BMustee

Finches are like that too. When the babies hatch if one egg doesn't hatch they eat it...or if an egg is laid on the bottom of the cage they all go after it. Plus, mammals are like that too. After an animal gives birth they normally eat the placenta...they don't want the sent of birth around and it's energy they would have lost if they didn't eat it.

Yeah, it'll past once she knows your not going anywhere. Good to hear she was so excited you were home.

I kinda liked the two buckles. I imagine that if the bird was freaking out it would be a bit difficult though. I've never tried the Aviator so I wouldn't have any input on it.

I got Elmo the Med. size first but she was swimming in it. She wears a size small and there is only one buckle on it.

I would have to say that it's not as damning as it can be made out to be as long as the new owner treats them right. I work at a pet store and unfortunatly we do have to clip before they fledge. I would love to let them fledge and fly but the pet store is a dangerous place for a baby bird to fly. In return the birds are loved on and cuddled, and not allowed in a place that they could fall from. There is a pretty good article in Bird Talk this month about this very issue and I agree that falling is the big issue for a clipped baby to become fearful and not be as confident. Because your baby is still young you can allow your babies wings to grow out and fledge her after her molt. Just be sure not to let her fall, keep the perches low if she seems clumbsy, and you could even put a fluffy towel at the bottom of the cage so if she does fall it won't hurt. I was lucky with my CAG, I got her at 6 weeks and she didn't even really have flight feather yet to I was able to fledge her and allow her to learn to fly and land before I clipped her for training. She is now flighted...3-4 flights have grown out in the molt...and she flies around my room like she was never clipped at all.

I use the Feather Tether also with Elmo and after it's been on him for a few minutes he forgets all about it too. I started putting it on him when he was still a chick, so it was never really hard to get him in it. I try to get all my bird customers at the store to get one for their birds too.

s long as there isn't a bunch of salt on the meat and it's in small portions it's fine. Elmo likes chicken and beef.

Tycos_mom wrote:

yeah, if you can't feel the breast bone he's fat.:woohoo: :laugh: :laugh: That may be one reason he can't really fly. It sounds like your on the right track on him on a healthy diet, so that will do wonders for him. Letting him flap will burn some fat but just don't let him take off over a tile floor.

Are you able to touch his keel? That is the best way to check your birds weight...when it comes to being fat that is. Like with Elmo, she weighs 385g. The average weight for a CAG is around 500g, so looking at the number you would think she was skeletal but when you feel the meat next to the keel bone you can tell she is at her healthy weight. If there is any cleavage or if you can't feel the keel you know you have a fat bird. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

First...the toys. Elmo gets all the toys she wants and has had tons of toys before she was fully feathered. She really likes the foot toys and smaller conure sized hanging toys. She seems to like anything with rubber ducks on it and now she is a fan of the blocks. In time you'll find out what Baxters favs are. For the flying, is Baxter fat? Being cage bound for so long on a seed diet I'm sure would make him a pudgie bird, so you may want to just keep him flapping for now to get some much needed workouts. Also, keep him over a soft surface when he seems in the mood to try and fly. The keel bone is a nasty bone to break so just use common sense with him. It's good to hear he is doing so well, I love hearing about parrots getting a second (or third) shot at a happy life.

Elmo started to try to talk around 6 months or so but started talking clearly enough for everyone to understand at 11 months. Now he says all kinds of things like Hello, Whats Up, What cha doing, love you, love you too, bye, Elmo come here, step up, Mmmmmm, stop it, Don't you do it...the list could go on and on and he learns something new all the time. Elmo is now 1 year 5 months old and is really starting to use words in context now. Some greys don't talk, others only talk when no one is around, others are hard to get to shut their beaks, but they all are wonderful birds.

Elmo likes 80's music and disco. She gets all puffed up and chats along to it. The baby TAGs seem to really like the Phantom of the Opera music...I have some of the songs on my ipod and play it in the car. Thats pretty funny that your's seems to hate it.

Yeah, we're going to take a nap here in a little bit. I'm really glad we didn't lose power, because the air after a storm is normally REALLY hot and so humid you can swim in it.{Feel-bad-00020063} Birds I'm sure do know when the weather is changing. In the winter time here all the parrots would go NUTS and just drive us all crazy the day before a cold front would come through because of the pressure change.

No, not having a leg band doesn't make a parrot less valuable. At two+ weeks old it is to late to band him anyways. At my pet store only about half the birds are banded. In this day in age it's really not needed anymore and it's up to the breeder if they want to or not. As for the cost of the bird...most of the money breeders charge for their birds is for their time and energy feeding and caring for the baby. This is way unweaned babies are sold for less than weaned birds, although I don't agree with that. If you have been taking care of the grey sense it ws two weeks then I would say $300-$400 in a fare price. Be sure to be VERY careful feeding him and watch for ANY change no matter how small. I had a 2 1/2 week old CAG die on me that I was taking care of for the store. He ended up having a type of Parvo and a bacterial infection.

