Spinner

Oh, and Amy, welcome to the forums here! I also wanted to mention that you want to look for training that uses positive reinforcement, targeting, approximations, and shaping. These are all used in building up the small training advances you are looking for into complex activities. Barbara Heidenreich's videos demonstrate this very well. Good Luck!

The best training materials I have found are at http://www.goodbirdinc.com/'>http://www.goodbirdinc.com/ I would recommend the purchase of one or more of her training videos. I have them all and continually refer to them. You won't see clicker training on most bird training sites, rather, you will see the good resources center around positive reinforcement. In fact, the use of clickers with a bird is a hinderance, as you are typically training some activity where the bird is on your hand. With the other hand as the target and possibly holding a treat, there isn't enough hands to hold the clicker. Besides, I don't always have a clicker available, but I always have a positive reinforcing set of words and scritches to give. There are some training sites that you MUST stay away from (I won't mention which ones, but search the forum). So, visit http://www.goodbirdinc.com/ http://avianambassadors.com/BirdTraining/ http://www.behaviorworks.org/ There are ample sources available at these sites, along with some good links.

Congratulations to Pakshi & Khushi (and you)! It's always exciting to see the eggs, and then to know they are hatching is a great occasion.

No worries...Morgan's just taking a big stretch. It's kind of a trademark move for Greys Are the pellets separate from the other foods? If not, keep them separate so you tell if he's eating any (minus what they throw on the floor of the cage). And....Congrats!

That's not a cage - it's a beautiful house for your lucky Grey! Job very well done.

Hi all, I got an interesting question the other day regarding how much it costs to take care of our Greys. I thought I'd throw it out here to see what your annual or monthly averages are. This should include food, treats, toys, medical (vet), and other costs you might think of. Break out the category costs if you can and if you think the numbers are generous or conservative (high end or low end). So, what's your numbers say? Don't be bashful! I found the number I calculated to be really low considering the daily enjoyment I get out of it. I'll share my numbers later on. Thanks!

Glad all is working out okay. I know it can be frightening when things like this crop up. I'll see it with baby Greys that have just eaten. When they finish eating, they lay down on a full crop, which pushes/presses on the air sacs. This pushes one or more of them up just like in the earlier pictures. On an adult bird, it's less frequent, but a full crop or odd body position can extend the sac. It usually returns to normal position within a short time. I didn't know that normal handling might cause this. First time I saw it, I thought their crop was pushing up past their neck. My vet continues to shake her head at my ignorance of bird anatomy. Oh well, glad I can continue amuse others <br><br>Post edited by: Spinner, at: 2010/01/27 15:00

Beaker is 18, and his mother was imported 14 years prior to his hatch date in 1992. The breeder still has her, so that makes her at least 32. I have a rescue that was an import, but no date is available. The owner I acquired him from had it since 1984, which puts him at least 26. And yes, these older birds have quite a bit of grey I consider all my birds to be rather young, and work hard to make sure they remain healthy to live long (doing things like very little seeds, adequate exercise, etc).

My first thought when reading your post....she's busted! Too funny. They don't need no stinking toys, they've got our goodies to play with. :cheer:

Haha! Yeah, you're right! Gonzo and Camilla's newest clutch is in the brooder as of yesterday afternoon. The two babies are very healthy and are now taking formula with earnest. Camilla's October clutch are doing very well. We've decided to keep the first of that clutch, a wonderful female that's a knockoff of her mother. She took the name Gabriella - Gabi for short. The name is very appropriate as she is chattering all the time. Gabi is a lovely lady in her own condo in the nursery for now. Her brother and sister and looking for new homes, and we have some interest in them. However, we are being very picky about who they go home with. I do have to say there was a third egg in the latest clutch that didn't hatch. Examining it shows the egg was viable but the chick didn't hatch. Kinda sad, but knowing that nature knows what it's doing. Meanwhile, we get to enjoy two new additions to the nursery. Enjoy! And Jill, thanks for sharing!!

Woot! Looks like a success - congrats! You've got some lucky birds. And, you'll know how to make new ones out of the parts when they tears these up.

