BaxtersMom

Good point Judy. If the yard is sprayed with any chemicals I wouldn't let them have anything out of it. Thanks for pointing that one out. Karma to you:)

Me too. I found some of your posts interesting and helpful but we do need to know more about you. If you are going to be speaking and posting as an expert it would be nice know your credentials. Members here on the forum love to talk about our greys and share our experiences with the other members here. Won't you please share some your experiences with us, too?

Me too. I found some of your posts interesting and helpful but we do need to know more about you. If you are going to be speaking and posting as an expert it would be nice know your credentials. Members here on the forum love to talk about our greys and share our experiences with the other members here. Won't you please share some your experiences with us, too?

I get them out of my yard too:blush: When ever I see them I go pick them. Finally, free bird food:laugh:

I have seen pretzels that are covered in something white at the Whole Food Stores. I wonder if they were yogurt covered??? Hmmmm.

I would recommend pellets for them. I think the best you can get is Harrisons Pellets. I've heard they have the best nutrients. They can be ordered online at their website. Alot of members her feed Harrisons. They are probably one of the most expensive pellets but well worth it from what I have read. I feed Zupreem brand to my flock. It is pretty good too. If they haven't had pellets on a regular basis it might be hard to get them to eat them right away. Just keep offering them and eventually they should start. Some take to pellets right away. I myself believe they should have pellets as part of their main diet. They also like nuts and if you have a Macaw I think that is one of the foods that they should have. I'm not certain but thought Macaws needed a lot of nuts. Maybe another member on here can help you out more on those. There is a link here in the bird food room called "Free Food" I think it is at the top of the bird food room where you can get free samples. They will send them to you. You should go check that thread too. You can never fuss too much over them. It's nice to know that you care so much and are doing everything you can to make sure they have what they need.<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/30 01:22

When I joined the forum last year I lived in Michigan but now I live in Texas:woohoo: Dallas/Fort Worth area.

I have given my eclectus the dandelion leaves and the flowers right from my yard. I have a grey but he won't eat it. But I don't cook it all. As for the fruits and veggies I offer my flock as many kinds that I can but unfortunately they all seem to like different things. Veggies have more nutrition than fruits do. The greener the better...brocolli, green peppers, hot peppers are a hit at my house. They also like sweet potatoes. As for fruits, I feed apples and oranges mostly. When I experiment with fruits they usually don't want much to do with other things I try so I stick to those. Fruits are good as a treat, they don't need to be fed daily as they are mostly water but they sure like them. Please check through the various rooms in the bird food room. There is a ton of information on what to feed and what not to feed your grey. I'm sure you will find it helpful.

judygram wrote: [ "I am afraid my birds will have to go to a rescue or sanctuary as my kids have no intention of taking them, they do not share my love for birds, my daughter loves Sunny, my sun conure, but she doesn't like her scream and she is afraid to try to handle Josey. Those of you who have family to take your birds are very lucky indeed." Judy, I would be willing take your Sunny & Josey if something dreadful happened to you and would love them like my own. If all goes well I should have another 25-30 good years left;)and they are welcome here:) (What's 2 more:laugh: ) I have had a friend that I have known about 20 years now. Her son who has just graduated told me he would love to have my flock and would gladly take them. Of course I registered that in my brain right away. He does the state fairs and has taken a lot of agriculture classes and understands and loves all animals. He fell in love with our amazon and I know for a fact he wants him. He has already shown me that he can handle birds. Cooper our amazon is a pretty rowdie character and he had him perched on his hand and petting his head and touching his back and wings in a matter of minutes. We still can not do easily that so he is the one:woohoo: Cooper is very tame but doesn't like his feathers touched:laugh: I don't know if he could handle all 4 of our birds but definately could handle one or two. I am thinking Baxter and Cooper for sure. He is young, going this fall to become a phychologist of some kind to help people cope that have deadly diseases like cancer and aids, etc. But I feel lucky that he would take atleast one. The others will to go to a sanctuary or a zoo where they will have open spaces to fly in. I have seen too many parrots not getting the proper care and would not feel right if my babies went into a neglectful home. I do still need to make the proper arrangements for this though. Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/29 16:52<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/29 17:01

