mkasper

Wow, Terri that sounds like great progress. I bought one for Ned but like the typical impatient male I didn't bother watching the DVD before I attempted to put it on him. I managed to get it on him but he was NOT HAPPY. :blush: Now, after watching the DVD I'm trying to get him to slowly warm back up to just being near it. I hope I didn't ruin him forever from wearing it. I think if I go slow I can get him to try it again someday (hopefully). I've always been hard-headed about reading the instructions *FIRST* and this time I really wish I would have.... /mike

I removed Ned's myself and it wasn't too hard but I work with hand tools all day at work as a mechanic. I'd recommend the vet approach to anyone else. I think Ned's happier without it - I know I am. I'm saving it though as it has the breeders number on it for Ned. /mike

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the tips. I have some red palm oil in a little bottle I bought at the bird store but I only tried to put a few drops on some pellet food for him once. He gets fruit and veggies everyday as part of his normal diet. I'm going to knock off the salt for him until I can get to a health food store or someplace where I can get salt-free crackers and popcorn. Thanks to everyone again for such quick replies! Have a safe and very Happy New Year! /Mike & Ned

Thanks for the warm welcome from everyone - Bruce and Birdman - great to hear from you guys. Heck flying outside in unknown territory at 32 degrees can't be half as dangerous as commercial fishing in Alaska! You've got my sincere respect, Bruce. Ned is just doing fine and showing no worse for the adventure, just singing up a storm and throwing his food all over as usual. He seems very happy and life is good. Happy New Year to you all! /Mike

I haven't read every post in the 'Bird Food' section although I searched a bit so I apologize in advance if this has been covered - Has anyone found a good cracker-type snack for their greys that do not contain ANY salt? The reason I stress any is because the other day I was at the store and I read every box in the cracker section and the best I could find was 'low salt' or 'low sodium'. Ned loves corn chips and when I'm eating them I'll give him a couple. I try to rub the salt off of them with my fingers but I'm sure that's not real effective. He mostly chews them up and drops pieces all over the floor as is his way when snacking, but I've often worried if giving him more than 2 or 3 of those is harmful... Same with microwave popcorn. He loves to tear it up and throw it around and I don't think he hardly eats much of it at all but he sure looks funny with the bits of popcorn all over the outside of his beak! How about rice cakes? Anyone found anything good with no salt? Are a couple of corn chips too much? Then there is the fat to consider too since they are all fried. I always buy the 'generic' restaurant-style corn chips like you get at a Mexican restaurant but I'm sure they still have PLENTY of salt. TIA and everyone have a great and safe NEW YEAR! /Mike

Kibibi - your web site is GREAT!! Glad you liked the story. I wouldn't even know if I'd believe it if Ned wasn't home here and warm and dry. It's snowing even more tonight! Glad he's OK... :ohmy: /Mike

Thanks, Melissa I just posted links from photobucket. /Mike

Same here! Everyone is really nice and helpful on this site! /Mike

Thank you Melissa, I'll do that. /Mike

I'll have to figure out the photo uploading deal later.. /Mike

Here's my one year old CAG, Ned. His full name is Nedward Norton. I almost lost him, I posted a long story about it in the main AG forum area. He's such a great bird, I'm lucky to be owned by him. /Mike

Here's a picture of my one year old CAG, NED. I just posted my hair raising adventure of almost losing him in the AG general thread area. Here are some pictures, thanks to the moderators (TalonSis Melissa) for getting me on track to send these links: Post edited by: mkasper, at: 2007/12/28 04:37<br><br>Post edited by: TalonSis, at: 2008/01/26 16:29

