rbpittman

To answer the questions - Beau is the love of my life (in parrot form). Yoshi has taken to Sarah in ways I never expected. Morgan loves all of us equally but gives me kisses that he gives to no others. Yes, I think my husband is absolutely wonderful in his interactions and responsibilities to Dixie since she's chosen him. Without all of my family involved with our fids I could not have more than one! Robin

My husband bought Dixie for me as a mother's day present almost two years ago. Unfortunately, I am not her chosen one, he is. She loves him more than I ever thought could be possible, especially since he's gone for months on end with his job. Fortunately for Dixie, he reciprocates the love Tonight he's headed out to Walgreen's to pick up some prescriptions. He's put her on her cage three times, and each time she's flown off to the rope door, and then to his shoulder. The last time he didn't put her back on her cage. He got the travel cage, and off they went. Now that's true love :cool:

That is a wonderful update on Spock. I can't wait to see the new pictures. Robin

Awe, come one now, you're supposed to share! I have the same problem with Beau - he wants to eat my dinner with me, only he likes to walk through the spaghetti. Dixie likes to sit on Paul's shoulder and snatch food off his plate, decorating his shirt in the meantime. We do feed them in their cages most of the time, simply because I can't have 7 parrots eating off my plate. There is the rare occasion that someone gets to eat "with" me, but that's usually just a snack and I don't mind sharing those. Robin

Dixie has this uncanny ability to tell exactly when it's night night time. All the lights are on in my office/the jungle, the tv is on, and I'm working away at the computer. Everyone is outside of their cages, having a blast and playing with toys. That is until Dixie announces it's night night. That's all she usually says - night night. Well that was until tonight. She announced night night, and I told her "wait a few minutes and it would be time. In a very loud, demanding voice she said 'NIGHT NIGHT, NIGHT NIGHT TIME!' Yes mistress, up I got, out went the lights, off went the tv, my work for the night was over. Good thing I have a few days left before that paper is due! Robin

Dee I know exactly what you are going through and what you will be going through. I did the same thing you did in rehoming a grey in Yoshi and every day still offers a different challenge. I'm so happy that you have YOUR grey now and that you are learning so much about each other. Bringing in a grey that has already established a personality is like Christmas every day, what a wonderful way to spend the year...lol. I wish you much much more happiness and joy and can't begin to thank you for taking Gilbert in, reading Sarah's posts made my heart break. Your willingness to open your heart has mended more than one. Robin

It's been a while since I've posted anything in here specifically about Morgan, but there is continued progress on the trust levels and interaction with me and the rest of the flock. We've added Yoshi to the crew and she is enamored with Morgan, even though he's twice her size. It's so funny watching how this big lug just "man's up" and get even taller to tell her "no you can't play with my toys." He still eats his dried fruit/veggies and pellets without any problem at all. His weight is perfect according to Dr. Jose, and he's the perfect specimen of an amazon. I have managed to get him to eat veggies, but to do so I have to put them in without his dry food in place. This is very difficult for me since I know he eats his Harrison's so well and I only see him pick at his veggies. I have found that if I hang a few leafs of kale or other dark leafy veggie up he shreds it, but other types of veggies he just picks up and tastes and flings. Nuts he will gladly eat, but those have to be measured out with care. Pasta is one of his favorite foods to fling, while eating a little of. I'm hoping that with spring here and more abundant varieties of vegetables this will change his outlook on food. He is still just as lovable and sweet as before, now talking up a storm. He's always asking what I'm doing "whatcha doing" and looking extremely interested in what I'm doing. His vocabulary is extremely strong for someone who is only 10 months old. He's taken great strides in his flight ability and is the perfect little shower mate, getting soaked to the skin and still wanting more. I don't know who has more fun in the water, him or me. Robin

Yeah, my mentor is back! Welcome back Jay and thanks for the great advice! So glad to have you back! Robin

My avian vet touched up the beaks of Dixie and Beau on their visit last year and suggested that I make sure there was "rough" bark in their cages for them to rub their beaks on to keep it from building up and chipping off. After he used the dremmel he rubbed their beaks with a little olive oil to make them shiny and dark. Since that time I've included several types of perches that are rough just for this reason and included toys that have rough surfaces for them to chew on for this very reason. All following vet visits (every 6 months) have been dremmel free, but we do have weekly applications of olive oil for that just polished look. Robin

Hmmm, where to start! Dixie - 3 yr old CAG with me since May 2009 - Fickle - one minute she loves me, the next she doesn't want to be around me. Beau - 21 month old CAG - with me his whole life (almost) - Cuddle Bug - because he loves to just sit and cuddle. Morgan - 10 month old Panama Amazon - (with me since September 30th a rehome) - Brutus - he's big and uncoordinated and dominates by getting "big" Yoshi - 2 year old TAG - Lucy - she reminds me of Lucy holding the football waiting for Charlie Brown to come kick it and then she yanks it away. She's like that with me, wants to be close but quick to go in another direction. Sterling - 14 year old U2 - with me for 2 years - a rehome - Velcro - he's the epitome of a U2 - stuck on you all the time! Blue & Bean - 20 & 18 monts respectively - I'm their only home forever - Phobos (Bean) and Damos (Blue) which means fear and chaos. Bean is afraid of his shadow for some reason and stays near his cage unless offered a shoulder to ride on. He refuses to step up unless he's somehow managed to reach the floor. I think he has an affliction to bare skin, the shoulder must be covered! Blue is chaos in every sense of the word. Flying chaotically and frantically all over the place, creating havoc in his wake. Robin PS - Thanks Ray, making us think again!

OH MY, I almost peed my pants with laughter! That is tooooooo funny! Cosmo is not cannibal, but Dixie will eat all the chicken bones she can get her talons on! I still have the 'zon who won't touch anything but his pellets and dried veggies, but then again we all have our problem children. Robin

In all reality this is probably going to offend you very much. Given that you have already contributed to the death of a baby grey, I cannot for the life of me see you purchasing another bird to supposedly save. You do not have the knowledge needed or the foods needed to care for these birds. You state that they are smuggled into the country, but that the authorities will do nothing about it. From what I know of other countries, smuggling of animals into them is a serious offense, and if you have information regarding such activities, then you would be more responsible person by reporting it to the authorities and letting them handle the situation rather than you take the matters in to your own hands and contributing to the death of the birds. This forum is for those people who have the common sense and decency to care for their birds. It is not a place to bail your behind out when you have bitten off more than you can chew, or seek sympathy or extoll knowledge from people through wild tales of smuggling and the like. I have read your posts about wild caught smuggled birds, but I have to believe the information that is available about them being caught - as adults, not as babies. You've already been told that baby greys will hiss and growl at new people and things. I've seen it myself from hand reared birds that I watched grow up, so I don't buy the theory that these are "wild stolen baby CAGs." I do believe you are looking for some type of acknowledgement or trying to glean the information for other purposes. PS - I found the image of the baby grey you posted in several places on the web when I did a search on "greys on a cage" Robin

Knowing Janet, Isabella is not going anywhere. There will probably be words with the breeder regarding the deception and lack of information regarding the injury, however, I'm sure Janet has already fallen head over heals in love with Isabella and wouldn't trade her for the world. A responsible breeder will explain the injury/deformity and should compensate Janet for any and all medical bills associated with it as she was expecting a healthy, injury free bird. Robin As an aside - Dixie has a missing toe on one of her feet (back toe) and it doesn't affect her at all. She came to me this way and I didn't notice it until it was pointed out by the vet at her first visit. The store owner offered me a different bird - but it wouldn't have been Dixie, it would have been a different bird, and I had already had her for three days! Just consider the personality she will have before looking at the number of toes on her feet and determining what type of bird she will be.

Having never thought of owning or being owned by a 'zon I acquired Morgan. Talk about a life changer. Today was get everybody through the shower day (all at once) and while it's a labor of love (3 greys, 2 of whom don't want the bath) I watch in delight as Morgan makes it playtime! It puts a totally different spin on shower time for everyone and makes this chore not a chore at all. He spent the afternoon singing and playing with much more vigor than the others, because he was all clean! Made my heart sing. Robin

When my love birds passed - within 3 months of each other - Dixie definitely knew there was a loss in the house. She was extraordinarily quiet for a few days after they were gone and seemed to be more "loving" than normal, as if to comfort me. I believe our birds are extremely empathetic to our emotions and thus they also feel loss when one of their own is no longer around, even if their absence is due to a great reason. Robin

Does she get benefits? What special training did she need? My daughter is looking for a job! Robin

Ray this is a wonderful thread and thank you for bringing the relationship we have with our fids to the forefront. Each bird and person in the whole world is blessed with a special ability/trick. What that ability is depends upon the amount of time you spend with them, getting to know them, and building the key part to being a parront - a relationship. We don't know the special talents our spouses have without building those relationships. We don't recognize the abilities of others without getting to know them and building a relationship. Without that special word "relationship" we are all acquaintances. Each of us has been able to identify a unique ability in our fids, whether it is a trick they can do or just being there, sitting on our knee or chest listening to us, without having built that relationship we wouldn't recognize these abilities. Here's my list of "tricks"......although I don't recognize them as tricks as much as I recognize them as something that has developed between us, something that is special to our relationship. Dixie - leans in to kiss me. While she has chosen my husband as her favored person, I'm the only one she truly kisses. Beau - he listens to me. Evident by not continuing to chew on the blinds when told to stop. Morgan - asks me what I'm doing. It doesn't matter if I'm sweeping the floor or reading, he always asks. Yoshi - loves to throw the ball - literally to me, and I toss it back to her. Many would say it's a game. I consider it time together doing something she enjoys doing. Sterling - puts his head on my shoulder every time I sing "put your head on my shoulder" and looks up at me with love in his eyes. My son loves to cradle Sterling in his arms and sing rock-a-bye baby. Sterling just lays his head back and eats it up. Without having taken the time to build a relationship with my babies, I wouldn't know any of these things about them. They aren't performing special "tricks" like playing basketball, they are doing much more, they are taking part of my life and I'm in theirs. Thanks again Ray, you've made us all realize something much more important and more valuable than anything that could be gained from a video on training our parrots. Robin

What a wonderful update Spock! We miss hearing of the antics in your flock so keep up the great work on taking care of Maggie & Jay and everyone else. Tell Jay we're all praying for a complete recovery and hope to hear from you again soon! Robin

Mine have the whole room to themselves when it's 'night night' time. I'm the one who has to leave. That and they don't have the issues of light coming in from other parts of the house. My office/The Jungle Room is located on one end of the house with no distractions or noise coming in on them. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to have the perches on the outside of their cages. Robin

That one actually came from PetSmart. I bought it for my U2 but he had no interest, nor did any of the others, Yoshi got it as a hand-me-down and she's the only one who's showed any interest. It is just bamboo that has been sliced in pieces to be chewed up.

This afternoon presented a wonderful opportunity to capture all of the flock out of their cages playing - well almost all of them - Blue & Bean get out when the big guys are taking a nap...lol. Enjoy. http://s684.photobucket.com/albums/vv201/rbpittman/?action=view&current=VIDEO0006.mp4

I have 2 CAGs (Dixie & Beau) and a TAG (Yoshi). There are definitely differences in their personalities, and to be quite honest I was very surprised in the differences. Dixie is the queen bee around our house, but she was the first and we've let her remain "first" in all things. Beau is very laid back and could care less about what's going on with everyone else. His favorite activity is to hang out with Morgan (Panama Amazon) on his cage and eat out of his bowl (all things that Beau likes) and vice versa. They both have empty bowls after a day of sharing. I'm surprised they get along as well as they do, both happy to explore and play in each others cage. Dixie is very territorial about her cage and no one is allowed near it. Yoshi is just the opposite of Beau. She's into everything, curious about everything and has to be involved in everything. It's so much fun to have a new resident who is so enthusiastic about being part of the family. While the boys tend to be very quite and laid back, the girls are both very vocal and attention seeking. Dixie and Yoshi have dialog with each other all day - usually starting with Peek-a-boo and it continues from there. I've decided I no longer have an office, nor is it a bird room, it is officially - THE JUNGLE. As named by the cable guy who came by last week to install a new router. Go figure. Now to head to the wood shop and make a sign to put above the door. Robin

I've never brought a new member to the flock unless they were vet checked then. Quarantine for 30 days was the old adage, but my vet informed that if a healthy vet check is completed (blood work and all comes back normal) then there should be no problems. Glad you took in the new housemate for your flock, let us know how the introductions go. Robin

I also use the Shark steam n vac on my hardwod - 3/4" white oak stained and sealed. Works great and bought it specifically because I have parrots. I also use vinegar water to spray while doing the quick wipe of of "poo" Robin

Dixie only slightly tolerates the spray bottle, but once that's done with she's in the water bowl, and loves it. Can't figure out why she won't use the larger dish I provide for her. They do love to perplex us don't they! Robin