siobha9

Interesting name for a boy Obviously started out life as a girl !! No he is not too young for sexual behaviour and what you describe sounds exactly like it. The last thing you want to be doing is petting, cuddling and kissing because he obviously thinks you are his partner. Best thing to do really is put him on a perch and walk away from him. (unless of course you Like being vomited on !!) Welcome to the forum by the way. You will have fun here, and learn loads. Siobhan

Dogs and birds shouldnt ever be friends in my opinion. Regardless how much you love and trust your dog, one little mishap is all it would take to seriously injure your grey. I have 2 dogs and would NEVER leave the greys unattended with the dogs. Both my dogs are also afraid of my greys, BUT, that fear could turn to aggression some day. I let the 4 of them, 2 birds and 2 dogs roam free when I am in the room with them, but if I need to leave the room, I either call the dogs or cage the birds. On the other hand I really dont want to go to a vet with a dog and explain how he got bitten by a bird... it would do nothing for his street cred Siobhan

Congratulations Dan! That is so exciting. Liath still doesnt say ANYTHING in my voice. I am sooo jealous!:sick:

ooooh I remember that little squeak! Oisin never did it but Liath did. That was practically the only sound she would make when we were in the room when she was little. Not particulary nice when she was on my shoulder... I am surprised I can still hear! Cosmo is GORGEOUS!! You have to have karma for that video Siobhan

Poor little guy. He is so cute though. I really hope you can help him to resolve it. Thankfully none of my birds pluck, it seems to be such a huge complicated problem with many possible causes, and many possible solutions. Best of luck with it. Siobhan

My birds wouldnt eat raw vegetables either, but lightly steamed and they LOVE them. I take out a couple of spoonfuls of our vegetables before they are cooked and let them cool while our dinner finishes cooking. Then when I serve up the kids dinner, I can serve the birds too. They obviously dont know that theirs is slightly different than ours. And let's face it, if its human food it MUST be good. At least that seems to be the philosophy my birds operate under:P Siobhan

Our first bird is called Liath (Leah) which is the Irish word for Grey. Our second is called Oisin (Usheen) which was the name of the breeders son.

We too have a clingy bird. Oisin is so attached to my husband his nickname is Cling-On! A word of warning though. Every time my husband passes Oisin, he flies over to be on him. But once my husband was in a hurry and walked through the room and out the back door. Oisin was so quick and flew through the door too. Luckily he landed on my husband who promptly turned around and ran back into the house, with Oisin still securely attached!! Now we do EVERYTHING in our power to discourage him from flying to us when the mood takes him. Siobhan

Wow - they are gorgeous BIG dogs. My dogs would be a mouthful for your dogs....

Wow - they are gorgeous BIG dogs. My dogs would be a mouthful for your dogs....

Congratulations Lisa, I hope you have a lovely day with him, Happy Christmas!

I remember exactly where you are at. Last Christmas I must have said Merry Christmas so many times that I drove myself mad, never mind the poor bird. Liath said Hello fairly early on, and not another word till the day she turned 13 months, now she seems to learn a new phrase every couple of days. She is only 18 months now. Oisin seems to be learning quicker, but he is learning from Liath not from us I would imagine. Don't worry, it will happen most likely, and if it doesnt, you can at least have fun with the sound effects! Siobhan

No sorry it still didnt upload. How on earth did a turtle make it 3 blocks? that is incredible. Lucky turtle! I was driving over to my mam's today and a Peacock ran across the road in front of me. I stopped and chased it and it ran into a garden. I called at the guys door and he says the peacock belonged to a neighbour, but he crossed the road to eat catfood every day. Unbelievable how (a) I had never spotted him before and (b) he hadnt been squished!! Incidentally the house I called at had the cutest red lori - beautiful bird!!! Siobhan

WELL DONE:lol: That is brilliant. I have lost a grand total of 3 lbs in 2 months - mainly because I havent really being trying. It is too hard to get out and walk in this weather, and I have been busy making costumes for a school play. Luckily the show is on Thursday so I should have some free time again in the new year. BUT.... at least I havent gained!

Hi Joe, The way I look at it is that she is also an ass. Yes I realise her husband has to come before me, but if my husband told me, who I could and couldnt see (not that he would dare), and when I could see them, I would laugh and go anyway. My sending her kid a card and present should have been an invitation for her to pick up the phone and call, but she didnt - she had the kid do it. Honestly - I have had enough, my kids have had enough, and my house has had enough, and I am happy with my decision now! Dave - That is hilarious.... The poor doggy though, I am cringing just thinking about it.

