DebT

I've given up on washing my two greys, they bathe when they want to and I think that's a grey personality trait, very head strong. I've upgraded their water bowls to dog dishes and when they feel the urge (at odd times to me) they can now get more than their feet wet. Jill, we (my CAG Fawkes and I) still make it a habit of sitting down in front of the computer to watch your Oliver videos together. We've even named one of our pet rats after him! There's a photo of [ul]our[/ul] Oliver at http://www.rathappy.com/RatHappy/AboutUs.html.

Lisa, I'd be interested in the end results of your aloe test. I was tempted to do the same but just didn't get around to it. I haven't had any major changes in my birds since I started feeding them red palm oil. My congo does have some new feathers coming in on her chest, but she is an occasional picker and so I can't tell if this improvement is permanent or not. She tends to pick when I am away from her for longer than normal periods of time, so I think its more due to separation issues. She is getting a new tail feather in, and the color is fresh and bright compared to her older feathers but she's also had the old feathers for at least a year and a half. I probably won't be able to determine whether any of the changes I've made (red palm oil, spray baths, taking her to the shop for bird sitting rather than at home with a house sitter, putting her in her cage when I leave the house for more than an hour, using 2 humidifiers in our sun room and putting AviCalm in her food) for several more months.

I've been adding red palm oil to my greys' diet since December. At first they didn't like it so I had to mix it into their wet food, but now I plop about 1/2 tsp on top of their food and its the first thing they eat. They actually won't start eating at all until I add the palm oil now -- they love it! I've been buying a 16 oz jar for about $15 at Whole Foods. A note about the aloe baths: I was told by my local bird shop that the aloe juice is actually drying to the skin! I got a recipe from them for another spray and am waiting for the ingredients to arrive since I couldn't locate them locally. It involves mixing calendula extract and chickweek extract with water. They are both known in herbal medicine to help with skin irritations, so I'll give it a try. If anyone is interested, the actual recipe is 1 TB Hylands Calendula spray and 1 tsp chickweek extract to 2 cups water. Both of my birds HATE HATE HATE being sprayed. I see the latest Good Bird magazine has an article on teaching your bird to bathe. I'll have to see what they recommend. My picker has let some of her check feathers grow out, but has been chewing on her legs. I can't wait to get the new spray together and see if that helps at all.

Whoa, Benny, what is the medication for? When I was at the bird shop this week, the owner (and I) sort of concurred that my bird's problems are emotional (we'd discussed allergies, dry skin, etc.) My grey has always pulled too much down out. Even though some of her chest feathers are growing back in, there is still a lot of down in the bottom of her cage in the morning. Thinking its an emotional issue and I've tried everything under the sun, I thought I'd just have to live with a messed up bird for the next ?? years.

Thanks, I'll take all the karma I can get, we all can always use a hug!

Just thought I'd do an update with Fawkes! I've been running two humidifiers full blast in our sun room so the humidity is up. The plants are looking great! Fawkes has new feathers growing in on her chest and she's looking better. I've been feeding her red palm oil daily, added ground walnuts and crushed flax seed to her food, spray her with aloe (still a struggle). I've also been putting her in her cage when I need to leave the house, and take her to the African Grey for bird sitting when I go out of town and so far so good. I was told to take it easy on the aloe since it's supposed to be drying to the skin, which I heard the complete opposite here, so I'm not sure what's right anymore! But I can tell you that so far she's doing okay and the new feather growth is encouraging. I was also told to add a bit of kelp to her diet to maybe get her molting, which she hasn't seem to have done yet (she's 2-1/2). Thanks for all the advice!!

