birdhouse

Super news!! Really enjoyed everything in the 'bucket, too! Although Phenix...? Not so much. He was behind me while I was watching the vids & I suddenly realized he'd gone very quiet. Given the look in his eyes & the posture, well let's just say I don't think he wants a new B&G for Xmas. lol

There just couldn't be any better fit. Congrats Dee!!

What a pretty picture! I've had a few HQ cages now. They've all been fine except the smaller one I have for my Quaker. That one just doesn't clean off as well. None of the big ones have been a disappointment at all, though. So hopefully, you'll continue to be happy w/this great deal for many years to come.

Congratulations! Both on Darwin & making it out the door this morning! You look like you're off to a greyt start. Music is a fine idea. Nothing really rockin & at a lowish volume. It will keep Darwin insulated a little from all the new sounds around him, too. So that might be a little extra comfort. Eye pinning happens whenever a parrot gets any kind of emotional... not just upset. So it is a very good thing to learn to watch. But you're going to need the body language & vocals to help decode the actual emotion. Hate to say this because Darwin has obvious taken to the quick links. But if they're not stainless or Nickel plated, you can't know if they contain any toxic metals like zinc or lead. And they may have an unhealthy clear coat epoxy as well. So maybe you could replace the pretty chain w/a safer one because they do tend to be greyt fun. They really seem to love to rattle & unscrew them.

I feel for both of you. Keeping good thoughts. Hope it's pain-free & all good news!!

Sounds like a good time for lots of diy confetti! Not that most fids would ever say there's a bad time. lol Happy Hatchday Jasper & Tico!

They really act like they scare themselves when they take these giant steps. Then maybe we complicate the aftershock because our energy can't help but change. Doesn't matter that it's happy, hopeful or whatever. It's different & that's a trigger. I think these types of fids are already programmed to react aggressively when they're not fully comfortable. So the combination causes a backlash after those oh so wonderfully momentous break throughs. So good though that Gilbert took out all that aggression on something "constructive" so to speak. Super great progress!! And I really respect how well you roll w/it because it can feel borderline abusive, living w/this Jeckyl & Hyde thing. It was one of the highest hurdles I had to cross because I didn't have anyone to warn me or explain it. You & Gilbert are so lucky that you have resources to draw from. But it doesn't change the fact that so much of this story is about you having been so patient, generous & loving. You've earned these glorious highs, Dee. Just like you've earned the relationship you'll eventually have w/the amazing fid Gilbert will eventually become. "Happily ever after" doesn't happen nearly often enough. But I'm more encouraged all the time that it will happen for the two of you. Not just because you would be happy w/whatever Gilbert can manage. But because you two "have come a long way, baby" & there's just no end in sight!

Totally Organics is a pretty small outfit, I think. I get my TOP Pellets from My Safe Bird Store. Think I saw where they do ship internationally. But I have no idea how expensive that will be. Shipping's bad enough in the states. So I always try to take advantage of free shipping promotions. :cool: Did you find this phone number & distributor list for Harrison's? http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/buy/index.html I would like to think those aren't the only organic bird foods in the world. So maybe you'll find other good things in the pet shops once you get there. Just a thought... You could also start reading up on well balanced chop & mashes so you don't have to depend on anybody's distribution limits from now on.

HoHoHo!!! Looking forward to some very fun pics!

I think Gus is so lucky to have finally found his way home! Love the way that spare cage & stand were right there waiting for him. lol He looks like such a sweetie. I can't wait to start reading about your adventures! I hope for everyone's sake that Gus can get past his fear of sticks though. It's one of the things Phenix never got over even a little. I've never been able to find any way to make it any easier, either. Phenix perches have to be cleaned in place because they can't come out & be returned to the exact position w/o him getting really upset. He'll have the shakes for a couple of days then it will be a week or so before he's back to normal. It's at least a month long process whenever he actually needs to have a swing or perch replaced. Usually longer. It makes me so sad every time Phenix has to go thru it. So I really hope you won't have to w/Gus.

Hope Gus turns out to be your "easy" bird. He certainly does look kinda irresistible. Congratulations!! (I think)

It's a good idea to use droppings to help judge health. But the appearance of healthy droppings do change kind of a lot depending on what a fid eats & drinks. Some things, like fruit can show up immediately. Different pellets can cause different colored stool from the different dyes, for instance. Things can also affect the stool for a while before they're fully out of a fid's system. Since a healthy metabolism can have a lot of variation in stool color & consistency, it might be best to use w/other health indicators. Unless of course there's some obvious flag, such as extreme or prolonged diarrhea or blood which should be addressed immediately. This one's not bad. The green part could be a little more of a "pile" &/or slightly fatter tubes. But not necessarily & overall it's a pretty healthy mix of green, white'ish & clear. It kind of looks to me like it splattered a little, like dropped during flight or from a good height. The fid may also have just been eating fruit or drinking a bit more.

