lg17

I totally agree with you - I think animals have a lot better chance of getting into heaven than probably most people. I think all creatures move on and animals don't have the crappy type of baggage that people do! They just are what they are and they are totally honest about it. Although greys can be pretty sneaky at times! I am really looking forward to the arrival of our new baby. The breeder had them DNA sexed so I should find out soon if I have a girl or boy. That will be kind of nice to know right away what he/she is! Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi everyone! I told a lot about my Grey who passed away, Kookers", in the Memorial section. I have lived with several birds, but Kooks was the only big parrot. I had several budgies, and a wonderfully sweet lovebird named Francia. I am getting a new baby the first week in may. His/her new cage is coming tomorrow and the toys should be here next week. I also bought some toys here in the pet store. When I got my last bird there was no internet!!! Wow what a difference! So much more information just like that! I have four children, my youngest is 15. I just became a Grandma last week! Very cute grandson I now have! I am a registered nurse and work in an ER. I LOVE my job! I have loved animals since I was a small child - all animals! We have 5 horses, 2 little goats, chickens, dogs and cats as well as 2 ferrets and a fish. Oh yes, I forgot Henry my daughters hamster! Our ferrets live outside in a huge cage 8ft. square. Ferrets and birds do not make good house mates! None of our animals ever tried to hurt Kooks - they were all scared of him except for our larger ferret! We are all very excited about our new baby coming! We miss Kooks so much. I couldn't even make toast for a week because he would always beg for a corner of my toast and I shared my morning toast with him for 17 yrs. I am a little nervous about the new baby as well! My last parrot I hand fed - this one will be weaned when I get him. I feel like a woman with grown children who just found out she is pregnant! Back to all that baby stuff! And the teenage yrs!!! Yikes! Anyway, nice to meet you all!

When I decided I wanted to get a parrot 17 yrs. ago I did a lot of research. First I thought a Macaw! Then as I learned I realized a Macaw was not for us. We had 6 small children and the phrase, "can snap a broomstick with their beak", stopped me cold! As I read more I realized what amazed me the most about the big parrots was their intelligence. I read that the African Grey was the best of all the talking birds. I decided a Grey was what I wanted to get. I spent close to a year learning about birds, reading, visiting breeders and talking to bird owners. I found a breeder an hour away and reserved an egg. I decided to hand raise my baby because I was a stay at home mom so I had the time and our house was very busy, 6 little kids and my husband was a drummer! We also had several dogs and cats. I got my little ball of fluff just about a year after I started my search. He was so cute and so scary! Such a tiny baby! So much responsibility! I had hand raised many different kinds of animals including wild birds so I wasn't a total stranger to the task. It was a much longer process than the wild things - 4 months! Then my baby was weaned and growing! First he whistled, then he talked! He had a huge vocabulary and very varied! He made puppy sounds and pot bellied pig sounds and kitty sounds and screaming Michael sounds. He did the phone, the garbage truck, the squeaking cupboard, the snoring of my bro in law, the morning smokers cough of my sister in law! He was amazing. Whats more was that he would use the words correctly! When you dropped something he'd say" you ok? What ya do?" He knew the kids by their names, he would address my son, " What ya doin' Michael?" When someone dropped food on the floor or if he dropped food on the floor he'd say ,"Here dogs!", and whistle! He was an amazing wonderful being and our lives were so enriched by his person. I had Kooks for almost 17 yrs. I never imagined life without him. One month ago I got up for work at 2 a.m. I said Good Morning to him and he did not respond. He was dead in his cage. I don't know what happened. He had always been very healthy. Never plucked a feather, never was sick ever. The only thing I have come up with after doing a bunch of reading is the possibility that it may have been the plug in air fresheners I bought. I have always been very careful but when I got my bird there was no such thing. They said pet safe and I just didn't think - they are not an arosoel. It's all I can figure though because I had started using them in the house and a few weeks before he died I put one under where his cage stand was because the cat box was under there and I thought it would be safe. I feel so terrible you cannot imagine. He was my pal and my friend. He was older than my youngest son and the rest of my kids he has seen grow up. We miss him so terribly. At first I thought I will not get another grey, I just can't. After one night in this house I was going crazy. You don't realize how much you interact with your parrot until they are gone. I found a breeder in Milwaulkee and they had one baby left. He/she will be ready to go the first week of May. They did DNA sexing so I will actually know what this bird is. Kookers was actually a girl but we thought he was a boy for 5 yrs. until he fell in love with my oldest son, started regurgitating food for him, preening him and then laid eggs in our cupboard and wouldn't let anyone else near him except James! James could do anything with that bird! We still called Kookers "him" just because it seemed weird to call him "her"! I had built Kooks a cage 3ft. square. I dismantled it last week. I took the stand we made apart and stored it in the shed. The ground is still frozen but when it thaws I will bury him with all our other beloved pets and I will bury all his favorite toys as well except for the swing and the bell. I will pass those on to our new baby. Everything else for the new baby will be new. I ordered him a new cage - a bigger one 48"x36"x72". It is a playtop and I ordered him and bought him all new toys. I know he is not Kooks and I wanted to make a fresh start. Like I said I will pass on to him my old friends swing and bell. Kooks loved to ring that bell and then scratch his head asking for a scritch. He would swing and whistle and fight with his bell. I hope our new baby will enjoy them as much. I just wanted to say goodbye to my old friend. I haven't really talked about it much - no one at work really understands - none of them have birds and they think I'm crazy to spend that much money! They have no idea what they are missing. Goodbye Kooks - You were my best bud and I will miss you forever - walk with the wind my friend until one day we meet again.