Hi everyone, this is my first real post after an brief one in the introduction area. I just had a very scary incident with my 1 year old Congo Grey 'Ned'. I live in the Columbia River gorge area of SW Washington. Yesterday afternoon it started snowing a bit and I went outside to sweep snow off my satellite dish that I use for internet communication. Ned was riding on my shoulder as we often do. Like an idiot I raised the hand brush to start sweeping (the dish is about head height) and spooked Ned. He took off towards my rear and when I turned around - no Ned. Nowhere. Now I should back up and say what when I first got Ned back on Feb. 27th, the breeders I bought him from had all 7 of his flight feathers cut back "severely" to paraphrase my vet's reaction when she first did a checkup with Ned. So I have been letting them grow, and so far he only has 2 or 3 of the main flight feathers in place out closest to the tips of his wings. He flies a bit, but it's usually just a bit of a glide for 20 maybe 30 feet and then he's down. In fact since his cut was so severe, he broke several tail feathers by not being able to control his landings very well, but they are coming back pretty well luckily. Back on topic, I couldn't find Ned and it was almost 4:30 pm and starting to get dark. I searched for a couple of hours everywhere I could figure he might go, and it was snowing more and now dark. I couldn't find him. It was 32 degrees outside all night. I was just sick. I called off the search around 9. I have a big place on almost 32 acres and it's pretty heavily forested so there was NO TELLING where he made off to. Being scared when he is alone like this outside, he wouldn't utter a peep to give me a clue where he might be. I called and whistled some of our favorite 'tunes' and I didn't hear anything. He was in defense mode no doubt. This morning I called into work and said I wouldn't be coming as I had to go out at dawn and continue the search. I searched for another couple of hours. I finally came in just devastated, heart broke thinking he probably didn't survive the extreme cold which he is in no way acclimatized to. He's strictly (almost) an indoor bird and used to indoor ambient temps. About 11 am I made one last sweep, starting at the satellite dish and trying to visualize where I would have headed off to if I were him taking flight in that direction. I crossed the yard again looking under all the snow covered trees and shrubs thinking he'd most likely be under something like that. It snowed quite a bit more in the morning and we have about 4-5 inches by now. I looked up across my dirt driveway and across a field fence into my blackberry infested 'pasture' area across - and THERE WAS NED up perched about 10' high on a very spindly maple limb only about 1/2" in diameter!!! I could hardly believe my luck!!!! I started talking to him and he gave out a peep or two and a very abbreviated whistle while I ran around the end of the fence and started negotiating my way through the brush and berries. He's now safe back in his cage, where it's warm and he's resting and eating. He seems pretty much OK but I notice he makes a tiny little sound while eating that I'd never heard before. Hard to describe, not a whistle. I think he's ok. I'm SO lucky!! He was outside in 32 degree weather, snow, etc for about 18 hours near as I can figure. I called my breeder and he just said to pay close attention to him for the next few days to make sure he doesn't come down with anything, and to watch for any discharge from his nose, etc. I'm sorry for this very long post, but I have to tell other grey lovers who might be as naive as I was - NEVER UNDERESTIMATE your birds ability to fly once his clipped wings start coming back!! I almost learned the hard way, as it is I think the whole deal took another 2 years off my life but I'm so lucky and glad Ned is back!! Our home is whole again. Even the cats were moping around this morning without Ned in the house! If anyone else who manages to get this far has any other tips or pointers for what I should be looking for or looking out for re: Ned's health, I'd love to hear it. Thank you all for being patient. I'm just so grateful I found my pet. Last night I barely slept. I was just sick. I'm so lucky! It will never happen again to me!! Happy holidays to all! I'll post some pics as soon as I figure out how. /Mike

Hello everyone, I just found this site and wanted to say hello. I have a CAG that I bought as a baby just after he had been weaned off hand feeding. His name is Ned. He's a great bird. I got him on February 27th this year, so I haven't even had him a year yet. His hatch birthday was October 7th. I just turned 55 and I am a pipeline maintenance technician. I just had a very scary, hair raising adventure with Ned and I think he's OK. I'll post that to another area on the forums. Suffice to say I'm still lucky to have Ned. Season's greetings to all on this site! It's a very nice BB system and the look and feel is really nice.. /Mike