Titch

Hi guys.. I'm selling Echo and Chiku's old baby cage as I'm running out of room and Chiku has progressed into the big cage if anyone wants it, or know someone who does, then it's listed On Ebay

danmcq wrote: You could sprout an unprocessed sunflower seed, but the sprout would not contain the beneficial nutrients, protein and oils of the seed. Maybe not the ones pulled from parrot food.. but you could get sunflowers from health stores and sprout those. When you sprout them all the stored up energy for creating life becomes active which releases all the nutrients.

you could sprout the sunflower seeds.. then they become healthier

As long as he's poo'ing then that's normally a sign he's eating something.. if something comes out, then something must have gone in.. I brought Chiku home a few weeks back and she ate like a horse, then a week later she slowed right down with what she looked to be eating, and now she's picked right up again.. Could be to do with fledging.. Everything else was normal, play. sleep etc.. Now both are eating like little troopers

Well, things are going strength to strength. The pair are getting closer everyday.. Since altering the way I handle Echo slightly, it's made her so much more manageable. She's quite highly strung and very spookable, someone might drop something next door and Echo will shoot off, Chiku will still have her head in the food bowl, not a care in the world lol.. Before - Echo was quite hard to handle, nippy, and quite demanding.. As I posted before, I decided not to completely pander to Echo's stroppyness whilst ensuring she didn't feel pushed away by our new arrivals appearance. So I often alternate which bird gets fed first, they sit together on my desk perch and will receive pomegranate each one from each hand so it's simultaneous, they both get lots of attention. i got worried about Echo being so #1 that she actually would begin looking on me as a "mate" which as we know is not healthy in the long run. So although it is a little difficult for me, I've just altered the way I do things and made sure both birds know that I'M #1. A member on here said not to get involved with their sorting out of the pecking order, so i've laid off them a little, just intervening if Echo gets too rough as Chiku is still only a little baby, just 14 weeks old to Echo's 10 months! When Chiku has muscle, I shall leave her to have it out knowing they can both give as good as they can get (obviously without it getting out of hand) However, i don't think it will come to that, as the evidence is shown below :D

Well.. 2 days into my experiment and things have calmed down a bit.. Taking a lot of hard work but here's this mornings effort

2 weeks now

Echo's not really settling down with Chiku right well.. She doesn't mind Chiku being around, but if Chiku gets too close Echo will nip her feet.. Even though I've tried giving Echo #1 status, lots of praise when they're close together, lots of 1 on 1 attention and so on, Echo actually seems to be getting worse.. I mentioned this at work as my colleague was asking how they were getting on, so we were discussing it for a bit.. We've both pretty much come to the conclusion that Echo's got it into her head that she can behave any way she likes and still get the attention she wants 'at a later date'. So even though I've been giving her 1 on 1 later at night or lots of extra seeds and scratches, she's giving Chiku a hard time, knowing that she might get a telling off there and then, but later she'll get what she wants anyway.. Manipulation? I think so.. I'm going to try and flip things round a bit.. Chiku got fed first as I got home at 1 after work today and Chiku hadn't touched any of her veggies that I'd left in.. I positioned all her food in a certain way so i could check, she didn't eat much last night either, i think she's feeling a bit depressed - like Betty.. Getting bullied is getting her down.. So Chiku came out first and munched some formula, Echo stayed in the cage.. Then Chiku's been getting lots of attention, whilst Echo only gets attention if she approaches us calmly.. So far it seems to be having an effect, granted it's only an hour or so into my experiment.. Anyone else think that by taking a slightly firmer line with the bullying will work..? Yes - i think a bit of insecurity sparked it off, but I've spent the whole time trying constant positive reinforcement, as well as a quite a few time outs.. I even gave Echo a shower I know i shouldn't have.. But it's gone a bit passed that and Chiku is only a little baby, Echo can be very standoffish to people she doesn't know, and she's being exactly the same towards Chiku as she would be towards unknown people. btw.. I got my DNA results back and I got 2 girls

But Dave.. what if you go places where Bird poop wouldn't be appreciated. You go to family or friends - you might be gone all day - at least with a bird suit you can take him/her with you. surely this is better than having to leave it at home.. or the grumbles under the breath as the people you visit politely put up with a bird poo-ing in their home. I wouldn't use one on mine in my home, or anywhere where it wasn't required.. but if it was Christmas at my grans - who lives 90 miles away - i would certainly consider one. As long as the birds are happy wearing them and they aren't stressed or upset in anyway then it's not a problem surely?

Chiku certainly does have beautiful feathers.. the shine on them is unreal.. I add RPO to her formula which helps keep the skin supple and the feathers in good condition That lasted for 7 seconds, then echo pushed chiku off :lol: Chiku is closest the camera.<br><br>Post edited by: Titch, at: 2009/08/29 21:26

You spoken to Andy or Matt up in Strensall?

