birdhouse

Dee, anything in a tumbler is community property around here. Whatever the fids aren't allowed goes into a travel mug. Being the clever little varmints they are, they know the difference. They don't try (too hard) to share things like coffee & hot chocolate when they see us drinking from them. It just gives Phenix such a kick that I couldn't deny him, like Gwen said. It gave us some of our first bonding moments. It was also extremely helpful in getting Phenix to try food. I use to concoct really hideous smoothies for him. And now, be still my beating heart, it made it possible to get some happy pics of him happily enjoying something new. All good. And yes, Phenix is a TAG that Gilbert often reminds me of. Sometimes I think there are more than a few similarities between them. They both have doting parronts, for starters. lol Judy, your first comment made me smile. "Ah... the elusive Phenix.'Sounds like the narration for a nature film. It was also just good to see a purple post.

They really are both pretty as a picture. So, keep em coming! lol

Ah, what a little sweetie! I think you both got pretty lucky when Cricket happened to your flock

I may be wrong, but I thought they were the same thing. Just two different words used by people from different places. As to what I put in mine, anything that will freeze well. So I'll never include celery stalks again! lol Although celery leaves are ok. It takes some work to put up a batch. So I make a couple of months worth & freeze it in individual 2-3 day portions. I usually use whatever the seasonal fruits & veggies are for cost & variety. And I try to make it well balanced enough to live off all by itself. So my chop/mash would included cooked dried peas & beans, grains, some fruit, a decent portion of at least one green leafy veggie, colored veggies & random veggies. Whatever randomly tickles my fancy to make it interesting.

Hi Chadwick. Glad you decided to join the flock. Greys aren't a must for membership here. Just your love of fids. I fostered a Patagonian Conure for a while. That was one loud bird! Took some work, but he turn out to be a sweetie otherwise & very beautiful. I think it's kind of exciting that you bring such a different flock of birds w/you. Really looking forward to your pics & stories.

Usually he's giving me the hairy eyeball. Finally got an avatar pic of him! I even finally figured out how to make the pics big enough to see in the post. What can I say? I'm a grey-o-holic. It doesn't take much for my fids to make me happy

I wasn't surprised when Phenix started to make it his mission to get into the super sized cup of juice every time I'd put it down. He's always loved to drink from a cup. I dutifully checked the label because I've been well trained to share (& didn't want to have to clean up a super sized mess!). It said it's supposed to be all natural. Maybe more sugar than I'd like. But no real reason not to let him have some fun. He went totally crazy for it. I kept wondering if birds could get brain-freeze. But when I tried to slow him down, he'd have absolutely none of it. He kept grabbing the rim & acting all "MINE! Back off!!". Practically crawled totally inside the cup until he'd had his fill. The way he was going, he may have decided Simply Limeade is even better than his all time favoritest pink grapefruit juice. Nothing's ever even come close before. He was so distracted I even managed to get pictures! Huge!! I still can't believe it. He really hates the camera & it usually shows in the few shots of him I've managed to get. He usually ducks for cover just before the shutter clicks. I was so excited I just had to share.

As soon as I saw the title had Craigslist in it, I was going to skip this story. Most of those posts make me sad or angry. I don't know why I changed my mind, but I'm glad I did.

WOW! Amazing color! Amazing photography! Thanks for posting the beautiful picture

Really, no worries. I don't respond well to "Because I said so.", either. lol There's no way to judge if it's just more disinformation. It also doesn't give you anything useful to apply elsewhere. On some levels, I can understand how this compound denatures blood. Just not well enough to try to explain the chemistry especially in writing for someone. Even if it's not about the specific chemistry or target organ(s) I hope the analogy worked well enough to help though. Speaking of occupations; any possibility you might be an engineer?

I get it. But what you're really asking is for more advanced metabolic chemistry than I can manage just because I didn't dose off too often in biology classes. lol It's also why you don't "see a reason instead of just a blanket "X is bad". I can only give you my best GUESS using my VERY limited understanding of physiology from here on. I don't know if cooking changes anything. My guess is, not by much if it does. I think it may just be too much of what makes an onion an onion. I think this is different from heavy metal toxicity. I'm guessing there are ways the body will break this molecule down eventually. It's about the damage it causes in the meantime. All metabolic activity is a function of chemistry. (my chem prof is smiling right now & she doesn't even know why) I may be way off here, but I think a lot of the issues are caused because this molecule may act chemically in the same way as oxygen normally would. But when it attaches to blood hemoglobin, cells use it instead of normal oxygen compounds to do work. So instead of making say a few harmless H2O water molecules like normal, maybe the byproduct from normal blood sugar consumption could become HSO4 which is an acid. Can you see where that would mess things up quite a bit? I'm not saying that's where the bad chemistry actually happens. I just made it up because I hope that's an easier example to understand. As far as the mold observation, yes all fruits & veggies mold. But we don't usually eat them if they have. Onions often have mold under the skin or in the first layers. We can peel those layers off & make the onion safe for human consumption. But that doesn't necessarily mean the fids might not have problems.

