birdhouse

Love how happy you sound. You've earned it. It sounds like Oscar's progressing nicely. Really good to hear!

Sorry, I haven't. But I've seen most of the pieces, I think. Maybe you could try making one or something similar?

That's funny! The fids may or may not watch the bird vids. Those two were all over this one. Phenix was doing Marcus' boopboop, so he was easy. I just figured Charm could hear Beaker. But maybe that was her way of approving of Tybalt's contribution. Charm fully believes that fids should be seen but definitely heard! She's always the loudest bird in the house. No specific reason required. lol Good thing I'm pretty good at tuning it out. Until she hits that pitch that makes my skull reverberate. Mad props to whoever designed noise cancelling headphones! PS that 2nd thank you is from Phenix. He appreciates your relaying his message & is looking forward to hearing from Marcus again, soon.

Love that you let Ella Rose name Missy. Interesting that she does know the difference between two such similar birds & really nice to hear that they sound like they're getting along.

LOL!! Phenix said to tell Marcus, "Hello. BoopboopBOOP BOOP Boopboop BOOP! BoopboopBOOP BOOP Boopboop Boopboop BoopBOOP!" Whatever that means. But he thought it was important enough to repeat it a number of times so he was sure I got it right. :rolleyes: Charm said to tell I assume Beaker (her version of), "WOW! WHO'S THE GREAT SOUNDING BIRD IN THE BACKGROUND? WHY'S THE DUMB GREY BIRD GETTING ALL THE FACE TIME? YOU CAN TALK TO ONE OF THEM ANY TIME! I REALLY WANT TO SEE MORE OF THE REALLY COOL SOUNDING QUAKER!!! TELL SOMEBODY TO GET THE BIG GUY OUT OF THE WAY & LET THE REAL STAR HAVE A TURN!!" I think I got that right. I kind of started to go deaf somewhere along the way. Max volume most of the way thru the video. Pretty sure you know the decibel level I'm talking about. :eek:

How cool is that? Gilbert gets his wings back! Could get a little more interesting if he's going to become an escape artist. But even still, very cool.

I'm so sorry. I know this can't end soon enough. e-hugs

Aww, I miss that! Charm used to do that when she was little, but she stopped. Guess she's too grown up for that, now. lol Hope Jon doesn't outgrow it. He looks so completely comfortable & too cute playing w/his itty bitty sneaker!

Penny, Sorry I couldn't email you because your mailbox is full. Gov Patrick declared a state of emergency over the weekend. That might mean FEMA will pay for temporary housing since it's so cold & you've got no heat. When we got flooded out last year, I didn't have electricity or running water because I have a well. That was one of the things FEMA offered to help with. Maybe it would be worth checking into.

Not surprised they were hiding from all that crowd. Poor fids! I did some reading up on them after I posted. I read Parrot14's post & some other places that they're shy. Also read what JeffNOk posted that they're aviary type birds. I don't know if you can see from these pics of Kura but Eclectus don't have a normal feather structure on the head & body. Think of them as fur-feathers. Even in pics it they can have an almost shaggy appearance compared to most normal birds.

You guys really took it in the teeth, didn't you? Saw the news & was thinking of you last night. I really hope they get everyone's power back up quickly. Terrible time of the year to be w/o it, especially w/the fids! Have they given you any idea when they expect to get your neighborhood back on line? Glad to hear you can at least get a Starbucks fix. Might not be much under the circumstances, but hot chocolate/hot coffee & wifi might help a little. What a difference a few miles made! Just the raging winds & 1-2" here. Ugly but manageable in most places.

Sooner or later you will get bitten if you handle greys. The more you're afraid, the sooner you'll start to get bitten & the harder it will be to form a bond. Sorry, but it's just something to work around because it will cause problems if you don't. Birds use their beaks for everything . It's upsetting to them when you won't let them explore you that way. They actually need to before they can trust you. Also your fear & stress are read quite clearly by George & it adds to his. So you're going to need to put that to rest before you can start to build any kind of trusting relationship w/him. I know you'd like to prove to his owner that you'd be the perfect parront, before you talked w/him about George. But maybe you've got the cart before the horse there. To me it seems like he'd be the one to ask to give you the best insights into George's personality. He might be able to help you avoid some of the pitfalls of starting a relationship w/this bird. He might be able to help George become more accepting of you sooner if he actually gave you an official introduction. Also, you might get some insight as to how attached he really is to George. If he sounds like he wouldn't ever part w/him, then you'd be saving George a lot of trauma by realizing that you shouldn't bond w/him in any way that might cause him problems down the line. One way or the other it's good that someone's spending time w/him, though. Maybe you can convince some of the others to pay even a little attention to him, too. Sounds like he could really benefit from whatever positive socializing you can manage to round up.

What can I say? It's just classic!

G'day Merlin. Sounds like you fit right in. Around here we think that obsession is a very good thing. In fact, we have a name for it, grey-o-holic! If you didn't already I think you might get a kick out of reading this thread www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?193446-Rio&p=232830#post232830 Admittedly, it got started when 3 AM east coast time met midnight on the west coast. It kind of took on a life of it's own. lol I've read about how tough it is to get a grey down under. Do they also need some kind of special license? Got to be pretty committed. But it sounds like you're determined enough to work it all out, though. Looking forward to your pics & stories, hopefully soon.