Hi.. the mark just appeared one day.. it seems to have flaked a bit.. Vet's happy with Echo's diet as I was worried it might be calcium related.. She has Nutrobal suplement and has a varied diet.. So vet just reckons it's where it's grown or got knocked as she does play rough. Beaks tough as ever, she swings from it and gave me a bite yesterday when I pulled a feather for the DNA test, so beaks still strong!!! :lol:

Thats cool! where do you work that allows you to take your bird with you?

Well hello again Thought I'd pop in and give you all an update on #2.. Chiku (african for Chatterer) came home last Saturday (22/Aug) and is a great little chap.. On the way home he was stretching his neck to see out the window, happy to see what was going on, played with his toy in his travel pack generally being calm and inquisitive. No growling, no fear behaviour or anything like that. Got him home and got him settled - Echo was very wary of him. It has made me realise how highly strung Echo is. I've never had anything to compare her to before, so just though all greys were like that. Chiku just wants to be friends with everyone, including my parents, any visitors and Echo.. Well - 3 days in and they finally sat on the window swing together for all of 7 seconds, then Echo put her foot on Chiku's back and pushed him off. :whistle: and just now as I type this, they were sat on the settee together and Chiku went up to Echo wings all droopy making little panting noises.. He really wants to be friends.. They nibbled each others beaks a little bit, then Echo got a bit rough again so i split them up.. Chiku's making a real effort this morning to try bonding with Echo.. I just need to get Echo to trust. So.. One day at a time - Heres Chiku.. and a few of Echo as well

lol.. I had vertical blinds.. I say 'had' :lol: they quickly became sieves and gave up blocking out the Sun.. I now have roller blinds which go right up so nothing hangs down to chew... apart from the winding cord.. :evil:

it's fast becoming a dream of mine to breed birds.. and the Hilltop Aviaries would be my ideal setting..Can't wait to see those finished.

if it came with a decent soundbank, probably about 9.99 GBP.. You can get Feathered Phoenics cd's with lots of samples on and they're around that price so that would be your target range i would think.

I'm quite fortunate in some respects to be deaf lol.. so parrots volume has never been an issue for me.. There are some perks to it i suppose!!

I know how you feel about leaving him on his own for work.. I have to leave Echo when I go out.. so i'm now waiting for my 2nd grey to arrive (3 weeks :woohoo: ) The vet advised if i was to get a different species this would probably be fine as long as it was smaller therfor less imposing on the already existing member. he advised senegals, conures, jardines or amazons.. If.. sorry, WHEN i get more brds in the future, i'd get some of those Sun Conures, they are the most stunning little things you've ever seen. Remind me of a tequila sunrise :blush:

lol.. All the intelligence in the world.. All the common sense of?????

Thats smart.. you seen the new UV ink, reacts to ultra violet light and glows blue.. get it outlined in that :woohoo: I have a scorpion on one shoulder and a snakes head on the other... echo loves them :lol:

Been chatting on the phone to another friend of mine this morning about the best way of introducing the two..Fortunately I have a divider for the current cage, so I can use that for the time being.. He's saying - make them want to be with each other.. rather than saying - here's your new mate, lets all get along.. similar to what we do with toys I suppose - they always want what they think they can't have, or what is just out of reach. So if i put them in proximity with each other, but not in direct contact for a while, hopefully that should spur some interest between the two. though when it comes down to it, it's going to be pot luck i suppose, they'll either like each other, or hate each other..

wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubbbbbbb lol I picked "Number 5" Couldn't for the life of me tell you which that one is on there :lol:

In response to the original question.. Positively reinforce the sounds you like.. So if Gizmo makes a nice chirpy noise, then go to him, give him a seed or what ever you treat with and make a big fuss. try to ignore the bad chirps. It will take patience, but eventually Gizmo will get bored of making sounds which get no reaction and concentrate on the sounds which do get a reaction. You have to be consistent with this though and it's not a quick fix that will work over a short time. I don't live in the US so I don't have a ceiling fan, but Echo hates going any where near the airfilter as it blows upwards, so not sure if that's causing him any worries or not.. Maybe you could cover half the cage, as I noticed it was against the window.. That way Giz will feel a bit less open to the world, but can still have his window view "if he chooses". Greys do so much better if they have choice over what's going on. Try and eliminate any peanuts or sunflower seeds.. Foods high in fat are not good for our captive friends, and a pal on another forum found that eliminating peanuts really helped when his bird started to pluck her feathers. Good luck. Or.. just buy some ear plugs

Hi guys! An update for you all.. After getting Echo I ended up contracting a severe case of MBS!! plus the puppy eye'd look when i left for work in the morning was killing me.. So I decided to use my 6 week holiday to introduce a 2nd bird.. After much deliberation and thought about whether to get same sex, different sex, different species, same species, older, younger, adopt or new.. I've been to see some babies this morning not far from me.. Big thanks to Casper for putting me in touch.. He's a top fella, it's a great place, clean, friendly and the birds were being fed on the kitchen table when we went by all the family.. so they're well socialised too. I ended up putting a deposit on Number 5 :lol: So i get to bring him/her home in about 3 weeks if the breeder is happy the little dudes ready So Echo gets a plaything and I get more mess to clean up.. :woohoo: Happy dayz