It's too bad he snuck up on you. You may have lost out on an opportunity there. I don't know if this will work for you. But it does for me. The first thing I always do is laugh. Parrots "get" laughing. Meanwhile I'm barely moving far enough to be just barely out of biting range. You know I know exactly where that is for everyone For however long they continue to posture, I just stand right there & cheerfully tell them some of the many reasons why they're being silly. After a minute or two they'll usually either give ground or get it out of their system & start to power down. No matter which way it goes, I always walk away. (See, dummy...? All that over nothing.) Disclaimer, nothing normal works w/Phenix. He'll just go into a blind rage eventually. I have a feeling this is partly a trust issue, which is probably why it doesn't work w/him. Sad to think he can't truly trust after all this time. But it is what it is & most days I'm crazy enough to love him anyway. But I think there's a fine line between being sensitive to a fid's trust & control issues & being bullied. Once they learn how, fids can be such awful bullies! So this exercise is about standing my ground w/o any dominance or threat & eventually getting the fid to realize it's completely pointless to automatically go for me just because I'm there. Seems like clearing that hurdle has earned me enough trust & respect to start building a much more solid relationship from then on.

I think you have super instincts. Hard as it may be to be a newbie who's going against a potentially knowledgeable breeder, I think you should go w/your gut. Trust is huge in your relationship w/your grey. And trust has to be earned. So letting Zeke come to you is a greyt start. Unfortunately, if the breeder has been treating him like that, he's apt to take a little longer to come around. So don't get discouraged in the meantime. And if you have questions about different episodes along the way, don't hesitate to post them. There are a lot of members here that can help & we're pretty good at moral support, too. :cool:

:D…as “relayed” by the British comedian John Cleese :D To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: ----------------------- 1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary'). ----------------------- 2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' ----------------------- 3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. ----------------------- 4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse. ---------------------- 5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. ---------------------- 6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. ----------------------- 7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it. ----------------------- 8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. ----------------------- 9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion. ----------------------- 10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater. ----------------------- 11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). ----------------------- 12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries. ----------------------- 13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad. ----------------------- 14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). ----------------------- 15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season. God Save the Queen!

Poor guy! If Figaro was all that evolved he'd know how to holler for one of his minions to come running so he could continue to fling the pebble repeatedly until, having tired of it, moving on to biting the aforementioned minion into appropriate flattery, myriad apologies & a treat or two. But alas, most birds can only aspire to be greyt.

Hosing lets water inside the tubes & the cage rusts from the inside out. I think steam cleaning is easier & arguably sanitizes better anyway. I started out w/a little handheld something. Can't remember the brand. But I found so many uses for the thing once I had one, that I got a full sized DeLonghi machine & have no regrets except I still had to get a separate steamer for the carpets.

Wild birds drink stagnant water & forage off the ground all the time. That builds their tolerance for the bacteria & molds that grow on fallen food sources. Unfortunately, there's no residual tolerance for chemicals. Pet birds don't have the same opportunity to build up their immune system because we actually go out of our way to keep them in as "sterile" an environment as possible. I don't know how great the odds are that Oliver would actually develop a problem from the little contact you said he got. But you could probably do worse than to watch him a little extra carefully & err on the side of caution if he does present any symptoms or changes. Now that you have a particular reason to pay attention, you'll probably find "a lot" of imported foods around the yard. The squirrels & birds are always carrying things around. Squirrels bury nuts in my yard all the time. But it seems like I'm forever taking nasty things that the birds dropped away from the dogs.

Alive & well. Power & Communications are a little gimpy. But for the most part so much better than it might have been. Especially considering that some of the projected paths had Sandy making landfall right here. The sustaining winds were a little lower & we got less rain than we might. That combination made a big, big difference. Tidal surge has & will be a problem. But we're built to take much of what we got. Many less pics on the news services than MA/RI had any reason to hope. All & all we were very lucky & we're very grateful. My heart goes out to all the rest of the people in the harder hit areas because I know how tough things are & will continue to be. Lots of people will be fantasizing about hot showers, warm food & cold drinks for a little while. I hope it won't be too very long before things start to improve for everyone, though.