I have given my grey rawhide several times and have had no problems. He usually dips it in his water bowl and moistens it untill it is soggy but sometimes he will beak or chew on it. I only use the natural rawhide without any chemicals when it is given to my grey. To make toys I have used food coloring on the rawhide to brighten it up though. As for the choking hazard...anything can be a choking hazard. The shells of nuts, seeds and even the wood they love to chew for example can do the same thing if you look at it that way. I read the article and it seemed to written as someones personal opinion or preference. It did not look professionally worded by an expert. If you do not feel that something is safe for your grey then it is up to you to do the research and decide for yourself. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Congradulations on getting your new kitty. I know the others have already asked but can we some pictures?:whistle: I am a sucker for cats and always have been. I lost my beloved grey tabby this past January, she was 12 years old. I had her since she was just 4 weeks old and I miss her everyday:( . I swore I would never get another cat...that's why I got Baxter to try and help me heal (which he did:) ) I didn't think I could ever love another cat like I did Ms Kitty but I really miss having a cat around the house.:unsure: It just doesn't seem like home without having a cat around. One of these days I will have another cat. And I'm sure it will be another Tabby cat. They are wonderful creatures. Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/29 00:17<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/29 00:19

Dan, my thoughts and prayers are with you for Jakes safe return. If Jake is anything like my conure he is a survivor and I think my conure could forage up some food outdoors. Lord knows he's into everything edible in the house even when it's out of sight. I am glad you posted it even though I'm sure it was hard to do. It's a good reminder for us all to not get too relaxed like we did just a few days ago. We had a close call this past weekend ourselves with our amazon. The patio door was cracked just a tiny amount as my husband started to go outside and he made a break for it and did manage to get out the door. This was a first for him, too. Luckily my husband grabbed him in mid flight. I wasn't there when it happened but it just goes to show that we must always be on guard. Please keep us posted. I will say a little prayer for Jake to come home soon.<br><br>Post edited by: BaxtersMom, at: 2009/05/28 04:04

Carol....That's It!!!!!{Communicate-0002011B} You found it!!! If my memory is correct, that is the exact same thing. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I actually did try to do Tiggers (my eclectus) nails. But I only cut off the very very very end points. It was my first time. :dry: I was very nervous and could just imagine cutting into the vein and decided right then I would never be the one to lip the nails. It was just too nerve racking to me, but after seeing the lady do it with this tool it looked so much easier and less stressful to use and it is something I just might try in the future but probably not;) I am so glad you found it though, that way we all know what it is and how much it is. That's pretty cheap really.

Probably the 50's and 60's. The Be Bop era seemed very fun and a much simpler time. If you could live in any state which one would it be and why?

I have a combination of wood, rope and cement perches and was told that the cement perches would keep the nails ground down but it seems every 3 or 4 months they still get pretty sharp. :pinch: The lady that came over to this trimming even told me to use cement perches so they can keep them trimmed down themselves. I told her I had them and she looked at them and said they were pretty smoothed down (which they were) and she said to wash them in the dishwasher about 4 times and they would come back like new:woohoo: I didn't know that. I wash them regularly but have never tried putting them in the dishwasher. So there was another good tip for her. But as for her method I thought it was great and I would highly recommend it to anyone. And when they need a trim I am going to call her right back out.

What's wrong Dan, Scared the little lady is going to get you in your sleep. :laugh: {Feel-bad-00020063}

She said the tool was a medical tool that was used by doctors to do vasectomies among other things:ohmy: to burn the tubes or cords or what ever they guys have :blush: And similar type procedures. I would think it would be a great way to do the nails with the heat. You push a button and the wired glows red from the heat. She said you don't have to worry about any remaining bacteria because the heat would burn & sanitize it immediately. She also mentioned that if one was to get too close to the blood vein that it would immediately close it off so that is another plus to this method. She said there would never be any blood with this tool. She was great. Bonkers flew right on her shoulder when she came in too. I guess s/he knew she was a bird person. And the other ones seemed pretty fascinated with her when she was done. It was a good day for them and an added plus that they didn't have to take a stressful trip. She charged only $45 for all 4 birds and that was for the works, nails, beaks & wings but we only did the nails and Tiggers beak. The $45 was the flat rate no matter what was done or how many birds we may have had. I thought that was a great deal....and I thought that is a heck of a business idea. Just think you go to 4 to 6 houses in a day and it's a $200 to $300 day and the only 2 tools needed, the scissors and the handy heating tool.

