Jayd

Mama, stick with a emery board please.........Jay

Dan, this is so true, especially with true rescue Greys........

Check this out..http://www.birdcompanions.com/indianringnecksfaqs.htm

http://www.indianringneck.com/sexing/ Thanks Jay

Hi, please stop all fruit for a few days, then only 1 small piece a day. Feed your baby pasta, cooked Orzo, small elbow, any kind your baby will eat. We give our fids a pasta called Wacky Mac. It is made with semolina and in the box it has yellow (white plain pasta), beet flavor (purple color), tomato (red/orange color)and spinach flavoring (green)raw uncooked. You can give plain low-fat yogurt. You should also give them cooked wild or brown rice. This can be fed to Greys, Amazons, Macaws, etc. as part of their normal diet. After each meal, we give all our guys a Wacky Mac [Raw uncooked] and they sit there holding it, nibbling on it while they are looking around the room. It is so cute to watch them; it is like they have an after-dinner cigar. Thanks, Jay

Thank you Ray, a very thought provoking thread....Jay and Maqgie

Hi, I would guess "taste of a roasted skin on potato" is a White tater? Parrots should have very little white potato, especially the skin and never the eye's. Potatoes and tomatoes are part of the Nightshade family and their foliage is poisonous, as are potato eyes. Some toxin may be present in the potato skin itself, particularly if green. (A tomato had to actually be taken off the seed market several years ago because the levels in the fruit were too high for consumption) Beans (lima, black, etc) that are too mature can be toxic, particularly when uncooked. Dont eat the foliage either. Eggplant foliage is toxic, because eggplant is in the same family as potatoes and tomatoes (solanum). Sweet Potatoes are not related to white potatoes. While you can safely feed raw sweet potato, dont let your bird eat sweet potato vine. Sweet Potatoes are part of the morning glory family, and the vine and foliage are potentially toxic. In summary...cook the beans, cook the white potatoes.

"CAUTION:Large beans: Anasazi, Black, Fava,[broad beans] Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, Soy, are not suggested for sprouting. These legumes can cause toxicity and remain difficult to digest. Their raw flavor is also very bad. If you choose to serve these to your bird they MUST be soaked for a minimum of 8 hours, water drained and beans rinsed well, and then cooked by bringing them to a full boil, boiling uncovered for 10 minutes, covered and simmered for another 20 minutes."

Thanks so much......

Your doing a Greyt job, don't worry. Some of our fid's eat this today then that tomorrow, as long as we supply what is good and right for them, it some how balances out. In the wild, Greys eat a certain mud/clay for it's mineral and medicinal purposes, They sell this mud/clay but I have yet been abale to get one of our Greys to even look at it, the same goes for Red Palm oil, the only fid in our home who will eat it is Salsa our Zon, other members Greys love this stuf, so don't worry...Your doing okay.......

As most people know we treat pellets as a addition not as a necessary to our Grey diet, there a treat or a snack only. Pellets are mainly filler processed at a high heat to process [make] them, there added supplements, some chemicals, compressed imitation food. [soylent Green] .When they process pellets, they mix more of everything into the pre processed batch because when it's made, the heat destroys most of the ingredients. Read the label on the pellets, only use the best, their not all created equal.....Some have, Food coloring, BHT,BHA, etc are bad, man made equivalents are bad. For safety, dependability, and peace of mind, fresh is best. A final note, fresh takes longer, we have a lot of parrots, a lot of beaks to feed, and a lot of trust in what we feed them...Spinner post is Great, as is Dave's, we personally prefer Fresh.....Thanks Jay

I'm sorry, my feelings. It's really cute, but :http://www.greyforums.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=165&catid=2&Itemid=5 When a parrot slips and falls in to a toilet, there's a good chance they can drown. I'm really sorry...Jay

If at any time when you might have gave a reaction when being beaked, even if only once, our Zon's remember this, and can nip thinking you like it.

