birdhouse

Merry Christmas back at you, AnnaBella! Adorable. She's looking pretty greyt Heather. Is AnnaBella all healthy now?

You're right not to want to stress Barnaby any more than he already is from the long trip to be rehomed during all the Xmas activity. But I'm glad you got a welcome home pic of you beautiful new fid.

Nice pic & I couldn't agree more! Funny thing is, in a happy flock, we may have gone voluntarily, but sometimes I'm pretty sure we are the ones who become the pet... the servant... the comic relief...

I can't tell how long you've had your grey, but he may still be settling in. So he may not be ready to interact w/the flock. Just something about your Dad makes him that happy. At 8 yo, he's young but not a youngster. He's just apt to be more resistant to having his life so changed, even if it is for the better. He's also most likely learned to live a sedate life from his years of passive neglect. He may not know how to play w/his toys. He may not like those toys. He may just not be ready to accept them, yet. So you might try to start small. Maybe have Dad (because he trusts him) hand your fid a plastic straw or bottle cap instead of a treat. See how he reacts & if he's interested. Once he'll play w/it, maybe you can all start to find him little things to play with, too. Buttons, unwaxed paper cups, coffee filters, Popsicle sticks, clean natural birdsafe twigs, etc. This will give him something to keep him active & interacting w/other members of the flock. It may help to strengthen his trust, build some new bonds & recondition his activity level. And yes, avian vet bills are something of a sticker shock a lot of times. Even though your vet didn't seem to do much, there's a lot he can tell from an exam. If the bird's eyes, vent, nostrils are clear, his poop is distinctly white, green & clear w/the correct consistancy, if his plumage is good condition, etc, then there's no indication that the bird should be put thru more testing w/o specific cause. Trims are ususally extra money & aren't done unless requested or the vet feels a particular need. It's a very common problem. Some vets can't wait to spend tons of your money unnecessarily. Some just aren't very good. Unfortunately, you'll need to get to know each of them to figure out what type you're dealing with. Hopefully, this vet is going to prove to be a good one. Welcome to Grey parronting, Hassan. I'm sure you will have many, many more questions. We're pretty good listeners whenever members need to vent, too. By all means keep posting things like your fid's name, story, pictures, videos, etc. Oh, and Welcome to Grey Forums.

Worth the wait. lol She's a pretty little girl.

What did the vet say?

Another bird breed w/a lot of personality in a little package. It took a while to be able to handle mine. I think some of it's all that energy. There's just too much fun to be had!

They're my quick & easy go to, especially for Phenix who favors wood block/bead toys. The only thing is finding this type of swing. And you've got to be sure the fid doesn't lose the nut. Cause we all know how much they love to unscrew things.

Whenever you're trying to find out about possible product hazards, you can pull a Material Safety Data Sheet. Just google "msds whateverproduct". That will give you a semi-understandable list of possible health & handling concerns as required to be published by the government. http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=4021095 Doesn't look like there's anything scary about this one. Assuming this is fid related, I'd just apply it in another room to be safe & not let them eat it.

Wow, a month to get it? Hope it's worth the wait. I haven't read that particular book. Be interested to hear what you think of it. Who wrote it btw? It's terrific that there's more & more books available to help parronts now. Most recently I read "The Parrot Problem Solver" by Barbara Heidenreich. Thought it had some pretty good insights & I learned a few things.

I'm grateful to say that this is one problem I haven't had to deal with. Hopefully the vet will be able to get you in or at least give you advise until Monday. In the meantime, be sure to keep the strictest possible quarantine, especially under the circumstances & keep Barnaby warm & well hydrated. Here's a link that might give you some more info. http://www.avianweb.com/Prolapse.htm Please let us know how this works out. Good luck.

I use bird safe sisal & leather. Unless it was specifically stated, I don't know that I'd ever assume it was bird safe, though. I'm afraid of cotton because I saw first hand what happened w/a fid who got it wrapped into a claw joint. Something else I use a lot is zip ties. I got a ton of them for cheap somewhere & in fluorescent colors. I've found out they're really useful for toy making & to attach things in the cage. I also use my swings to make toys. These were meant to have the perch replaced. So the sides are metal rod that has a hooked top w/a nut at the bottom. I add things to the sides of the whole swing or just use one side to skewer together a hanging toy.