Hi Des, welcome to the Forum. I've been out of touch for a few days, out of town and such. Boy, I'm shocked that anyone would sell a bird that young! I'm sure the pros here will have lots of good advice for you. Best of luck, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

The paint pan is a great idea, I'll go get one tomorrow. I've been trying to think of what would work well for the baths, the best I came up with is a dog bowl that has an edge for perching. I'll try the ice cube trick too. Thanks for the link to the article, its a GREAT article and just what I needed. I have two humidifiers in our sun room and I put them on full blast. I go through about 3 gallons of water a day! I had gone out for a couple of hours today and when I came back (I'd closed up the sun room) it was hot and so humid in there that the windows were dripping. It felt really good! I'm sure my plants are loving it out there too. Thanks again, that article has some pretty nice steps to take to get the birdies used to water.

Wow, more great ideas folks, I'll try them all until I find what works best for us. Flax seed oil: I'll read Sally Blanchard's article. I was using ground flax seeds and oil in the mash I make, didn't know about the walnuts. There's always so much different advice by different bird experts. I'm using red palm oil and was told by one expert to grind up brazil and/or macadamia nuts in the food, then someone else says brazils are bad. One said wheat germ oil is best, which I also put in the food. I'm so confused!

Hi Joanne, Yes, I've been taking her in the shower with me ever since I brought her home the first time. I have two shower perches, one for each grey. She loves coming in the shower with me as long as I don't get her wet--she sings and talks up a stream. I've tried diverting some mist her way with my hand and she screams and tries to get away; I'm afraid she may fall off the perch if I get too insistent.

Hey Joanne, I was wondering how Buddi was doing. The red palm oil experience has been interesting: when I first introduced to my birds they hated it. I sneaked small bits into their wet food (mash) and mixed it in. Eventually they started liking it. Since at least half of their food ends up on the floor I started putting a small dollop of the oil on the top of their food. They'd eat the oil first, then later go back and eat the wet food. Then this morning I put their wet food in their bowls first, and went back to the pantry to grab the oil. Both birds started protesting that I'd given them food without the oil! They were so excited when they saw me coming back with the jar, which they recognize on sight. Anyway, I've been thinking about your post while dicing up some peppers (we're getting plowed with snow today and I'm making green chili). I do have one child, a 12 year old, who is really wonderful with the pets. The birds both like him and my husband. We don't have any cats. We do have an older yellow lab who is afraid of the birds and keeps her distance, except she does clean up their castoff food. My thought was that nothing could be happening to Fawkes when I'm not around. But, even if there is nothing going on, maybe the mere fact that she's out "on her own" when I'm gone makes her nervous. She may feel vulnerable and defenseless. SO, after all that, I think your cage idea is a really good one, that had never occurred to me before! I haven't been putting the birds in their cages because I feel bad about them being in there (yes, I feel bad when I'm at the zoo too). My dog has a kennel that she's hung out in since she was a puppy. She goes in there when she wants to get away from it all or to nap, and will actually whine if the door is closed and she can't get into it. But birds are different, they don't have that "den" mentality. But on the other hand, maybe she does feel safe in there since no one ever intrudes into that space. Next time I go out to the store or something, I'll put her in her cage and see if that helps. I'm not going any where today, I'm cocooning! Thanks Joanne!

I do leave a radio on when I'm gone, Smooth Jazz. She has toys and foraging toys too. Actually, the bathing is not a bad idea although I've noticed that she does not preen herself after I've sprayed her down which I find odd. I'm starting to suspect that she didn't learn how to properly preen herself.

Oh, yeah, hadn't thought of that. They do love cardboard!

Wow, I didn't think about that! It is an interesting idea and I have the equipment to do all of that. Maybe I can go one step further and video tape myself. The birds usually hang out in the kitchen when I leave the house, and that's where I keep my iMac. They're used to watching parrot videos on it with me, so that might be worth a shot too. Clever! Oh, my 12 year son thinks I should make a cardboard cutout of myself, hee hee.

Thanks Dave, again good and useful advice. My birds are not normally in their cages, only when they sleep at night. I'll have to maybe get them used to going in there for short times during the day and then go in with the spritzer. We'll start today!