Nychsa

Oh Tracy she looks so well adjusted already! How lucky are you!!!! Lovely video - thank you for sharing!

Wow Tracy! Congrats on the new babie! What a beauty! I would love a Macaw as well, but I just don't think I would have enough time to spread the love the way they all want me to I'm jealous!!! (just kidding totally happy for you!)

Hi there Acappella, I'm so sorry you're feeling so discouraged You know, today while I was researching another topic, I came across this article. You may find it of interest given the dynamic you and Dorian are going through. It discusses a kind of habitual tendency that both Grey and human get into with these battles of the will... hope it helps a little - but I hope you guys can work it out.. hang in there!!! ((hugs))) to you and Dorian. http://www.africangreys.com/articles/other/bringbaby.htm

Ok - where is the camera when you need one!!! AS if Bella knew we were talking about her fragile little figure today :laugh: she pulled a real good one this evening: For dinner we had Israeli couscous, tomato salad, and a rib eye steak. Well Bella had no interest in the tomatos or the couscous - she wanted STEAK! So, I cut her off her little piece and she was chewing away when I had to get up to let the dogs in. The dogs come bolting in, and ran straight for the table where Bella had skewered the steak with her beak and was making off with whole thing!! :woohoo: :woohoo: the dogs eager to get in on the action left me trying to get them to get away and get my steak back from Bella! I felt like I was in the middle of a Wild Kingdom show trying to defend my dinner from the wild pack!! Goodness when I tried to get it away from her she sqawked and hollared as if I were pulling her feathers out! Yep Dan - I think she eats a little more than Dayo! She feels she has a whole steak coming her way!:woohoo:<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/06/23 01:04

Dave - thanks! Well, that range would put Bella in the big-boned category. Hearing the weights of yours makes me feel better :laugh: Thanks!

Wow Dan! Did that startle you when he lost at the begining? What did that come from? That's really interesting how different they can be. You brought Dayo home a month before I brought Bella home it looks like. She came home at 460 grams and then gained up to 500 and stayed like that from between December 2007 and I'd say the begining of March. In March she started to gain, but the real weight gain happened during the molt and after her new feathers started to grow in. I'm going to weigh Jiggy tomorrow morning and see if he's gained too. He's fully flighted now and has been zipping around all over for a couple of weeks now.

dblhelix wrote: Agreed Mark - I don't think we have a large enough sampling of greys that went from clipped to flight in order to see what the average percentage of weight gain would be. Either way... given this dicussion, I think aside from learning that she chows down a lot more then Dayo does :laugh: I think we're more then likely fine. It would seem to me she wouldn't eat if she didn't want to no? Well, speak of the devil, she just made a trek down the hall way again from the other side if the house. So... once she trusts herself enough to fly, that trek should be pretty quick!

Dave007 wrote: Dave, that's a good thing to know! How can one tell if one's grey is bigboned or over weight? Is the only measure the keel bone measure?

Hi Mark! Thank you for the info! So, you brought Kip home at 7 months - and it looks like she was right around 365 grams? is that correct? It looks like Bella is built quite differently. I brought her home at 4 months,and she already weighed 460 grams. So, she's about 100 grams heavier then Kip. Well, I'll keep an eye on it and see if she's just gaining becasue she's positioning herself to fly or if she's spending too much time in front of the TV!

Here is Bella's House http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii134/Nychsa/Bellashouse.jpg And here is Bella and Jiggy's "corner" http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii134/Nychsa/BellaandJiggyshouse.jpg

Hey Dan! wow - ok - Dayo is eating a lot less than she is. See, Bella won't touch pellets, so I try to hit all the right vitamin groups by really giving her a wide variety of foods. Are pellets more filling then fruits and vegies? I had a whole bag of Harrisons and she told me exactly where I could put those pellets! :blink: Then my avian vet told me to feed fresh and leave the pellets, particularly since she doesn't care for them. But since the pellets provide all those vitamins, I try to compensate with fresh foods. I do weigh her first thing in the morning after the "bomb" :laugh: In fact, I don't let her jump on me until she unloads that one!

