Suzzique

I have to agree with BMustee. If your going to take on another bird then it should be for life. Not all birds talk. Even ones known for talking. The breeder that I got Alex from had a 7 year old female grey that was just a pet. She said that her grey made lots of sounds but never talked. What are you going to do whith the grey you have now if he never talks? While Alex is still young and may yet still talk I will not love him any less if he never says a word. I took in Martini about 3 weeks ago. I didn't get him for Alex I got him for me. Martini loves my daughter best and that is fine. He is quit social and will spend time with all of us. His old mom said that he does say a few things, but other than kissy noises and his normal chirping he hasn't said a word. I don't care if Martini never says another thing. He is the sweetest little bird and we are his forever home. Alex and Martini will chat back and forth. But that doesn't make Martini Alex's best bud. Alex has tried to attack Martini a few times. And he want's to take over Martini's play area. He ends up in timeout everytime we catch him on Martini's cage. I wonder what are you going to do with your grey if he never talks? Talking is a bonus...

The cracked corn is not really nessicary. I also like to add a dried leafy greens mix that I get from a local bird store. This is all just basic so you can add or delete at will.

Congrats on your new baby! Baby birds are so fun!

A well scocialized bird will interact with lots of people. It doesn't mean that they don't have one person that they like best. We got Alex for my son after the loss of his Maximilion Pionus. But Alex bonded with me so he is my bird. But he does stuff with my son that he wont do with me. The same goes for my daughter and husband. My husband always says that Alex doesn't like him but just about all the sounds that Alex has picked up are ones he learned from the hubby.

Cracked corn is just dried corn that has been flattened. So it is cracked. I found mine at the groucry store with the wild bird/squirl food. Though if you get that it should be rinced first.

I most likely spend the least on toys. I make about 95% of my birds toys. So when you brake it down I avrage less than $40 a month. I love the doller store for toy parts! You never know what you are going to find there. But not everyone has the time or creativity to make thier own toys.

Toys serve a lot of different play. But you want ones that they can chew up or they will start in on your woodwork.

I checked and yes he is a nanday conure.

Alex only eats dinner off of our plates as well. Though he seems to think that silverwear is evil and must be thrown to the floor!:laugh:

Oh ok here are shots of Alex's redone stand as well as the play area's above both cages. Please know that do to being redone I have taken down all of his toys which were all in need of redoing. So he only has a few up right now. The stand is not totally done I ran out of stuff for covering and I plan on adding a swing. I will take more pictures once I have toys done and up for all to see. Oh and the link in the pictures is from the fact that I use imageshack to host my pictures.

This is really easy makes a lot that can be frozen and last quite a while. Don't be afraid to experiment and this is a great way to sneek in stuff that your bird might not otherwise eat. This is the base. 1 package 15 bean soup mix (less the spice mix it has to much salt) 4 cups cooked rice (whatever kind you want to use) 2 cups cracked corn 1 one pound box pasta Cook the beans acording to the package directions. I useally soak over night and then still cook them a couple of hours. I add extra water near the end of the cooking and add the cracked corn and pasta. I cook the rice in a seperate pan according to the directions and add it after. Once all is cooked I split the mixture into 3 seprate batches and then get creative. fresh chopped or frozen fruit fresh chopped or frozen veggies chopped nuts oats wheat germ coconut herbs, spices liquid to make a good consinty (fruit juice, chicken broth ect) I usally do one batch as fruit and nut, one veggie and one that I call hot. Once I have everything in I then package them into sandwitch size zippy bags and freeze. To help with the verity I will use baby food and mix it in in the morning when I am heating up his breakfast. Have fun and watch your bird enjoy!

I know it sounds odd but greys do need sunlight in order to make vitamin D. They can end up with a vitamin D definicy other wise. My next big project for my birds will be an outside aviary so that they can get more sun but it maybe after the first of the year before I can really start on it.

Thanks Everyone! Yep we have lots of pets!

