ziggy

I just want to clear the air here. When I said grab the bird I did not mean to wrap your hands around him and grab in that way. I meant to grab in a figure of speach. Try to get him off or out of his cage and get him away from his comfy zone. With him away from this he will respond better and not want to be distracted with his cage in sight. Patience is the key here you have him about a week and you have to keep working him(not to much at once) until he learns the commands. Every bird is going to act differant then the next that is what makes every one of them a induvidual. Like humans we are not all alike we are differant in many ways, so are birds. What comes natural for one might be a task for others. There are some greys that are not excellant talkers, like there steroetype. Some are just lazy or have a difficult time with talking. My point here is that your bird will be differant then my bird and my bird will be dirrerant then the next guys and so on. Again I did not mean to literally GRAB the bird. Im from N.Y and we have a differant way of saying things. Like open the light, or go inside( when you are already inside), ect.

What good manners your bird has. Sounds like he has to ask you first and then you need to return the jester. Birds are great arent they. They keep you scratching you head and make you laugh. Good form of cheep entertainment.

The larger the better for your grey. 48x32x72 is what I have and Ziggy ( a blue and gold) has alot of room to play. Thats what you want is enough room for him to play and to be able to flap his wings and not get them cought on the cage sides. He needs exercise even when you are not home and he is in the cage. He will need to occupy himself while you are not at home, so he will need alot of space to climb and to play with his toys in the cage.

A beautiful little bundle of joy you have. Good luck with him/her. You will have a great time with him for the rest of your life. Just look at those baby charcole eyes just makes your heart melt. Maui look like a great bird and has a good personality to go along with his/her looks.

Hello romaneagle, You can do both. There are pros and cons for both just like anything else. To drive: you need a travel cage or travel crate for him. You are going to make stops along the way for restroom,eating,gas,sleeping ect so it not like he will be in the crate the whole trip. He might get a little nippy at you because he is out of his normal enviroment. Fiying: Just about all airlines will allow you to travel with your pet(for an extra charge of course). The trip is a little easier for you and the bird because it is over before you know it. So as you see this is a personal prefrence but both methods will work out fine for you and the bird. Good luck what ever way you go with.

Hello Coff73ee and Katie, Welcome to the FAMILY!!!!! We here on the best forum on the net would like to welcome you and all of your feathered friends. Please feel free to ask as many questions and they will be answered from the best group of people on the net period. We love pictures so please share some of them with us AGAIN WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

Steve, You need a travel cage or travel crate. This is a long ride for the bird and you want him secure while you are driving. When you go there make sure the bird looks healthy and has a good personality. Im sure with going to a breeder he will have alot of good info for this bird. Ask alot of questions before you buy it. Like how is he doing with perching, how long ago did he wean out, has he had a vet check for polinoma, ask to see vet results, look for clean cages or flights make sure water and food look clean and not like they have been in the cages for days. These are simple questions to ask. He/she should have good logical answers for you. If you dont feel comfy with the breeder dont buy the bird. Here is a good way to see if a breeder is on top of his game. When you see the bird for the first time ask to hold the bird, if he says you need to sanitize your hands then he is a creditable breeder. If he says nothing then YOU ask him for sanitizer and see his reaction to the question. I am a breeder and I never let anybody touch the babies without sanitizing there hands. Your hands have alot of germs on them and to touch a baby bird without sanitizer is a great risk for the breeder to take. This is only my opinion.

Hello Steve, A rescue is a great way to give a home to a needy bird. They come with alot of behaviour issues that you will need to deal with. Please dont take this the wrong way, but with you not having alot of experiance this might not be the path you want to take. The birds need alot of time and working with and if you do not have the know how this could be a painful experiance for you. I think as great as it seems to rescue a needy bird this might be to much for you to handle. A baby handfed bird is a better choice for you. A grey is a very smart bird that will try to become the alpha bird. They will push as far as they can to see how you will react to it. With a baby handfed bird he is young and you will have better sucsess with it then a rehomed or rescued bird. Again dont take this wrong I am just trying to make it easier for you in the long run.

Dave, Ups and Fed EX will not ship any live animals at all. They will not take the liability of shipping live cargo. I know this because when i have customers that wants a bird they have to call delta for pricing. Plus I have friends that work for ups that told me that they will not accept live cargo at all.

