Nychsa

Oh - forgot something - she REALLY has a thing for toes. If she sees bare toes she REALLY gets a charge out of chasing after your feet, making the clucking sound and nibbing on toes! I say 'ow ow ow' and she repeats it after me and continues nibbling my toes! So, with Bella, that clucking sound with me seems like playing. But she also does it when she's in a tiff with my conure Jigme. If they nip at each other she'll make herself tall, puff herself up and make that clucking sound at him. For my own interpretations I've translated that sound into two things - 'I'm play fighting with you' and 'I'm about to open a can of whoop a*z on you!' and I differentiate when she means what by her body language. Whe she's play fighting she will want neck scratches in between and kisses and she has her feathers flat and she just has this sweet look on her face - no pinning of the eyes. But when Jiggy upsets her you can really tell - she blows herself up and she looks at him as if she had darts in her eyes! Cheers! Terri

Hi there Zeta, When Bella and I play and horse around she will do that clicking sound and play-bite me. She's particularly frisky in the morning when she first comes out of her cage. I'll open her cage after she wakes me up (going through her entire range of sounds at the top of her lungs until I get up! :laugh: ) When I open her cage she'll come charging out, sit on her cage door and bob her head up and down, she'll give me kisses and then if I reach for her she'll gently grab my finger with her talons and then make that clucking sound and nibble on my finger. When we play in the evening I'll play pinchy feets or pinchy wings or pinchy nose and she'll do the same thing, she'll cluck and gently grab my fingers and nibble on them. Sometimes I'm busy doing something but she wants to play anyway, and she'll follow me around, she'll try to climb up my leg or she'll climb up the side of the furniture and once she gets to me she'll start bobbing her head, making that clucking sound and nibbling on me. I usually play back, hold her way up in the air and flip her over on her back and give her a rasberry on her belly. She play fights back, pulling on my hair. I'll also use paper or a toy to play fight back with her. She'll get into tearing that up and playing tug of war. And she always makes that clucking sound. I make it back and she looks at me very closely and then starts to horse around again. Maybe your little one is playful too? Cheers! Terri

lovemyGreys wrote: :laugh: She is! But a gentle one - she sits on my shoulder and "attacks" my ear - must look fierce because everyone cringes, but she hardly touches my skin, and then she wrestles with my fingers and does the same thing - she hardly touches me with her beak. So, a sweet and gentle tomboy LOL!

I swear she's a little tom-boy! That darn feather is still jacked! And now she's taken to following me everywhere and when she catches up she wants to horse around!

judygram wrote: Judy, you and I both! Kelly, the owner of the Doggy Day Care is such a sweet person, and the animals so love her. She told me Bella started to attack her feet and she stepped away saying "no Bella don't do that" and Bella continued to pursue her up until Kelly was going around in circles! What a little imp that Bella! Just goes to show you, if she can get away with it, she'll take charge of a situation!

Well..... it looks like my bird sitters didn't have that easy of a time with the babies! Apparently the owner of the doggy day care, who brings my greyhounds home to eat their dinner before taking them to her place (at home!) to sleep (because they are so darn picky about everything) wanted to take care of Bella and Jiggy herself. :woohoo: Apparetnly Jiggy dive bombed her and then Bella chased her around my kitchen center island, trying to bite her feet! She finally had to call one of her employees who had bird experience to get them back into their cages! Can you say "attack parrots"??? They're more defensive of my house then my dogs are!!!

Hi there everyone! Well, Bella's tail is still jacked up. My bets are that it's knicked. If I try to have a look at it, she squaks at me and jumps away, so my guess is it is going to break off. Thanks! Terri

Judy, Kat - will do! That's 3, and Muse said she's interested as well, so that's 4. If we get a couple more we're off to the races. Cheers! Terri

Greetings everyone, It looks like every day events are keeping everyone pretty busy right now. Is this a project we might want to table for now? Cheers! Terri

Greetings everyone, I don't know how best to ask this - maybe I should just take a picture and post it - but I'll try to explain it first: Bella has a tail feather that seems jacked up. It's twisted in an odd direction and won't align with the other feathers. I tried to get a better look at it, but she won't let me get a good look at it. I think she may have done something to her tail feather while she was horsing around with her toys on her play top and was climbing around all over. I'm wondering if there's something wrong with this feather now, and needs to be removed? Thanks! Terri :laugh:

One CAG here!

