Nychsa

Thank you all for the compliments - and thank you for letting me share my lovely little feather child with you. It's very special to interact with a community like this where the members can really understand how special these wonderful beings are. I think they are all stars!!!

Pax is close to Bella in age. Bella is 19 months old She's talking up a storm too! Maybe we can get them to web cam with each other :laugh:

Now I don't want to leave the impression that Bella is just spun up all the tmes. Here she is being a love birdie... she can be a huge snuggle bug! http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=7588&CID=250480

That's cute! How old is Pax?

Oh my Judy - yes, I forgot - what she sees is hers :laugh: Glad you enjoyed Dan Bella and hounds that is I'm so lucky that greyhounds are naturally calm and docile. What they put up with from Bella and Jiggy just goes beyond what any hound should have to put up with! If Bella manages to miss that Jiggy is on the couch (she always chases him off the couch) Jiggy will chase Doc the couch and Doc takes off! Poor Doc also likes to sleep on his back with all four paws up in the air. One day as he was dreaming Bella was watching his hind paws twitch. I thought she was just watching but before I knew it she nipped him in the paw :ohmy: Poor guy jumped up yelping and ran off - and Bella, well she ran around on the couch mimicing his yelp! Talk about adding insult to injury!

thank you Dave - oh, speaking of dogs - we've got this dinner ritual in the living room where Bella and I eat from my tray and she usually takes food to the edge of the coffee table and drops pieces on to the floor. The dogs in turn do the clean up. Well, today the dogs got a little eager to get on with it because Bella was dilly dallying around with the food and they starte to pick the scraps off the table. Bella flew up and then landed first on Doc's back and then hopped over to Dream's! Both of the greyhounds ran off as if the devil himself were after them! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Of course Bella felt supremely empowered! You could just tell by the way she strutted up and down the table as if she owned it! :laugh:

judygram wrote: That can be a good thing Judy :laugh: Bella manages to comment on her poop right while I'm either on the phone with a client or colleagues, or have friends over. Our Bird sitter told me that one evening Bella had an on-going discussion about her poop! She'll say : "ohhhhh Bella poo poo!" or she'll go "Bella poop!" or "Bella make a poo!"

Karma has a funny way of unfolding. Congrats Berna!!!!! he/she is absolutely adorable!!!!

:laugh: Acappella! We try to keep her modest,but she manages to make herself front and center at all times :woohoo: This evening she tried to get into the dog's bowl and steal some dog food. I told her "No! go! shhhhht!". Well, when I put Dream's food down and Dream started to eat Bella ran to the edge of the counter and yelled at Dream "No!!! Go!!!! Shsssst!!!!" :laugh:

Hi there everyone! Well, I came home from work today and Bella decided she was going to be one crazy bird. I tried filming a bit of it as she had me in stiches. Sometimes its a little hard to film her because she moves so fast and the camera can't keep up. But I think I was able to get a couple of things. Its a nice way to end the work day! If you've got a psycho birdie, do share! I love these bird videos http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=19161&CID=250308

Oh my Dan! What is it with their poop that they have to annouce it :laugh: :woohoo: :woohoo: Luvparrots thank you for the kudos :laugh: ! it took some strength holding it together :laugh:

judygram wrote: :laugh: Judy - ah yeah! I was really thinking I could do well without gurged fried egg to! :sick: Yeah - I'm quite honored :laugh: And that look on her face, she cocks her head and looks at me like "mmmm good isn't it!" :sick: :sick: :sick:

Ok, now that some hours have passed, and I've had time to get overit - I realize what Bella did this morning really was quite funny: For the past two days she's been sitting on my shoulder and trying to put her foot on my mouth. She'll also sit on my chest in the evening and try to put her foot on my mouth. This morning I looked up at her and said "what is your deal????" She put her foot on my mouth again, and rather than move away, I decided to see what she was going to do, and at that moment she gurged all over my mouth!! :blink: :sick: :sick: :sick: :blink: I'm proud of myself, I didn't panic and scare her off... I stayed calm, thanked her and told her I loved her too, put her down and ran for the bathroom :laugh: :laugh: Has this happened to anyone else??? What is up with the foot thing?? Is this some way of trying to get my mouth open??? I'm sorry - I know this is a profound act of love, but YUK!!!!

judygram wrote: I can just imagine Bella pitching a fit about getting under her wings and belly:laugh: :woohoo: :laugh: Judy - she says "NO ssssshhhhhht! GO du du du!!"

Bella is torn about water. She has a shower perch and likes to sit on that. She's ok with my putting her on my hadn and holding her under the stream. But when I want to get under her wings and her belly she pitches a fit. But we do it anyway :laugh:

Hi Kyle, I do not think its a good idea to leave a AG unattended. Bella is for example FAR TOO curious about everything and would only need a few seconds to get into some serious trouble. Heck, she gets into trouble sitting right next to me (like getting hold of my lipstick and making a royal mess every where :blink: ). Luckily she follows me every where I go and if she doesn't, I have her step up and hop on to my shoulder. In each room she has a place to perch while I'm in that room. In terms of your breeder, what kind of socializing have you observed? I really looked a long time for a breeder I was comfortable with - I ended up going with K&K Parrots - two lovely nurses who provided so much love and care to all the birds that it was easy to interact with them. When I got Bella she knew how to step up on both my hand and on a perch, she was confident and snuggly and she also knew what "no bite" meant. Cheers! Terri

Oh yes, my lovely Bella loves to toss bowls. She's figured out how to lift the latch on the water bowl on her play top. She tosses the water bowl when I'm working and she wants to play. It started one day where she tossed the water all over the place. I got up, said "no no, no!" put water back in the bowl and sat back down to my computer. She waited for me to sit back down and promptly did it again. I said "no, no, no! You're going to go Beddy Bye if you do that again!", filled up the water and sat back down. Well... she waited for me to sit back down again and tossed it again! I got up and said "That's it! You're going Beddy Bye!" She waited for me to get to her cage and then she flew off yelling "no, no, no!!!", she landed next to my computer chord and acted like she was going to bite it as she knows that's a "no, no" too. I caught up to her and she flew off again. When I caught her and put my finger in front of her to step up I got her to eye level with me and I was about to give her a lecture when she dropped a load on my hand and said "OOHHH BELLA POOP POOP!!!" and then she made a really loud kissing noise Now you tell me what this all was about :laugh:

KyleA wrote: This is certainly an interesting conversation. While reading everything I kind of did an internal check of my own feelings and realized just how much I love my CAG Bella. While I think the TOOs are lovely birds, Bella has my heart tightly in her little claw. When ever I watch her, I simply can't get over her beauty and intelligence. She is so "present" in everything that is going on in the family. She really is a steadfast companion. I love my little conure, Jiggy as well, but that poor little guy just can't keep up with Bella when it comes down to being a central point in the family. Bella engages everyone instantly, whether it's the dogs, friends, family - she manages to grab the show and hold on to it. When she flies around the house she's now like a sleek F16 taking corners and angles with a skill and agility that just makes me stop and watch her. All I have to do is hold my arm up and she jets in with an elegant landing. Even though her claws are extended when she lands, her grip is so gentle and so loving, you can clearly tell she's being careful not to hurt me. I could go on and on :laugh: Can you tell I love her so much?

I don't know about Too's, but I do recognize a significant differnce between my CAG Bella and my conure Jiggy in terms of when they want something - Jiggy will just screech hsi little brains out. Bella on the other hand actually tells me what she wants. If she wants me to pick her up for snuggles she lifts her little foot and says "up, up up, step up". If I try to adjust one of her feathers or get something off them, she says "ah! No! shhhhhtt!! GO!", if she wants to taste what I am eating or drinking she starts saying "Look! Look! look!!!" Maybe Jiggy has different screeches for different things, but to me they all sound like a screech :laugh: I think I prefer Bella's way! Cheers! Terri

KyleA wrote: :laugh: Kyle, becareul what you wish for!!! I was working from home today, and little Miss Bella had brand new play things to mess with. But! my keyboard was MUCH more interesting! She tried to pull keys off my keyboard, she ran off with my papers, she grabbed my computer access card and ran off with it only to take flight and have me chase her around the kitchen. Finally I realized that I wouldn't get anything done unless she took a nap, so I put her in her cage. But! Then a neighbor came over with her little dog and Bella started growling fiercely. I thought she was feeling threatened in her cage, so I opened the door so she could get on her playtop and observe the little dog from higher up. Baloney! Bella wasn't scared, she wanted to dive bomb the poor little guy! My neighbor and I both decided it's better for the little dog to get out of harm's way! Bella is a trip! EVERYTHING in this house is her business! LOL!

That's great Dan!!! now I can see how that wine rack became "his" :laugh: It's Perfect! I'm going to make Bella one of those basket ball courts for birds - she lives tossing things around like little balls and wants me to do it over and again - is that what you have on your counter for Dayo? Cheers! Terri

Dave007 wrote: Thank you for addressing this Dave -I'm no fan of broad sweeping statments either. In fact, while studying biology for several years, I became quite aware of how stressful the life of prey animals can be. There are most certainly terrible cases of animal abuse from breeders and bird keepers, but to cast everyone on that dye is really not appropriate IMO. R/Terri

Hi Kyle, many bright welcomes! in terms of your situation - you know, i think in the end, the only person who can really know for sure whether you are ready or not is you. You seem to have done a good job of gathering as much information as possible on greys. The only additional recommendation I might have is that if you have an opportunity to spend time with some greys, get to know them, and see the level of action they can generate, that might be helpful. From my own experience I can tell you that my grey Bella is VERY, VERY active. It really is like having a 2 year old child around. From the moment I come home until I go to bed she is with me. She has several playstands in various places with different toys which she'll play with while I'm doing things, but the minute I get up and walk away, she flies afer me (she's flighted). Her mind is unsatiable as far as wanting to learn new things and have new experiences. There is NOTHING she's not interested in, and that keeps me on my toes! She also "hangs" out with my greyhounds, particularly if they are barkng at something, she's right there with them ready to go after what ever it is they're going after. I guess what I'm saying is Bella is a very active family member. I do work from 8 to 5. She is in her cage at that time, but she's also in an open area where she can watch everything going on in the yard, and she's together with my conure Jiggy in the adjacent cage and of course the greyhounds are with her. I've created foraging opportunitie for her in her cage and alternate her foods regularly and place them in interesting ways for her. She has about 5 hours/day out of cage time. What Ive found on the weekends are that from 1 pm to about 4 she likes to snooze and bask in the sun. She does that either on one of her playstands or on her playtop on her cage. So, I that leads me to believe during the day both she and Jiggy snooze in the afternoon when I'm not home. Jiggy puts himself to bed around 8:30 in the evening, and Bella stays with me until I go to bed around 10 pm. I'm not sure if any of this is useful, but that's how we do things! Best Regards Terri

If I had to make a guess, Bella seems to like children songs. My grand daughter taught her how to do the "Tudi-tah". Bella sings that and bobs around and addess a whoop-dee-do-a-peak-a-boo to it :laugh:

lolamay wrote: Hi, My Bella is flighted as well. There's no doubt in my mind that when they are flighted it takes a good helping of additional work and training and I think the training angle is key. Bella follows me around everywhere as well. She's come to learn that I don't always want her on my shoulder. When I don't want her on my shoulder I have her step up on my finger and I set her down somewhere. We went through that drill a few times and so now she follows me, but lands somewhere else. Somehow we've developed this body language communication that she knows when I'm ok with it, and when I'm not. Generally if I'm busy cleaning or doing something I don't want her on my shoulder and so she just joins elsewhere. Our biggest problem involves my lamps. She and Jiggy have this large play gym that Jiggy loves and Bella can't be bothered with LOL! So, she gets into everything else, particularly the lamps. She lands on them and knocks them over. In fact she just did it again just now. She knows I don't want her doing that. She she's on the lamp I approach her, and say "no, no, no!" and lift her off and set her somewhere else. Recently she tried to make an issue about it. She flies up on the lamp, and SHE SAYS "no, no, no!" and before I can get to her she flies off. Well, I obviously can't let her get away with that, so I go after her and say "no, no, no" and set her on the play gym. Just now she decided to push the issue and stayed on the lamp and as I tried to get her to step off she bit me pretty good! But, I knew if I let her get away with that, I will only invite her to bite me again and again and again. So, I was very resolute in getting her to step up where as she flew off into the kitchen, and I went after her, nailed her in the kitchen told her she was bad, and "no bite" and I put her into her cage for time out. Initially she was pretty mad - throwing things around and banging her beak on the cage. Now she's calling for me :laugh: She's staying in there for another 30 minutes - that should be enough time for her to cool off! So, I understand this flying business takes much more training. But for me the trade off is that both she and Jiggy seem to have a whole new level of understanding and cognizance, and I think that has allowed her to develop all kinds of creative solutions to things - for example she tried to lock Jiggy into his cage by flying up against it and closing the door; she's also incredibly interested in the dimmers. When I dim the lights she watches the light then she looks at me and then back at the light. She's tried to fly over to the dimmers to give it a try herself :laugh: When the dogs bellow towards something outside the window Bella is like the Airforce flying in joining them in the hunt :laugh: So, it's a trade off - more work, but more options for them