Bath time isn't fun here, either. I tried a number of spray bottles. I tried experimenting w/the bottle shape, size, color & spray. Finally found one that seems less offensive than the rest. I also realized that the rhythm seems to make a difference, here. Apparently long, slow, steady squeezes upset them less. I'm not sure why though. Sometimes it helps if my guys do the dishes w/me, first. I don't have a dishwasher & they take turns sitting on my shoulder, keeping me company. It's almost like they can't resist getting into everything, even the water. I'll set up a bottle before hand & then just pop the fid onto the edge of the dish strainer & go for it. On a really good day I may even get to put one on my wrist & under the aerator on the faucet. May not. Depends on the day & the alignment of the stars or something. Also have a green, plastic leaf shaped chip & dip set that I use as bathtubs. They're good sized but shallow & I cut a rubber sink mat for traction. I put them on plastic folding tables beside the fids' cages when they're out. Eventually, they'll come explore. Maybe they'll actually take a bath. Maybe they'll sit on the edge & wash like they do in the coop cups. Maybe not. Depends on the day & the alignment of the stars or something. The "bathtub" needs to be no more than a couple of inches deep for them to feel safe enough to climb in. BUT it needs to be big enough to fill w/enough water to keep the fid from flipping it over because that's the much preferred purpose!! It took a long time to find something that the fids couldn't dump out. I'll also take the water cup out & leave the tubs randomly on the floor of a cage while they're closed in. Someplace where it won't get pooped in. Then leave a toy floating in it & leave it to chance that they may bath. They may or they may not. Depends on the day & the alignment of the stars or something. I've spent years, been as creative as possible & I'm still trying. Most recently, I saw where someone very clever had created a fountain for his birds to bath in. It's basically a table fountain that he adapted to fit onto a homemade base that was big enough for the birds to bath in. He was even kind enough to post a "How To...". His birds really seemed to enjoy it, anyway. Think that's going to be my next project.

Please tell her I hope this is a very special Christmas for her. Sometimes, the best things can come from the worst. Send my best wishes for the New Year, too.

That sounds like so much fun! If any at all, you don't see many places w/more than a couple of cages set up around here, either. I don't know why I love looking at cages, too. Really too bad there aren't really big bird stores around here. Or maybe not. I spend enough on the fids as it is. But rooms & rooms full of toys... Yeah! Sounds wicked. Hope you have a great trip, Penny! Can't wait to hear all about what you found when you get back. ... and some more on that little teaser about "a special fid"

None of us at my house are anything close to perfect. In spite of all the very many years of practice dealing with the many idiosyncrasies of abused & rehab'd fids, ^%#! happens. Sometimes, it's even amusing. But I don't think there's any shame in admitting it. In fact, I hope it will serve as a cautionary tale whenever I share ...for anyone smart enough to learn from other people's mistakes. Hope your fid(s) & your parronting skills are as amazing as you think, Nancy. But when you get really get nailed, I hope you'll revisit your post.

You really can do both. There are some very nice looking cages out there. Some of them are even intelligently designed. lol One nice thing about GF is that you can get ideas & input about any cage you're considering just for the asking. Hopefully everyone can help you avoid all the mistakes we've all made along the way.

Happy early Christmas!

Only three blunders & everyone survived? I think you did pretty well for your first week. Sounds like Gracie thinks so, too. She sounds like she's got a really nice temperament. Intelligent & independent but potentially loving & forgiving. Could be you've got the perfect combination to work w/there. I'll look forward to your (hopefully illustrated) next update.

Hi Bendon. Welcome to GF & congratulations on your soon to be new fid. Very nice to see you trying to get so well prepared for your life together. It's true that most greys tend to be most happy in a stable environment. But "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." They're much too intelligent to be sentenced to relive Groundhog Day for 60-80 yrs. A well acclimated bird can benefit quite a lot from traveling w/a trusted parront, like Ray said. They can really thrive from the stimulus of being out in the world. You might get another different perspective if you follow some of the threads that dhorje has posted. Lots of beautiful photo's, too. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?193901-In-the-car. Taking your fid w/you for visits can be very doable. If the bird has the right temperament. But that's something that even being raised in a conducive environment can't predetermine. So by all means give it a try. Just be sensitive to your baby's needs & adapt if it turns out that (s)he's more the stay at home type. Very lucky that you have such a great support system to fall back on if need be.

This is actually a harder question than it appears to be. We want to protect our babies from everything. But we just can't. This is a perfect example of having to chose between two possible threats & there' isn't an easy answer.

I always hang a toy from the top. Sometimes I'll slide something like a teething ring half way up the boing. Our bells are at the bottom so they's always a little music. Those bells have a really nice sound & I enjoy them. Phenix loves to go down & shake it. I think he really likes the sound, too. Although I also think he's still trying to pull out the clapper. Too bad for him because they do actually seem bird proof. Yay!

Happy reBirthday Cricket. You're pretty lucky. But then, so is the rest of your flock.

I've looked into corner cages because I like the way they look & the space. But they do need to go into a corner & I just couldn't find a good place to put one. Every logical corner had a window, door, traffic problem or reason why some piece of furniture needs to be there. So I was going to go w/an octagonal cage, instead. But I lucked into a big dometop & changed the plan again. But I'm pretty happy w/how it worked out. If you look thru the "Show Us Your Cage" thread, someone has a big corner cage pictured. You might email to ask them how well they like theirs. Good luck!

Phenix loves to show off how well he whistles & was just having the best time. It was pure joy! He reworked the accompaniment to "Marshmallow World". Not anything like the original melody but still strangely musical. The crazy thing was, most of what he made up actually seemed like it fit where he put it! I don't think I'll ever forget it, even if I didn't get a video. But what a shame. It was a brilliant performance!