chimaysmommy

Stazel is definitely a beautiful girl! Congrats on your new addition! I agree that she really should have a harness when outside even if clipped. If something startles her and she gets the right kind of breeze she could make quite a bit of distance/height in flight, and if she doesn't fly away she could get herself hurt or stuck somewhere. Veggies and fruit are greYt for them, but I've also heard that veggies are more important than fruits. If she likes the softer type of fruit, maybe you could try mushed up sweet potato. The grocery store near me has individually wrapped sweet potatos that are ready to pop in the microwave with no prep needed. I usually microwave it for about 6 minutes then cut it in half, scooping out all of the yummy insides and letting it cool to a warm temperature before giving it to Chimay. He also loves whole pea pods (snap peas are his favorite). I think he treats them a bit like foraging toys...he never eats the pod itself but loves shredding it up to get to the peas inside. Keep us posted on more of Stazel's progress!<br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/08/22 16:41

One more.....

Well we replaced the small plastic perch inside of the Pack with a grapevine perch and took Chimay out to the pond by our apartment complex this morning! He got to watch his daddy do some fishing and listen to all of the other birds outside. Here's a couple of pics of his first Adventure!

Ha ha! Love the modification lovethatgrey! Thanks ScottY!! I really do hope he takes to it quickly so we can enjoy some of the outdoors before summer's over. My first priority is to go through my perch stash when I get home to see which will work and fit inside the Pack

Well our Adventure Pack arrived FINALLY! I wasn't all to impressed with the construction, seems like a rather flimsy cage honestly and they shorted me one mosquito net. Not to mention the canvas was ripped near one of the buttons on the removable dome top. Since this isn't within reach of his beak and not really a safety issue I'm not worried. Chimay is a bit apprehensive about the new big blue "thingie" but we're letting him take his time in getting used to it. It's a bit smaller than I'd pictured and I'm none too happy with the plastic perch that came with the Pack, it's too small for his feeties. But that's easily fixed I'm really hoping that he will become happy with it and we can start taking him out on "adventures" soon!<br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/08/21 22:11

My FAVORITE is when Chimay puffs up his feathers as he's settling in for a nap, and his leggie feathers puff up so much that they look like MC Hammer pants!! Ha ha ha!!!!

Ha ha ha!!!! Poor Artie...such a cute story! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for that reassurance about the quality of the Adventure Pack...that really does make me feel a little bit better about this whole ordeal. It sounds like the Pak O'Bird is still a good product and from what feedback I did get from my emails to them about it, they have a good idea as to what size to recommend based on the size of your grey. I had kind of hoped that the medium size would suffice for Chimay because of the lower price, but they did say that the medium would definitely be too small for him. If you're considering the Pak O'Bird, I'd email them with your grey's weight and length from head to tail and they'll be able to better advise as to the space in the Pak.

Thanks for the well wishes guys...after I sent that email I hadn't gotten a response from them (surprise surprise), but I did contact Fed Ex to see if by any chance the Pack had been shipped. To my surprise it had! However, Fed Ex has no record of the company name FlyingSouth because their packages apparantly are shipped from a local Kinkos :blink: I emailed them again letting them know that I'd be accepting the delivery but my intentions to complain to the BBB have not changed. Given that I and others have had such difficulty getting a straight answer out of these people, I really don't want to get into a "back and forth" with them over a refund. Storm, my guess is that if you ordered yours the day after I did yours might be on its way too. Call 1-800-GO-FEDEX and choose the option to speak with a representative. Tell them you've been having problems with the company you've been dealing with and you have no tracking number...they'll ask your name and the shipping address to search for any packages coming your way. Not trying to recruit anyone to rise against them or anything, but if you want to complain to the BBB just simply google them and their website will take you through the process of filing a complaint. I am very concerned about the quality of the product I'm about to receive...I sincerely hope that the poor customer service handed out by these people is no reflection on the product as well <br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/08/19 13:31

Just sent this email to Flying South: Hello, I would like to respectfully request that my order for the Adventure Pack and the subsequent upsell for an additional canvas + mosquito netting be cancelled, and the purchase price refunded to me. This order was placed on Wednesday, August 5th 2009 and as of today's date August 18th, 2009 I have yet to even receive a tracking number for my Adventure Pack shipment. The billing was prompt for the product, however it is clear that the statement on your website of products shipping within 48 hours is not a promise or guarantee of any kind. I have been told on at least 3 occasions that my product is "packed and ready to ship" and yet I have received nothing. In addition, my email requests for status are not returned in any kind of prompt manner. I absolutely understand that you must balance the needs of your business and volume, however I also have to consider and balance my own needs as your customer. Given the poor customer service that I have received from your company I no longer want to give you my business. I also find it unsettling that any phone number I have found for your company, on Google or on your website, is disconnected. It is my intention to report my experience with your company to the Better Business Bureau upon confirmation of my cancelled order and refunded purchase price. Respectfully, Cindy Giannamore

