pmaholm

Both Refund and Joey have one of those twister perches and it seems to be both of their favorites! -Patrick

thanks for the info all! -Patrick

I just read and article in our newspaper that the local water company is going to add free chlorine to the water for the next month, should I be worried? I'm assuming the levels they'll be adding shouldn't affect Refund and Joey? -Patrick

Update! I'll just update on Joey since Meg wants to take care of telling about Refund. Joey had her vet visit Saturday and was given a "she's a very healthy bird" verdict after a physical exam and bloodwork. He also believes that the her feather picking may have been from stress of being in a "non-compatable" breeding pair. He found no physical reasons for it and thinks that she shouldn't have any problems after she deals with the stress of a new home and such. Also he ruled out PBFD, and noted that even though some of her feathers are red they're all formed normally. So we're feeling better now. Oh he also stressed a healthy diet for them which made me happy, all and all I was happy with the vet he seemed very knowledgeable and has been practicing avian medicine since around 1988. I do however think he clipped their wings a little short, but we were only planning on having them clipped this once so hopefully they'll grow out soon. -Patrick

I agree Dan, her first owners were surprised to find out she was female after they'd called her "Joe" -Patrick

Thanks for the info! Some extra info on Joey too, she's probably 18-21 years old, We've been misting them with aloe juice and water mix at least twice a week. sometimes more because I don't think I'm soaking them enough, I cant seem to get their wing feathers and back feathers to absorb any water it just sheets off.

::pokes Dan:: Joey's a she. and she's already been DNA Sexed. so no Karnack Hat needed -Patrick

Is there any particular time of the year that Greys molt? Or is it on their own individual "schedule"? Thanks all! Just wondering if Joey or Refund could be molting right now. -Patrick

Ok everyone, update, at Walmart last night we found a much nicer webcam at a pretty cheap price(actually it was a pack of 2 of them), it has a much much better quality than the other cam you can actually tell Joey from the cage now! :woohoo: It also works better in the low light. Also the cam will only be online from 7:30am until 5:30pm EDT, I may turn it on manually every once in awhile. Plus we're thinking about adding the second cam to watch Refund. Lastly I'm still working on getting a sound feed. I'm really interested in seeing what kinds of noises she makes while we're away. -Patrick

Hi again Lotty, that address may work on your home network, however to get the webcam setup to broadcast to the internet a few other things have to be done. You need to have your firewall or broadband router "open" up the connection to your computer on the inside of your home network from the outside. If you want it to have an actual web address and not just the IP address, that's where we start getting into more advanced stuff. There's plenty of articles and suggestions online try Googling "how do I stream my webcam?" -Patrick

Yeah it's kind of dark on that side of the house, it faces north and there's about a 30 foot pine tree just about 10 feet off of her window there. I'm thinking I may put a light on a timer in there during the day.

Thanks all for checking out Joey! Kaedyn, I'll have to keep that in mind! The webcam software supports sound I just don't have any microphones set up. Joey seems pretty quiet though. Lotty, if you want to get back to the webcam on another computer you can just come back to the forums and find this post or head to www.williamchase.info FYI I have a feeling I will be hitting my bandwidth limit on the williamchase.info website in a few days :blink:

I know, I really want to get a better webcam so I can watch her more, I may have to set up a light on a timer in there so I can see during the day! I'd really like to get sound set up so I can hear if she talks or makes other noises while we're away at work all day. -Patrick

Hi all, I set up a cheap webcam I had so I could check on Joey from work. I figured I'd share it with everyone. I've set up a special DNS Name for her it's listed below. http://birdcam.maholm.net:8080/ The cam isn't very good quality and I don't have any sound set up. I might disable this in the evenings depending on how much bandwidth it takes. Also I've got the cam auto updating a website of mine. if you're more into the static cam it refreshes every 5 seconds with a new picture it's located at. http://www.williamchase.info -Patrick<br><br>Post edited by: pmaholm, at: 2008/08/06 22:38

Onion and Garlic are not as good because they contain Hemolytic compounds which destroy red blood cells and can cause anemia. I would however think that the occasional garlic and or onion in small amounts wouldn't be enough to throw your bird into full blown anemia. I have used Paprika to season some things for the birds, I have also given them cinnamon sticks before so I'm assuming you could use some ground cinnamon also. Chili Peppers or Habanero Peppers i've been told are good too, birds do not have the same reaction to the capsaicin in the peppers as we do and they're supposed to love the taste. Don't worry your bird won't burn their little beak off. Anyone else have any ideas? -Patrick

We've already gotten the shredding underway, We've given them the "shredders" and Pinata's from Planet Pleasures and they really seem to like them. I may see about picking up some romaine lettuce the next time I'm out. Refund wouldn't touch the collard greens when we got them. :pinch: We're trying to keep them occupied and not plucking, although we've not seen any feathers from either of them since we brought them home we've seen down from Refund but that's about it. -Patrick

Thanks Dan and Nims, Dan that's kind of where my question comes in I've found it difficult to find any good lists of leaves that are safe, I'd like to give Refund and Joey something to shred and make a mess out of and all I've got in my yard is, Maple trees(various types but no red maples), A dogwood, A redbud, several mulberry, and a birch. I also have Yucca plants that are growing like weeds. I see Yucca on the safe list on (http://www.mdvaden.com/bird_page.shtml) however Judy shows Yucca on a toxic list of hers? Thanks again! -Patrick

Anyone have any clue? I'm waiting for input before I give Refund or Joey these. Thanks! -Patrick

Both Refund and Joey are going. Might as well deal with double trouble

I see giving my parrot newspaper and other things to play with as a form of recycling. Plus if you think about it the things we throw away from our birds are(for the most part) easily biodegradable, most of the food/paper will be gone in a few months to a year or so. Not like the 10,000+ years a plastic bottle takes to break down. Also the breeder we got Refund and Joey from has a good idea about wasted food, she collects all of it from her birds and then gives it to the chickens! And I'll tell you what those chickens lay some of the best eggs I've ever had. :woohoo: Just a couple of thoughts -Patrick

I called the vet today to set up an appointment and due to the time constraints of me getting back home after work we got an appointment for this Saturday. I would have liked it to be sooner but I guess it's better than never. I'm hoping we have a good experience as this is the only vet in Bloomington listed on the AAV website (www.aav.org). Wish us luck! -Patrick

Yep it's me! Joey likes me more and loves to sneak attack Megs feet and toes. :blink:

Anyone used Yucca leaves for toys before? I found them listed on one safe list for birds but I want to be double sure on these items. Also I've seen Mulberry listed only once as safe, yet again any experience with this? We have many of these near our house. Also are the mulberries safe? Third, Birch, I've found some conflicting reports on birch wood/leaves/bark. I've got a nice birch that needs trimmed up and want to know if the fids can get some fun out of it. Thanks everyone!! -Patrick

I don't believe she always had red feathers, I think they may have just come in after they had plucked. However I'm not sure. I havn't seen any feathers in her cage since we got her so I think all of the plucking was her plucking Refund and him plucking himself. We are planning on a health check with the local Avian Certified vet however we were waiting just a little while so we are able to handle Refund a Joey a little better without having to towel them quite as much. Was just reading up on PBFD, We will be checking both Refund and Joey out for this. Just to be sure.

Good to know! Thanks all! I make sure to change her water at least once a day and sometimes more if I see pellets at the bottom.