birdhouse

Greyt news! Congrats!!

If good wishes count for anything, this is a done deal. Now if only good wishes could eliminate the red tape, but... Glad you posted an update w/such a positive report & happy pictures. Happy 2nd Anniversary & many, many more! :cool:

But I do think there's an underlying misconception & it's a very valuable part of the discussion about this issue. At some level it's just very hard to embrace the idea that things can go so horribly wrong if we're doing everything right. I admit there are times when I feel sure this is all my fault & I turn all that mental anguish & negative emotion inward. "Shoulda, woulda, coulda ... five years & counting... really...?!?" Just beating myself up until I get it out of my system, I guess. When I'm in my right mind (or whatever's left of it) I do know it's unjustified & counterproductive. But some days it doesn't take much & I cannot keep from falling into that dark place. I can't really expect everyone to understand. Some people may get it & some people won't; like anything else. It's another intrinsically painful part of the whole experience. Every day w/a semi-nude fid is an open wound. Please be very gentle.

Since I read this, I've tried very hard to forget it. But I can't & it literally makes a twisting stab in my gut every time it floats thru my head. Saying, "I won't tolerate it.", is basically saying this hugely heartbreaking & complex problem is all about simple force of will. Any good owner would simply not allow their pet to suffer this problem. No one can forbid their bird to pluck anymore than they could forbid them to develop cancer. Owners can provide the very best diet, exercise, healthy environment, love & support. It does not matter. These types of heart breaking problems can & often do occur, thru no failure on the part of their people.

Phenix makes up words. He's got a short list of, to me, nonsense vocabulary that he also tends to use w/great conviction. But they are real words or phrases to him because I recognize him saying the exact same combination of syllables & some of them have been around for a long time. Also, he experiments sometimes. When we first found out that we did not have a little grey girl, we of course started using male gender pronouns etc. Phenix started to change the words he used pretty quickly. But also clearly referred to himself as a "birl" for quite a while.

I've felt like that w/Kura. Some days I think it's a kind of psychological defense. It's either get mad or just break down & cry. Other times, I'd have to agree w/you. She's so much smarter than this. How can she be wrecking herself like that!? Why can't I get her to stop? Arghhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took years of trial & error to pretty much guess Kura's problem is hormones. 5 years, or I should say winters, of this cycle of destruction. Yep, there was some resentment along w/tears, frustration, pretty much the gambit of emotions. Ultimately, I've come to accept that I'm going to do the very best I can to find the magic combination. But in the meantime, I just have to understand that it's a process of trail & error which takes time. Whether I like it or not! Isaac certainly has come a long way! Hopefully, this was a perfect storm that has passed. Feed him some extra protein (scrambled eggs, meat, fish, yogurt), get him out in the sun & get him as much humidity as you possibly can. He'll be looking better than ever pretty soon. Then you can both stop obsessing about his feathers & go back to goofing around.

He did awesome!! Triple points for doing it in front of the camera too because that will spook a lot of greys. Loved the way you could see him processing the other birds & the cool bird room. But even though he was not at ease, he didn't seem afraid, either. Fabulous first day. So happy for you guys.

Phenix was reinvented here 25 yrs ago. His eyes were always very pale. So he was a mature adult when he came home. Best guess is he was banded at one of the smaller quarantine stations. I've never been able to trace the numbers. He looked ancient when he arrived. He had been abused. He was sick & malnourished. If there's no guessing a grey's age then it was even more true of Phenix under the circumstances. He had no name & no history. All he had was a bright new future, even though it took us both a while before we figured it out. Whenever I see wild vids I'm so conflicted. The joy to see hundreds of these magnificent birds living wild & free vs my fear for them & the guilt that our birds, even the well treated live such a comparably restricted life ...for better or worse. I cry every time I see capture footage. Even before I put Phenix in every frame, I couldn't watch it. I'm so very glad that you'll be taking Peck into your flock. Now especially since you've got the sanctuary plans. But even w/o that, he couldn't have gotten a more caring & nurturing environment to thrive in. I am really looking forward to Peck's story from here on. And I am very obviously not alone there!!

Peck's going to get a beautiful new female grey companion. If Megan doesn't give him a reason to get his birdiness back, nothing will. Especially if she decides to give him a run for his money. lol I've always been a little afraid to play wild grey vids for Phenix. He had so much trouble adjusting to captivity that I was worried it might remind him of being free. No way to know, either way.

^^^ I can imagine how your heart might skip a beat the first time seeing all those beautiful white feathers covered in RPO! Someday I hope you'll post a messy face pic, though. Gee Dee, if your local store is stocking RPO, the toy & pine nut budget just got a bi-i-ig bump! I've been buying it online for less than that. But this was still such a good price I was afraid something would disqualify it for the fids. Let alone the convenience of adding it to any milk & bread run. The one thing I did notice this morning is that the shelf life is only 1 yr. My jar only has a couple of months left before the give up date. Usually I'm better about checking those types of things. But I was so excited I guess I forgot. So I guess I'm actually going to be testing some of those things I've thought about using RPO for human consumption. Maybe even the dog. It's supposed to be good stuff for everyone, from what I've read.

Way t'go Wunsy!! We all know how feisty a grey can be. I'm really glad she & her parront didn't apparently get hurt, though.

