zingarette

Oh, that is awesome! Do you put the part that blows air toward the wall? Thank you again!

Dave, thank you. That was helpful. Have any ideas on where to get a good exhaust fan? Also... we live in a cold winter climate, any good suggestions for what to do in the winter time?

Hi all, I have a problem. Now that we have three feathered babies (CAG, Green Cheeked Conure, Indian Ringneck), the dander and floaty feathers issue has gotten out of hand. Not to mention, even with diligent cleaning, daily vacuuming and other housekeeping measures, the smell is becoming more noticeable. We purchased a HEPA-type filter, but it's NOT working at all. Tim, our CAG, is a very large Grey... much larger than most I've seen. He also produces a lot of dust, dander, and feathers. Don't get me wrong, I love my babies. I don't mind much, but my husband's and my allergies are starting to kick up. We need to get the dander issue under control, and cut the smell. We like to have guests in from out of town, and (when guests are not staying) the birds live in the spare room. So... that room needs to remain clean. My question is two-fold. 1. What filters/purifiers do you use? Do you have any suggestions? I'm specifically interested in people who have multiple birds. Are you satisfied with the reduction in dust, dander, and teeny-floaty-feathers? 2. My mom has an Ionic Breeze (from Sharper Image) she's not using, and offered to give us. I have heard some reports of these purifiers being unsafe, but I don't know if the reports are true, or just hype. Do any of you use them? Having used this exact same purifier in the past (literally, this unit, it used to be in my room when I lived at home), I know it works, and works well... I just want to make sure that it would be safe around the birds. Thank you so much for reading this, and helping me out!

I'm so glad to know Tim-ers isn't the only accident prone baby in the world...

Thanks Jen. Tim is just like your Schroeder then... he only has two tail feathers left... his poor little tail looks so sad! I don't think it's breaking farther down, I think he snipped it off pretty well. Thanks again for all the thoughts. I'm sure I sound silly.:dry:

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. He actually ended up biting it off. Here's the feather, off of him. That's what his tailfeathers all looked like when he bit them off as well...

Okay, I'm a newbie to Greys... but I've have two other birds. I've never seen this happen, and it's freaking me out. WHAT is UP with this wing feather? Did he start to bite it off? Why does it look like this? What do I need to do? Sorry to sound like a freaked out first-time parent, but I am... He seems fine, but I noticed him biting at it... that's when I realized that it looked weird. Do I need to do something with this? He honestly doesn't appear hurt, or anything, just annoyed at this feather. You'll notice in one of those pictures that his tailfeathers are largely gone too... does he have a plucking problem?

Thanks Judy! I gave him a good soak down last night. I'd spray, spray, spray, then give him a banana chunk (his favorite food in the universe, the sugar levels scare me, so he only gets them as treats. He gets other fruits and veggies as staples) then I'd spray, spray, spray. He actually tolerated the bath when it meant he was getting bananas. Go figure. I don't know why we didn't think of that before. After the bath, he didn't seem as itchy. Woo-hoo! Thanks again for the responses!

Thanks caitb2007. I have tried misting him, he's still getting used to the concept. My other two (birds, not Greys...) like it, but I don't know if he's ever been misted before. He's beginning to seem like he's enjoying it. He tries to catch the tiny little water droplets in his beak, it's cute. As far as pictures go, I'm still working on that. He's more than a little camera shy! Ha ha ha! He'll get used to that too. He's already fine with my mobile phone camera, so it's not going to take long for him to get used to the big camera. Thanks again for your input!

Hey all... so I have my baby, he's home... and he's looking kinda itchy. I think? I'm not sure, as he's my first Grey. Tim has been with me for two weeks. He's a sweetheart, but still a little leery of me. He's letting me touch his toes through the cage bars, and he's coming out of the cage willingly. He'll sit close to me (as long as I don't try to touch him!) it's all good. I believe he's about 7-9 months (still waiting for his exact hatch date to come from the breeder, she's in the middle of a remodel). Here's the situation. He's preening, HARD. There are bits of feather coming off, and he's got a pokey/fuzzy patch. I have seen plucked birds before, this looks different to me. I don't think he's plucking. It's like he's clipping his feathers off mid-shaft. I'm a little worried that he's itchy or something. He's got one area on his back, just above his tail, that he's always rubbing. Not scratching at, but seriously rubbing... with his head. What scares me is that he seems to enjoy playing with the broken feathers. We tell him to "drop it" when we catch him with one. So far it's only happened twice. I just don't want this to turn into full-on plucking. Any thoughts? OH! Also, we live in the high desert of Idaho. Think, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone, etc. It is dry, could that be it?

Okay, thanks again everyone! So, I'm still without internet, and only able to log on every couple of days... we've made progress though! Tim came out of the cage! Woo-hoo! He flew off, landed on the floor, and let me "rescue" him. He stepped up pretty willingly after that. He's kinda gone back to "no-touchey" but he still lets me sit near him, and he calls out to me with a tongue-clucking noise... which as I said, is the noise I do to him. We're getting there! Any ideas for helping him take food from my hands? I want to start training, but I'm not sure how without treats... and he won't take treats from me.

Thank you so much, everyone, for your kind words, and encouragement. Tim is happy, and healthy... and I'm sure we'll bond eventually. I've been talking with his breeder, and she shared some thoughts with me today. I'm going to try to just let him come out on his own, settle down, and then try the "step-up" command. I think he likes me... hopefully he'll trust me soon. He ran over to the side of the cage nearest me this morning when I woke up the birds. He seemed happy to see me. This must be a good sign.

Yay! I brought my Tim (Congo, about 6 mos) home on Saturday. He's beautiful, and he's HUGE. He's the biggest CAG I've ever seen. He's very sweet, and he loves his new cage, toys, and is eating like a champ. He loves to have me sit near him and read a book (sometimes out loud) or play him guitar. I wrote him a lullaby which he loves. He's super sweet, and smart... but he doesn't like my hands. He's okay with me changing out his bowls, but if I get too near him with my hands he still freaks out. Any ideas as to how to get him to trust me? I want to hold him, and love him, and have a good bond with him... but he just won't let me near him... unless I'm outside his cage.

I love it... :-) I've watched it a bunch of times already...

Msvoluptous, I would LOVE to make you a signature! All I need is for you to post a few pictures that you would like included (go ahead and just post 'em in this thread if you like), and then I'll do the rest. When I'm done making it, you'll need to host it. I use photobucket.com for all of my board image hosting. It's simple and easy to use, and they'll generate the code you need for putting it up on the forum. When the time comes, if you need help sticking it into your signature, I can guide you through as well. Just let me know :-)