birdhouse

^^^ Then it was worth a little teasing from Dave. lol Yes it takes very little to go from mash to mush. The tiniest bit more & I had a collard greens smoothie

Glad things are going so well. Hope you'll keep the updates & pics coming.

Would you have ever suspected the day would come when you'd be so pleased to see your investments utterly destroyed? Life w/a fid puts a whole new spin on so many things. Ain't it greyt!!

LOL This is just classic!!

Congratualations. This looks like a very exciting Xmas gift for you both. Good luck. What a beautiful looking guy! Looking forward to reading the Barnaby Chronicles.

Nice to hear from you, Paul. Great to hear you & Missy sound like you're happy. Although you didn't mention anything about Missy w/Kate or Ella Rose...? Missy sounds like Phenix when I started w/him. Acted like he thought I was trying to poison him w/anything that wasn't seed. Same angry type reactions. It took him a long time to come around. The saying never would have been "Stubborn as a mule." if more people lived w/a grey. lol But Phenix & I didn't have a forum full of ideas, either. Hopefully, Missy will be a lot easier. Have you tried the social eating experiments? Maybe Missy will take a different attitude if new food were offered from a cup, plate or spoon. It turned out Phenix gets a big kick out of drinking from a cup & it finally got him to try some things. It does sound like she's got a feisty streak. But that may actually be a good thing. She seems to be a very resilient little girl. She could have ended up afraid of a lot more than boxes after her adventures. As great as this transition seems to have been she is probably still settling in. Hopefully some of the biting is because of it. With all your greyt work, she'll get even better (about most things). But I'm really glad that overall, it sounds like you found yourself such a little peach & you're doing so well.

It's not just a grey thing. A few of my birds have liked it. My ekkie loves it. In fact, she doesn't like scritches much at all. But she'll close her eyes & zone out while you rub her beak until it looks like polished ebony.

Phenix will grab hold of something & close his eyes to ask me to rub his head & neck, too. I don't know why, exactly. But I've come to think it's his way of saying, "Ple-e-ease? Pomise not to bite you. See...?" lol He also likes to have his beak rubbed like that. I'd think their beaks may be pretty sensitive, considering they use them to explore everything. Even if they aren't skin, I kind of wonder if they have something like the sensitivity of our finger tips. But I've never seen anything on it, one way or the other.

Geat story! It's got it all... love, romance, originality & even a fid. And I think you may have picked a pretty good date, too. I'll be thinking of you on my birthday. Best wishes.

Ho, ho ho! Very cute, Sunny. Merry Christmas to you too and to your flock.

Yup, they certainly keep things interesting! This is a new wrinkle I've never seen or even heard before. Gemma has me really puzzling over this. I hope you post if you figure it out because I'd love to know why she does it.

I went thru the same thing while I was switching cages for Kura. 3 cages ago, she had a great cage, although I wanted to eventually get her into a giant cage. Well, she forced the issue when she started to eat out of the poop tray & got sick. But I still couldn't find a giant cage that I could afford. I found another cage that was about the same difference as the 2 you're comparing. The difference in the 2 cages may be 2"x2"x4". But it's also the difference between 25,344 cubic inches and 32,640 cubic inches (if the cages were rectangular instead of dome topped). So that little difference does make a noticeable difference overall. I was surprised how much it showed once it was set up. So if you were choosing between them originally, I'd say that little difference was very worth some extra investment. But, I don't know that I'd think it was $350 worth under these circumstances. Simon's ok where he is. So you've got the time to look for the best bang for the buck. If it were me, I'd wait until I found it, even though this cage may be a good buy. I know other members have posted about finding reasonably priced cages in Canada. You might be able to get them to share what they eventually worked out. Also, I've had very good luck w/Craigslist as well as Ebay.

Tia's had a lot of moving & shaking to deal with lately, but she seems to have been progressing inspite of it all. Sounds like she might be afraid of one or all of the Xmas decorations. Which really isn't very surprising. The older the grey, the less willing they often are to accept new things & change. And rehomed fids do have baggage. Since he seems to be the one she's most trusting of, you might have your hubby introduce Tia to all the new things. See if she's particularly skittish around anything. Watch to see if she's always watching in a particular direction. Maybe give her a little longer to acclimate. Just try to be super supportive, like you were when she first came home. Now that she's got a relationship w/Joker, let her see that he doesn't think this is all such a big deal. She may take some comfort from it. But if she continues to look like she's stressing, you may want to consider working out a different arrangement. Meanwhile, try not to stress too much about this hiccup because Tia will pick up on it & it will add to hers. Set backs happen. They don't have to be insurmountable & they can be very good learning experiences. Ultimately, they can become good bonding experiences because you learn better communication & how to foster trust in some uncomfortable situations.

Thanks for sharing your vid of Sunny & welcome to the forum chronz. Look forward to getting to hear more about you & your fid.