I have been looking for a good place to take my flock to get their nails trimmed since I moved to a new area but haven't found any place I was comfortable with. Then I found an ad online (craigslist) about a lady who would come to parrot owners homes and trim nails, beaks and clip wings. I was a bit leary because I had no idea who she was or if she was good or not but she did say she had 17 years experience so I thought we would give it a try. Turns out her dad is a practicing vet & she has a degree in veterinary medicine and was very knowledgable. I was comfortable with her from the start. All I really wanted were the nails trimmed and the beak on my eclectus because it grows so quickly. I thought she would clip the nails with some type of clippers or a dremel but she took out a little medical tool about the size of a toothbrush that has a small wire that heats up on the end. It basically just melted the ends down to proper length and there was no cutting or clipping involved. There was a slight smell since the nails were being heated up and melted but she warned us of that in advance. I was so very impressed with her. She did each bird all by herself and was very relaxed and talked to us and the birds the entire time she was working, that's how good she was. It was over before each one knew it and was painless to all of them. Only one who threw a fit was Baxter and I kind of expected that:whistle: but he head bobbed right away when she was done so I knew he was fine:) I was just wondering if any one else had heard of this method or has it done on their birds? I liked it. She had all 4 birds done in about 10 to 15 minutes. I was also talking to her about Bonkers our conure and she thought from the behavior we described that Bonkers was a girl:ohmy: It made sense. We always considered Bonkers to be a boy but I told my husband a long time ago that Bonkers might be a girl. I just had this feeling. I guess the only way to know for sure is to do a dna test but I doubt we will have that done but now I think Bonkers really is a girl.

Hi, I feed mine a combination of things. I feed pellets as their main diet so they can get the proper nutrition and as many vegetables that I can get them to eat. I also feed them some seeds, nuts and fruits. Please check the other topics in the bird food room and you will find tons of information on what a good diet is and the foods to avoid.

Carol, I am so happy and excited for you. I know you loved these babies right from the start. The pictures are fantastic. They look like such angels and so relaxed in their new home. They will bring you so much joy. You are going to make a wonderful mommy to the twins. Give them kisses for me too, they are too cute!

I've got too much time on my hands

That baby bird does look alot like the one I found a few days ago. It might be the same kind. So, how's it doing. Can we get an update? Please...

I have a grey, eclectus, conure and a dyh amazon. My grey and my conure are buddies and the conure will go my greys cage to visit for long amounts of time. When I have a short errond to run and don't want to put the conure in his own cage, I will put him in my greys cage and tell him he has to babysit for awhile. My grey has a sweet disposition and he can be put on the playstands along with all of the rest of my parrots but the only one he has bonded close to is the conure. But he does not fight with any of them. I think I am so lucky they all get along so well.

That's another clue, they start dodging certain emails and certain questions, like their phone number, home address and vets name. That was good you thought to think of those to ask for. Another thing you can do if the bird has to be shipped, tell them you have a friend living in their area and see if they can come by to look at it before you make your final decision.

I think eclectus in general kind of keep to themselves. Tiggers door is always open in the day time and he will come out when (and if) he feels like it but there are some days too, he is quite content to just sit in his cage for the biggest part of the day with his cage door wide open. He will go in the back corner and just hide out sometimes but he is perfectly content, I can tell by the beak grinding. My other flock members come out immediately when the doors are opened but not Tigger. He is just as content to be sitting inside his cage as out of it. Some days he is out alot, too. They are very different from greys. If he was caged alot that might explain it too. He may not be used to being outside of the cage and not quite comfortable with it yet. Plus he is still settling in. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Each one of my birds that are different species are so different from one another. This is off topic but I read that eclectus liked swings in my ekkie book so I bought one and I'll be darn...he hoppped right on and really loves his swing. Another thing my ekkie does sometimes is when I run the vaccuum, he will bathe in his water bowl while I'm doing. This was also mentioned in the same ekkie book. Does Sully do that? Just curious:whistle: