mpr86

Hi there, Juliet is 11 months old. We stopped hand feeding her formula at around 4 months old. During the past month, when I hold my fingers near her beak she will grab it and start the bobbing motion and will do it several times until I move my hand away. A few of these times after she had done the bobbing, she would regurgitate a cooked seed from a mix that given her earlier. Is this motion indicative of her wanting to hand feed again? What should I do? A few additional facts about her are: She weighed 407 grams tonight after eating. She knows where all her feeding bowls are and eats from them regularly.

I dont know if any fledging was allowed or how many of the feathers were clipped...will visit her tommorow and see if I can find out.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I really appreciate it!!

Hopefully within this upcoming week we will bring her home.

Well, what concerns me is that it seems a little droopy or expanded downward in that area in comparison to the other greys. When your grey stands upright, is the level at which the lowest flight feather rests, at the same height in relation to the leg (assuming clipped wings)? Could it be the way the wings were clipped? Maybe they were clipped a little too short?

Yes the wings have been clipped. Every employee I've asked about the wings says that it is a normal condition because she is young, or tired. However, almost all the other greys' wings seem more tightly shaped (but clipped as well).

Hi everyone, While visiting our grey at the store a few times, I noticed that the wings are sort of drooping on both sides towards the end of the wing by the tail (pictures attached). This was the case for most of the time I spent at the store, about 45 mins. However, there were a few instances where her wings were taught but only for a few minutes. Her hatch date is some time in February so that would make her about 4 months old. I dont know if this is a condition due to her age, but I am very concerned by this. In addition, her stance isn't fully upright all the time, instead she slightly leans forward. <br><br>Post edited by: mpr86, at: 2008/06/07 21:46

Thanks for the help guys!

Hi everyone, I'm planning on choosing a CAG (from a group of weaning 2-3 month olds) in a couple days and was wondering if I can get some suggestions as to how to examine and choose a healthy one. I will take him to a vet of course, however, I just wanted to see if there's any type of visual or physical examination I can perform beforehand at the pet shop, to minimize the chances of a problem in the future. My concerns are primarily to detect spraddle leg or any other type of physical abnormality. Thanks in advance!

We took him to the vet the day after we picked him up, and the vet said everything was normal and even took a blood sample from a toenail on the leg in question. I will call him today.

Hi there, We gave our CAG a bath today and when he was drying, I noticed by feeling his legs, that his left leg is noticably wider (from front to rear) and the bone/muscle that connects to the foot is slightly different than his right leg. He seems to grip stronger with his right foot than his left. When he walks, he seems to wobble a bit and his stance is hunched. When he climbs, it seems that he is mostly using his right foot to help him pull up and also uses the right foot to hold food. He is about 4 and 1/2 months old. Is this normal? Post edited by: mpr86, at: 2007/11/28 06:10<br><br>Post edited by: mpr86, at: 2007/11/28 06:11

We picked him up on the 18th and got his checkup on the 19th of this month (3 days ago). The doc said he was healthy, but we started to notice this the day after the vet checkup.

Starting about a day after we brought him home, he started to twich his head occasionally. The head twitching happens mostly after feeding and when someone approaches to pick him up while he's on top of his cage. For example, when I put my finger to his chest and tell him to step up while he's on top of the cage, he will twitch/shake his head as if hes saying no. Another example is: I was sitting on the floor, he was on the floor as well, and he climbed up my pants onto my arm and then stood there and twitched his head until I started to move. He also likes to rub his beak a lot between the bars. However, whenever he's inside the cage by himself, he never twitches. I sat there and timed him for a full 5 minutes while he was inside the cage and not a single head twitch. Any thoughts?

You guys requested some photos, just snapped these. It seems her step up and increased, she is more receptive to it and actually steps up about 60% of the time outside of the cage and 80% when inside the cage. Obviously not perfect, but we are getting there. When she does step up, we reinforce with "Good girl" and feed her a little treat of popcorn. She also has started to whistle occasionally which is surprising at 4 months or is that normal? She is still weening, and these photos were taking right after hand feeding, so she is a bit messy and refuses me allow to clean her beak. My brother and I had a concern about something the bird was doing, I will make a post with a video on that later with what he is doing. For now the pics

Hi! Here are some answers The hatch date was 7/15/07. We picked her up this last sunday after visiting her several times at the store. We took her in for an overall checkup yesterday and the doctor said she was healthy and weighed in at 382 grams. The wings were clipped when we picked her up. This morning she was sitting on top of the cage and then just sort of flapped her wings and glided down to the floor. It wasnt really a smooth glide but the landing wasnt too bad. I dont really remember at what angle she came in but it seemed about 30-45 degrees. She then climed on top of a transporter cage and started to flap her wings repeatedly for a few minutes.

Greetings all. So finally after the problems with the previous CAG we wanted to get, we located a new baby CAG. It was born in July and was being weened by the pet shop. We picked the baby up this week, still feeding via syringe, 30 cc's in the morning, 30 cc at night. I had a few questions. The bird was not taught the 'step up' command, so every time you bring your finger around, he or she makes a noise and seems unfriendly in terms of getting onto the finger. It does not bite though. Second, what really concerns me is the fact that she doesn't seem too active. If we leave her outside of the cage, she will climb to the very very top (taller than us) and just sit there the entire time. If we leave it in the cage, it will just sit on one of the perches and not really move around. She is very quite, and really makes no noise. We have some toys in the cage and outside, but haven't really seen her play with any of it. Occasionally she will rub her beaks together and make like a cracking sound. Is all this expected with a baby CAG? Shouldn't she be a bit more active, walking, climbing around etc? She doesn't seem to have 100% perfect balance yet as its even difficult for her to balance herself properly once on the finger. We have a perch high up in the cage, is there a danger to this if she falls down from it? Should we just leave a perch on the lower portion of the cage for the time being? Thanks a lot!

Hmm. I really don't know as I would have to look at it this way now (as either a head shake or twitch) He was fluffed up often and I believe I read somewhere that's a sign of a problem as well. The twitching/head shaking? was way too frequent, in intervals of 20-50seconds apart. The other CAG that was sitting next to him did not have anything similar. frankieNYC wrote:

Story somewhat developed over the past day. The place I am purchasing the CAG from is a reputable high quality exotic bird store. Not a breeder. They do breed their own birds, but this specific parrot I had a deposit on for the past 3 weeks was bred in Arizona. After noticing the twitching, we visited another one of their stores to see what available CAG's they had. The one CAG out that was available out of the 3 others that were sold didn't really seem as friendly and also had a small twitch, but no way near the one I originally intended to purchase. The other CAG's that were already sold/spoken for did not have a twitch. Maybe there is some disease going on through the breeder? I called the original shop at the end of the day to see if the original CAG stopped twitching, and the lady explained that they applied some sort of medication to it's eye as it was red, and would be taking it to the vet sometime this week to have it fully checked out. Hopefully it's not something too wrong with it (maybe something in its ear etc) as I really wanted that bird. Nevertheless, I have a brand new empty cage with no bird today, after a steepness night last night anticipating brining home the bird finally. To add to all of this, neither stores or another private breeder will have any CAG's available for quite a few months (Christmas time to be exact) Sigh, I guess it was meant to not happen :unsure: Thanks for all the help!

hmm thanks for the responses I guess I will hold off on getting it for now

Day finally came to pick up my CAG and noticied a constant twitch in its head every 50 seconds or so. It would sometimes twist its head to one way then twitch. What can be wrong here the bird is about 4 months old and i decided not to pick up tge bird beacuse of this. Any ideas?

I see Thanks. Yeah I didn't know how to properly scratch it and he would see the finger and go for the grab, where do they exactly like to be scratched? Neck/Head? celery wrote:

Thanks for all the responses. In terms of pain do the birds generally prefer taking blood through the vein or nail? I intend to get a full checkup/blood panel on him the day I pick him up. I guess I will do the DNA sexing as well then. he is about 3 1/2 months old and has been ready to go home for a a few weeks now. I have been waiting to pick the bird up until my brother get's back into town from vacation in a few days. In the meantime I have visited her in the pet shop about 3 times and played with him for about 20-30 minutes each time. He also has contact will all the customers that walk in etc as they are not in cages during the day. Do you guys see a problem in this? In terms of him having contact with many customers at such a young age? I am picking him up soon though. Finally, the few times I visited him, when I place my finger in front of him, he will grab it with his mouth, and gently close on it. Never biting, but just like grasping my finger, and sometimes moving it's tongue around. Is this behavior normal? Is this a sign of biting but is he too young to bite that hard yet? Or is he just exploring by doing this? He seems very friendly otherwise, eagerly coming onto my finger etc. Thanks again! Oh and I can't wait, counting down the days before I bring him home :woohoo: Here's another picture of him <br><br>Post edited by: mpr86, at: 2007/08/12 22:17

Picking up my CAG sometime next week and some people are guessing its a female. Obviously no way to tell until I get it sexed, but a few CAG owners have told me that the males are more vocal, or tend to have a better vocabulary. Is this generally true? Or do both male and females have similar abilities to talk? Sorry if this topic has been already discussed, didn't seem to find it on the search. Thanks! Oh an in addition, CAG is about 4 months old when I bring it home. What is the best way to introduce it to the house? Should I not pet it or play with it at all for a few days as it gets used to the new surroundings? Leave it in its cage? Or play with it etc.

I see. In terms of Polyoma, is it required? The store explained that the mother and father of the bird don't have it so my baby CAG wont need it. Is that a safe assumption or would you still recommend getting it done?

Decided on an African Grey Congo. Will be picking him/her up in the next few weeks. I wanted to get it sexed, but was really concerned about the pain it may go through when they take a blood sample through the nail. Is this generally recommended or should I have it taken a vet which hopefully will be able to draw from the vein. In addition, what type of a checkup should I get on the bird? Is a full blood panel recommended? Any vaccines? The bird shop I am purchasing from is great, the employee I spoke with mentioned that they are already checked for the poly(something) virus and that she would just recommended a full blood panel. What would you guys do for a newborn approximately 3 1/2 months old? In addition, I purchased a Kings Cage for it Does that seem adequate for it? I am a first time African Grey owner, previously owning Cockatiels. I am very excited and can't wait to bring it home. Post edited by: mpr86, at: 2007/08/06 22:32<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2007/08/08 02:43