Hello ljbpink, Jack is very young and does not know how to perch yet on command. A young grey will need to feel confident before he makes the big step. This will take time. He in his little mind does not know is this a good thing or is this a bad thing. You as the owner need to make him feel secure. I dont think training him with a perch is a good thing to start with. The idea is to make him feel comfy with you and your family. You in a way have to human trian him. He needs to feel comfy with human contact. He is still very young and does not have the know how that you are a freind and not a foe. The next thing is that he is not comfy with his new home yet. This also will take time for him to adjust. His whole world right now is full of uncertaintys. Picture yourself in his world, Would you fell comfy if you just moved to place that you know nothing about and have no friends, or family. You would fell a little upset that you are all alone. you need to make friends quickly so that you feel alittle more at ease. Now you meet people but you dont know if this person is a wacko or a nice person. You have your gaurd up a little to make sure your not in any danger or is this person a nut. So after a few meeting with this person you start to lower your gaurd a little and find out that you are starting to trust him a little more and more every time you meet him. This is exactly what your bird feels right now. I have to trust this human before I make any decisions to go to him/her. this is a way for them to start a friendship with you and your family. They will come around in time, but like I tell plenty of people is you need to have patience when working with young, nasty, or abused birds. Patience is the largest item you will need to have. He will start to trust you and you will have a great companion for many many years to come. You say he will not come to you right now, Try going up to him and placing your hand up to him and say " Jake up" at first he will run away. You might want to also just try grabbing him and you make the first move. After you have him rub his neck or back and talk softly to him. Say nice thing such as good bird, jake your a good bird, your so pretty, ect. He might need you to make the first steo for him. He is yound and dont know how yet. Now you make that first step and now it is up to you to continue to make steps for him. Now you have him take him away from the cage( his comfy zone), start to work with him. Place your finger under his chest and tell him jake up. Keep the pressure on his chest until he starts to feel like he is going to fall off. He will have to step up now or he will fall. He will fall sometimes but he will start to learn. After he does it praise him say good boy jake and give him a small treat. Continue this over and over until he builds up the trust with you. After he trusts you, You should have no problem getting him off the cage or out of it.

Hello Nychsa, It is great that you and your grey have a great friendship and have bonded well. You are very lucky for greys are not the most effectionet birds. There is a differance from being spoiled to being over loving. This sounds like he is very spoiled. That is a good thing. But not in all cases. You have company and the bird is always wanting to be on you and you cant entertain because he is always wanting you. You put hiom in the cage for a diner party and then he starts screaming so you give in and let him out. The bird wins. You have to make him know that NO is NO when you need time for yourself. I am not saying you are doing anything wrong but even you will need time for yourself sometimes. You are lucky like I said people that own greys would kill for a bird like this. But he has pushed his weight around and now you need to play a little rough with him. You lost control of the bird and he runs the roost. You need to take that control back before it gets even worse for you.( not saying it is a bad thing all together). Good luck with him and enjoy him forever.

Welcome to the FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!! What a face on that baby. A real great looking baby. GOOD luck with him and have fun everyday you have him. There will be great times ahead, and he will make a great companion for you and your family! Again welcome to the FAMILY!!!!!!

Hello, Both are very good talkers. The double yellow head is the best talkers of the amazons. It is also the second best of all species. It only trails the greys ability to talk and mock other noises. The yellow nape is also a great talker. The blue front mabee has a little better vocabulary but it is a tose up between the two. They are both great birds and love to be left alone. They on a whole are like greys in the regard that they are not really cuddlie type birds. They are great to have the amazons but they can also be quite nasty at times. All birds can get nasty dont get me wrong but they can push the envelope alittle more then others, like cockatoos,macaws,conures,ect. They can all be nasty in there own way it comes to the traing from you if he will behave or not. Getting a bird of this nature you need to spend alot of time with him. They are very smart and pick up training and words quite fast and easily. I love both the yellow nape and the double yellow head it is a toss up for me. No matter what one you choose it will be a great choice.

Hello Bobby, Patience is the key to sucsess with him. Please watch giving him grapes you need to take the skin off it is toxic to them. The trick is to have patience. He will come around. Greys are very smart and they are also very stubran. So he will need to trust you before he will perform anything for you.

Hello Tracy, Great looking bird and good luck with him. You will have many years with him so enjoy every minute. I am rescuing 3 bird right now 2 blue front amazons and 1 orange wing amazon. I cant wait to get them.

Hello, Yes I agree with Dave aloe is the best healing aid for birds. You want to stay away from any ointment that is not all natural. Alot of the ointment have chemicals that are harmfull to your bird. You dont need that for sure.

Hey Dan, Nice looking bird you have there. He is a looker thats for sure. Abu why are you looking for the differant eye colors? How old is your bird? There eyes start to change at about 6 months old and will stay pretty much the same color for the life of the bird. Normally a little yellowing will accure after time.