Are you going to breed her? Is there any reason for this baby to have elective surgery?

Most of these are because I like the magic that brought you guys together. Bliss Jewel Gem/Gemma Mollie Rhapsody Melody Chance Glory Merry Magic/Magik Merrow Pixie Genie Fay/Faye Faery Charm Nissa Elf Sprite Also, Nayeli (Nae-aly) which means I love you

"Surgically"? Mind if I ask why? Most people tend to DNA blood testing because they feel it's a lot less invasive.

I think I just started this post a dozen times, in a dozen different ways. From your description of Molly, I kept seeing my Phenix, back in the dark days. So, maybe best to start by saying that it has been 22 yrs & counting. Although he'll never be quite "right" you'd never know Phenix wasn't a normal grey unless you understood where he came from. A lot of time, love, patience, sensitivity & acceptance glued together the pieces of this wonderful fid who has incredible intelligence, a wicked sense of humor & above all is truly happy, albeit a little neurotic. That passes for a normal grey by any standards. Oddly enough, his first healthy relationship was w/my large breed dogs, as well. I say "oddly" because I would have thought they'd be on the serious threat list. But they were incredibly helpful, as it turned out. Letting Phenix watch while we interacted, was like getting a stubborn child involved when he sees the other kids are having too much fun w/o him. No matter what experiences may have happened along the way they're hardwired to be social creatures. I think watching us reminded him of that. I also think seeing us love on each other, rough house (once he could tolerate the noise, etc.) & even get scolded helped him believe that normal interaction w/humans doesn't have to be scary. I also found that he just couldn't handle too much stimulus, even if it wasn't threatening. To this day, his cage is in the corner of the living room. He only has to respond to things from two sides & it's just easier. There's a sofa in front as well. He's still actually part of everything, but I think in his mind it's a comforting barrier. He's not able to hide, just feel protected by creating "his space" like this. And "his space" may be one of the most important things. All greys have control issues. But this is amplified so much when a grey's been abused. Once they've lost control & bad things happen I think they have a much harder time getting past the trauma than any other breed. They're too emotional to let go easily. They're also too intelligent to forget. You've actually realized that feeding Molly from a different hand stresses her. Many people could never recognize something so subtle. That's a huge advantage toward building a much needed understanding & trust w/such a damaged fid. That one point alone gives me great confidence that you can & will work thru what I think of as the dark & twisty parts of a grey's psyche to give her back a balanced perspective on life. Molly's life has been all about horrible, for a long time. 14 months of good living is actually a pretty small step in the right direction. But over time, those steps build on each other & get bigger because they're more convincing & Molly will become more confident. All you really need to do is give Molly back her confidence so she can learn to fly again, even if her wings never will. You & Molly are very welcome to our flock Jillann. I hope you can find a lot of things on the forums that will help you gain useful insights. Please post any questions about anything, anytime. Stories about your progress, or rants if you'd like, are all very welcome as well.

***HeHeHeHe!!!***

The day she came home, I promised Kura this cage because she'd lived her life on a single dowel, in a grossly undersized cage. After a series of smaller cages designed to build her strength & coordination, she finally graduated to a cage that was "big enough", by accepted standards. By then, everyone else's cages finally needed replacing & the really big cage got put on hold. I wish I knew how to say what joy it is to see the fid who fell off everything living large in her new home. I love you baby girl & I am so proud of you!!

Big Sigh of Contentment. Love having a place to share things like this w/people who will actually find them interesting. E-hugs Eshana, do they actually have the same type of feathers as an ekkie? It looks like it in some of the pics but I can't really tell. LOL Also too bad I can't give you 2 thank you's for your posts. Loved it.

Most greys hate baths even when everything goes according to plan. That's very different from hating you, honest. Toweling can certainly add to it. Although it won't if it's done the right way. They aren't usually any more cooperative about voluntarily bathing in a dish, either. But it can happen. Keep experimenting w/different things & just don't give up. Eventually the adrenaline rush from this will fade for both of you & you'll work it out. It might be helpful for others to know exactly what it was that you were using. Now that the dust has settled, would you mind posting it so we can know to avoid using it?

Aahh, much better! Thanks for editing in the link. Got to appreciate anyone who can keep their sense of humor about the upcoming elections. Even if it is mostly gallows' humor. Right time to be sharing things about such a scary bunch, too. This being Halloween & all.

:confused: ... uhm Dave? I don't get it!

I was floating around the web & bumped into this picture that I thought might be a color mutation of an Eclectus parrot until I eventually tracked it back to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alisterus_amboinensis_-Brevard_Zoo-8b-4c.jpg It's actually a Moluccan King Parrot, also called an Ambon King or Amboya King Parrot. Since ekkies are such unique looking birds, it surprised me to see another species that looked similar. Although some of that has to do w/the actual photo. I'd never seen anything about them before even though they're apparently being domestically bred. Thought they were interesting & just wanted to share.