rbpittman

Lyn, I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience with Alfie yesterday, but thank you for sharing it with us. Your experience and then the experience/advice you received from Dan may help with some of the problems I'm having with Beau. He doesn't want to go back into his cage and that is when he performs his feather pick routine in his cage. My anxiety level of putting him in his cage because I'm afraid he will chew more feathers may be adding to his anxiety and causing him to actually do that. Now I have to work on making myself accept that he won't like going in, and he may chew some more feathers and I'll just have to deal with it. Hopefully we may break this terrible cycle by not stressing ourselves and our birds out over these behaviors. Robin

I've just ordered the recommended treatments for Beau. I put him in his cage before I left to pick up my son. I did so 15 minutes before I left so I could watch him from outside. For the first 10 minutes he chewed 3 feathers. Confirmed when I returned home. After that he was fine. In fact he's still inside his cage, and I'm right next to him, and he's perfectly fine. I don't know what it is about that first few minutes of being right inside his cage that causes this. The minute I open his door to feed him this evening I know he's going to lunge for my hand/the door to get out. He's done this every time. Robin

Dave, Unfortunately, Beau is not completely weened. He won't eat inside his cage at all. He will sit on the desktop perch and eat all day or from a bowl attached to the side of his cage. All of his toys are very close to his cage He still gets an evening feeding and I monitor the temperature very closely - water is heated and then added to the formula with temp no more than 104. Other than that - he's only gone from his cage to his perches and swing that are in the same area as his cage and to the vet. Dixie's cage is in the same room and after I cleaned her cage I tried letting Beau use it to see if it was the size/color of the cage - no use. I recleaned just in case. The vet didn't believe there really was a crop burn, he could find no sign of it. He pulled the 22 feathers on his right wing to aid in regrowth and remove the irritation. He believes that Beau is sick and won't know with what until the blood work comes back on Monday. Thanks for the info - I'll look into it immediately. Robin

well that worked about as good as a rock floating...hmmmm. Two seconds inside the cage everything was ok, two seconds later - climbing up the side, positioning himself to go for his wing. What is it with being in a cage!

I do have a room that I could completely bird-proof electrically, but it would be away from everyone and Beau would be by himself. It seems that Beau just can't stand his cage. I'm going to try an experiment of sorts - Dixie's cage is much bigger - and I'm going to see how he does in her cage (when I can take her out for a bit and put her in another room, but need another body in the house to supervise). I'll let you know if it's a cage size thing, and if it is, I'm off to the store.

Rhonnie, love the pic's - Ceasar is such a ham. Thanks for sharing - great way to start the morning.

OHHHHHHHH! What a beautiful video of Emma - makes me well up with tears at how sweet she is! I love her so much and yes, the "forever" part was perfect! What a great Grey! and what a great grey parront!

Thanks Jill. I had seen Beau in the shop many times and helped with some of his fledging, he had not touched these feathers before the crop injury. Very weird. Yes I'm stressing - trying to find a way to leave him out of his cage all the time. Not sure if that's the right answer however.

Storm_2007 wrote: The vet removed them due to the condition of the - extremely chewed - and in an effort to stop the behavior. Also to help in the regrowth of the new feathers.

Do our greys suffer from anxiety? This is regarding Beau - who just had 22 feathers removed due to the condition of them, and hoping to reduce, stop his feather chewing. The only time Beau chews his feathers is when he is in his cage. Unfortunately, over the last two nights he has chewed 3 feathers off again. He only does this when he is put into his cage. This started at the same time of his plucking of his chest and while he doesn't pluck the feathers off his chest anymore, he continues to chew his feathers on his right wing. As long as he is out of his cage he doesn't mess with any of his feathers except for to preen. I leave him out of his cage as long as I am home with him, and have considered leaving him out of his cage completely, but need advise on how to do this and where he should be put at night or if I'm not at home. His cage is in my office with the other birds and Dixie (CAG) doesn't care for any of the other birds and am concerned that Beau could make his way to her cage and climb up on it. Beau does get along very well with Blue (sun) but I don't think it would be appropriate for the two of them to be in the same cage. Any advice would be appreciated.

It's a freeway here Jill, or a parkway, or an interstate, or turnpike....too many names. Next time we'll have Caiti reverse the pic for you so the wheel's on the "right" side of the car...lol. Probably a better drive than my oldest daughter...and she still can't drive stick! The cooper's all mine!

Yesterday General Beauregard Grey (Beau) went to the vet and underwent the removal of 22 flight and secondary feathers on his right wing. To report his progress I thought I would add some pictures. First - his appetite is almost double what it was prior to the vet visit. I had been concerned about his weight fluctuating between 390 and 400 and then this morning at 381 I was seriously concerned. Here he is at breakfast and later around lunch: He ate all of his formula for breakfast, some greenbeans and sweet potatoes and a few pellets. At lunch he ate almost 8 of the Harrison's pellets and one small cheeto (he stole that one). This afternoon he's found a new friend: "Bend down some, I can't reach there" "I'll just climb up here and get to the right spot" "Thanks Blue, that was perfect, time to just sit here and rest" He's just finished 5 more Harrison's pellets and formula for the evening (a little early - he was chirping for food!) Don't know how I'm gonna keep him fed if he eats like this every day! (Just kidding - I own stock in Harrison's)

YIPPIEEE it's THURSDAY! T..T. to everyone!

you can post the link on your profile and it will be a temporary thing if you take it down after a bit.

Karma to you for sticking with it and all the progress. It's so lovely to hear successes, even though they may be small, they keep us all encouraged. The pictue is worth a thousand words, and FLY Ceasar FLY! well I have to do the karma in 6 hours - I've already done one this morning - back later to add it though - you deserve it.<br><br>Post edited by: rbpittman, at: 2009/10/15 17:55

I left for a week of summer camp with LP and the scouts in June. when I came back, Dixie had obviously decided that Paul (hubby) was her chosen one, even though I cleaned her cage, fixed her breakfast, took her out, spent time with her...the list goes on. He had to leave in September for his job (will be gone until the end of November) and now I'm back in her good graces. Even with the addition of Beau, she loves me best (of those left in the house). I was afraid of the potential jealousy over Beau, but she seems to go out of her way to spend time with me that she never did before, but it doesn't seem like jealousy, just she's determined to get her fair share. Your hubby is new in the house for her and she's accepting him, which is a good thing (for both of you). Find the silver lining in that cloud and enjoy.

Keep up the good work and love and patience you are giving to your grey. Dave has given you excellent advice on the basic trust levels of working with the grey. That you get on his level, you earn his trust from this level and then you progress. This is the true way to build a relationship with your grey and it be rewarded in simple ways - like stepping up when you ask him to. It's never to late to love a grey. Don't expect miracles, as with any bird, trust and acceptance may be all you ever get. Don't put a time on when you expect to see results - they can happen from overnight to over a year. Your bird has a history that must be overcome and will take a lot of time. Love makes more progress than any other technique and of course with love you always have patience.<br><br>Post edited by: rbpittman, at: 2009/10/15 18:28

RhonnieS wrote: Rhonnie - if every Grey (or any type of bird) owner would ask that question of themselves then we would live in Greytopia and life would be wonderful, for us and our Fids. Yes we are all owned by our babies, and we love being in that position. Thank you for expressing in such beautiful terms the meaning of being a "grey owner"

I'm changing my guess - it's going to be tonight at 8:15 PM (10/14/09) eastern standard time or Judy time whichever is closer.

All I can say is better you than me and thanks for the warning - I promise not to take Dixie or Beau with me to the bathroom from now on (not like I did before - only Sterling had that priviledge - and he doesn't tell a soul!).

My guess - Thursday - 10/15/09 @ 5:25 pm!

I think it's great that Chimay is having such a great time with his jolly ball and that you took time off work to spend with him. If I worked I would be jealous.

Grin and bear it - Tigerlily is happy with the noises she's making and is going to continue making them. Don't respond to the noises is one way I've read of dealing with them. I'm sure she will find another annoying noise to make at another point in time for you to have to learn to live with...lol.

Oh what a long day. Today we saw Dr. Jose (AV) to find out what's up with Beau's wing. All said and done he extracted 22 feathers from his wing - 10 flight and 12 secondary. The concensus was that as long as the feathers remained Beau would continue to chew on them and could potentially injury himself more. The removal was done under sedation. We also had a complete work up, x-ray, screenings for every virus imaginable (this is a good thing) and are scheduled to go back 10/29 for a check-up. I took pictures from immediately after the plucking to show the progress of his feathers coming back in on his breast and the progression of damage on his wing. Dr. Jose is very happy with this progress and since Beau doesn't appear to be plucking the new growth he doesn't not think it will be a chronic problem. As far as the wing is concerned, that may be, depending on how he does when the new feathers grow back in. For the meantime Beau is now on pain killers for the next week, and must be kept low in his cage to prevent falls and damage to the new feathers when they start coming in. All in all I was at the vet for what seemed an extremely long time, but feel that Beau received some of the best care on earth. Dixie and Sterling have both seen Dr. Jose, but it was for "check-up" visits with no complaints. The level of concern Dr. Jose showed with Beau was comparable to my own, which makes him the best in my book. At the moment, Beau is sedately sitting on his perch eating his pellets - let's hope this is a sign of recovery and great things to come. He is not upset with me (I was afraid he would be) and even perched on my shoulder long enough after we got home to take a nap - head tucked and all.

Midterms for me are over on Thursday - I'm picking up my copy on the way home from class. I'll have the whole weekend to read it - YEAH!