Nychsa

Greetings Everyone, For you experienced grey friends, I sure hope you can provide some words of wisdom today. Bella's molting is really making me anxious! :blink: Every day she seems to loose one to three feathers, her pretty long ones, and her lovely red ones. I keep eye balling her like a hawk to make sure its not from plucking, but as far as I can tell it isn't. She continues to horse around, play hard, eat like a horse, follow me around and jabbers and jabbers and jabbers. She loves to dangle upside down from my fingers rocking back and forth giving me loud "kisses". And then she'll waddle after something and loose another feather and I freak out :unsure: This is SO nerve wracking not having seen a bird molt before - not knowing 100% that this is indeed a molt! I think I'm driving myself crazy :huh:

Foraging as mentioned above is a great activity. Mine love to forage and can occupy themselves for quite some time rumaging around for things to eat. On their playtop we have hay strewn about with treats hiding in the hay. In the cage I have various little cups with different things, and I make puzzles for them out of dixie cups that they have to open in order to get the treats. I also have many different things for them to shred. But as the others have mentioned, the larger the cage the better!

Happy Birthday Sammy! My Bella turned 1 on May 10 and the poor baby is molting and has all these little pin like feathers growing all over. She's constantly messing with them. I feel so badly for the poor sweety, but I guess she's getting a little more grown up.

awwww what a sweet face he has!! Thanks for sharing

Oh yes Smokey, my Bella goes crazy on her toys, hangs upside down and wacks her toys with one foot, growling and screaming. She was so loud the other day both my greyhounds jumped up and ran into the bedroom! She loves to play and I can tell she's having a great time with it. She loves dangling upside down too when she attacks. Lately she holds on to my fingers, dangles upside down and swings back and forth attacking her walnut box. I held her up higher and rocked her back and forth and she went "whooo hooo!" (my grand daughter has taught her all kinds of new sounds :laugh: )

Thank you Judy!!!

Hi Jimmy, Bella turned a year yesterday and she seems to be in a molting phase as well and it really seems to bug her. She's quite itchy. I bathe her regularly and try to keep her occupied with other things so she doesn't get obsessed with scratching too much. On her little noggen she has new feathers coming in that are clearly coated in a sheath - it feels like plastic. Under her wings she's it looks like she has a number of new feathers and she messes with them a good deal. I'm keeping an eye on her making sure she doesn't get obsessed with itching herself. But other then the discomfort she is feeling, she is in high spirits, jabbering away, eating like a horse and of course chasing Jiggy around!

Hi there Judy! Thank you for the "return" greeting I'm sure Bella and Jiggy will provide plenty of entertainment. I need to have a long conversation with my son so we can get over this lack of video cam thing - Bella does need to be filmed! She is such a riot! I swear she knows every time I'm on this web site! Here she comes again! She was peacefully playing with her toys and all of a sudden - here she is!! I better play a bit with her, she's doing her "beep beep" routine again and is nibbling on my toes!

Thanks MommaFawkes! Yes, I recall you sharing that Fawkes was a rascal too. Bella can be as naughty as the day is long, I mean really petulant, and then in the evening she snuggles up to me as tight as she can and makes her lovey sounds. Last night I asked her why she couldn't be so sweet all the time and as if she understood me she started nibbling on my fingers like "aww, but you don't mind" *sigh* I'm grey whipped!:laugh:

Thank you Tracy! It's good to be back. I do need to get a videocam Siobahn - my son wanted it to come from him as a gift, but, well, that's been a while and I don't want to offend him by charging forward - so, I'll solve that dilema and then get one :laugh: Bella is a hoot - she's a ball of constant energy, constantly getting into some kind of trouble. Add to that, I think she might be molting because she has a couple of jacked up feathers that look like they're falling out. So, you take her behavior - that naughty girl routine, and combine that with those jacked up feathers and you have quite the comic character. Oh lordy, speak of the devil, she just jumped all over my keyboard so she could get to lamp again and pull on the chords. When I told her 'no, no', she goes 'ouw, ouw, ouw' :woohoo:

