birdhouse

I think that what carlsjr said about enabling a bad store to continue to make money by selling to sympathetic animal lovers is true... to a point. But, respectfully, I just don't agree w/walking away & doing nothing because animal cruelty laws aren't at all well enforced. If no one does anything about this type of situation, nothing will get done. Animals will continue to suffer & die needlessly. The more people make calls, the greater the likelihood that someone official will finally respond... eventually. Otherwise, nothing would have improved over the years. And how much effort is it to make a phone call? For me, at least, it takes a lot less effort than to walk away, let alone continue to think about it. Eshana, I understand your hesitation about approaching the store owner. But they'll have no reason to associate you w/anything if you talk to someone official w/o first talking to them. That way, at least you may have done something that might improve the situation.

It certainly looks like they're having a good time together. I hope it lasts for everyone's sake. But you might want to keep an eye on them, just in case the new found love fest is a temporary thing. Guess it could certainly be a possibility that Coucou is a female. I honestly don't know if that could be the only answer, though.

Like Judy said, it's pretty normal. Digging is a foraging & nesting practice in the wild. It can be part of courting rituals, too. Some domestic birds will translate that into a useful tool for getting attention from the rest of the flock. Glad to hear you guys are doing so well. Got any pictures or stories to share?

Phenix used to talk in my voice, but he's had his own voice for many, many years. Still has my laugh, though. And he sounds like me when he wants to get the dog's attention. He talks fluffed up too, sometimes. Most of the time he's excited when he does that. Often, uncomfortable. When he's nervous but not actually afraid, he'll talk & talk in a way that's very different from his normal happy chatter. And he will be a little fluffed while he does. My guys all love every kind of nut (including the dog btw)! Phenix came to me w/a peanut addiction. We don't do any peanuts any more. Just peanut butter once in a great while. Everyone knows I have a particular tin I keep the nuts in. When I walk into the room w/it in my hand, all the fids stop everything, go straight into their cages & wait impatiently. It's obviously my favorite bedtime bribery!!

Absolutely. Very pleased w/the bang for the buck, here. Although so far, I'm the only one who's actually having fun. There's a lot of reasons why I started making toys. But one reason is that my fids just aren't that interested in most of what's out there. I found a number of things here that my guys should really like ...once everyone stops looking at all the new stuff sideways.:eek: btw those hangers in the middle look pretty fun. They're good sized & have all different kinds of things on them that really should hold their attention. Then there's that ridiculously huge ladder. When it comes down to it, Phenix just likes his simple wood toys sometimes. Well that ought to hold him for a while & I think $10 for that beastie was pretty ok, too. Thanks, Barbara. That's good to hear. Kimkim said the same thing. I've got a couple of great stores near me. But the distributor for the TOP pellets has been pretty awful. It will be very nice not having to worry about that any more. OOPS, we have our first winner!!! Kura's happily destructing a rattan ball. Half of it is in pieces all over the floor. The other half just hit the floor in front of the dog (of course). I'd better go fetch it before anyone else does.

I finally had to admit that the local distributor for my TOP pellets is an utter disaster. I guess I'm forced to buy on the internet, which just isn't my favorite thing. To me, internet shopping is a little like Halloween. Never know if it's going to be a trick or treat. After I did some checking around, I put an order in with My Safe Bird Store & crossed my fingers. There seemed like a lot of good prices for some interesting things. So, I just took my chances & ordered food & supplies & since it's been quite a while since I splurged on the fids, threw on about $50 extra for toys. To borrow Phenix' favorite expression, "Wow!!" I ordered Saturday night, Labor Day weekend & it arrived Thursday. Everything came in a big box w/individual plastic bags, tied w/pink ribbons & nestled in pink tissue paper. That seemed just a little, well, wrong somehow when it came to the bottle of Poop Off. lol But really very nicely packaged. No problem getting toys I didn't hand pick. Every single thing looked exactly as advertised or better (the big wood bead ladder is about 6" longer than my arm). Can't believe the value of what I got for the price or the variety. I'm very pleased & surprised at how much I enjoyed unpacking that box! So I'm really happy ordering w/My Safe Bird Store turned out to be Xmas not Halloween. Although I'm not sure where I'm going to put all this stuff!! It was just so much fun I wanted to share.