Any parrot needs 4-8hr's a day of full spectrum lighting [uvb] or as much natural sun as they can get. A grey absorbs very little D through diet this is the latest scientific find, most of the Vit D is the absorb through the skin, a Grey will rub their uropygial gland located just in front of their tail on their lower back when they preen, they inturn rub this oil over their feathers/skin which inturn allows D to be adsorb through the skin which delivers the D and promotes calcium into there system. It is essential that a Grey receives full spectrum lighting/natural sun light. Do not at any time feed you Grey a vitamin supplement unless vet ordered...... I have some questions about this I don't understand, I'm not questioning this statement just don't understand? At the last PBR convention, Tammy Jenkins, DVM brought up an interesting point. Greys in the wild live close to the equator and get the maximum possible number of hours of sunlight each day.[A parrot spends a small amount of time in the sun in the morning and early evening, the rest of the time in the shade no matter where they live.] They have evolved a dark coloring to their feathers, much the same that dark skinned peoples have who live in these same geographical regions. Through out the Grey habitat depending on area, their gray color vary s from light silvery gray to very dark gray..] This dark coloring is responsible for screening out much of the UV light which hits them. [ this means they DON'T absorb much uvb] The hypothesis that might be drawn from these observations states that Greys may have evolved in such a way that they do not, in the wild, have to be as effective in absorbing vitamin D from their diets because they manufacture adequate amounts from their exposure to the sunlight. In other words, they may depend upon exposure to sunlight for their source of this vitamin, rather than diet.[contradiction to above statement] In a human yes, but UVB stimulates the uropygial in a grey? Point: If you place a black pan and a white pan beside each other in the sun, the black absorbs heat while white reflects it... Just bellow the forest canopy in the forest it is a lot cooler than above it.....

This is far from unusual for Greys, this is very common, the matter that their male has nothing to do with it, it's more common then with females. Greys can be bonded to more than one person or one or more birds, they just have that special one, greys practice love as well as companionship and friendship, this is natural to them. Like humans, greys truly are complex.

:)This is something that sometimes can't be helped. With your experience you can tell if your fid's are stressing, A bad sign would be wobbly and to much napping and other not normal behavior...

To be exact, our parrots need 10 to 12hrs undisturbed sleep time, what they mean is the parrot has this time to sleep and rest on his own. This also means by their clock, not ours.[sunset to sunrise.] Your parting statement really upsets me..."so if he doesnt get enough its not my fault." Jay P.S. Judy s right!!!!!

http://www.cosmotalks.com/about_cosmo/

Welcome back, we all missed your input and your story's.....Jay and Maggie P.S. To those of you who don't know this gentleman, his words can be trusted...

Thank you, As Dan has done, Start a diary. I live with your fear daily.....

Hi, Maggie writing for Jay. What I present here is from research, personal experience, and just plain feelings. A bonded gray is a deep relationship, sometimes with out end and almost always unconditional. A Zon's is a combination of love and eternal friendship. During hormonal times, you never entice a Grey or a Zon, it's hard enough form them as it is, after this seasonal time period ends you can pet your Grey, scritch them give them kisses but must stop if they become excited. A Zon, is different, their your friend, you can cuddle [in most cases] pet them every where, they can get jealous and protect you from other, sometimes biting you by accident in their defense of you. It's a different kind of relationship all together. I feel a Zon is much more resilient than a Gray, if for some reason you must re-home one, a Zon has a far greater chance of adapting to their new surroundings then doe's our beloved greys. A Zon might say "I will always love you, but I must move on"

Good thread. As a starter, a parrots toe's should just barley go around the perch, [no toe touching] If your baby was in a cage with perches, no problem, if not then put your 1st perch near the bottom of the cage, some Greys are clumsy so don't put any thing below another pearch, [toys included] that they might fall on. As hard as it's going to be, keep very little in the cage to start with, and pad the bottom with a towel at first....Thanks Jay

Thank you Nancy, Dan really summed it up really well, stick to a normal diet, hard cheese is ok on occasion. If I may, mac & cheese, salt and it's processed food, bacon, high cholesterol etc, bad fats, salt etc. Thanks Dan.....Jay

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190462-We-Feed-Our-Fid-s!!!-Update/page3 Nancy I'm sorry, No Bacon, never and instead of butter, use Red Palm Oil or Olive oil or Almond butter or peanut butter [low sodium organic] on a quarter slice of bread. Only a small piece of fruit a day. Leave the pellets and a 1/4 cup of good seeds in their cage 24/7, no peanuts in the shell and no sunflower seeds. You can give them 3 tbs a day of sunflower seeds a day as treats. Thanks Jayd

I hate hearing this, were so sorry, Luv Jayd and Maggie, our prayers go with you......