chimaysmommy

Thank you!!! Eee!

Well I think we've figured out Chimay's seemingly "one person bird" behavior. He's just not a morning person, er, birdie! Ha ha! Yesterday when my boyfriend and I were home from work together, I realized that Chimay is much more of a rascal first thing in the morning into the afternoon. He's a bit cranky when he first wakes up, then he's just ready and willing to play play play after breakfast. This is the period of time my boyfriend has with him alone before he goes to work in the afternoon. By the time I get home around 6, he's relaxed and ready to settle in and roost for the evening, hence the cuddly quiet nature I am greeted with when I get home. Mystery solved! For now...ha ha

It's official!! We got the DNA test back from the vet and Chimay is a boy! I am SO relieved b/c we've been calling him such a "good boy" since he came home. Ha ha!

Ha ha!!!! I hear ya Tycos_mom...our Chimay is quite the little poopie machine as well. My boyfriend still isn't quite used to it just yet. He is always surprised by the size of Chimay's "morning deuce" as he likes to call it. Not sure about Shady, but I know Chimay somehow always manages to poop on the toys that are the most difficult if not impossible to clean (i.e. loofas)

Aw that's so great!!! I agree with danmcq on the photo request... The picture you have on your profile is probably one of the cutest baby grey pics ever by the way! Congrats on the great progress!

They really are....I usually look at him and say "I didn't hear you. Say that again?" He just sits there and happily mumbles away. Ha ha!

It's wonderful to hear that his surgery went well! Please be sure to send us pics of his new feathers when they come in

Thank you!! So long as his first word isn't one that I'll have to censor on this forum with ****'s I think I'll be very happy. Ha ha!

Chimay's starting to mumble a lot like he's trying to talk but not quite forming words just yet. It's so exciting every time he starts! We'll be watching tv and just listening to him chirp away, then his voice suddenly gets lower and he starts mumbling something inaudible...we quickly mute the tv and patiently wait to see if we can make out any words but to no avail. Ha ha! He's only 4 months old so I'm not expecting any talking just yet, but he's trying!

Chimay doesn't have a favorite TV show yet I don't think, but I did find out he loves John Lennon! Ha ha...I was watching a documentary one night and every time they played a JL song he got all puffy and started chirping

I'm sorry about that....I definately should have mentioned something about the time he's been with us, I think I got a little distracted in describing his antics between my boyfriend and myself. Thanks Dave!

Thank you SO much for all of the advice!! We are going to definately start having a more rotated routine between my boyfriend and I so that we're trading off on his daily care. Chimay's only been with us for a week, and he's still young so I'm sure that there will be many more changes and surprises to come. B)

I think that Chimay is turning into a one person birdie... And his one person is me. Which tickles me to some degree, but makes me feel bad for my boyf. He was SO excited for his homecoming, and they really hit it off well but we're starting to notice some behavioral changes with him. We work very different shifts at our jobs, and Chimay is alone with him from about 8am to 11am before Chuck leaves for work and then he's home with me from about 6 till Chuck gets home just before Chimay's bedtime at 9:30. Chimay is wonderful with me when I get home, very obedient and affectionate, but when Chuck comes home he tells me the stories of their struggles in the morning. He'll snap and screech at him from time to time, and won't step up for him unless Chuck is offering a treat. On the up side, he will bend his head for a neck scratch. This is very different from his behavior towards me--he steps up almost instinctively. I've told Chuck that physically he and I are probably very different humans to Chimay...I'm about 5'4", while Chuck is 6'4". He's got much bigger hands than I do, and his voice is naturally more commanding than mine. I know that with those basic differences between us, Chimay's going to me more reluctant to trust Chuck than me. What I don't know is how to possibly help in the trust-building between them. I don't want to spend less time with him and risk him getting upset over that, but I also don't want to encourage his rejection of Chuck. This morning we started what I hope to be a continued routing of taking turns waking him in the morning and giving him breakfast...not sure what else I can suggest to him.

Chimay seems to love pine nuts....he also likes almonds and walnuts okay, but he'll turn them down from time to time. Never has he turned down a pine nut

Fortunately the vet doesn't think he's ill, just that there was a bacteria level that was a little bit low. Thank you for the great advice! I might try blending it into his sweet potatos after they've been cooked. Hopefully the cold of the yogurt helps to cool down the sweet potato since it comes out rocket hot at first.

Okay...I had considered the flavored yogurt, but was a little worried about sugar content (as well as whether sugar-substitutes in sugar-free yogurt were good/bad). Maybe I can stick a couple vanilla beans inside the yogurt container for a few days. I use that technique in regular white granulated sugar to make vanilla-sugar...maybe it'll work the same way!