I'm not crazy about the dremel, but I've had very good luck clipping the fid's nails w/a human nail clipper. Kura will even sit on the shower perch & just let me do it. Thank goodness, because her's get sharpest the fastest. Totally in agreement w/Dave about it being a 2 person operation, though. At least originally. You can do it by yourself once you get comfortable, but probably not something you'd like to try right off. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've only had one miss in all this time, w/all my birds. But you might want also want to get the cornstarch handy before you get started.

I'm about to try my first experiment w/Red Palm oil. I have been a little reluctant to feed it because of its fat content. Eclectus can tend to weight problems which can be tricky because of how they internalize fat. So I really limit or avoid many high fat & sugar content foods so everyone can be pretty much on the same healthy diet. But everything in moderation. Red Palm fruit is a natural part of an AG diet. The oil seems to have some general nutritional benefits. I found some on sale. I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted to go back thru the forum threads to read everyone's opinions & experiences. But because the forum search engine is still fubar, I made a Google search for "greyfourms red palm oil" which returned RPO info from a number of other sources as well. I found this & thought it was very interesting http://members.companionparrot.com/simple/index.php?topic=238.0 I was really hoping to hear from our members about their experiences & thoughts on these different oils & their opinions about the benefits &/or drawbacks.

It's all trial & error when something spooks them like that. The solution really is patience & sensitivity. As you know, they can be very slow to accept things by that age. I'd just leave it where it is until it becomes part of the furniture & non-threatening, unless you have a particular target date where you need to have him use it. He's probably going to like the travel cage even less if it invades his space. So, I don't think I'd move it any closer to his cage. Once in a while you could put it someplace that you'll be sitting w/him. Don't put it out in his face or hide it. They don't miss a thing. So, if you just casually put it nearby, he'll certainly be aware of it. Maybe once a day put it on the floor at one end of the cocktail table & sit on the other end of the couch w/him to help give him confidence. Play normally & don't even look at it. After you put him back on his cage, put the traveler back in its normal place. When he starts ignoring it, you could put the cage on top of the table. Once that isn't a problem, you can see how Roscoe reacts to letting him walk on top of it. Then, put some good stuff inside & hopefully he'll go in to explore.

I don't live in a big enough city to have any experience taking my fids on the T, uh L, uhm subway? Which, by my standards is a good thing for a few reasons. The fumes, curves, tunnels, noise, jostling & smells used to scare the heck out of me when I was a kid. Still don't particularly like them. So maybe it would be a good thing to wait to expose your new fid until you know he's a really good traveler. Don't take my fids on a bike, either. lol Just not that coordinated!! But Shanlung used to post about taking his on his scooter. Maybe some of his threads would be helpful.

That's a good thing to check when you're looking for a new cage because it can be one of many design flaws. The tray should be deep enough to be out of reach of the size bird it's meant to hold. Not all birds bother with the stuff on the bottom. But it can be a real pain & unhealthy for the birds to be able to get into their droppings & spoiled food.

That's probably the very best scenario. But there are very few breeders in this area. Most people have to fly the bird in from someone who they'll never see & are forced to trust. There are 2 extremely excellent bird (not pet) stores, though. Both have been around for a long time & have earned a great reputation. One in particular is clean enough to eat off the floors. People have to wash their hands on the way into the bird room & the ladies are almost fierce about it. Both places have also dealt w/most of the same breeders for 20+ years. So if I couldn't actually go to a breeder like Barbara, I'd trust them as my second choice. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't put my plug in here for you to consider rehoming a rescue bird. Recently, one of our members said he was starting his bird education by volunteering at a bird rescue. That seems like a wonderful idea for so many reasons. Thought that might be another option for you, as well.

Phenix is a slightly small TAG & hasn't had any noticeable problems w/getting around 1" bars or a cage of that size.

or maybe you worried just right & we got very, very lucky!

