kitt79

I bought Starbuck a shower perch. For the first couple of weeks, about 3 times a week I took her in there and let her sit and watch me enjoy playing in the water, I sang and splashed around like an idiot. Today for the first time she wanted to join me! All I had to do was swing the shower perch under the water (she could easily step in and out of the water that way). She seemed pretty happy shaking her head around and flapping a bit. She's still drying out . But while you're getting Sammy used to the idea (if you do the shower thing)... give him a large shallow bowl of water. Sometimes they'll go bathe themselves that way. (Make sure you spalsh around in it some or put some toys in there to show it's a fun thing and not a scary thing.)

In general, either. Sometimes they just fall out, but if they're itching or irritating the bird, sometimes they'll pull them out on their own. Either way, unless it's a a lot of feathers, don't panic .

Didn't you say Sammy's tail was kind of ragged? He could just have pulled one of those. I don't think one feather is anything to worry about, especially since you just got him home -- stress of moving may be the only problem, or it might just have been that feather's time to go

I would like for her to stay flighted, but it will depend on how she behaves. I have some time to get some training done, by the sound of it, so maybe we can work on wearing a harness, coming when called with distractions, etc. If I do end up clipping, it certainly won't be anything like she is currently. I keep my tiel clipped because he is a little punk. I had a bad scare today because he managed to grow *one* feather out, and could fly better than I thought he could. Before I knew it, he tried to get to a cat and flew STRAIGHT into Starbuck's face. I thought he was a goner . She could kill him withough batting an eyelash... I clipped the living daylights out of his wings, I never want to cut it that close again. Merlin was also a rescue but he is not even a fraction as tame as Starbuck. He was somewhat abused before we got him, and though he has made a lot of progress, I don't trust him flighted. He's so easily spooked, and hits windows and walls. I have tried 3 times now to leave his feathers intact, hoping to boost his confidence, and each time something happens that's just too dangerous.

LOL... I just hope hubby does not slip and shout at his video games when she's in the room... he's been good so far, once I told him HE would have to explain to my parents when they babysit our animals why one of them sounded like a sailor. She fidgets a little when I mess with her wings but as long as scritches and maybe an almond or two are forthcoming, she puts up with it pretty well .

Easier said than done! It's usually me that has to sort through everything and clean it off

Oooh, a sun conure.... I can't even imagine lol. I do take it as a good sign that she's only known me 3 weeks but will let me pull her wings out like that. She got lots of scritches and praise for that .

Also, ignore that mess in the background. That is my dear hubby's desk lol.

Other wing...

For anyone who remembers, I'm the one who took in an abandoned grey a few weeks ago. Turns out he's a she, and we named her Starbuck, as we are both big Battlestar Galactica fans (the new one lol). We ended up covering her cage at night, and this has worked out fine so far. We go to bed on the late side, so covering it lets her get those few extra hours of sleep in the morning. I've made her several toys which she has almost shredded beyond recognition -- almost time for a trip to the hobby shop again! She's pretty happy with the zupreem pellets, I mix in some seeds for variety. She LOVES apples but we don't do them every day. Once a week she gets some of the scrambled eggs I make for my gouldian finches (egg, a spoonful of handfeeding formula, chopped nuts, whatever else I can find). She also seems to like the birdie bread I made for the finches. She's not too keen on the green veggies, but carrots seem to be acceptable. I've also discovered that as slow and calm as she is, when she wants to be, she's like greased lighting. I dropped a corner of a dorito the other day and she was on that thing and sprinting for the corner where she knew I couldn't get it away from her. I tried to be stern but it was hilarious . The thing that's irritating me at the moment (and I know there is nothing I can do about it)... she has our cockatiel's sounds down PAT. Mostly his most annoying ones! Merlin has a peculiar squawk he does in the mornings and now the only way to tell them apart is Starbuck is LOUDER. LOL. I guess we will learn to live with it. She also gives the gouldian song a go from time to time but she seems frustrated with that one as she can't get quiet enough to get it right . How often do greys molt? She has one flight feather growing back in, but hasn't yanked the other short ones out yet. I worry a lot about her spooking and falling. Whoever clipped her got about 7 flight feathers on each wing -- which is enough to ground my tiel, and on this heavy grey enough to make her fall like a rock . <br><br>Post edited by: kitt79, at: 2008/05/08 15:40

That's a good point. There are many animals, including african greys, in need of a good home. Check local agencies and maybe petfinder.com. I got mine for "free"...but I've already spent over $300 on cage, food, toys...and it's only been 2 weeks! Add in a vet bill soon and it's not so free lol.