Hi there Dan!! Thank you for the 'welcome back' - it's good to be back! Bella did help in a good deal of the move She particularly enjoyed hanging curtains and window treatments with me. She loves the ladder. I think we were fit for one of those funniest home videos! I would go up the ladder and she would follow and then she'd stand at the rung where my feet are and then she'd start nipping my toes and when I moved away she'd say "ouch, ouch ouch" :lol: She then climbed up my leg, got on to my shoulder and when I stretched my arm out to hold something I wanted to nail in, she climbed out on to my arm and thought it was great we were so high up and I was giving her this wonderful branch to hang on to!! I was sweating bullets!! She's only 500 grams, but that makes all the difference in the world if you have your arm stretched out holding something! So, I put her back on her play top and she attacks her toys like a maniac growling as fiercely as can be and screeching at her toys and then she stops abruptly, sits up and says "beep beep" :lol: :lol: :lol: Yes, the madness is back to normal!

Hi there ! I'm glad to hear you're settled in as well. Don't you hate moving?? Bella got a bit nippy during the move as well. I bought this new play gym which my daughter put on her lanai. Bella enjoyed that quite a bit and when my daughter tried to bring her inside, she would nip. My daughter was hesitant to push the issue so she let Bella get away with it. When I came to pick her up she tried to pull that on me as well and the minute she did it I put my hand in front of her very asertively and told her to step up and then I brought her face to face with me and I gave her a stern look and told her very sternly "no bite!" She knocked that off pretty quickly realizing she can't get away with that with mom. Jiggy on the other hand was just terrible the first few days - he was as nasty as could be at my duaghter's house. He was biting everyone! After a few days he settled in and knocked it off. With mine I think they could tell I was anxious about their move and they took advantage of all the sympathy they were getting LOL. Cheers! Terri

Greetings Everyone! It seems like for ever since I was last on line. I hope everyone is doing well. We are finally at home in Florida! Bella and Jiggy stayed with my daughter for two weeks while I was getting things settled with the house. Bella is such an easy girl to take care of! She was very friendly with my daughter, her husband and of course my grand baby, but she wouldn't let them scratch her head or pet her or show any kind of affection to her. She would sit on someone's shoulder, step up, and allow herself to be carried around, but that was it. Jiggy, after being a total biter for two days settled in and was a total love bug to everyone. But not my Bella - she was stand offish and distant. But - once she got into her new house, she and Jiggy took to it immediately and are very much instantly at home. I think this move may have been so easy for them as they are so young - just like children - they adapt easily? Well, Bella is chattering away and she freaked out the cable guy :woohoo: I stepped away and Bella started asking "where did she go?" over and again. Finally the cable guy came to me, sputtering a bit but he finally got it out what was puzzling him - he said "I know this sounds wierd, but I think your bird wants you" :lol: :lol: :lol: I reassured him it's ok - he was hearing correctly :woohoo: So - I hope 2Girls' move went well with Angie and Josie. Look forward to chatting with everyone again!! Cheers! Terri

judygram wrote: Oy Judy - the lanai! I just got a call from my daughter - Bella is running her ragged! She's being a real devil, getting into everything, snapped my daughter's necklace in two, runs around chasing the beagle, wolf whistles at my son-in-law yikes!!! My daughter said "I had no idea she was such a mischief maker!!"

Thank you Judy, Tracy! I'm relieved Bella was so easy. The birds are with my kids this week as I haven't closed on my house yet (ugh!!) So I have the dogs with me in the hotel. I could have brought the birds as well, but we bought them such a nice gym that we put out on my daughter's lanai and the love it out there - they really seem to do well in this warm weather. Hang in ther 2Girls! Will keep you all in my thoughts and lots of good wishes going your way!

danmcq wrote: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Dan!! Jiggy sure does believe everything he sees is HIS! Everyone has taken to calling him "The little bastard" :whistle: We need to knock that off because my grand daughter came out of the room and said "little bastard wants to come out now" :huh:

Greetings everyone! We made it to Florida! 2Girls, I have no idea if your Josie is like my Bella, but if she is, Josie will be just fine. Bella has been the least worry of any of my four animal housemates: Jiggy, my conure, was so FURIOUS about the whole situation he bit anyone and everyone and HARD!! :evil: My greyhounds are totally out of sorts :huh: But Bella - she LOVES the car - loves to watch things go by - totally curious about everything. She enjoyed the new adventures, didn't mind the hotel at all, enjoys being pampered by my kids and seems to take just about everything in stride. I know this easy adjustment might be unusual, so I'm counting my lucky stars, but your Josie sounded like she has a similiar disposition to Bella - I hope she does so you only have one to worry about!<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/03/30 02:20

judygram wrote: :laugh: Judy! Well, we'll see how easy going Bella was about this after this is all over!

Hmm, singing - I play NYC dance music all day to keep me moving while I pack. I stop every now and then to do the "Jiggy dance" with the birdie babies and they beebop their little noggens up and down while I'm acting like a fool in front of them :laugh: Bella will flap her wings if you flap for her. Maybe Angie might like some dance music??

Awww poor Angie girl. Hopefully she'll settle down once you get moved. I really believe in the mean time this kind of thing is a personality difference - your Josie taking the move in stride versus Angie's stressful experience seems to really point that out. Our house is now full of boxes and movement and the movers are coming tomorrow. As of yet, Bella is taking our move as one big adventure. She's enjoying all this paper that needs to be shred, climbing around on all the boxes and jumping up on things she didn't get to before. I can't keep up picking up the shreds of paper after her! The big test comes today - I have to break down their cages and transition them to their travel cages. I've had these on the table across from their cages the past week and they've been playing on their travel cages during the day. So, I'm hoping this will ease the stress of me taking away their "home". Tomorrow evening we'll be in a hotel with the entire menagerie :woohoo: And then after that at my daughter's house. My daughter has a lovely lanai and is looking forward to letting the birds enjoy it. I hope they do too and forget the move!! Hang in there - this too will pass (hopefully )

Nice!! Wow - do you have an outdoor aviary? I hope I can provide a playground like that for Bella and Jiggy one of these days (soon!!)

My gosh, how could anyone have the heart to put an unweaned baby into a crate and ship them off! Unbelievable! They need to be reported for animal cruelty! It's either an unbelievably cruel breeder or a scam. Either way, I'd stay clear of that situation and I'd give that "breeder" a piece of my mind too!

Hi Spence! Great to hear she's ok! What ever you do, don't feel stupid! I think this is the safest group of people to share one's concerns with re: our babies - everyone understands. The other day Bella put me through a scare as well. She started to mimic my allergy cough. I didn't realize she was trying to mimic my cough. I thought she was sick! After searching the net for breathing illnesses in greys I called my vet; my vet was out of town :ohmy: - time to really panic - had to call one of his colleagues who came highly regarded - totally stressing out by now - new vet :unsure: ! When I told them over the phone what was going on the vet giggled a little and said "ah, Terri, birds can't cough, she's mimicking you". Ok - you want to talk about feeling stupid :blush: :blush: :blush: :laugh:

LOL Thanks everyone for sharing your grey humor with me. Dan - that's exactly it - Bella will hang on as if her life depended on it and she squawks!!!! You'd think I was taking her to slaughter! She won't be disuaded either, she'll take any suplementary bribes and then head right back to the object I was attempting to get her attention off :blink: Poor Jiggy, he just wants to forage in peace and quiet and chirp and sing at the top of his lungs, but for some reason or another, Bella starts chasing after him (I think it's just for kicks and giggles) and then the "beep! beep! beep!" starts back up :woohoo: Now see Laurie, I thought Bella might act like Klaus, but boxes, especially the big ones, are just another means to an end, namely to get up on the counter where she can go after my basekts (which she loves to chew on). I think she likes playing chase and she's discovered that if she just does these random things I'll come chasing after her Thanks for the good luck wishes Tracy! I'm trying! LOL Thursday we drop all four critters off with my daughter :evil: :evil: :evil: And I get to rest!!

danmcq wrote: LOL Dan, right as I read your post she ran off with my pencil and when I tried to get it away from her she pulled back so hard and squawked at me, she was sliding across the table as I was trying to get it away! I thought Greys were suppose to be shy about new things - she snatches everything! I think she's a clepto! Oy - that's it, she just put puncture marks into my moving docs - in the cage she goes but not before I put a couple of good rasberries on that little round belly of hers!