific!!! Talk about boring (not that we don't love it).. but we want to roam... We can go lay our butts on the beach anytime we want... can I get a dose of adventure please? Oh and we love food.... <br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/25 07:12

Yeah our vet told us seed isn't the best thing for a grey... It used to be what was recommended but I guess not anymore. Hey as long as he loves the pellets, we will continue with it!!<br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/25 19:23

We just bought some Harrison's for Makena today and he loved it! He originally liked the Kaytee blend but when mixed together he seems to pick out the Harrison's. We aren't feeding him seed (except for treats here and there) as our vet told us not to. Since the pellets are the perfect blend developed exclusively for birds we are more than happy that he likes them! We bought a one pound bag to see if he liked it... Now that we know he does we are heading back for a 5 pounder!

So I am getting married in the next year (the date is still being debated) and we are trying to pick a good honeymoon spot. Being that we live in Hawaii we don't really want to go back to our condo for our honeymoon :pinch: or any other tropical location for that matter... So anyone been on any amazing vacations lately? We are thinking about a Mediterranean cruise. Anyone ever done one? We have never been on a cruise before and are a little unsure about it. Neither one of us have been out of the US but we do have passports Any good ideas out there?

25 here... January baby

You are absolutely right dblhelix... Without a warm little bird body the lice will die. Although we are going to make sure to clean the cage very well over the next few weeks just in case. I don't want to take any chances that they could come back! The vet did say mites are a worse problem to have because they can live anywhere and are hard to spot with the naked eye. Lucky we don't have those as they can live in your carpets, furniture, etc. and are really hard to get rid of. Well I guess this is something new for the forums. Everyone should check their new birds that come from a place where there are many other birds around. They are so small and tend to stay hidden in the bird. We never would have known if it weren't for the fact we saw a couple crawl up our arm :sick:. I guess you live and learn!

Yep it was lice... MAJOR LICE! The poor guy is covered with them. The vet said he has never seen a domesticated bird with lice that bad before. Luckily he said the spray we got should clear it up. He taught us how to use it and said it is very safe when used correctly. It should take almost a month for them to completely clear up as you have to wait for the eggs to hatch. He said to come back in a month with a feather and he will put it under a microscope to check the progress. If there are still lice at that point there is an oral treatment they can give... but that would be a worse case scenario. He didn't want to give it right off the bat since Makena is a baby and didn't know the side effects. Hopefully they clear up with the spray! Die lice DIE!! :angry: And we have been assured that these lice do not like humans... so once we are rid of them on Makena they should be gone for good. Phew.... I guess I can stop my itching now. On the other hand... Makena is doing great!!! We had them do a gram stain which came back completely normal. He said Makena is huge (420 grams) and his massive food intake is fine for a birdy this age! He isn't fat... just big boned :lol: He said we are going to have a very large grey! He gave Makena a very thorough exam and everything was normal... His inside organs sounded great as well as everything on the outside looked wonderful. He said besides the lice the bird is extremely healthy and one of the best looking greys he has seen in a long time! :blush: Plus he said we were very knowledgeable for first time grey parents... I attribute that to all of you guys!!! So mom and dad feel a little better now... We will be happy once the lice is gone.. and I will keep you guys posted on the progress!

We are leaving for our vet appt. in about 10 minutes. I will be back on in a couple of hours with an update! Thanks so much for caring!!!

We just ordered the harness a couple of days ago. We figure we will give it a shot. We want it to be able to take him outside on our shoulder and go for walks to the beach, etc. We didn't get it to allow him to fly... at least not yet anyways. He is too clumsy right now and I would be scared of a crash landing!!