Hi there BMustee! Thank you too for the great info. I hope you and Muse dont' mind if I bug you every now and then for some info on thi sbig change for us. I think the part that I'm most excited about is having a protected outdoor space for them to play in. Cheers! Terri

Hi there Muse! Thank you so much for the good info. Looks like if this goes down, we'll be neighbors Made a note of the West Nile virus issue - great tip - thanks! Now if only we could get out of limbo land and have some decisions made on that contract, that would be wonderful :blink: Cheers! Terri

Greetings Everyone! Well, I just returned from a five day house hunting trip to Florida (it's not 100% yet if this move is going to happen, but it's sure getting there!). I was unable to leave Bella and Jiggy with the breeders for boarding during this trip because they had a sick bird in the avairy. As a precaution, they were not accepting any boarding clients at this time. So... I had to leave them with a bird sitter here at home. This was the first time I've left them for a week and was really worried. But, it looks like they are doing just fine. Coming home, Bella gave me a welcome that I've never had from any animal companion before! She did her Tottie-Tah dance, and went absolutely nuts! She wouldn't leave my shoulder, and just snuggled and tugged at me like crazy!! Wow! That's all I can say! Today she's clearly still excited and is pasted to me. So, I think she was ok, but I think I was a little missed :laugh: But, as it relates to the actual move, I think my biggest concern is that we're looking at a new house in in Florida - it is just being completed. There is new paint, new hardwood flooring, tile, carpeting - all stuff that creates a good deal of fumes. The workers keep the windows are wide open, so it's enough to bother humans! I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with a new house and how long it took for the house to be safe for the babies? I'm certainly going to talk to my vet as well, but nothing beats hearing about experience of others. Also, moving from the mid-Atlantic region where it is quite cold right now, to a semi-tropical environment is giving me some pause too. Does anyone have experience moving the babies from one climate zone to another? Granted, the birds don't spend any time outside and inside the temperature is usually around 70 degrees, but in Florida they'll have many opportunities to spend time in the enclosed Lanai (I'm SO looking forward to that - getting a big Java tree for them and making them a total play environment with ladders and ropes to climb around on!). And lastely - obviously we're going be using air conditioning during the summer where the inside of the house will be around 70 degrees and the outside 90% humidity and potentially 90% and more. Taking the birds in and out would create a good deal of temperature changes. Aside from the obvious chill they'd get from being back inside - any thoughts on what other issues that might cause? Well - I'm delighted about this potential but also anxious LOL! Isn't it always like that? Cheers! Terri<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/02/18 16:30

Hi Jane, Bella does the snatch thing too - it's funny isn't it! She'll play tug-of-war with me if I try to get it away. I've taken to drinking fruit juice in the evening instead of red wine because she gets hold of the stem of my glass and pulls like crazy - I'm afraid she'll break the glass and get hurt - so :unsure: fruit juice it is *sigh* :laugh: I haven't been giving Bella any procesed meats as the salt content seems to be very high in all of them. In addition, there was recently a big to do in the news about the level of harm processed meats do to humans, so my sense is it would be just as harmful to our birds. Cheers! Terri

Greetings everyone! Well, I'm glad to hear my little carnivore is quite in line with her cousins LOL! She loves beef as well. The dogs particularly enjoy her brazen approach as they wouldn't think of snatching my food from my plate. 3/4 of what she takes from my plate ends up on the floor so the dogs have figured out - follow Bella and food will follow LOL! This happens particularly with the chicken bones. She knaws off the ends, grinds up the pieces so there are no splinters that could hurt the dogs - all she's interested in is the marrow and the dogs get the rest LOL! What a rackette they have going on here!

Hi there Heather, My understanding is Parrots can read facial expressions quite easily, and of course they are very intelligent and can understand what we teach them as well! When Bella gave my vet a warning bite, he held her at eye's level, and made a sad face and said "no bite!". You could see her little wheels turning in her head processing the information - when she's thinking about something she cocks her head and mumbles to herself LOL! That command was familiar to her as the breeders taught them "no bite" in the same manner, holding the baby at eye level and saying "no bite", so she "got it" when the vet did the same thing. So, if I were you, I would give something like that a try. I'm a big fan of communications with animals - all the information we're getting these days seems to indicate they understand FAR more then we think, and I'm betting if we don't let them know what is undesirable, they're going to act like a terrible two! Bella is REALLY spoiling me with her ability to understand things so quickly. Sometimes I feel we have a mind meld going on, she picks up so quickly what I want. It's no wonder when I'm down with allergies, she picks up on that immediately too and just wants to sit with me as if she's trying to console me. She has to be picking that up from my body language and my facial experessions. I try to speak normally to her when I'm not feeling well, but she's doing more then just listening to me. I love my dogs dearly, but Bella has the dogs beat by miles when it comes down to learning things (sssshhhhh let's not tell the dogs a baby has them beat! !). So, I think it is well within their capacity to learn not to bite if we tell them it's undesirable. Cheers! Terri

Greetings Everyone! How much meat does your AG eat? Bella is a crazy about meat - particularly chicken. I put a bit of meat into her breakfast maybe once/week. But she likes to "share" my dinner with me in the evening and she tosses any veggies aside and goes straight for the meat! When eating chicken, she snatches herself a bone and chews the ends off. She takes the bone down a little bit too by grinding it to a fine meal. After that she dips her beak into the bone and pulls the bone marrow out. She's got this down to a science! This behavior really makes me wonder if AG's are not really bigger meat eaters then we think in the wild. What kind of experiences do you have with meat and your AG? Cheers! Terri

Hi Sumaya, My female CAG, Bella, refused to accept my partner (who is a male)in any way shape or form as part of the flock. She would ALWAYS growl at him - even when he was giving her a treat - she would growl with the treat in her mouth! It's been about four months now, and things are finally calming down. She will still growl at him on occasion, but she is much calmer about him. The only time she is visibly perturbed with him is if he's rough housing with my conure, Jigme, or with one of the greyhounds. Bella is very protective of the other animals here in the house and she will give him a warning growl if she thinks he's over doing it. But - interestingly, she will play tug-of-war with him and enjoys it. But, she won't let him touch her. We're ok with him not picking her up or touching her.. he enjoys watching her and interacting with her at the level they are. She even calls him now when he leaves the room, so, she is SLOWLY accepting him as part of the flock So, I'd recommend patience, gentle persistance giving treats, sitting next to her etc.. and eventually it will get better - a quiet kind of truce may come about. Cheers! Terri

Greetings Everyone! I have a preliminary cut of the plan. I haven't done the financials yet, but that will be very straight forward. Small blip - it doesn't appear I can send you an attachment via PM here on the site. I can do one of two things - either send the plan to you via an actual email address. In which case I'd need your email address. Or I can create a sharepoint page and make a log on for you under your screen name from this site and you can log on to review it. Please let me know what your preference is. thanks! Terri

Muse, that's awesome, but let me give you a fair warning about potential conspiracies coming your way! :ohmy: I've discovered Bella and the dogs have a racket worked out. Yesterday I made myself a nice, open-faced, roast turkey sandwich. Bella promptly helped herself to it while I was on the phone :angry: She snatched the turkey and did one of her good old "flings" and tossed the meat to the greyhounds and then she made off with the bread :dry: ! Then I had some House Special soup. You'd think she would have gone for the veggies - NO! She went right for the chicken, snatched herself some, took a bite or two and tossed the rest to the dogs. :woohoo: I'm telling you - this is organized crime right in front of your nose :ohmy: They've got this plan in for me and they're working it! So, be careful - your dogs will become the stoolies for The Grey Pack leader pretty soon (otherwise known as "The Boss") and the next thing you know, nothing on your plate will be safe any more!

Hi there, Kids, animals and everything else can be an overwhelming feeling. "Mom" usually is the center of everyone's universe and sometimes the universe doesn't understand that we'd like to have someone else take on that roll sometimes. Hang in there - it will get better. I think the change you mentioned may be that he was out all the time and now he has designated times that he's out. Maybe he's yelling about that? I'm just guess that this seems like a big change to him. I've been amazed at how routine oriented my birds are. They're "out time" is firs thing in the morning between 6:30 am and 10 am. Both my CAG and my conure go into their cages themselves right around 9:50ish! And they start playing with their toys in their cages, and messing with their treats in there. Isn't that amazing? They come back out when I get home around 5ish in the evening and then my CAG stays out with me until around 10 pm and my conure puts himself to bed around 8:30 pm! Isn't that amazing? They have their routine and that is it! So, I'm wondering if yours had a routine too of being out for a certain duration and now he is having to adjust to a new routine? Cheers! Terri

Hi, It sure sounds like he's trying to get attention no? Bella, my CAG, mimics the door alarm when I leave the room. That is a logical conculsion for her - when ever I leave, I set the alarm and it beeps. So, she thinks that is my call sign. In turn when ever I walk out of the room, she'll do that beep to call me. But, I dont' react to that. I will however react if she is actually asking me where I am. Then I'll reward her for not making a terrible sound and I'll call her back. She also screams every now and then. I've noticed she does that when she hears other birds outside or she sees the squirrels. I don't react to it. What I do though is when the dogs come in I speak softly to them and she sees them reacting calmly back to me. That seems to cause her to mimic the dog's behavior and quiet down. Sometimes I think she is calibrating her voice, trying to mimic something and it comes out terribly at times! But, I don't react to it, so she doesn't get any attention from that kind of sound. However, I'm not sure I understood something entirely in your post - you're not letting him out of his cages at all any more? I know you mention you're alternating him between two cages, but if I understood your post correctly - you're not letting him out because of the clean up? I may have misunderstood what you wrote, but in the event I did understand correctly - I would think keeping him in cages would cause the propblem to get worse. My understanding is African Greys need at least 3 hours/day out of their cages and they need direct interaction with their human for at least 45 minutes/day and peripheral interaction (i.e. being a part of the family) for the rest of the time. What kind of activities do you have for him that he enjoys with you? Cheers! Terri

Such a boy! Dare devil and all! Great pics Dan - thanks for sharing!!

I just spent the last 45 minutes going crazy looking for informaton on AG's skin conditions. Bella was sitting on my lap and I noticed that the side of her face had this odd redish color, and it looked like a rash that was spreading all over the side of her face! It isn't rash - but I did let it drive me so crazy I overlooked the obvious:S ! About an hour or so ago I put her harness on her and let her come outside with me. She didn't like this trip and wouldn't leave my shoulder. So, I brought her back inside. Feeling badly that she didn't really like it outside I snuggled with her, completely forgetting I had lip gloss on! The side of her face is full of lipgloss :blink: !! Boy! Talk about driving one's self crazy looking for imaginary illnesses!!! Do you drive yourself a little too crazy every now and then??<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/02/03 20:15