Cyard

Wow..... I am really sorry to hear that your poor little AG is under the weather. I am not sure where you live but it does concern me that you are letting your AG by the window because it may cause the poor little darling to be ill. I am not an expert but I would move your AG and definately ensure that you visit the vet incase your AG is really ill. I wish you the best of luck and I am glad that you posted because I cannot imagine a more knowledgable site than this one.

Hey Dave, Happy New Year! I personally let my little darlings out of the cage most of the day. I give them independent cage time from 7:30 in the morning til noon and then the rest of the day they are free to play on thier gym or interact with me. Though many in my family suspect I like the birds better then them:whistle:

Thank you for the advice. I agree that it is just like adopting children in that you have to be patient and loving and let them know that you are there forever and patiently ready to except them for who they are and ready to help them. I definately know this because I have three adopted children and had two surprises who I am lucky enough to be blessed with. I have really been considering becoming a foster home for birds and I was just worried because I won't do anything to comprimise Newton our Grey, Monkey our Goffin or CLoudy our Parakeet. They are the whole center of my universe and I can't imagine life without any of them.

I just wanted to fully educate myself on what some of the things that breeders or people who sell bird should be concerned with. I have absolutely no intention of breeding but I have been considering possibly taking in rescue birds and I assume that I would then have similar concerns as a breeder when bringing an outside animal in to my home (I am beginning to explore this and before I make a commitment I need to get as much info as possible). I know what I am concerned with and looking for when I am looking for a new family member but I guess I wanted to be educated from the professionals. I definately look for a clean environment, active birds, people who are interactive with the bird, good references, no complaints with Better Business Burea, I call a couple vets and talk about who they recommend, and I usually want to know what kind of education/training they have had and how they apply this training to better thier birds lives and most importantly do they have the birds tested for diseases and have they had a disease issue with a bird in thier facility lately but I want to know more. I am a biology major and I seem to always ask questions and I am really looking forward to hearing different perspectives. I am hoping that this can benefit not just me but those of us who are looking to add to our families in the future.

I have really been evaluating this and here is my conclusion. Ultimately, it of course depends on the owner and the bird. Fo me, I totally trust Newton and when we are cuddling I am giving him my direct attention. I think that if he were to bite (ouch :pinch:) it would probaly be well deserved because I would not be heeding his needs at the moment. Also I have found this is a great place for him while we are out socializing. I can put him in the harness and hook it onto my arm and he is good and safe and seems to feel secure. I have found this very important because Newton has been visitng my son and daughter's preschool classes. This ensures a good experience for him, the children and keeps him out of harms way of little interested humans. Like I tell the children it is all about respecting the animal and thier space. The only issue I think I might have with it is when he is chasing my hands around for a head scratch sometimes I get a little birdie butt in my face :blush: which makes me very glad that he likes to shower with me so I know he is clean. :lol: I really appreciate everyone's feedback this has been a tremendous help for me in making the best choice for Newton. Thank you all very much for the varied opinions this provided me a lot of new perspective on this issue.

Since we have brought Newton home he only says hello so far so I haven't really given him a set nickname though now I am totally inspired. I think that so far we have called Newton either by his name or Sir Issac and occasionally we call him clutz.

Yep I think that is what I will do I just was concerned with Newton adjusting to the change of dealing with crazy people that I typically shelter him from.:blink:

First of all Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I was hoping to get some opinions on Thanksgiving. We are traveling 2 hours away and I plan taking Newton with me BUT I know that I have 3 houses to go to and I don't want to stress him out. I am taking his travel case and plenty of food and some of his familiar toys. Are there any precautions that I should take to ease the stress of traveling for him. He does very well in the car but we drive around town doing errands together normally. My husband thinks we should leave him home and I can't bare the thought of not spending a holiday without Newton. I am very attached and I hate to think that I would have to lock him into a cage for 10-12 hours.

Newton gets up at 8:00 am and then has independent play time in the big boy cage until noon:woohoo: then is out from about 12 to whenever a little bird gets tired and crabby usually about 10 - 10:30 pm. Otherwise he is only confined if I cannot take him on my errands. This is our everyday routine I supervise him because if I turn my back he dislikes my statics book more than I do!:evil: Then we feed him and tuck :kiss: our little prince Newton into his lovely roosting cage.

I too agree, I have not really heard any one with an opinion against shoulder cuddling. I admit that I absolutely love having Newton on my shoulder especially at night he loves to chase my hand around (my arm gets tired after about an hour or so:blink:) for a little scratch behind the ears.

I agree tank has been moody today so he sits on his perch preening himself. Watching me waiting for me to make a move to pick him up so he can eat my hand.

Ouch:pinch:! I am really sorry about the bite, but great job on not yelling at the bird!

Oh good this makes me feel so much better because I truly enjoy the snuggling. I think that as long as I am attentive and in tune with Newton then he should be just fine. Plus this gives Newton lots of frequent human riding miles.:laugh:

Poor little bird! My guess is the bird in that mirror was giving him the evil eye:blink:. I think that if you want to expose him then yes take him up to the mirror with him on your arm so that he can feel reassured from the direct support of you. Good luck!

Ok here is an issue for my sweet Newton, the breeder allowed Newton to sit up on his shoulder before we got him. And I admit that we did too because it is so nice nuzzling and cuddling but the vet's aid who trims Newtons nails says that we should not allow him to cuddle that way. :unsure: Which is fine, I have never let any of my smaller parrots on my shoulder either but I am unsure of how to untrain him and his is so cute and persistant(:whistle: naughty,naughty:whistle:). How can I resist and or distract :blink: such a cute feathered human?

Congrats TalonSis! I just know that you will do a great job and wish you the best of luck!!!B)

Wow that is awsome! I think I need to add one of these to my honey do list.....

Newton also is a CAG.

I too am sorry to hear such sad news. I really wish you luck on finding a new grey.

Well Newton made it through just fine and he is totally pooped out. LOL All he wants is for me to sit here and scratch his head. SO I guess I will say good night and happy Halloween everyone!

I was interested in how everyone's birds react if you pass out candy with all of the new visitors to your birds home? This is Newtons first year and I want to keep him from being stressed out as much as possible but I know that tonight that doorbell will be going crazy!:unsure: And is anyone doing something fun for thier bird on halloween? We made a little treat for Newton of low fat peanut butter with seeds (rolled it, peanut butter is just to make the seeds into a ball) and put it into is treasure chest nesting toy. Now he has a trick and a treat! Plus lots of work ahead of him:evil:

I do think the schedule is the most important for your CAG. I think that you are doing a good job. I am a mom of 5 and go to school full time but here is a suggestion that has helped my family, I got a play gym on wheels and it seems to really help because then he can be out with the family but in a safe play area.

Hooray!! I am so happy for you. I am glad you posted this, I think that Newton and I will have a talk about trying this. Though right now our calander is full with working on stepping up and stepping down and coming in and out of our cage nicely.

What a great amount of information, I wished I would have thought to discuss this with my vet. I will definateky discuss this with him at our spring visit. I beleieve that this is a very good topic and I really look forward to hearing everyone's opinion on it!

Hello and welcome to our group!