Great news! Congratulations on the new digs. I think every birdie playroom should have a huge cargo net, a tree to forage in, an orbit & at least one hanging play "stand". Lots of high & swinging type activity. The only problem is, the more activities the bird has access to, the greater the possibility that an accident may happen. You just never know & it might not be a great idea to leave them unsupervised for very long. The other thing is that I really suspect there's no such thing as bird proof. Maybe I'm just a little paranoid. Or maybe it's because when Phenix showed me how he'd learn to turn the light switch off & on I kept thinking how lucky he'd stopped there. Knowing him, he could just as easily have decided to take it apart to see how it worked. My time w/my flock has taught me not to leave them alone for too long. No mater how many fun things they've got, they just have to make their own fun.

Cotton frays & the threads can become dangerous. The bird can catch in the loose threads. Hemp & sisal are better alternatives because the strands are more "brittle" & break more easily. But it can be challenging to find oil & pesticide free rolls. You'd want to look for something specifically labeled as bird safe. Vet wrap is an easily accessible solution. It's easy to work with & you even get a choice of colors.

None of us lives in a perfect world & lots of us have multiple fids. Unless they totally seem to ignor each other, their relationships all have their ups & downs. And btw, they never truly ignore anyone. Everyone & everything seems to hold some interest for a parrot. It's stop sounding like your concern for Howard is your only motivation. Do you feel like you would like to & could handle having another grey? Because it's sounding like her situation has gotten to you. Or maybe I should say this opportunity has made you re-evaluate things a little. Can you love her for who she is? Do you think you're ready to make a commitment to work thru the inevitable challenges & make her part of your family? You have 2 dogs. You seem to have been thru this process in the past. What drove you to actually adopt your second dog & how is this different? How did you make this decision then?

Welcome Jimmydreams & about the biting? A grey just won't trust you when you don't trust them. Just like w/the dogs, the more you fear them, the more likely you are to get bitten. It doesn't hurt as much as you'd think, most times. And you aren't going to lose a finger to a grey. The better you can communicate w/each other, the more likely you are to avoid getting bitten. So, aside from confidence, body language is one of the most important things to learn before you bring home your baby. Congratulations on your plan to get your dream fid. Now that you've found GF there's plenty to read & lots of people to answer questions. Look forward to seeing more posts from you in the future.

Loved watching those beautiful birds race thru the air together. Thanks for sharing.

Happy Hatchday Corky! I'm sure it was a greyt one

You know you live w/a grey when you drop something big & heavy & think it a good thing that it landed on your foot because it would have made a loud crash & scared the fids. I actually just did this & have come to the conclusion that life w/the flock has finally driven me well & truly mad. But mostly in a good way. lol

I'm sorry I haven't raised big birds. Just tiels. who had few unhatched eggs. I originally left them until the chicks hatched. But as I learned more about the whole process, I'd candle the eggs & toss the unfertilized ones so they didn't get broken. Didn't seem to have any problems either way. But I don't actually know what's right or if the same applies to tiels & greys.

Found myself thinking about what I posted & thought maybe I should clarify a little. I may be wrong, but what I read into OP is ...that this is a grey owner of 21 yrs who should have more than a little basic parrot knowledge, such as health & handling precautions. ...that Howard has been w/her most or all of his life. ...that the new bird was someone who is to some degree known, at least as far as general health & living conditions. In which case, I believe letting the 2 birds visit could help tremendously, here. When I can, I take my fids on "play dates". Their friends are single birds who are obviously known to me. I think it's very beneficial for them to socialize w/their own kind even though they live w/a flock of other types of birds. Like anything else, there are potential risks. But w/intelligent precautions, I think the benefits outweigh them. I see yet another side of my guys on these trips. I think Howard may benefit from some time w/another grey, whether or not he eventually lives w/her. Best case, he may show just how social he actually is & give some idea of what he'd think of adding to his flock. Maybe more important is this will allow the other bird the opportunity to do the same thing. I just don't feel it's fair to give her a trial run & risk having her rejected & returned then rehomed again. This could potentially be hugely traumatic for her. I sincerely applaud your commitment to Howard's happiness & certainly encourage it. I would just like to think that any other fid will get all the same love & consideration.

I know, I know. I'm sure I'll get over it. But it may take a while. I have to admit that I'm basically a lazy creature. Anything that can do a good job & save me time & effort is appreciated. With this, I just put some things together & scoop something yummy out. Right now there's taboule, turkey salad w/cranberries, nuts, etc & left over smoothie in the fridge. All in the same container they were created in. We're always talking about making fid food around here. I think one deterrent for people is the time & work involved. This really is saving me time to chop, mix & clean up. If the thing could wash & peel veggies I'd be crazy in love for sure. But as it is, I like it enough to want to share my discovery w/anyone else who doesn't have a big, honkin, scary food processor.

I've had this discussion w/myself on a number of occasions. On one hand, I'd say probably. They're too hard wired to be flock creatures. On the other hand I think they can become so adjusted to their artificial environment that those instincts shift pretty completely to whoever's lovable in their world. Nature vs nurture. I think it finally comes down to individual personalities. Is there a way that you can let Howard interact w/this other bird before making a decision? Maybe he can answer the question for you. But even if Howard does take to this other bird it may still get complicated. So that's one thing to consider. The other is what type of commitment are you willing to make toward the other bird. Because they deserve to be loved for themselves & not just be a stable pony for Howard.