I posted in the welcome room a few days ago; we are learning more and more every day. Went to the bird fair and got a nice big cage for only $75. He wasn't scared of it at all, nor of the big perch with blocks and rings and such all over it. Unfortunately, he also isn't really interested in the toy at all. We're rapidly discovering how active he is and I have come to the realization that I'm going to have to get him some more toys ASAP if I want to keep my eardrums, clothing, and furniture intact. He's poked a few holes in some shirts, a chair and completely destroyed a cat toy he found. He loves apples, almonds, grapes, peanuts, and carrots. I give him the bowl o veggies and he sorts what he wants and tosses the stuff he doesn't on to the floor. It's funny, I didn't think such a large bird would even notice millet but he got into my finches' stash and was sooo pleased with himself. I let him have a bit. I am mainly giving him zupreem pellets mixed with a tiny bit of seed and some veggies in the afternoons. I cook eggs for my finches on occasion and he really liked that, too. He doesn't mind strangers so far. He's met my parents, brother, grandmother, aunt, cousin... steps right up and sits politely. He has noises ranging from a microwave to a low smoke alarm battery to a few words (I've heard hi, hello, and something complex that isn't quite defined yet). Last night my husband laughed and he took off laughing too. He also has an ear-splitting whistle that it takes every fiber of willpower to ignore. I don't know if I should cover his cage at night. I don't bother with my other birds; they are fairly good about staying quiet until they hear us up and about. He does start in around 9 with the random noises. I tried to start some clicker training but he was too fascinated by the click sound to take the treat. I guess the clicker is its own treat for the moment. I read somewhere that a quarter of a peanut was a good training reward, but he doesn't take peanuts that are already shelled. What do you guys use for this, if any of you do clicker train? I'm familiar with the process, I've used it with goats and to some extent with my tiel. I also need to buy him some kind of sand perch. What kind do you guys recommend? His nails are getting *sharp*. We are going to the vet next thursday to get a general checkup, find out if he's a she, and see if they can fix the butcher job someone did on his flight feathers... at least make them shorter and more even... He let me pull a wing out and look at it, it looks like someone cut 7 or 8 flight feathers. That's way too many, considering I only have to cut 4 on my tiel to let him glide. Plus they cut them past the coverts, which means they are easily visible and probably very annoying. I'd fix them myself but at this point I don't want to do anything to shake up our relationship. Speaking of which, he is sooo cuddly. I spent like 20 minutes scratching his head while he snuggled my neck today. This bird is awesome. Anyway that's where we are so far. He is so much fun and I can tell we have a lot to learn about each other still... :cheer:

It's probably more about the change than the actual temp. I'm sitting here in Georgia in the winter with my birds in a nice warm somewhat humid environment, then I open a window so that they're getting cold dry air blowing in on them... that's probably bad. Same reason some people (like me) get colds when all the department stores turn on the AC for the summer... it's 80 or 90F and humid outside, and then you walk into dry cold air. Bad things.

Bird fair is this weekend, I hope to get a good deal on some toys and maybe a nice big cage for him

Aha! Photo must be small. Fixed.

Hmm, well, his eyes are yellow, so who knows . Trying to attach a photo... Post edited by: kitt79, at: 2008/04/18 01:17<br><br>Post edited by: kitt79, at: 2008/04/18 01:20

I'm going to hold off on naming til I can have him sexed . I really have no idea on the age. I have been babbling at him most of today (my day off), and I did get him to say hi, and he tried something else but I couldn't quite make it out. Whoever had him obviously took pretty good care of him. The only thing that bothers me is how very clipped his wings are. I'm not against clipping but it looks like they cut ALL of his flight feathers, and I like my birds to be able to glide and not fall like a rock. So far he loves broccoli, carrots, grapes, and you'd think that peanut that was in the seed mix was manna from heaven. I cook some eggs for my finches sometimes and he enjoyed a chunk of that too. Not knowing what he'd been used to eating, I got a bag of seed mix, figuring he'd eat that for sure until I could switch him onto pellets. I'm still reading up on diet but my basic plan is for pellets with a variety of fruits and veggies and a little bit of whatever we're cooking for ourselves. He snuggled me this morning -- boy does he love his head scritches. I have a feeling he is young-ish. We used to get birds at my store that we still had to hand-feed for a few weeks, and this morning he was acting a little like they did when they were weaned, and knew it, but wanted to beg for more. Just for a few minutes...and of course I haven't seen anything bigger than a conure actually do it before...but that's what it reminded me of.

Hello . My name is Heather. I live in Atlanta, and I work at a large retail chain pet store that shall remain nameless so that the internet gods don't smite me. My husband and I both love animals, and had been talking about getting a larger bird eventually. We had just about settled on a sun conure or african grey -- so when someone dumped an african grey in my store, I brought it home. I am in the process of trying to find an avian vet that's not outrageous in price (the only one I know of had a horrible bedside manner when I met her, and was pricey to boot). I want to have the bird checked out and sexed. (S)he seems very active and healthy, steps up and down nicely, gives kisses, seems to love head scritches, and has a very interesting array of beeps and whistles, along with some muttering sounds which I can't decide what they are. We are not new to birds -- we have a cockatiel and 2 gouldian finches. And at least since we were already discussing it, I have done some basic research... I know I have a lot more to learn though! When I got my finches one of the most valuable resources for me was the finch forum I joined, so... here I am