All is well with me and Elmo! Late last night the storm turned more to the south hitting Marco Island...about an hour and a half drive from me. Because Fay made that little turn she didn't become a cat. 1 storm. The wind was still really strong with gusts over 70 mph but thanksfully the power only went out for a few hours. That is the worst part of a hurricane...no A/C, cold drinks, or hot showers for days and days. I left to go up to the store around 10:30am and just got back a little bit ago. Elmo was up ALL NIGHT watching the weather reports with me and standing guard. She really seemed to know something bad was going on outside and wanted to make sure we were safe.:laugh: Although I really don't think a bird that weights 385 grams is going to be able to take on a Tropical storm. Bless her heart for wanting too though.:kiss: So, she stayed home when I went to the store and slept. The birds at the store were Very excited to see me though. Pattie and Sasha spoted me outside the store when I was waiting for the puppy girl to get there and I could hear them both screaming for me. I gave extra kisses to all the birds and game them all a few extra nuts.

It is not as simple as getting on an airplane with your grey and hop on over to AU. To import an African Grey you will need to get a CITES permit to import/export him because Greys are listed as an "Appendix II" on the CITES list. Noted on the list of animals able to be concidered for import into AU there is a sidebar next to the African Grey saying "For eligible non-commercial purposes only. Specimens and progeny must be micro-chipped and a DNA sample kept and provided to the Australian Government on request." The key word in there is ELIGIBLE...from what I have read it is pretty much impossible to get the permits from AQIS and be granted permission to bring pet birds into the country. Also, you will have to pay around $150 for the Cited permit, and it is only good for a couple of months and if AQIS has not granted entry by the time the permit expires you have to pay for the permit again to reinstate it. You would also need to pay for all quarantine costs and the AU permit fees to bring the bird into the country. I noticed you said you showed your mother how to feed, so I'm not sure if that means hand-feeding. In the USA quarantine facilities they do not hand feed...birds have to be weaned...and I imagine that AU is the same way. Your grey would have to spend at least 45 days in a quarantine facility, and if they think anything is off with him it could be much longer. I do believe they have the right to destroy it. I have also read on a website that the "pet bird" must have been in your possession for at least one year, so that right there would disqualify your grey for import.

Well, looks like I'm going to get nailed yet again...Fay is heading right for me. What really blows is that the store owner wants me to go into the store to take care of the adult birds and feed all the baby birds. One of the girls that works on the puppy side has to come in too so we still don't know when we need to get there before it gets really bad out...or we might just have to ride out the storm there. As I type this I'm on my back porch and I can feel the storm coming. The breeze is picking up to a decent wind but the air feels cool yet humid. This is the part of the storms I like. I'm thinking I might bring Elmo into the store with me just incase I'm not able to leave. I'm not too worried about the storm inself...Charlie and Wilma were much stronger and I got through those storms no problem. I figured I would let you all know what was going on here in Southwest Florida because I'm sure the power is going to go ot for a few days or maybe over a week depending on how bad the storm ends up and I won't be able to get onto the forum.

I live in Florida, USA and my CAG lives in the house in the A/C. We have nasty skeeters here and they carry all kinds of things like West Nile. I do not let him go outside if the bugs are out. I would bring them in if there are a lot of bugs bothing them or build an enclosure around their cage with screen to keep the bugs away from them...thats what the breeders here do that keep their birds outside.

I used to work two jobs, so the days I worked them both I would leave by 6:30am, come home around 12:30pm, leave again by 1:30pm and not come home till 9:00pm. The other days I would ether be 6:30am-4:30pm or 1:30pm-9:00pm. Elmo did very well on this schedule as long as I came home between jobs and had him out with me as long as I was home.

Elmo is not a fan of the vacuum, but she isn't afraid of it. The one time Elmo as really scared was one day my sister came over and walked into my room when I was not there and Elmo must have thought that when the door was opening it was me, but then it was someone else. She said he was screaming bloody murder until she left the room. Needless to say she doesn't walk into my room without me walking in first. :laugh:

that depends...do you mean while at work or are you going on a trip or something?

omg...I was crying when they gave him his gold and another decoration for breaking the record.

HE DID IT...HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 GOLDS IN THE 2008 OLYMPICS! I'm really at a loss of words. I'm so pround of Micheal Phelps, the other swimmers in the relay (Peirsol, Hansen, and Lezak), and more than ever proud to be an American.

I've been through some bad storms. Wilma and Charlie were the worst. From what the weather report was saying today it looks like it might hit almost right on in my neck of the woods on Tuesday...I'm in Lee County on the south side of the Caloosahatchee river.