Acappella

I'm glad you're able to give one of these poor greys a good home, but bluedawg is right about the wild capture, it is horribly cruel. Perhaps as you learn what marvelous creatures they are through your relationship with your grey, you will be inspired to become an advocate for the species. It has to start with someone. Maybe, as a person who has obviously researched greys, you could contact others who are against the practice, and could make some progress into ending it. After all, it took years before the sale of wild caught birds was banned in other places in the world. My heart literally aches when I think of all this poor baby has seen and experienced before ending up in the store where you are getting him/her. It will take lots of love and patience to make up for that trauma. I'm glad you've joined us here. <3

10 - 12 hours dark sleep time is the ideal for greys. Is your room blackout dark even after the sun rises? That could extend his sleep time into daylight hours. Also, think about keeping the same schedule everyday even when you're not working as much as you can. Around here if Dorian isn't getting his full night of sleep I'm dealing with a cranky birdy after a couple of days.

Sorry she's giving David the cold wing treatment. I hope his feelings aren't too badly hurt lol. Glad to hear she's having fun with some little toys. Just be careful with bells meant for small birds. Dorian got hold of one once and bit the clapper right out of it. Luckily I was watching and got it away from him, but from then on there have been no small bells in his cage.

Birdhouse, has Phoenix made any progress with the foraging toy, or are you still cruelly laughing at him lol?

This brings up an image of Gilbert with a person standing behind her with a little screwdriver tightening up a screw al la Geordie and Data in Star Trek.

Looks like it was a hit. He didn't think it was a parrot killing device?

Right now it looks like this storm is going to miss me in Ontario. If that's so, I'm very very grateful. I hope nobody here loses power. Keep safe and warm my friends.

Dorian loves paper muffin cups strung on cotton, alternating with beads, and a bell at the bottom. He recently had a big party demolishing an IKEA catalogue. He really seemed to relish the mess he made. I'm still finding bite size pieces of paper all over the house. I always have some supreme cotton made into a big fluffy tassel hanging somewhere in his cage so he can chew it when something is making him nervous. You just have to be careful to comb through it for knots on a regular basis so their talons can't get caught in it.

That beak grinding is wonderful sound isn't it? Especially in a bird with trust and anxiety issues. As I type, Dorian is sitting on my computer, one foot up, beak grinding away. I remember hearing it for the first time. It was a few years in to his royal highness residence here and I was so happy to be experiencing something I'd only heard about here on the forum. Hooray for Miss Gilbert. May there be prolonged beak grinding and long, unguarded naps in your future.

Thank you for re-homing this baby. Sound like he figured out pretty quickly that his lot in life has just improved greatly. How did the vet check go? Do you have any pictures?

I'll say it again, you two are my heroes. I don't know how you manage to care for so many special needs birdies, especially ones whose needs are often in direct opposition to each other. That you even contemplated taking in your elderly neighbour speaks volumes about your hearts. Please don't beat yourselves up for not being able to do it. Taking on end of life care for someone is not to be taken lightly, believe me, I know. You can still advocate for him. How many new fids are you taking from him?

Welcome to the forum. I love the first picture with those big black baby eyes. He looks like he just woke up in that photo.

When I drop something, which I do all the time, I always say oops. Well, then Dorian started saying along with me. Now, when he tosses something onto the floor it's followed by a big Ooops! I try to tell him, that isn't an oops, it's an on purpose, but he chooses not to hear me.

Maybe she could have her travel cage downstairs in your sewing room to make her more comfortable?

So nice that you were able to get a picture of her in a more relaxed moment away from her safety zone. She really does have the cutest little face. I love Timnehs. She looks tiny compared to my big grey bruiser of a bird.

So can untreated apnea. That's one of the reasons I keep on trying. Trying another new mask as the one I have been trying is now giving me panic attacks. In addition to the panic from having something touching my face, I find they make me too ultra aware of my breath in and out, and I start to hyperventilate. This new mask is the 'mask we use when no other mask works' mask, so keep a good thought for me.

Can we clone Brutus?lol. Dorian is usually pretty docile and well behaved. I rarely have to tell him 'no' because he rarely does something naughty, except trying to lure the cat in for a taste of his tail. This new possessiveness over desk time is new. He doesn't fly, and he needs my help to get on to the desk. He climbs up as far as he can, but he can't get over the desk top without a hand up. I don't want to deny him the time on the desk. I looked at the cable covers birdhouse tagged and it's given me some ideas to bird proof the desk. I'm actually going to completely overhaul the whole desk area, but thats a major project. In the meantime I'll just have to supervise better. Thanks everyone for letting me whine here. I realise I'm actually pretty lucky with a usually pretty well behaved birdy.

I just realized something. I was going to post the usual "Dorian wouldn't go near that parrot killing device" when I realized that is no longer true. He might look at it warily at first, but if I told him it was cool he'd probably at least beak it pretty fast. My, how far he's come! Lol. Great toy score, and pretty doggy.

Welcome home Gilbert.

This might be my favourite post ever.

Welcome to our little corner of the internet.

Well, the "little heathen" just ate through my iPad charging cable. Grrrrr.

Problem is either I don't fall asleep at all (two nights ago) or I fall asleep and wake up with the mask on the floor, the machine turned off, and no memory of doing either. I used to take my headgear off in my sleep when I had braces when I was a kid. The night in the sleep lab with the Cpap I didn't sleep at all so they sent me home with a machine with a recording computer chip to get data here. Problem is I'm not having much more luck here. Even taking a sleeping pill doesn't work, then I'm even more exhausted the next day. Thus my frustration. Grrrrr. I'm gonna keep trying. Thanks for the support guys. I do appreciate it.

So cute. He doesn't know he's a special needs birdy. He just knows you're taking too long to get his snacks ready! Lol

Dorian starts making his 'cranky birdy' sounds around 8:00, and if I don't respond by getting his bedtime pistachio and putting him in his cage, the window of opportunity closes and he gets bitey. He has such a cute routine. I give him a nut which he eats, then a minute or two of scritches, lights out, and he climbs over to his sleep perch, pausing upside down on the way for a 'kisses' through the cage bars. Then from the doorway I tell him night night sleep tight, his tail wags, he throws a kiss and I close the door. This has not always been the case. He used to fight me about bedtime. I had to chase him around his play stand trying to get him to step up, which he mostly thought of as a game. It was only after countless episodes of this, when he realized that he never won this 'game', that he started to step up like a good boy when I asked. Then I started giving him a treat for going to bed when I asked him to. Now it's him asking to go to bed.