Aaah, ok Helix - I was wondering about muscle weight - she's not flying yet, but she is testing her wings out constantly - she'll flap and flap and flap until she's breathing heavy! So, I know she's giving herself a good work out. She does that like three or four times/day. I'm going to go look on that anatomy page and see if it shows the muscle groups and see what she's building up there. Maybe I can enter her into a Miss Grey Universe contest get her a personal trainer, gloss up her new flight wings :laugh: She likes watching Dayo's videos - I can just see her putting the squeeze on him "Comere Honey!!!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: "

Hey, ever since Bella moved in, people have been telling me I'm a few short of a dozen! I think something happens to your mind when you get grey-a-sized :silly: :lol:

Well... let's see what is she eating: She has two main meals/day - breakfast and dinner. Breakfast consists of two variations on a theme - I either make her an oatmeal musli of sorts that has flax seeds in it, lactose free milk, berries of sorts, kiwi or apples or melons, a splash of wild flower honey. That usually is about a cup of food. I'd say of that, she eats 3/4 of it. What ever she doesn't eat, I pick up before I go to work. Or I'll make her scrambled egg with some form of vegie and flax seeds mixed in - broccoli, spinach, kale. I also give her a wedge of orange or a bit of fruit on the side. That too is about 1 cup of food and that she usually eats up. The vegies she sucks out the juice or shreds them, so I don't think she's getting a lot of fiber there! But, what ever she does leave, I pick up. While I'm gone I have a bit of pellet/seed mix in her bowl - she does eat that, but not often - she's not big into dry stuff. I usually hang some celery or apples in her cage to munch on. Maybe one stick or so Dinner - she eats a wide variety of things with me - either way, it's about a cup of food, but there I think she's more into the flavor then in actually eating. She seems to eat a lot less in the evening. We have things like rice, pasta, Israeli couscous, vegies, a bit of meat - she always eats the meat. So I don't know - does that sound excessive? It seems to be in line with what I've been reading Greys should have.. What does Dayo eat?

Oh yes Judy! That's one I want to see - Dan after sharing a feast with Dayo - how about yams, and all kinds of noodles with sauce!

Hi Susan! No problem They really are like our kids aren't they! I know I was always watching my kids like a hawk as they were growing up :laugh:

Yes, Dan I was wondering that too, particularly because she held 500 grams for most of the year, and then suddenly packed it on! But, again - I can feel her keel bone with no problem and she doesn't seem over weight. She's 14.5 inches long, so, she's not a small girl. She's also so active - I mean you know how they say muscle weighs more then fat? I'm wondering since her flight feathers are growing in and she's really working her wings out if she's not building muscle? I know - sounds silly :laugh: I mean she looks great -t hose new feathers that have come in are lovely - they look like they're painted on her! Well - in my search for references I did find a good article that addressed a number of topics that come up here: http://www.africangreys.com/articles/other/bringbaby.htm<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/06/22 15:49

Ok, that is something I haven't been able to master - namely to let Bella eat while on my shoulder. I try, but she ends up cleaning her beak on me, and then she flings and food ends up in my face! So, I try to let her eat from the edge of my plate, and that usually goes well. Are you just putting up with the mess or is Dayo better mannered then Bella??

Greetings Everyone! I've been searching the web, trying to find some good documentation on the grey's growth phases. All I'm coming up with are documents re: hand feeding and stages of growth. Since February Bella gained 50 grams. She's now 550 gr. and I don't know if that is normal growth or if she's just a little porker! I can feel her keel bone and she seems fit and healthy. She's very active -zipping around the house, flapping her wings like crazy and she plays and plays and plays, but she also eats like a horse! So, I don't know if she's just a big girl, or if we need to change some things in her diet. She turned a year on May 10, so I wish I knew if she had a juvenile growth spurt or what. Any good references would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!! Terri

Nice pictures! He sure looks like he's enjoying those clothes pin Thanks for sharing!

Ouch Dave! Good point! Infections do smell badly!

Awww Pat! I feel you! Saturday is my big cage and area clean up day and Bella made a tremendous mess again! I was scraping oatmeal off the walls and windows, blueberries off the rug and crumbs all over the place! While I was cleaning, she was eating her breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach, brocolli and fax seeds. I was sitting on the floor scrubbing, looked up and saw her beak covered in food and as if she knew I was looking, I realized she was going to do one good fling and that was going to be ALL OVER ME! And sure enough - before I could move I had spinach with scrambled egg in my hair!

Put some sauce on that noodle Dad!!! What a handsome boy though and we got to see Jake! Is he a green cheek conure?

What does it smell like? I know that's a wierd question, but when my Bella eats something, her beak smells like it sometimes for a while. What has he been eating?

Is that funny Pat??? Bella just can't get enough, sits there and totally entertains herself!