Acappella

Wow, very cool. Also, I'm jealous that your birdies are still outside. I had to turn the furnace on tonight. Brrr

One of our members here has a grey that he's had from a baby. She's never been a touchy feely bird, but they have a great relationship with huge amounts of verbal interaction. She's very clever and communicative, and she's slowly giving in to some physical interaction. Don't put too much pressure on him or you to have a certain type of relationship. You could be so focused on what is missing you might miss out on what he does have to offer. They're all unique, no matter what the species.

Sounds like you're coming down with MBS (Multiple Bird Syndrome). Take a read through the Amazon room here to get a feel for the species. As I understand it, Zon's have their own version of crazy, and they are very different from greys. What is your breeder telling you? Is you baby different than others from his/her clutch? I hope introducing him/her into your flock goes smoothly.

From what I leaned from others the harness training can be slow, but members have been successful when they followed the procedure recommended by the harness maker. Did the harness come with an instructional DVD?

. Lol Greywings

If you decide to get another bird go into it knowing they may not like each other at all. If that happens, each bird would have to have their separate out-of-cage time, and separate time with you. If they really don't like each other you would have to make sure they don't injure each other by getting on each other's cage and attacking the trespasser from the inside. You run the risk of more than doubling your work while not improving the life of your current fid at all. Lots of people here have more than one fid. Some become friends, some tolerate each other, and some are aggressive. It's a 'Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst' scenario.

I know what it's like to be partly into a job and to regret ever starting it. Maybe it's just as well that work called and you got to put a little time and distance between you and it so that you could come back to it calm and focused. Good job figuring out what was wrong and fixing it. Love GreycieMae buttering you up with ILove You's while you worked.

I know it's hard not to have hurt feelings, but have your hubby act towards Maggie like she is a new-to-him rescue. Sit by the cage and talk to her or read to her. Have her be the sole provider of special treats like a bit of grape, apple, cheese, anything that she only gets a couple of times a week. He doesn't have to feed it to her from his hand. Having him put it in his food dish is message enough. Always use a happy voice and have a smile on when he talks to Maggie. Respect her boundaries for now and observe her body language. Don't put pressure on her to let him pick her up for now. Knowing her feelings are being listened to will help her re-build a trusting relationship with him. Greys can be contrary little souls and I really think she's punishing him for disappearing on her but with time, patience, consistency and love, the relationship can be re-built. It may not be exactly the same relationship as it was before, but that could have happened even if you had never left her. Even greys that have never had the changes Maggie has had sometimes up and change their favourite person and the former favourite has to learn how to deal with the change. Good luck, and tell your husband that he can always come on here to vent if/when he gets frustrated.

Sounds like Pat has some sucking up to do, for the sake of your puncture free flesh.

Maybe it was one part seasonal, one part stress from the new flock member and one part boredom and your intervention will stop it from becoming habit. I wonder if it is really possible that he watches the other birds pulling out feathers and decided to see what all the fuss was about. We know how quickly they can pick up things from us human members of the flock.

Thanks for the great info and welcome to you and Bindi, (and Carter. I love Danes but could never own one). I identify with your vet worries. My closest Avian vet also stopped practice abruptly. I have a 'bird friendly' one right in town here, but my closest Avian is now two hours away. I'm not a big fan of clipping, but I don't have any useful suggestions as to how else you should deal with Bindi's potentially dangerous attraction to Carter. Maybe someone else will. Have fun reading around the forum.

Dave, bless you and all others who take on an aggressive bird and teach it to trust and love. Everyone here know the time commitment and consistency that would have taken and I respect you for putting in the months and months of hard work it took to turn your little TAG around. I hope the bird in this Craig's list ad gets a good second chance at life.

What really tugged at my heart was the way the eagle swam towards the boat, clearly making the decision to trust a human, which showed how totally exhausted the poor bird was.

It just looks like he's wearing one of those 1970's frilly tuxedo tops. He's gone formal wear on you!

Sorry to hear about Bongo plucking, although I love your sense of humour about it. Dorian regurges for me every morning when I get him up. We 'hold hands' for a couple of seconds, then I tell him"you keep your food" and go about the morning chores. He does the same thing at bedtime, which makes me sad because we use to have prolonged scratching sessions at night and now I can't because I don't want to encourage the regurgitating. I'm curious to see if this calms down as the days get shorter. Maybe Bongo wlll calm down as well.

I never look at Craig's list ads or go into a pet store with live animals anymore. My budget won't allow another animal right now, and my heart can't stop thinking about any animal I see or hear about that needs help. I hope that this poor little soul ends up in a good home that will deal kindly with any issues his re-homing will bring out in him.

I love your aviary, and I love the fact that you have a family that will put in this kind of labour because they know how important your birds are to you and they respect that. Jealous of the aviary and the family support over here.

When I was looking for big pieces of java wood for Dorian's playstand I went to a couple of pet stores that sold it and found out the names of the companies that sell it. Here in Canada it was 'Beaks!'. I found a store that would give me 5% off because I was buying a lot of big pieces.

Sorry Sterling, the description of the havoc that would be done if GreycieMae had the midnight run of the house made me smile. Thanks for starting my day with a smile. Nancy, it's amazing how empathetic they are isn't it? I had a 'go to the hospital' migraine last week, and Dorian was so quiet and still the whole next day. He knows when momma's on the couch during the day he should be quiet. How? I never had to tell him. He just does it. Do be careful about the Teflon though. I guess you could just use the dryer on a cool setting.

It's funny, that's how Dorian began to be ready to step up. He chose a perch mounted on the outside of his cage, and when he was on that perch it was a signal that he was ready to step up and be away from his cage for a little while. Like GG, he took a couple of years to get to that milestone. Congrats on waiting her out until she was ready for a bit more freedom.

So glad things worked out ok. Hope the harness training goes well.

You might get a little impatient while the human figures out how to best rescue the poor tired eagle, but it works out in the end. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bald-eagle-rescue-by-fisherman-posted-on-youtube-1.2773994

Wow, your windows are clean!!! Great pictures. Welcome back.

With sound extinction you and everyone in the family has to be 100% consistent in ignoring it. Easy to say I know. It's easier for me because Dorian and I (and a cranky kitty) are the whole flock here. It does work though. These days if Dorian picks up a sound I don't like, I just have to start the sound extinction behaviour and he recognizes what I'm doing and stops the sound in a day or two. About the earplugs, she has to be on your shoulder to pull them out so I'd be denying her shoulder time until she stops the sound. Or get a pair of sound deadening earphones like construction workers wear, she won't be able to do anything about those. I don't have to tell you they can do real damage to our hearing. She'll ramp up the sound before she abandons it, so now might be a good time for some mindful meditation to keep yourself calm. I know you can do this, you and she have a great relationship. We're here to cheer you on.

I know how hard fought those scratches were. Congrats to both of you. <3