Although they might be related, the biting and food issues are probably separate items to deal with. Search the forum for biting and I'm sure you'll find great information. Since Ollie is fairly new to your home, you are probably experiencing normal Grey growing pains. But be sure to deal with it soon, you don't want it to be habitual. There are also a number of resources on the web to address biting. For the food; As Dan said, have pellets always available. Ollie will only eat what she needs as birds typically don't over eat. Anything else we feed should be considered supplemental and for variety. You asked for recipes, and I use a pretty simple one. I purchase "15 bean soup", which is a bag of different bean types and a flavor packet. I throw away the flavoring and cook the beans after an overnight soak. I throw in brown rice towards the end of the bean cook time. Add a bag of frozen vegetables, or stir fry veggies and pack them into one-cup ziploc containers. I usually get 16-18 packages worth of mix. A second recipe uses rice, whole wheat pasta, and greens mixed together. A package of broccoli cole slaw mix and normal cole slaw mix is added in. I alternate between the two each day along with occasional fresh fruit. Hope this helps!

Dayo's happy that he's finally got you trained properly :laugh:

If you're concerned about being able to prove identity in the future, I would consider tagging. It's a simple injection procedure that your vet can complete. The tag is unique and can be read at any time in the future. As has been said in Particle's response, the DNA lab limits their tests to specific sex data and specific disease data. There would not be enough info for identity purposes, even if they retained the original sample.

XM plays all the time for the birds. I used to do Animal Planet on the television until the animal cops show spooked the dog (or me).

Scars? Yeah, just a few... ...but all of them were a message from my birds to stop what I'm doing.<br><br>Post edited by: Spinner, at: 2010/01/12 05:28

Thanks Dan! I had forgotten about Sid's blog and his training site - it's definitely the right way to approach interaction with our birds. I do wish he posted more often - can't get enough of it

Love the little babies. At 8 weeks, they are filled with adorable, eh?

Stainless steel is the recommended material. Greys will chew through the rope and they will be left with some of the wire exposed at some point. The zinc on standard wire will leave stains on your rope and birds, as well as being bad for our birds if ingested. I have a local source for the wire but you can also get it here: http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?store=&search=yes&detail=yes&product=226&category=Stainless_Steel&keywords=&hits_seen=12&page=search.html∧=&. I use 1/8" wire. Also, be absolutely sure to use 100% cotton rope. There are two types of cotton rope used in toys - one is a standard long-thread rope (what I use), and the other is a short-thread rope. The short-thread is supposed to reduce the threat of entanglement but simply doesn't hold up for perching materials. Finally, be careful with the type of glue you use to secure the ends in PVC caps. I used both a PVC glue (melts some of the cap into the rope end) and a filling glue such as Gorilla glue. I prefer the Gorilla glue as it foams into the rope end and secures well onto the PVC. Hope this helps!<br><br>Post edited by: Spinner, at: 2010/01/07 15:36

I use a 4-6' wire for the ones I make. I would guess that would translate to 5-7' for the rope.

First off, congrats on the new baby congo and welcome to the forums. Have patience with Bella. A week is an instant for a bird that is rather skittish about change. Just leave her in her cage and sit next to her with a book or interact with her. I would strongly recommend NOT to grab her legs and hold her down. This will just feed her fear and destroy any trust you might have built. She'll let you know when she's ready to come out and play. Be sure to read through other posts on the forum for more ideas and recommendations. You are not the first to go through this....just be very very patient.

It was that cage-cleaning that did it! Can't play in a clean cage unless she was clean, too

I got the plywood as a small 1'x2' partial sheet rather than an unwieldy 4'x8' sheet. It's available at woodworking supply stores such as Rockler or Woodcraft. I think it may also be available at Lowe's or Home Depot. I should note that the triangular ends have different measurements on each of their sides. This way one perch is rather low, and with a simple rotation of the stand to another face, it has a taller perch available. The baby greys think they're stylin' when on their perch stand Beaker just thinks it's comfy.

Frozen has more nutritional value remaining than fresh unless the produce is in season locally. That said, my greys get frozen since I make a big bowl of their veggie/bean/rice mix and portion it into small bags. The bags are then in the freezer ready to pull out for defrosting. I usually mix up ten meals worth of dinners. Fresh or frozen initially, it gets frozen so I don't have to make it up daily.

As Debandbella said, be patient and sit with them, talk with them. I have a pair of rescue birds where one is very aggressive and the other is cowardly. It has taken me almost a year to get where I can give each a head scratch without the fear of a nasty bite. I need to emphasize that these birds would have preferred to just tear me up on that first day, so I think huge progress has been made. Be patient and consistent - it will come.