Too bad Miss G doesn't like the yogurt. Glad you did, though. Me, too. I'm about as addicted at the moment as the fids. About Miss G raising havoc in the dining room... If it helps, I use a sheer curtain for keeping the fids out of the kitchen while I'm cooking cuz I've always been a little paranoid about that. I've got it on a push rod for shower curtains so I can take it down at will. But usually I just leave the curtain off to the side when it's not needed & I hardly realize it's there. I've got an open floor plan. Whenever I need a particular room "secured" for whatever reason, I just rig up a sheer & the birds are conditioned not to bother heading in that direction. So if you aren't really attached to the vision of those lovely french doors, maybe the curtain trick could work for you, too.

Awesome!!!! She's finally got the feathers, strength & courage to soar! ..& now the real fun begins!!! :eek: lol

Just got a chance to do a little more poking around Nutiva's website & found a $2 off coupon if anyone wants it. http://nutiva.com/instorecoupon/

I was kind of in a hurry when I first got home. So before I put the jar away, I unceremoniously scraped a chunk off onto the edge of everyone's dish. When I walked back into the room a few minutes later, I was greeted by a bunch of messy, orange faces. My guys are really good eaters. Although it took years for Phenix to come around. Now he & everyone else *usually* tuck into 97% of whatever's in their dish & they've had RPO both ways before. Just not this particular kind. But it looks like it gets Dr. Flock's & everyone else's seal of approval. So I'm a moderately happy camper. ")

Almost time!! Very happy for both of you & hopefully Miss M, too. Phenix makes some of those jungle parrot sounds. Although early on, after he finally opened up, he made a lot more. Once he learned to talk human, he starting making a lot less wild calls & whistles. But he still does whenever the spirit moves him & I enjoy listening too.

Haha! But, admit it. Wasn't it worth it?

Love that picture! So nice when everyone can enjoy bath time!

Not sure if this is news to anyone else. But I was pleasantly surprised to find what looked to me like a good Red Palm Oil at Stop & Shop in MA just now. Found Nutiva RPO in the organic food aisle. 15 oz. jar, normally $7.49 on sale for $6.49. No tax - for us anyway. Says it's 100% organic, habitat friendly, vegan, etc. Sounded like all the right stuff. Or am I missing something...? https://store.nutiva.com/red-palm-oil/?gclid=CKyYjpy31L0CFewDOgodshcA2w

Oh wow! How great is that! Sounds perfect!! Granite window sills & all. lol Good luck w/everything.

I have to admit that I've never tried to harness train my guys for various reasons. But what came to the back of my mind while I was reading the post was, take a break before this gets ruined for Bailey. It just doesn't sound like the right time & it would be a shame for this to be anything but fun & positive excitement for him. Good luck!

She looks so-o sweet in that pic. Who'd ever suspect there was such a ragin Cajun behind such an adorable little face?! Thought I'd share our latest addiction as a potential replacement since you said you were a little leery about the oatmeal feeding. Liberte coconut yogurt. Absolutely everyone in the house is full on crazy for this stuff for about the last month. 5 out of 5 stars, as compared to the Simply Limeade which got 6 out of 5 stars. lol Still haven't seen anything have quite that effect! But this is running a pretty close a second.

Way back when Phenix was recovering, Tufts had me feeding him a smoothie of beef baby food, plain active culture yogurt, broccoli, cantaloupe & baby rice cereal. But Dee pointed out that now they're adding so much iron to the cereal it might add to the problems. So maybe quinoa would be better. Any way, Phenix loved loved loved the stuff. Thought maybe I'd pass that on if you wanted to try it for Gus (or anyone) in between formula days? Kinda huge day for Gus & Lilly. Maybe she's finally coming out the other side of all the stuff she's been dealing with. It really was a lot of stuff, even w/o the hormones. But they're so beautiful together how can anyone help but want to see them end up happily ever after? Fingers crossed!

Oh yes, avian everything has come a long way in the 30(?) yrs since I brought Theo home from Woolworths. But Theo would have been considered an extreme situation even now & let's just say options were a lot more limited back in the Dark Ages. Cockatiels were still a semi-exotic novelty back then. So all of their babies were privately adopted either by people I knew or trusted reference. I got to "keep in touch" w/most of them & they tended to inherit their father's longevity & a fair number of their daughters for some reason got their mother's fiery temperament. Some of Theo's daughters also tended to laying infertile eggs but on a much smaller scale, thank goodness. One of the owners eventually though he'd like to have a pair & "see where it goes". Long story short, thru no fault of his or how things were handled, the female rejected the male & actually killed him. So I didn't mean to suggest that breeding your girl might be a good idea. Now that you've said she's already bonded, especially. I'd really only meant to share the flashbacks that all the excitement w/Kura dredged up. A little catharsis as it were, because it makes me a bit uneasy to even think deja vu could happen all over again. I like Greywings' idea of an Easter egg so much better. Just one last little bit of excitement before those foolish hormones are finally over with for this year.

So glad to hear that everything's getting back on track!! Issac will probably be pretty much back to his handsome self by the end of the month. As much as I hate it, Kura clobbers her feathers every winter (hormones ) & grows them all back in the spring. It is amazing how fast they come back once they start to leave them alone.