Makena

Great question lovemybird! I am in the market for a new camera too. And funny enough I also have a cannon powershot with horrible zoom! That Nikon looks very nice... is that link a good place to buy from? Also what would you suggest for a simple point and shoot 7-8 megapixel pocket type? I am going back and forth between the 2 types...

Ok so we called or emailed everyone we could... The pet store owner said lice are pretty common amongst birds in Hawaii due to all the wild pigeons, doves, mynas, roosters and sparrows. They said the find a lot of the breeders in Hawaii have lice problems . We purchased this lice spray; http://www.petco.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=113719&cm_ven=SortPrice&cm_cat=72&cm_pla=113719&cm_ite=113719 We are going to take it with us on Friday to the vet and make sure it is ok before we use it. Plus we figure it will help if he shows us how to use it correctly. We also emailed the breeder and let him know. Makena has not been in contact with any other animals since we got him so we are pretty sure that is where they came from. I am sure the breeder is going to get defensive but we assured him we were only letting him know for the sake of his other birds. Luckily it looks like this type of lice doesn't affect humans... I can't stop itching though.. But I think it is 90% psychological and 10% mosquitos! :pinch:<br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/23 03:53

The vet is not an Avian Vet... but he claims his interest is in avian care... This is his website.. http://www.kiheiveterinaryclinic.com/kvcstaff/ Being that we are on an island we don't have many options!

We noticed while holding him and one would crawl up our arm :sick: I caught one and put it in a ziploc... I wish I had a way to take a picture of it to show you but it is just too small! I examined his food very carefully and don't see anything there. Thank you dblhelix for the article... that looks exactly like what they are. We are calling around right now and my fiance is at the pet store talking to the owner and trying to figure out the best solution. :unsure:

Ahhhh :ohmy: ... so we are freaking out because it looks like Makena has lice!! We started noticing these little brown bugs and called the vet right away. He said it sounded like lice and to go to the pet store, buy the lice spray and start treatment right away. Have any of your birds ever had lice?!? I have been trying to do research on it but am having a hard time finding anything. Is the type of louse a bird gets the same as a human louse? Can they live in your house like mites or bedbugs?!?! Are we going to have a huge infestation on our hands or is this something that will go away when the bird is treated?!?!? We have an appt. with the vet of Friday and will hopefully get more info then... but for right now we are going crazy trying to find more information! Thanks so much!!

Wow.. that is awesome!! I am glad that is working out. We have a great farmers market here on Saturdays that I am going to hit up next weekend. The will probably have palm nuts there and other crazy types of tropical fruit!! We have a friend here who has a parrot and said her bird loves starfruit... I am gonna try that too!

Understood...

Thanks everyone... during the day he hangs out with me. And funny enough his favorite place in the whole house is sitting on the bottom of a tray table we have. There are plenty of toys and things in the room, but he always goes back to that tray table! I just started sticking his food there and being that the bowls are in close proximity to his face whatever he drops goes back in the bowl. So it is pretty easy for me to judge how much he eats. You are right though Dan... a lot of it does get ground up and goes back in the bowl. And I know what you are saying about the art Monique. Makena thinks Peas on my couch are pretty :pinch: I attached a pic I just took five minutes ago. Luckily it is early in the morning so the place isn't a mess yet! I just fed him 40ml of formula, but that doesn't stop him!! He is a very active bird.. so my guess would be he is using a lot of calories. I will keep you guys posted on the vet visit!! Thanks!!

Makena eats, and eats, and eats, and eats. He is still being hand fed 3 times a day at about 40-50ml per feeding. We give him formula for breakfast and dinner. For lunch he gets a birdy smoothy (papaya, banana, pineapple, pine nuts and peas). Plus he eats all throughout the day!! There is a constant bowl of fruit/veggies and pellets in front of him at all times. I would say he eats over 1/2 cup of fruits/veggies and a couple tablespoons of pellets per day. And he nibbles on little things here and there that we are eating like bread, popcorn, etc. We are trying to cut back on his hand feedings... but he just screams when he doesn't get his food. He makes these loud wailing noises whenever he wants something to eat and won't stop until I have a syringe in hand! And then he goes to town on the thing like I have never fed him before!! The neighbors probably think I am killing my bird the way he screams!! So does anyone know if this is normal? I keep an eye on his crop and it only stays full for about 20 minutes after eating. I mean it is one thing to take after your parents, but this is taking things a little far :silly: !! He is almost 14 weeks and ranges between about 420-450g. We weigh him everyday. We have an appt. on Friday with the avian vet for a checkup... I will run it by him too! Thanks guys!! Aloha!

I just googled palm nuts and came across this person's site who found a source in Florida. They buy them for their birds. I don't know anything about the company but it might be worth a shot. http://savethewave.com/connie/palmtoy.htm I can get them here in Hawaii... but it is illegal to ship to the mainland. I guess there is a problem with rats because they like to climb up the tree and eat them :ohmy: I haven't tried giving any to Makena yet... but after reading this post I am going to get it a try! Thanks guys!

I grow basil and decided to give Makena a taste. It turns out he loves it! I pinned a whole stem (leaves and all) to the side of the cage and he went nuts! And the best part is, my whole condo smells like basil now... yum!!

Watch out for attack bird!!

Makena after bath time... He is a little obsessed with his squirt bottle... :silly: <br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/18 23:52

I would call around to some of the Veterinarians in your area. We were having a hard time finding food too, only to find our vet carries Harrison's! Maybe the vet's there have a good option for you... or can at least point you in the right direction! Good luck!

Makena is ALWAYS on our shoulders... and when my fiance and I give each other a hug he loves to run back and forth between the 2. We will get a little ear nibble every now and again but nothing hard... and we always stop him right away. I think for the most part he is in awe of watching us do things and kind of just sits there paralyzed! I do notice he is learning to balance very well by hanging out on our shoulders. At first we were putting our hand up to hold him on if we needed to bend over but now he can see how we move and will correct to keep from falling off. Smart bird! We do have to take him off about every 15 minutes or so and have him poop. He refuses to poop on us so I make sure he goes because I worry he will hold it in too long!! The minute I set him in his cage, he goes, then it is right back on the shoulder!! And yes I do know how lucky we are....

We keep his carrier right by the door as we take him places all the time. It would probably be the first thing we would grab! Dried fruits and veggies are a good idea. I am not sure about nuts and seeds as I would worry they would go rancid very quickly (our house is 80 degrees year round B)). Even now we keep our seeds and nuts in the fridge or freezer. I guess I could keep an eye on expiration dates and change them out periodically. I feel better now that I am prepared... You never know what mother nature is planning to throw our way!!

So it has been a pretty depressing few days here in Hawaii... First we had hurricane Flossie bearing down on us, luckily it made a turn and headed back out to sea. Then there were 2 earthquakes on the Big Island and one huge one in Peru that caused us to be on Tsunami advisory for a while. Luckily everyone is safe and Hawaii made it through all the madness unharmed... Unfortunately Peru wasn't so lucky (my heart goes out to them). Which brings me to my topic. We have an emergency kit prepared just in case we would have to flee our home (which everyone should have by the way). Now that we have Makena we want to include necessary items that he would need. We threw in some canned fruits (in water) as well as some pellets. We also put in extra water and some styptic powder (worst case scenario). So do you guys have emergency kits? And if so what are you putting in it? We want to be better safe than sorry!! <br><br>Post edited by: Makena, at: 2007/08/17 06:01

Here in Hawaii it is about 85-90 year round and we rarely use our air conditioner (but we leave all the windows open). Makena doesn't seem to mind but I can tell sometimes he gets a little hot upstairs (around 90 most days) when we bring him up to play... His cage is downstairs which is usually around 80 during the day and 70 at night. When it gets really hot we will keep the air on for him at about 78. What we are worried about is we are thinking about moving to Seattle in a couple of years... talk about one extreme to another! I guess Makena is going to have to learn the concept of seasons!

Wow... Makena is HUGE then! He is only 3 months old and weighs 430g!! I guess he won't be getting much bigger...

Awww... that is so darn cute! I know what you mean about the noise... It was cute at first but now I think we are ready for him to start using his "big boy voice"... hehe :pinch:

I have a diet question for you guys... What is the deal with salt? Is a little bit ok or essential? Or is it really bad? I know that humans need a certain amount of salt to keep the body functioning properly as it helps to maintain the concentration of body fluids at correct levels. Is it the same for birds? Obviously I don't know much about the way a bird's body works... I would assume that too much salt can cause dehydration, but how much is too much? Which leads me to another question.. Does anybody know if any scientific research has been done on grey's and their diet? I have searched many websites trying to determine the best/worst foods to give greys and some sites will say you should completely ban a certain type of food. Well that is fine, but has research actually been done to prove this or it just hearsay? I forget what the food was, but someone's reasoning on not feeding this particular food to a bird was because it could make dogs sick. Seems like apples and oranges to me! It seems like there is a lot of hearsay... I want some cold hard facts! I would never want to harm Makena by feeding him a food that is bad for him, but at the same time I don't want to leave something out of his diet that may be essential... Are there recommended daily allowances (RDA's) for birds like there are for humans? Sorry for the long post... but I would be really interested in reading some scientific publications on grey's and there diets, if they exist! Thanks!

Thanks Rodney!!!! I live on Maui, but I just checked out their website and they ship to neighbor islands! What a huge tip... Many Mahalos!!!!

Makena loves his peas!! Although seeing as how he was sitting on me while eating them I think most of them got on me. Right after I took this picture he flung them all over my face! I guess that comes with the territory!!

Since Makena is only 3 months he isn't doing anything exciting yet. Although he does hate to poop on me and will avoid it at all costs. The carpet however isn't so lucky... He always starts moving back and forth and I know it is time to take him off my shoulder and get him to a proper pooping place! Although this isn't a grey, it was emailed to me this morning and I thought it was really funny! Thought you might get a kick out of it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0bKj1ni1mw

Good idea Dan, we were thinking about finding a way to secure the door in the open position. They are sending us some replacement parts to fix the badly damaged areas. Like the trays that are so damaged they won't even slide in. We can't ship it back because it would be too expensive plus we can't go without another cage for a long period of time... We are just going to keep searching for the perfect cage... We will keep this one, put it in another room and let him use the play top. We eventually wanted to get another cage anyways, we just didn't think it would be so soon! Plus he isn't in it that often as we are addicted to playing with him!