Joolesgreyuk

LOL Brilliant thread! A couple of Beau's house rules; if it has a zip it's mine, if it has buttons it's mine too.

Lovely close-ups, he sure is enjoying his palm nut.

That is a wonderful pic!

Caroline, I think you have to times Jill's fid bill by 4 for you zoo ;-)

The daily essentials 3 I use for my fids comes in powder form and it is to be sprinkled (very sparingly, I use a pinch) over soft fruit or veg, I use it 3 times a week (mine eat very few pellets) and they don't seem to nitice it at all. The calcivet I use twice a week and add a drop or two to their water.

Air conditioning always makes me thirsty so I would say always make sure there there is water available but then that should be the case anyway.

That is sooooooooo cute awwww

Yippee how exciting!

L58, great link, thanks I'm gotta try that!

OMG I can hardly believe this! How very sad, I'm so sorry for you. Are you investigating the cause? Was it shock? He did seem very stressed last night but I didn't expect this.<br><br>Post edited by: Joolesgreyuk, at: 2010/01/29 20:58

Lovely picture LOL

A grey in flight sure is a beautiful sight to behold and you live in a lovely place going by these shots Sanggay.

Yes your windshield = windscreen Your trunk (car) = boot hood (car)= bonnet Fizzy drinks is the same here or fizzy pop/soft drinks. Incidently a car roof rack in french is "gallery"

On my! figures are difficult but owning a grey is cheaper than owning a dog or cat for sure! Greys are more expensive than a hampster, rabbit or similar though. My small macaw is much cheaper to keep than my CAG and probably only eats about a 1/3 of what the grey does. I've been frequently surprised by the cost of keeping my grey. Vet fees and/or insurance, food, treats, aloe juice, palm nuts, fresh fruit, vegetables, toys, cleaning fluid, kitchen towels - OMG do I use a lot of those! Even things such as vitamin suppliments, humidifier, ultra violet lighting. I have to say in my case not all of the above! I'm gonna have a stab-in-the-dark here and say £20 per week but I have two and they are spoiled!

I have to agree with Judy, your grey does seem to be suffering symptoms of being left alone, parrots (greys especially) are far too intelligent to be left alone and will become bored and depressed (and may even pluck)if this happens. A move to a busier place should help perk him up but only if there are no other health issues going on. Your grey should be getting fresh fruit or vegetables (cheaper) every day, dried fruit is good also - maybe if you find fresh too expensive you could give dried on alternative days. Tinned sweetcorn is good as is frozen vegetables, it doesn't have to cost the earth! If you are worried about calcium levels you can buy calcium drops from a pet shop or the internet but please read the instructions and use sparingly. Daily essentials 3 is also a good suppliment especially in winter and is a good substitute for natural sunlight. Really though you won't know what your bird is lacking unless your avian vet carries out tests. Which country are you in? This will give us a clue as to the problems you face with doctors/vets, finance and other stuff.

Xtreme575 you are quite right. We are still learning so much about our exotic feathered friends and many people's views are based on hearsay or what is the fashionable advice at the time. I also agree much of it is personal choice. I'm not trying to tell people what to do with their own birds, it is up to them how they care for their own birds of course. I'm just offering an alternative view that was put to me by people who know more about it than I do! I hadn't heard this view before and so I though I'd ask for views on the subject. From my own point of view it would seem that these expensive items (aloe juice in particular which has to be bought from health food shops in smallish quantities) may be unnessesary. From my own point of view Beau has in recent months seemed less interested in his palm nuts and now seems to take a few bites before dropping them - an expensive waste. I have tried giving them less often but he still doesn't seem that bothered so I think I may now phase them out. If however he was crazy about them I'd probably just give them less often. As for the aloe juice, I havent yet decided, I have currently run out of the stuff and have no plans as yet to go into town so I will probably be using plain old water for now. I do think the aloe juice is soothing to a bird that has dry skin or is a plucker so if these problems arose I would have to make a special trip to get some.

I don't know about "dove mix" but yes sprouted mixes are often recommended for parrots - I don't know the reasons why.

I'd just like to add that Sheila has spoken to Charlie's avian vet regarding both palm nuts and aloe juice and well basically he seconded Greg's comments. He told her not to bother with either palm nuts or the aloe juice for spraying.

How very sad I take it you are Woodstock US and not Oxfordshire UK.

Oh dear, I don't like the sound of this. First and foremost it sounds like you need to pay a visit to an avian vet, when birds lose their appitite it is usually because of illness. If your grey has a vitamin or mineral difficiency then this may well be the cause of the sickness but you won't know that unless you take your grey to an AV and have him looked at and/or have tests carried out. Please do not delay in doing this as there is rarely time to lose when a bird stops eating. Good luck and please do let us know the outcome of your visit.

Oh lord it must be so noisy in your house at times Pat LOL, Chatot sure is a character! How is your bird room coming along Pat?

This is brilliant news and I've just heard the same. Woohoo! {Feel-good-000200B9}

LOST - AFRICAN GREY 25/01/10. SHE'S CALLED CHICKEN, 5 YEARS OLD AND A BELOVED MEMEBER OF OUR FAMILY. FLEW OUT OF OPEN WINDOW FROM BATLEY, WEST YORKSHIRE. Any sightings please pm me, Jooles

Another great topic. Like Jill I went out and bought a hand-held dyson not long after Beau arrived. Kitchen towels too, I use ten-fold the amount I used before the birds, they are great for quick clean-ups, cleaning food bowls, their cage, stand...the list is endless! I have bought a steam cleaner but I have yet to use this. Here in the UK we too have these chopping devices but you have to take them apart to wash, put them back together again and they have several pieces - I can't be bothered tbh :laugh:

I too have often wondered about this. Everyone on this forum (and others) seems to have babies and if someone talks of taking in an older grey, older seems to mean aged between 5 to 10 years old. I think the famous Einstein grey was a good age but I don't believe he could be considered old for a grey either. Good post this!