Our vet said that there was a naturally occurring bacteria level in Chimay that was a little low, and he recommended supplementing his diet with about a half spoonful of yogurt each day. Chimay has been SO great about his diet and will eat anything put in front of him, EXCEPT yogurt. I had bought a tub of plain, no flavor yogurt and was wondering if was safe to augment it with a little vanilla extract or something? I'm asking first b/c I know that extract has some level of alcohol in it. I've tried everything else I can think of -- Ground pellets with yogurt in the food processor, smearing his veggies/fruits with a small amount, mixing it in with his whole wheat pasta, and nothing has worked. I can't trick him! Figures that the one food specifically recommended by the vet is the one thing that he won't eat. Ha ha!

Oh what a cutie pie!!! Shady Grey is just adorable...I can't wait to tell my mom that you took my suggestion on the name! She really misses our old TAG and I think she'll be tickled to death. Please keep the photos coming!!

Hi Skeeterhawk1960!!! Since we recently discovered that my baby and your baby are siblings, I'm wondering if we should start calling Chimay a "good girl" Ha ha!! I had asked the breeder to take her best guess at which would be a boy and save him for us once we put our deposit down (I heard somewhere that boys are better talkers), and now I'm even more anxious for the results of our DNA test! Ha ha! Congratulations on your baby boy!!!!!

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! No worries I totally understand that this is not the place for expert medical opinion, but I really didn't leave the vet's office feeling like I had a conclusive status on my baby's health. I figured that if anyone would have some insight it'd be you guys! They are really really nice, and the vet did the best he could at explaining things but he is from another country and his accent is extremely thick. Made it difficult to understand what he was getting at and how worried/not worried I should be. Other than my being worried about the strange numbers on the blood test, Chimay is doing great! He's very lively and very easy going. I'll get some more pics up as soon as I get a chance. I'm at work now, and it's his first day home alone I wish I had a birdie baby monitor or something! Ha ha

Oh and to answer the earlier question about his diet, the breeder said that he's been eating Zupreem fruitblend for parrots/conures, veggies including broccoli, sweet potato, cauliflower, peppers, squash, beans, peas and corn, fruits including apples, grapes, banana, and mandarin oranges. He gets 1 square of birdie bread per day as well. Nuts include pine nuts (he loves those), walnuts, and almonds. I've been really trying to enforce the same diet since he came home and the only thing that I haven't given him is the squash.

Thank you!! I just heard back from our vet and the rest of Chimays cultures were normal. Yay! I asked them about what my next steps should be concerning the off-numbers they saw in his blood test, and they said that they would recommend simply following up in a few weeks. So he's scheduled for an appointment mid-April to have those 3 items re-checked.

So Chimay went to the vet for his initial checkup on Monday, and a couple things bothered me and I was hoping that someone here could shed some light on the subject. The vet said that overall, he was a very normal bird but there were a few things on the blood test that raised his eyebrow. 1) High AST (or AFT? I have no idea what that is)...he feels like that could be from the stress of his Georgia-to-Ohio flight. 2) High creatinin (sp?) level. He said that it should be about 350, but his test results came back at about 3100! This really worried me, but he seemed calm about it. I asked the vet tech to explain creatinin in more detail, she said it is a muscle enzyme and the high level could also be related to travel related stress. Finally 3) the vet said that when looking at his red blood cells, there was something ON the cells that could indicate a parasite not occuring in Ohio. However he is optimistic because his red blood cell count was perfectly normal, and if there was a parasite present the RBC count should be low. Help! I don't know if I should be worried, particularly about the creatinin level...that seems like SUCH a huge difference between where he is and what is normal. I thought that maybe if it's a muscle enzyme, that it could be from all of the playing and exploring he's been doing on the new cage, or gripping for dear life to his carrier perch while on the plane.

Thanks for all of the well wishes everyone! Chimay is still doing fantastically, and he's already learned "step up"!! I can't believe he's already learned it so well. It was certainly funny trying to teach him...each time we offered him our hand and said "step up" he would bend over for a neck-tickle. Ha ha! But he's very proficient at it now, and when my mom visited him yesterday she noticed that he sometimes lets out two clicks right after I say the words "step up." She thinks he might already be trying to imitate the phrase! Well we had our first food-flinging contest this morning with his breakfast of oatmeal, apples, and mandarin oranges. Lol! I even got a little oatmeal flung onto my shirt. Not the first time I'm sure, and certainly not the last. Lol!

I'm SO sorry for not posting yesterday, we were just busy trying to make sure that Chimay settled in well. And as it turns out we didn't have anything to worry about! Our breeder CLEARLY socialized him very well, and he has no fear of toys. ANY toy. He's played with every single thing put in front of him, and responded very well when we had some unexpected company today. Our best friend's 8 year old son was able to pet him, and he loves my mom as well. My mom had told me not to be worried if he doesn't eat a lot in his first few days as he adjusts to his new surroundings. I can't even begin to tell you how much he is NOT reluctant to eat. Ha ha!! He has been quite the little piglet since he got here and has no problems with food (so far). He swings on his rope perch with a lot of confidence, and is starting to discover the magic of hanging upside down from his hanging toys. Lol! Here's a pic of our new baby boy!