Hello Cyard, I suggest if you are really looking to become a foster home for birds you need the following things in place before you even consider it. 1)Have a good quarintine area away from you birds.(min 45 days) 2)Have a good avian vet. 3)Test your birds reaction first to new comers. 4)Have all your fosters try to co-exsist with your play areas and your birds. I have to ask you though are you going to be a foster home where people will be able to adopt from you or are you going to adopt from others and house them with you on a permanent basis? The reason I ask is that your consern is to keep your guys the way they are. The grey might show that he does not like this. Greys are birds of routine, and the less stress for them the better. Your others might or might not mind, but for the grey he might not be okay with this sudden change. This is a risk you have to take with a grey, when you have him settled in. This might not happen but the odds are that he will be affected some how. The best way is to rescue or adopt a bird(s) and keep them. At first the grey will act up but like all things he will settle back in because the new addition will become part of this new routine. The goal here is to keep the birds you have now comfy, but if you deside to choose the temp housing this will be more stressful on them.<br><br>Post edited by: ziggy, at: 2007/12/08 06:22

This is a clear cut case of if its not broke dont fix it. Like humans to much of anything is no good. So if you feed him pellets only and only give seeds as a treat he will be forced to eat his pellets and savor the time he gets with the seeds. Please watch what kind of seeds you are giving him. Black sunflower seeds, peanuts,cashews,and almonds are very high in saturated fats. This is not good over a long period of time. You shuold be giving him a portion of mostly veggies and some fruits in the morning. (more veggies then fruits. fruits are high in sugar). After about 15 to 20 minutes remove any uneaten veggies and fruits. Now add just pellets for the rest of the day until you feed for diner. At diner give him a little bit of protein. Broiled chicken,turkey,fresh cheese ect. Try mixing it with like a tropical blend or the pellets. Do this for a time set by him. He will tell you when the new feedings are catching on. He will train himself to eat all of the extra stuff you are giving him because he knows after a while he will loose the remaining treats until later or the next day. Be parient and consistant with this and in a short time he will catch on to the routine.

Thank all of you for the kind words. Ziggy is a HAM and loves the attention he gets. I tell you there are many birds out there but like all proud owners I have a special bond with him that is undiscriable. I have 20 birds now and a zoo( my home with all the pets) and I have many many birds over the years and this bird is trully special. He loved everyone and just is the picture perfect looking and acting B&G I have ever seen.(Not just because he is my bird) People and pet shop owners, breeders all say the same thing that he is super sweet and a beautiful bird. (I just eat it up I tell you).

Hey Jimmy, Great video of Cosmo and also the pics. Nice looking grey. I have to ask you said he was to get used to the water. Do you give him any baths yet. He should be getting a bath at least 2 to 3 times a week. Just thought I would throw that out at you.

Hello, It is very possible to train a bird especially a grey to do both. Potty trianing and to wear a flight suit no problem for them. They have such a eager learning ability that this( after good training) will be a snap for you beloved grey. Greys are very intelligent and are always willing to train and to learn something new. Have plenty of patience while training it will all come together. In the end you will reep the benefits of your time and devotion. First though have fun training and be very consistant how ever you choose to train. Make it fun for you and the bird, you will have better success using these methods. Good luck again!!!!!!

Dave you got it all wrapped up in your response. This is a very well writen response. Curtie Dave is one of the most knowledgable members we have here and all of his posts are true and honest to the best of his ability. Dave karma to you for this response. I cant think off any other info for you on this like usual Dave buttoned it up.(LOL!!):woohoo: I agree with this fully, like most of his input.( cant be all the time but 98% of the time.:whistle: :dry: :dry:

Hello Cyard, Good for you to want to learn for one, and that you want to rescue a bird. A rescue bird is not always a breeder. They rang from abuse to a death in the family. There are many many reasons you will find birds in a sanctuary. To rescue a bird that needs love and work is a great thing. There is no dought that buying a baby and watching it grow from this little bald chic to a talking little chatterbox is a great experiance. By way of a rescue there are other ways to get the same satisfaction. Like when people that cant have children but love children they have to adopt to fill the void they have in there heart, Well a rescue bird needs the same love that a adopted child needs. A good sanctuary will have a strict NO BREEDING policy, a home inspection, a long and detailed application, for you to meet with the bird a couple of time to make sure that the bird is right for you and that you are right for the bird, they should also have a good foster home progrm for birds that wont fit in the sanctuary, follow up visits to check on you and the bird, and a policy that you will not try to sell or give the bird to just anyone.( most will try to rehome the bird if its not going to work out ). I am just now going through this to rescue 2 blue front amazons and a orange wing amazon. I feel very good about how the rescue performs there policy. You should see all of the things that I listed and all the things that you listed. Clean cages, good contact with the bird, vet checked, they look healthy, good food being fed to them, ect. Im glad you are considering a rescue instead of a baby there are so many birds that need good loving homes out there. They need to be worked with and loved but they can be a great companion for you in the long run. Just remember to have them checked by your vet before you take then in the home. Have a quarintine area ready for at least 45 days.<br><br>Post edited by: ziggy, at: 2007/12/07 14:34

Good point there Judy thats for sure. At first we cant wait for them to talk and make cool noises and in the end they dont shut up HAHAHA!!!!! Anyway to answer the question from Icerat4 Ziggy says about 6 words clearly Hello( of course), Ouch, Whats up, he laughs, Hello Ziggy, ( a new one ), and we are teaching him Horray Beer.( from the red stripe com.) The last one is for fun.