mareeee

Hey Kathy- My bird Charlie is actually in quarantine in NYC as we speak. He'll be released next Thursday. (I AM SO EXCITED TO GET TO SEE HIM AGAIN!!!) But if you have any questions about the whole process, I'd be glad to talk to you. It's the biggest headache, but worth it to keep Charlie with us. I lost track of how many forms and phone calls I've had to make, but again, it'll be worth it in the long run, right? I'll probably post a nice long new topic once I get him back on my shoulder with all the hairy details for anyone crazy enough to try to import a grey. I'm still slightly paranoid that something will go wrong between now and then though...

Hi everyone. I just wanted to post an updated picture of charlie's evolving red-factor-ness. He has one all-red tail feather (Maybe he had a grandpa who went out back with a CAG...) and more red freckles too. This picture is actually about 2 months old though. Now he has a few more freckles and all the red feathers at the top of his tail are gone and that one feather is the only red in his tail!

Thank you all for your compliments. I'll let Charlie know he's admired by more than just us. Hopefully it won't go to his head

Dave, again, thanks for the response! Great info and photos too. Yeah, as long as I know its not because I'm depriving him of something in his diet or he has some weird disease, I'm happy. Red factor or no red factor

Hey Dave! Thanks for such a quick reply. I did try a quick search before I posted this, but didn't know it had a name, so had no success. :blush: I'm trying to read up on it now. Thanks for the info. This is pretty interesting! I might find an answer in reading through other posts, but do you think that since they are just now coming in (around his 1st birthday) they have a better chance of staying, or does that mean that its more likely to be just an adolecent-like phase? Or like you said: it depends.

Um, I meant to post a different picture that showed his tail as well. Oops! (Getting behind him to take these pictures took some effort... lol. He doesn't like me sneaking around behind him where he can't see) Anyway, here is the other one.

Hi everyone, Charlie, our TAG, is about a year old. Over the past month or two he has had some red feathers come in on his back and wings. Most of these new feathers are just partially, not completely, red... kinda like his tail feathers. We keep noticing more and more coming too. Is this normal? Is this a sign of some kind of deficiency or something? Certain gene trait? Or just random? He doesn't seem to notice or act any different and the feathers are healthy and shiny, but I just haven't noticed this on other AGs, so thought I'd ask. I'm still a relatively new owner, so this may be a silly question. Here's a picture to show you what I'm talking about. Any response would be appreciated

I mentioned this on another thread, but wanted to share the pictures as a new topic. My favorite part about halloween is carving pumpkins. We don't have pumpkins here, so I tried to grow some in my garden, but they never bore fruit. Instead, I bought a squash in the market that was close enough to a pumpkin and had some fun. Unfortunately, since the squash was going to be lunch and dinner, I had to hurry and didn't have time to do anything detailed like I wanted. C'est la vie. Plus, to do any kind of detailing, you need to carve the insides down pretty thin, and since we were cooking it soon after, that wasn't the best option. We turned it into some great squash soup and pumpkin peanut butter brownies the first day, put it in peanut curry and pumpkin pie the next day, and still had two big chunks that we gave away to neighbors. It was pretty dang good. The thought of carving it and not eating it would have been a ridiculous waste in this country.<br><br>Post edited by: mareeee, at: 2008/11/22 23:59

I guess charlie is a little territorial. He can't stand having this stuffed bird on his cage. He was afraid of it at first, then enjoyed taking his frustration out on it by gnawing on his head. Now whever he sees that its back on the cage, he just walks over to it, picks it up, and summarily drops it over the edge. any suggestions for captioning?

I did a dumbed down version for pumpkin carving (long explaination...), but it still turned out cute. I'll post pictures when i'm not on internet slower than a snail...

I was thinking about modifying the last one (b&w) and carving it into a pumpkin this weekend. (well... squash or mellon... there are no 'pumpkins' persey here...) I did one a couple years ago from a photo of my hedgehog. I'll be sure to take some pictures if I do it!

and another... Anyone else into photoshop? search didn't bring much up...

(ps - That's charlie with Dan, my husband...) here's another.

Well, taking pictures of Charlie is one of my new fun hobbies. I'm trying to learn more tricks on photoshop as well, so as a result you get to see photoshopped pics of charlie

I just finished posting a bunch of pictures on my blog, so thought I'd continue on that roll here. Here's charlie checking out his new cage. We bought some wire screen when we were in the capital and had a carpenter from our town make a bamboo frame and table to put it on. Resources are limited here, but I was impressed what we could have made. Cage and table cost about $15 all together. Charlie enjoys destroying the bamboo. I was going to try to train him not to, but I figure its his and he can do whatever he likes with it. It's just like one big toy to him!:lol:

I just finished posting a bunch of pictures on my blog, so thought I'd continue on that roll here. Here's charlie checking out his new cage. We bought some wire screen when we were in the capital and had a carpenter from our town make a bamboo frame and table to put it on. Resources are limited here, but I was impressed what we could have made. Cage and table cost about $15 all together. Charlie enjoys destroying the bamboo. I was going to try to train him not to, but I figure its his and he can do whatever he likes with it. It's just like one big toy to him!:lol:

Hey thanks luvparrots. I can't get to online often here, but like taking advantage when I'm here in the capital. Yeah, the tree always has all kinds of birds coming to scout out the palm nuts. I figure I need to give Charlie plenty so he doesn't get too jealous of the other birds

hmmm... I give Charlie more than you guys are recommending. My main problem is that the smallest quantity I can buy is a kilo at a time (for about 20 cents!). I have no refrigeration, and if you leave them out, they go moldy in no time in this climate. My solution was making friends with the ladies in the market who sell them so they give me just a handful once a week or so. But when I get them, I have to feed them to him within a few days before they get moldy. But I guess it all averages out since he sometimes goes a week without any... Even better is when the tree in front of our house has some ripe ones. Its amazing: perfect hight for picking with no climbing involved! Problem there is that the locals like to munch on 'em just about as much as Charlie does, so we've got competition for them! (view of our lovely little palm from our porch)<br><br>Post edited by: mareeee, at: 2008/10/28 19:19

Thanks everyone! I've poked around the threads a bit looking and finding some great info so far. I am so glad there are so many people here to give advice. I need it. Yes, he is most likely wild caught... which I have mixed emotions about. But I am excited to welcome him into our lives nonetheless. Thanks again for all the warm welcomes!

Hello everyone! My husband and I are Peace Corps volunteers in Guinea, West Africa and just got a Timneh African Grey this week. We were told that he is 5 or 6 months old. We have no way of verifying this, but his eyes are still pretty dark with a little blue. We don't know if he is really male, but decided to call it 'him' for simplicity sake. We still haven't decided on a name yet either, so suggestions are needed! Any suggestions for how to socialize him and gain his trust would be appreciated too. We got him from a guy who had him in a small cage with a ton of conures and 2 other greys. They were all being fed just corn kernals. The poor fella has had a rough life up until now, so he is justifiably cautious and scared. We're trying to be patient with him and let him trust us, but we're going to have to earn his trust the hard way. It also doesn't help that he is in a tiny cage right now. As soon as we get back to our village, we'll have a carpenter build us a nice big one. Also, any suggestions on how to get him eating a balanced diet would be great as well. We definitely don't have the option of pellets here. It's hard enough for US to eat a balanced diet half the time here, let alone a bird! Luckily the markets here are great with fresh natural foods... I just hope he's not picky or difficult to switch. Anyway, I don't have internet access often here, but will be in the capital for a few more days. I'd love to hear from some of you!