Chimay does that every time he's in his cage and we're leaving for work...recently he's discovered a variation on the "chicken scratch" technique. He puts his little head down in the corner of the cage while standing on his food bowl, starts kicking but kicks in and out of the bowl itself so his pellets go EVERYWHERE

Thanks for the advice! If I've predicted them correctly, I'm expecting that my next email from Flying South will tell me that my Pack hasn't shipped yet. That is when I'll ask them to cancel my order and refund my money. I don't want to send them the cancellation request until they've confirmed that my Pack hasn't shipped....don't want to give them the opportunity to tell me that it's too late to cancel b/c my package is already on its way

Plink it's funny you mention that because I had looked at their Pak O'Bird yesterday and had emailed them asking about the best size for our Chimay. He's on the larger side (495 grams) and they did recommend the more expensive pack "custom designed" for an African Grey. They'd said that if he were a little smaller I could probably get away with the medium size pack. I had also emailed Flying South yesterday asking them if my Adventure Pack has shipped. As expected they have yet to respond...whereas Celltei responded almost immediately to me, and I haven't even given them my business yet! That prompt response in itself already has me sold on their Pak O'Bird They even recommended that I visit some African Grey forums to get some consumer feedback on their product before making my decision Ha ha! I think that even if I wind up with my Adventure Pack I may just give it away or sell it to someone else and purchase the Pak O'Bird

Wow I really like this....I've emailed FlyingSouth who is handling my delayed order of the Adventure Pack. If it hasn't shipped yet I'm going to ask them to cancel my order and refund my money so that I can buy this instead!! GreYt info!!!

I really hope so too...I think I may give it until the end of this week to get an actual shipping notification before I just ask them to cancel my order and give me my money back

Okay guys, I'm REALLY not at all impressed with this Flying South company. It's been 12 days since my order date, and I've been told on 3 different occasions that my Pack is ready to ship. The last time they told me was on the 8th, saying that it would ship the 10th. So Friday rolls around, and I call FedEx asking them to track my package by my name/address since Flying South can't seem to get my login on their site to reflect my purchase/tracking history. Lo and behold, nothing was on its way to me. SO I wrote a fairly stern email to them, reminding them of the 2 previous promises of shipment and (seeing as how they've already billed me for both the Pack and their upsell for the additional canvas and mosquito nets) that I do expect a shipment soon. They emailed back apologizing, saying that they've been busy with the sale that they've been having. Here's my argument: The promotion at the time read "Next 50 packs sold are $80.00 off retail." CLEARLY they did not adhere to stopping the promotion after 50 packs sold...it's just a gimmick to get people to purchase the packs at this $110.00 sale price (as I did). If they had, then it's pathetic that these 50 sale units are bogging them down so badly. They do have it clearly printed on their site that purchases "ship within 48 hours." 48 hours my a$$. This is the LAST time I ever purchase from this company, regardless of how awesome the Adventure Pack does/doesn't turn out to be. I also find it unsettling that their phone number on their site has been disconnected. Too many complaint calls perhaps?

That is quite a haul Caitlin!!! I'm so glad that a bird fair finally came your way... Good luck getting Ecko to take to the new toys. And I have to agree that Timneh is just precious!

Have you considered having Gismo microchipped instead? I too have heard many horror stories of injuries that resulted from leg bands, and in fact my breeder had told me prior to us buying Chimay that she no longer uses the bands for that exact reason.

Congrats to Emma!!! That's greYt news!

That's greYt news!! Hopefully he'll continue loving the veggie skewers and graduate to eating them in other forms as well Thanks for sharing the update!

H really is beautiful Pat! I am so happy for all of you and that things are going SO well!!! Has his former owner asked about how he's doing at all?

I'm so sorry to hear about Sony's illness ...Please keep us posted and we'll be sending healing and positive thoughts your way :kiss:

Happy Hatch Day Ana Grey!!!!!! Looks like it was a greYt one! She certainly is a sweetie :kiss: Methinks Chimay will be getting a JollyBall for his hatch day...

Aw that's so cute! I didn't know that babies did that.

Lol!!! Thanks Judy I feel better