Beautiful indeed! Thanks for sharing

That's kind of like asking how much cotton candy will it take to give the kids a stomach ache. lol It depends... on a lot of things. But, unlike the candy, this is a long term toxin. Slow poison if you will. Over some length of time it will start to compromise the blood chemistry & bad things will start to happen. I figure that's close enough to keep it away from the fids, since there's nothing good to be gained. And what you said about onions being acidic & not proned to bacteria ...? I don't know about that, but I know onions mold pretty well & that's something to watch out for w/parrots. OOPs... Got to watch Dancing w/the Stars now lol

Onions have a chemical compound (n-propyl disulfide) that w/continuous feeding will eventually effect red blood cell chemistry. I think basically it can cause things like anemia, jaundice & respiratory failure because it disrupts the way the hemoglobin does its job.

I was thinking a lot of the same things. I know how tough last week was. But it looks like you got some great quality time w/the family & some beautiful shots of the fids. I think my personal fav is the one of Talon in the cupboard, though. So glad to hear everything's back up & running.

Yay!! Mikko's gotten to trust you enough to step up. So frustrating when a fid doesn't want to let you hold them. Getting past that is a significant step toward strengthening your bond. and more fun, too. Congratulations! This is pretty great!

I was fascinated w/fids by the time I was about 2 feet tall. lol We had budgies. My grandfather raised barnyard fowl; geese, doves, peacocks, etc. My grandmother raised budgies & canaries. She also rescued & released any kind of wild critter on a regular basis. That included a few chicks that she "& I" reared. So, it was all her fault I got the gene. One chick who survived some permanent damage from his fall couldn't be released. So he became part of the flock. Living mostly on canned cat food & grapes he grew into the biggest Robin I've ever seen. He was also the first truly great bird love of my life. As an adult, my critters started to find me. My own first bird was a budgie who a friend just arrived w/one night. He told me the guy who had him was going to flush him down the toilet. So he'd said he'd take him because he knew I'd take Buzzard in. A couple of budgies later, some tiels happened, then a green cheek. They were my first experience w/something more parrot-like. I got a whole new perspective & thought maybe I'd like the big parrots. I honestly could have fallen for every one I met when I started to learn about them. But none of them ever followed me home. Until the nameless Grey w/all his baggage just got to me on sight. Silly me, I really thought he'd be the only one. But there were foster fids. Characters who got great homes but were so hard to say good bye to that I finally just wanted another one. But I still had to find a good fit for Phenix & the teils. I actually got my Quaker, Charm because of her outrageous personality. OK ...and she's cute, too. Definitely the party girl & just so much fun to have around. And then there was Kura, the She Devil hell spawn that no one could handle. The other bird who got to me on sight. I've never seen a bird turn so completely around or so easily. But she's my sweetest, most sociable beauty w/a very special mind set that's all her own. I'd also been an Eclectus fan from early on. So she's a bit dream bird from that angle, too.

Just the fact that you're asking the question gets 2 points from me. But breeds have a reputation & critters have personalities. So no matter what the critter is that's really going to be the deciding factor. I can see pro's & cons to getting a youngster & raising it to be accustomed to your lifestyle. I can also see pro's & cons to getting a rehomed bird who's accustomed to living w/an unstructured schedule. But a lot of happy greys don't "live in a perfect world" to quote Zoom & it certainly sounds doable from what you've said so far.

Native American flute music has quite the affect on my fids. Jay mentioned it once. Then I found some to legally download for free on the internet (maybe at Amazon?). They stop everything & just zone out whenever they hear it. lol Thank you Jay. I miss you!

Congratulations! I hope you'll be this happy for a long, long. long time!

Everything about this is just so wrong & I'm so sorry it's happening to you. Please have faith & try to stay strong. I really wish you all the best & hope things will start to get so much better, soon.

It's really hard to say who's happier. So sweet!

Reading this brought tears to my eyes. I wish there was some way I could help. I can't even add to what Dan's just said so well. I really hope that you'll find comfort in finding the right home for Emily & that you'll know she's going to be well loved & happy .

This is one of the many places where it would be so nice if Grey logic was more transparent. There are a number of things this could be about. Especially given Molly's history. Normal Grey behavior says that a fid will continue any behavior so long as it continues to get the desired results. But as long as Molly's got so much baggage her reaction to normal treatment can potential go very sideways. In this case the normal approach to this type of problem (walk away, cover the cage, disapproving body language) might actually play into Molly's conditioning to hide & avoid interaction w/people. Which is to say that I agree w/Dan that "this is not a contact call, it is a sound of annoyance, desperation or exasperation." But unlike Dayo, I wonder if Molly's using it because she feels like she needs to keep you at a distance. She might be testing your response to see if you'll prove to be just another scary human, too. Right now, you might get the best results if you don't react at all until you figure out what's motivating her. I think it may be more important than anything else that she doesn't get anything negative from your responses. In the meantime you really have my sympathy. My Quaker can honestly make me feel like my skull reverberates. Thankfully, noise canceling earmuffs/headphones usually work surprisingly well. Janet's suggestion that you interest Molly in other sounds might help too. Finding one that's interesting & quiet enough might be a challenge though. Maybe a water fountain. Most Greys seem to be endlessly fascinated w/water sounds & it might have some overall calming effect as well.

So glad you didn't let Sam discourage you & have kept working at your relationship. Those moments are amazingly wonderful & it sounds like you're beginning to get to him. Very nice!