chimaysmommy

Today's the day!!! :woohoo: After I get my morning coffee in, I'm heading out for birdie goodies at the store. 9 hours and counting!!!

Congratulations!!!! :cheer: Must be so EXCITING!! Can't wait to see the squishy baby pictures!!

Thanks everyone!!! We just got a big ol' shipment of toys galore for Chimay, just in time for his arrival. Fortunately there's plenty of space underneath our cage for a toybox and cleaning supplies. I'm getting so nervous! I just hope he's not a pain in the a$$ to put into his carrier for Monday's vet visit...I remember the sweaty mess I would become trying to chase my cats around to get them in the carrier for the vet. I don't have them anymore but I'm still suffering from vet-prep PTSD. Ha ha!

Thank you guys for the great advice...I think we'll keep him in the primary cage for at minimum a few days to see how he does with the television on. For the sake of keeping him low on the stress scale, if he's not sleeping with the TV on we'll probably remove ourselves from the living room and move to our bedroom TV instead. Then start putting him in the second cage after he's got his bearings.

We've got a smaller "night" cage for our grey, because my boyfriend and I are both somewhat of night owls and Chimay would likely not get the sleep he needs by sleeping in his primary cage being in the living room. Would it be advisable to try and get him sleeping in his night cage on the very first night, or let him sleep in the primary cage for a day or two to help get him acclimated to his new home first? I really want to make sure that his homecoming is as stress free as possible, and I am concerned that introducing him to two cages in one day may be too much for him.

Eee! Thanks for all of the well wishes guys... Is it just me or does it seem a little ironic to have to FLY a BIRD somewhere? Ha ha....bad joke

I really am...we both are! This is going to be the longest week ever! I'll be sure to get the pictures flowing once he's home

This doesn't really translate into any particular meaning/phrase (but it's a pretty embarassing story), but my mom had named my high-school TAG Shady...after the imaginary friend I had when I was about three. Shady apparantly went everywhere with me, and I talked to her all of the time. I promise I'm totally sane now (I think...lol), but when I saw your post for a name-search, Shady was the first that came to mind.

Chimay's flight is scheduled to arrive on Saturday at 5:17pm!!! Our breeder gave me a list of the current food he's eating, including the pellet brand, fruits/veggies/nuts, and a recipie for the same birdie bread he's been eating. Eeeeee!!! We're really getting excited. My boyfriend is worried that Chimay won't like him...we went to Petland yesterday to play with the birds there, and a double-yellow-headed Amazon really really liked me. He was pretty timid with my boyf though. I had to explain to him that it is probably because I'm only 5'4", and he's 6'4"...that's a lot of human for one little birdie to take in. Plus I was crouched in front of his enclosure, and my boyf was standing over him. Hopefully the fact that Chimay's cage-playtop is much much closer to eye-level will make it easier for both.

I wondered the same thing myself...the original instruction sheet looked like a copy of a copy of a copy. The type was very unclear, and none of the many parts in the diagram were labeled/numbered. It was frustrating, but once we got the major panels together, it was pretty self explanatory where the rest went. Anyway, it would have made MUCH more sense for them to enclose the copy that was emailed to me. Consumers shouldn't have to solicit good directions from the manufacturer.

Here's a pic of the creation (I know this is prolly better suited for the "Homemade Toys" section, but figured since I brought up the parts purchased I'd show off the toy as well):

We found a really awesome website for toys/perches/food/etc that we've been shopping on for at least the last month... www.birdsafestore.com They've got a slew of perch selections, including the boing perches. My favorite section is the "toy parts" section...you can buy wooden beads individually, leather rope (birdie safe of course--veggie oil tanned), leather chew shapes, colorful plastic beads, and make your own toys! I made a big hanging toy using some big wooden beads, some leather rope, and cupcake wrappers that I bought for fifty cents...ta da!! And the toy probably cost all of $4 to make. We also purchased a bag of Zupreem pellets for a LOT cheaper than at the pet store.