Tony welcome to the forums! As lovemygreys said just give it time. Some babys are super easy Alex was. But others need time and to be tought. I wonder about the toys. Do you think he hates them because he ignores them or because he is beating them up? It could also be that he is a bit afraid of them. Again time is your friend here. A suggestion that I have heard alot is to add a half perch to the door of the cage. Have him step up onto that perch before letting him out. This way he doesn't feel you are invading his space. Also just like real babys he maybe pushing you to see what he can get away with.

That is the thing is that everyone has a different view on what should and shouldn't be feed, done, interact, flighted, clipped ect. Know that that there are 4 things your bird should NEVER have. Caffien, avacado, chocolate and alcahol. After that if you can eat it so can your bird. So while the breeder doesn't give palm oil it is his view and doesn't mean it's not good for your bird. So you ask and get more views on what is good and what isn't. Though I don't think it will hurt to give both. Just don't over do it. I would say don't give the spirulina and the plam oil on the same days. That to me seems like over load.

OOPS you got me confused with TinyTimneh. Alex (a cag) spends most of his day on his play stand. He is very independent. I did not teach him to play on his stand. He is very curious about anything new. Also when the pictures were taken I had just finished the stand and had not yet got most of his toys back up. It is TinyTimneh that is having problems with her timneh. But birds are smart and can learn very quickly. You could show him how fun it is. Also if you want to think about the sholder riding. Just like anything else it takes practice.

I make my own mash. I will have to post the resipe later. It takes a few hours to do it all. But at the end it is worth it. I have a base then split it up to add different stuff to it. Then it is packaged and frozen. It's nice becase Alex and Martini get a warm meal first thing and it is really easy. No more than 5 minutes and both birds are happyly eatting breakfest. They get to help with whatever the rest of us are having too if they want.

Alex has loved both stands. I redo them on occation to keep things interesting for him. Both stands are free standing. The base is the same just the top changed. I will take a full picture of the new one. It is quit high as Alex is flighted and goes up to the top of the shades all the time. So I made the stand high enough that he can get onto his playstand from them. I made the net myself. He loved it when it was just the vertical part he would clim up and down. Once I added the horizonal he totally ignored it. It is all pvc pipe nothing is glued so it is easy to take apart and redo.

Oh that is so cute!

No there is nothing wrong with the pvc. I cover mine in vetwrap so gives a good grip. Alex loves his playstand. This is the third time that I have done his stand sense I got him. The nice thing about the pvc is that you are only limited by your imagination. Here are pictures of the first and second ones that I did. I will try and get one of the new one sometime tomorrow.

Tycos-mom the aviator comes with a great dvd on how to intorduce the harness to your bird. Even rescues. It is really great!

You can make a fun playstand out of pvc pipe you get from the hardwear store. I just redid Alex's today so will get a few shots of it in the next day or so. He also has a play area that is hung from the cealing. I will get some pictures of that as well. Try and figure out what kind of toys yours likes then give him ones with lots of that kind of thing. I make 95% of my birds toys. Sometimes it will take a few days but once they get use to seeing it most will want to check it out. Though Alex loves anything new. He will even get really excited and make a sound that shounds like OH OH OH OH. It's to cute! Also do you allow your bird on your sholder? If so just let him rid around with you while you work. Alex loves this. I can sweep do dishes ect. He gets mom time and I get my stuff done.

Alex at a year still likes his cuddles but we do lots of other things as well. He does a few tricks. He is not food motovated so he gets tons of prase when he does what I want him to. I get excited and tell him good bird and he will even get a kiss. This works quit well. His fav thing to do is flip upside down pick up a toy from the table and flip back up. I have used this trick to start teaching him his colors. He now knows red, purple and yellow but not well enough to add a forth yet. I use baby links that are only one color for this. When I filp him I tell him what color I want. He is not afraid of anything except bath time. He HATES bath time.

Alex is the odd one. He hated grapes for the longest time! Just in the last month has he changed his mind and now likes them. He eats everything but the skin.

I redid Alex's play stand today. I still need to finish recovering it and adding back toys. Also going to add a swing this time to see what he does with it. I made a swing for Martini. But so far the only one interested is Alex, and he's not allowed on Martini's play area. They each have one above thier cages. I will have to take pictures of everything in the next day or so.