Yes but it is upstairs.. out of the way of our routine. To give you an example... in the mornings when the children are getting ready for school, I have to keep them in their cages (birds - not kids;) ) because they like to share in the cereals and toast. I have no problem with this, except the kids would rather play with the birds than eat their breakfasts, and we end up late! But we can still chat to them, and give them a slice of fruit or whatever during the meal. If they were upstairs, they would miss out on lots of times like this during the day, where they get interaction, but are not actually out. Oisin is still not quite fully grown, so the cage he is in will do him for now, that is why I havent rushed into making a decision. The answer will come eventually.... Right now I am working on my husband to build me a new family room and kitchen extension.... then we would have loads of room.... Mind you by the time it is built, I will probably be pushing up daisies.... Siobhan

Ironically I wrote an essay with that title this year (I am studying psychology)and I used this family as my example. Not literally of course, but it certainly made sense of some of the course work! I always blamed the parents, my friend never disciplined them. She threatened a lot, but never carried through. Maybe I am learning to respect myself.... or maybe I am just turning into a cantankerous old bleep in my old age:( Whichever it is, I do feel that I have won. My Goddaughter phoned today when she knew I would be out collecting my kids and left a message thanking me for the present. Wow... she has never thanked me before.. I usually get "I would have preferred money!".

You see this is the problem. In your case you married your wife but got her sister and her sister's kids. In mine I chose my friend, but got her husband and her kids. Why can people not see that although while they are visiting someplace, and their kids are being amused, the actions of those kids have effects that last??? Honestly if my friends kids had touched my birds I would have coldly and calmly killed them. I told her kids that Greys bite - Really Really Hard. So they were afraid of them. Lucky for my birds! My furniture I can replace, my walls I can paint - but if they had touched my birds I would not have been responsible for my actions..... So now tell us honestly - we are all friends here - did you agitate the bird into biting the kid????:evil: Tee hee Siobhan

Well my plan was to divide the cage I have into 2 sections because I cannot source a double decker here(Ireland) that has the same dimensions or bigger than mine. But so far the steel guy is politely telling me he will get to me. I think it is a job he would rather not do! I do have room in the house for a second cage - just not in the room they are in at the moment. I dont want to move Oisin out of the main room because he LOVES the company. So far they are still getting on great when they are out together, but of course they are still babies really at 18 months and 6 months. Neither bird are jealous of anything so far, they share us, and the perches and the play gym quite peacefully at the moment. I still havent made any decisions, because I dont want to make the wrong one Siobhan PS No I am absolutely not trying to breed them.

Sandra I too love your rules, and I never thought of the definition of best friend that way.... You are right of course! Well the update on the saga is that there is none. During the phone call where she told me she wasnt allowed to bring the kids to my house, she also told me that she would phone me later when her husband wasnt home. Surprise surprise, she didnt phone. I have posted a Christmas card and a present to my God daughter, because after all, it isnt her fault her parents are self centred idiots! I now consider this phase of my life "closed". It is nice to have my weekends back! I could get used to this new life Thank you all for your support! Siobhan

He is practising! Liath talks pretty much non stop too. Personally I love it, and I can tune it out most of the time when I need to do something else (except answer the phone!) You will find he will start mumbling words soon and once he has them off he will start repeating them over and over again. Liaths phrase of the week is "CIARAAAAA C'MERE (come here)" (my youngest daughters name). Unfortunately it sounds just like me and Ciara keeps running up the hall saying "YES?" Siobhan

Ellie is gorgeous. How old is she in the second picture? Dot and Mini are getting on great, but Dot has developed a habit of collecting all the dirty underwear from my teenage daughters room and arranging them all over the sitting room. I am hoping this might encourage her to tidy her room!

When I have the birds out in the evenings I like to relax and watch tv. I bought them baby toys MONTHS ago to play with on the couch and they are still going strong. Most of the parrot toys that I bought them are either too big, or attach to the cage, or they destroy them in a couple of days. I love to shop in the baby section for my birds... I am sure my neighbours are wondering when the baby is due!!! (Gaining a little weight round the middle!) I imagine the number 3 might get a little tiresome soon, maybe you should show her the number 2!!!

Deleted as it posted twice....<br><br>Post edited by: siobha9, at: 2007/12/11 19:51

She really has understood this phrase. Last night I was lying on the couch with my knee up. She was standing on the couch beside me. She kept lifting up her little foot and looking at my knee. Then she said : "Do you want to step up Liath? Yeah!" Of course I had to pop her on top of my knee. As for cheap entertainment, maybe I have a very sad life, but I am perfectly content to sit in the room and chat to her for HOURS on end. Of course it is not quite 2 way conversation but neither of us mind that!