It really is...but one quick word of advice--make sure you check the box over thoroughly when/if you have a cage delivered from them. I was fortunate that even though I didn't look over my cage and sign the delivery sheet as "damaged" they were really great about quickly correcting the issue and getting me replacement parts. It could have easily been the other way around. The girl who helped me apologized after seeing the pictures, and said that some people in the warehouse aren't always as careful as they should be when it comes to operating their forklift which is the likely cause of our damaged delivery. On the off chance you do get the same cage that we purchased, please feel free to let me know if you'd like me to email you a more comprehensive instruction sheet. The one that comes with the cage is not all that great, and the manufacturer was nice enough to send me a different sheet with clearer labels.

Hello MeganAL!!! You're going to love this site...it's FULL of information on nearly anything you'd want to know (I use the search box at the top of the forum page all of the time) on greys. Have you been able to take any pictures of your new baby?

Welcome!!! Can't wait to hear more about your TAG and his antics! Do you have any pictures of Coco that you can share with us?

*****SPOILER ALERT***** LilosMom it's so funny you ask that question, because my boyfriend posed the exact same question to me last night while we were perch/toy shopping! Ha ha... Dr. P took advantage of an opportunity to spend a year at MIT's Consumer Electronics Laboratory in Boston, which stressed Alex considerably (check out the chapter "Alex Goes Hi-Tech." Alex didn't go with her and the stress of seperation, though Dr. P visited took a lot out of Alex. She described how hard it was for both Alex and Griffin when she finally was able to get them on a plane and travel 12 hours to Boston, and how Alex was a chewed up mess by the time they made it to Boston. As far as how he died, I have no idea. It's a tragedy that he did, and as morbid as it sounds I was really hoping that there would be a medical explanation as to the cause of his death at the end of the book. If I had to make an assumption based on the "feel" of the book as a whole, it seems that Dr. P may have wanted to keep the focus on Alex and his accomplishments in the Avian Learning Experiment and not on the cause of his demise. This I can understand, but I still was just slightly disappointed that we didn't find out why he passed.

Shannon thank you so much for posting that youtube link! I loved the video, and I'm so glad Griffin is working in Alex's footsteps. Dave007 we'd love to get a second grey if you're willing to cough up the money for the bird and a bigger cage...j/k! Lol... I certainly wouldn't want my reputation on this board to be that of someone who would misrepresent herself.

We got the cage from a site called Everything Birds...here's the link: http://www.bird-cage.com/p38/Kasterra-Play-Top-Bird-Cage/product_info.html After the broken legs problem was worked out, the only other real problem I had with the cage was the assembly instructions. They are not very detailed at all, but after the main panels were put together it was fairly easy to see how the rest went together. We're going to be using a plastic office mat, rather than the big metal seed skirt so we had some screws left over which initially made me a little nervous. Ha ha...but then I realized that they went to the cast-aside seed skirt so we're okay.

Yipeeee!!! We received our replacement parts and everything is in one piece thankfully. After much cursing we also managed to get it assembled and re-arranged the living room as well. Toys are in, now the only thing left to do is wait for our baby's delivery next Saturday! Our breeder emailed us and will have his flight information available on Monday. This next week is going to be SOOOOOO long!!!

What cutie pies!!!! Thank you for sharing them with us!!

You guys are really going to love it...Once it gets to the point where she begins talking about her childhood forward it really gets good. Some of the concepts that Alex seemed to understand were just incredible. Please be sure to let me know what you think!!! I really believe it's a must-read for anyone who owns a grey

I know I've seen novelty Ipods out there that are just plastic containers with gum/candy inside. Maybe if you are able to find one of those, take the candy out and replace it with treats he could have his own Ipod Forager? Ha ha!!

Our baby's name doesn't translate into anything special (I don't think anyway...lol), but it is the name for his favorite Belgian beer. I know it sounds silly to name a bird after a beer. But any time there is something to celebrate, he and our BEST friend Chris always drink it together. I always get a confused look or two when I tell people our boy parrot will be named Chimay, but to us it's a very symbolic of our friendship and celebration! I don't drink it myself, but we still celebrate together with their glasses of Chimay and my bottle of Bud Light. Ha ha!!

Welcome Msvoluptous!!! When is your grey going to arrive in your home? Have you thought of names?

Aw I'm sorry if I misled somewhere, we're actually getting one grey. Our first!! Right now our apartment is only big enough for one, but you never know...when a house comes along we might just have to get Chimay a playmate!