Hi Everyday Miracles. I guess every type of pet enthusiast would say that their type of critter is incredibly complex & special. So it may just sound like more of the same to say it about parrots. But I'll say it anyway & tell you it's an understatement. Especially where it comes to African Grey parrots. I'll also say that a Grey for a first time bird owner is a bit like starting w/an Anaconda, to use your snake analogy, just a little less dangerous. That said, I think you'll be amazed at the vast wealth of information you'll read on these forums. There are posts here from a large, active international membership of every type of bird owner from rank novice up. I think it's a real treasure trove of avian knowledge, kind of unique & about as far from a static website as you can get. So, mho is to start by reading http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?19849-The-Parrot-Bite-Me!!!-Club Then just browse thru the Grey Lounge & Training Forums & start posting all the specific questions that come to mind.

I honestly think the best diet is home made food which is my fids' staple diet. This is a thread to check out if you think you might like to go that way. But there are a lot of other posts as well. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190007-Tinkerbell-Mash-Best-food-by-far-for-your-Grey But pellets are just really handy sometimes, like in hot weather & hurricanes. So I've never taken my guys totally off them. I like Totally Organics TOP Organic Bird Pellets because of what is & isn't in them. http://www.totallyorganics.com/

Jenn, how are things w/you guys?

They definitely know. They also know they can trust you. So the calmer you can be about it, the easier it's likely to make this on them.

... but that doesn't mean you can't make a call or two or three on the off chance that you might be able to make something happen.

If you think that it's mostly noise, it's not so scary. Yes, things can & do happen in hurricanes. But you do the best you can to find the safest place possible. Then find the safest place wherever you are (like away from the windows). Then, and I know this is old school, find some good food & a book or deck of cards. I've actually slept thru every hurricane so far. The good news is, what we in the North call hurricanes is nothing compared to what those lucky dogs in the South get... pretty much annually.

Because they do like their travel cages, they'll hopefully just see it as having another adventure. Even if we don't leave, I'm hoping this might make the storm easier on them. Except for Phenix, my guys love to get into their travelers & go anywhere except the vet But I'm not going to bank on that if say a tree comes thru the roof. Which is a very real possibility around here. Having them settled beforehand will also save time if it develops into a situation where minutes can make all the difference.

We've already had a preview of what it might be like to have to leave during a hurricane. There were 13 cars swamped at the top of the only road out of my neighborhood when we got flooded out last year. That was "just" a cataclysmic rain storm that made it pretty clear that there was no way to know when, where or how long it might take to reach shelter in flood conditions even w/o extreme winds & damages. So, I'm probably going to let my guys ride out the storm in their travel cages. No harm done if there's no actual need to leave but they'll be one less obstacle if worse comes to worse. It might be better for them to have a safe, confined space while everyone around them is on high energy & things are bouncing off the house, too. I'm going to buy a cheap tarp, air it outside for the day, then cut it to fit. If it comes to it, we can wrap the carriers using bungee cords. That way, the fids can be moved & everything won't be drenched during our adventures. Also going to pack a locking, water proof tote w/a couple of weeks of seed & pellets, water, cloth covers, cage paper & wipes, toys, cornstarch, aloe, vinegar & paper towels. That will be in the car w/the other emergency evacuation stuff before the storm gets going. Hope we have no need for it, but that's the current game plan at our house. Good Luck everyone. Hope we can all stay safe.

No matter how long we try however many things, they just won't have any of it until one day, out of the blue... it never ceases to amaze me. Congratulations on winning the great carrot battle, Jenn. Judy, if it helps, Phenix started out where he'd only eat the broccoli leaves or if I mixed just the buds into his applesauce. It took a good while, but I guess he eventually got a taste for it. I think I'm really lucky. He started out as the world's worst eater & has turned out to be one of the best. It just took a really, really long time!

Well, ok, that sounds like it could help some... assuming everyone knew it was an option & how to use it. Neither of which includes me LOL I thought I'd figured out most of the things on the website but maybe not. So, how about a lesson, please? I actually found something that looked like it might do it. After searching & poking around for a while I found where there was the "forum actions" thingy at the top & saw the "mark forums read" option in the drop down menu. But no matter when or how I hit it, all I got was the dialog box below. Also, I doubt it will do any good when I'm not logged in, which I don't bother to do until/unless I want to do something more than read the new posts.

I've toyed w/making this suggestion, too. I don't mind the clutter so much as how it pushes the more important topics off the list. Real issues don't stay very visible for very long unless people register to see the longer list or hunt thru the individual forums.