Really stinks how some fids take all the fun out of getting a bright shiny new cage. Phenix is the worst. Instead of going to the highest spot like most birds, he sits on his food cup. He's a practical old bird. He may not move around the cage for as much as a month. Even after I've set up the new one in front of him & left it for him to interact w/for weeks ahead of time. Eating is too important. Certainly don't want Bubba to start losing weight. I'd move his cups & not have to worry about it. Our stress only adds to theirs. If he's alarmed by his new place, I'd definitely not want to stress him any further. If there's any reason to think there may be something about the new perches, then I'd wash/remove/rearrange them. Ditto any new toys. I always try to move at least a couple of unwashed perches from the old cage. My other birds tend to gravitate to them, initially. I think the scent is familiar & comforting so it may help the transition. But I suppose it's too late for that even if they'd fit...? To me, there's nothing to be gained by moving Bubba again except possibly more stress. If it's just the new cage, he will get used to it in time. So if it were me, I'd wait him out & try hard to go along as if everything was normal normal so as not to add to his problem. Sorry this isn't going according to plan. But it will be worth it once Bubba's settled into his soon-to-be awesome new digs.

This type of thing is more than important enough to keep repeating. Good to give everyone more chances to see it. But not so good if a majority of people never see the posts. I also posted this about a month ago http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?196951-Zupreem-pellet-recall-9-29-12&p=269034#post269034 ...and Jocelyn posted it the next day http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?196953-Zupreme-Recall Which kind of makes me want to ask again about making one place where everyone knows they can check regularly. Does anyone else think it would be worthwhile to set up a bulletin board dedicated to important info like recalls?

Whatever a handicapped critter lacks physically, they often make up for in personality. You may well find that Emmy's a very special girl indeed. Emmy will need to get around by using her beak, for the most part. But you'll probably be amazed at how well she can once you figure out how to work w/that. Since she can't grip w/her feet, she'll need stable perching other than branches & dowels. Ladders should definitely help. You might do well to incorporate a few platforms throughout her cage at various levels, too. http://www.perchfactory.com/bird_cage_perches/platform_shelf_corner_perches.htm It makes sense to me that she'd have learned to sleep on her back like that since she can't grip a roost. It must be a particular challenge when she sleeps. I don't know too many greys who use a Cozy Hut to sleep. But she might be a good candidate. Cardboard is ok for the floor of the cage. Avoid anything that's glued, though. Much of the glue now contains zinc which is toxic to birds. If I understand what you're refering to as poster board, it's made of "unidentified stuff" that could have its own problems. You'll need to be aware that whatever you use is likely to get eaten. So I think I'd avoid it. A good enough thickness of newspaper to support her should work. She doesn't weigh much. So it won't need to be too thick. But it's easily replaced when soiled & ok for her to eat. You might start having friends save their newspapers for you because you're about to start going thru a bunch, anyway. I've also found a couple of stores that let me have their out of date issues because they don't have to send them back to the distributor for credit. Maybe you'll be able to find some, too. Or you can use cloth; sheet, towels, etc. These can be washed & reused as needed. And given they're stationed at the bottom of a bird cage, that will be pretty often. If the cage design will allow, you might just remove the grate entirely. If there's going to be an escapable gap, then you might find some type of plastic tray that fits. Some pet stores sell plastic replacements for cage trays, for instance. You might also put shavings at the bottom to help cushion any bad landings. Avoid cedar shavings if you do though. Other than that, you might have a piece of Plexiglas cut to fit.

I don't want to take away from the greyt bonding time w/Gryph. I know you guys have been thru a bumpy patch & I'm glad to hear you're back together, so to speak. But that isn't probably the best way to get quality time. lol Maybe it would be a good idea to rearrange the cage to give Gryphon a secure roost before something more dramatic happens. Something high w/many branches or maybe a platform? http://www.perchfactory.com/bird_cage_perches/platform_shelf_corner_perches.htm Kura used to fall off her perches at night. I got a couple of big pieces of dragonwood(?) w/several branches. She likes to sleep nestled in the crook of its super deep bends. Gives her more secure perching & a comforting sort of "hide away". Glad to say, we haven't had anymore drama.

Phenix doesn't really bother to fly much. Then all of a sudden he'll just take off & surprise the heck out of everyone. Difference being he can fly at will & just chooses to be toted about by his willing slaves. I also think he enjoys the shock factor when he suddenly goes airborne after long stretches staying grounded. Gilbert on the other hand... WOW! Very encouraging! He's been racking up such greyt points lately. Wouldn't it be awesome if he started to log some flight time too.!?! Fingers crossed! I know how happy that would make you, Dee!

Phenix isn't & never has been any kind of plucker. Around his cage looks just like that at different times during the year. At some point during a molt he goes into a kind of preening overdrive. Seems like every time I look he's grooming. He also tends to sneeze semi-often while he's doing it. I'd like to say the feathers tickle his nose. But it's more likely dander. Particularly during the colder months when I'm reluctant to bathe him as often. My Quaker, Charm isn't far behind. Between them both the cage area really does look like there's been a massacre at times. None of that used to bother me. I used to know that's just normal for them. Now w/all the reading about other fid's problems, I find I'm telling myself "It's ok. It's O-K!" until it passes. Ignorance really is bliss sometimes. btw your new window seat play gym is the bomb!!