pmaholm

I emailed the editor of our local paper asking about the types of ink they use. He replied and told me the majority of the inks they use are soy based however one process the black ink is a "clean oil based" ink. He also noted a concern that even the soy ink may be harmful if ingested. Below is the full reply. "Most of our ink is soy based. The black ink we use in the KBA portion of the press is clean oil based. I would say however, that even soy based ink could possibly be harmful to consume. I will say I’ve never heard anyone report that they thought newspaper ink caused their pet to get sick. You might recommend that they check with their vet to see what they think." I'll be cutting back on the amount of newspaper we give them to shred up. I've got plenty of just clean brown paper that they like too. hope this helps! -Patrick

Wow thanks for the link Dave! I was looking for somewhere to get Red Palm oil and this is much cheaper than anyplace I could find! -Patrick

We usually just clean them up and give them raw both Refund and Joey like them that way. We've tried microwaving them with a little water in my microwave steamer but they didn't seem to like it as much. -Patrick

Joey like to make a "boof boof" noise at us when we're sitting on the couch and she's on the playstand, it's usually followed by her coming to the edge of the playstand and acting like she's going to fly off, which is her telling me I'd better come get her or she's gonna fly off. She also likes to make a little "whooo" hooting noise. I"m seriously thinking about taping her noises to share on the forums

Refund was the same way when we got him. we've had him for almost 2 months now (I think? time does fly) he still will not let us touch anywhere but his beak but steps up pretty well now. He used to growl every time we did anything and now he just does it when we irritate him. What helped him a lot was to get him away from the cage and have about an hour of one on one time per day where we just went into the bathroom and sat on the floor with him. Joey is the total opposite of Refund and is really outgoing and would step up on my hand from inside her cage from day one. Then again she thinks fingers and toes are chew toys too. Hang in there I'm sure Nökkvi will come around. Also we tried to give as many food items that Refund liked by hand it seemed to help the trust, he still won't take anything if he's irritated. But we're making progress. -Patrick

BondsMom, we got the wooden top playstands from a friend. She knew a woman who made them at one time and had bought quite a few from her. Sadly the woman is no longer able to make these.

Joey loves "Birdy Bagels" here's some pics from the other night. "Nom Nom Nom" "Catch This!" "I kill you until you die from it!" "Where'd it go?!" "Die thing die!" And last but not least some pics of her on the new stand in front of the window. "Who're you?!" "I need a nap" "Yeah I know I'm cute."

They do have a lot of fun. I think it's funny that they seem to think they're grooming stands though

I forgot to mention some stuff. the trim is non treated white pine, the base is covered with self stick floor tile. We got the wooden playstands from the same person who we got both Refund and Joey from, they've actually got perch bolts on the bottom to attach to the top of a dome top cage but I just cut some small squares of leftover pine trim and drilled a hole to fit the bolts now they just sit on the bases we made. I have paper in the bottom of Joey's stand which seems to work really well. We'll be cleaning Refund's stand soon and lining it with paper. Now all that's left is to put some toys on.

Looks like everyone is finishing up their play stands. below are pictures somewhat from beginning to end. Materials Pics. One of the bases after assembly before trim and tile. Both stands with tile but no trim. Refund's Stand Finished. Joey's Stand Finished. Both stands together with birds.

We've switched to stainless steel and cast iron. I did however see at Wal-Mart today what was called, "Eco Friendly Non-stick" it's shown as a PTFE Free non-stick, the chemical they're using for the non-stick is called "NP2TM" I didn't know if anyone had heard of this? Is it bird safe? it was awfully expensive too. I'm including a link to it on the walmart website below. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9875694 -Patrick

Just an update for everyone, we moved Joey into the "bird room" with Refund yesterday, so I need to get the webcam moved and possibly set up the other one to watch Refund too! -Patrick

Hey Broomer have you thought about trying Google SketchUp to model your stand? It's free and nice once you get the hang of it. -Patrick

I can see that one! Pretty Grey! -Patrick

We purchased all of the materials to make 2 of these stands tonight and it was right around $70 all I need to so is cut some branches from my trees to make the actual play part.

Thanks for chiming in cdelatorrejr, I would love to get an IP cam it is however out of my budget at the time. I'm also an IT professional. Which IP cam did you go with? We've had great luck with Axis cameras at work for security. my setup right now is a Microsoft Lifecam VX3000(I found a 2 pack of them at walmart for $30) and webcamxp software which is free for 1 source.

Yep Norm, there will be aditional play areas above the base tray area I have shown. I was hoping to make a really stable base. I'm using 1" PVC and I'm thinking about filling the bottom 6" of the stand with sand and cap it with Silicon Caulking so it's nice and sealed. I'm not going to glue any of the PVC so I feel I need that cap for the sand

Refund doesn't seem to dunk any pellets, Joey takes them all the way from the bottom of the cage up to the water dish to dunk them

The air conditioning must be on. -Patrick

Oh I almost forgot the dimensions of the tray are 2'x2'

Ok so here's what I've come up with and thrown together. the idea is to build this as a base and then we will attach a larger diameter branch to the center of this stand, and then attach smaller branches to that one to make sort of a "tree" on the stand. The base will be PVC and the tray will be some sort of waterproofed board like whiteboard for easy cleaning., the trim boards around the outside will probably be poplar 1x2's. According to SketchUp it will be just over 3' tall at the base. Let me know what everyone thinks! -Patrick

Yep! I'm going to draw up plans of the stands we're going to make. I'll post them when I'm done -Patrick

Yes the webcam is coming in handy, like right now I see she's dunking her pellets again

She plays the sneak attack peoples fingers and toes when we're at home in the bathroom for our playtime I think we're going to build some playstands so they can be out with us almost all the time when we're home.

Is there anything I can do to engage Joey while I'm gone? I watch and all she does is sit on her perch, eat, and preen. should she be a little more playful?