Ernzzz

I went to the vet with Blue - all checks out... whew... you never know! He weighed 362 grams and doing well. How does his/her weight compare to others at 12 weeks? Vet suggested cutting hin down to 20cc's a day - sounds good as Blue eats non stop!

I agree with you, but then again, my Hans is called Big Bird:laugh:

Me too luvparrots, it seems odd - I can run my company with employees but it makes me somewhat paranoid to deal with a 500 gram bird!! Glad I never had kids!:laugh:

Thanks for the feedback. I had in my head 10 weeks~, 1~ feeding a day based on my Amazon experience(Napes, Spectacles) because of size... what I'm forgetting is they are all different!! She is eating everything in site 24/7, is very active(climbing, wing flapping, etc.) so overall doing very well... Sure is FUN to watch them grow mentally and physically, another thing I had forgotten. Again, Thanks!!:cheer: Tycos_mom wrote:

Sorry... May 30th.

It's been a long time ago nd I can't remember - now that I'm back to hand feeding I notice BLUE wants to bite my hands every time I pick her/him up - not hard but she acts very hungry(every young bird will to some degree)... I have her on one feding a day, that should be correct but I'm doubting myself(this was why I HATED hnd feeding!). Should she be on 2 a day?? Is the biting a bad behavior - as a member of the biting club, I don't want this to become long term or more importantly a HARD bite a year or two from now?

Stunning!! Wish I could handle a large macaw... beautiful!! Looks like you are doing well!

Blue... my grandmother had a cow dog(herd cattle) named Blue along with story on this site about another grey named Blue...

Thanks... I had remembered my grandmother had a cow dog(worked cattle) that was named Blue and I read a story on this website about a grey named Blue and I thought the name was perfect!:woohoo:<br><br>Post edited by: Ernzzz, at: 2009/08/17 00:07

I'm sllloooow with pic's! <br><br>Post edited by: Ernzzz, at: 2009/08/16 21:22

Finally got him(?) home... woooohooo!!! It's been 22~ years since I've brought a baby home this young... WOW, what a feeling... enough of my rambling... it feels good!!!! My only complaint is he/she(in my semi worthless opinion!) seems awfully hungry, I think I will give a feeding a day to insure he maintains weight - I can feel his breast bone more than I care to. Other than that, he seems very healthy. I had traded birds midstream after I found out my first choice was missing a nail - probably not a big deal but I'm being picky! He was hatched May 19.

Yes, we named her, we really used our imagination(LOL!!!!:ohmy: ) ... since she really had a large vocal outburst within seconds of bringing her home - we call her "Big Bird". :silly:

Ok, let's try this one more time on the pictures... <br><br>Post edited by: Ernzzz, at: 2009/08/13 05:58

Here she is... great attitude, really neat girl!! Other than her nails are like needles and her beak needs trimming(tell you how much the owner of the shop knows!!(ARGH!) she is really impressive:woohoo: Post edited by: Ernzzz, at: 2009/08/13 05:43[/img]<br><br>Post edited by: Ernzzz, at: 2009/08/13 05:50

A few things that are facts vs. a study - 1)The companies can't gaurantee their formula is 100% correct because that is not known with any animal(even domestic dogs!). 2)Not every food is best for every bird - they all have variance from bird to bird. 3)A study given by a given company can be biased toward their own product. That being said (and written above), if a bird will only eat brand X pellet that's what I feed them! I'm a firm believer in pelleted diets, regardless of brand name. Regarding pellet list of ingredients - on dog foods the first 4 ingredients are the vast majority of the food and the remaining portion are only trace ingredients - I'm not sure if Bird pellets are the same, if I have time I will research to found out. My point about wheat was, can you imagine a bird landing in a wheat field and eating? Based on the fact wheat is low in nutritional values, to me it really doesn't make sense for that to happen. What I look for are the first 4 ingredients that I think are appropriate for my given animal. I do think danmcq is right on target with the comments. I will try and find out if the study was/is published online...

I was reading about Harrison's and started wondering... who has the best? 20+ years ago I was in the pet supply industry and I became a fanatic on dog food qaulity and realized(based on AFCO definition - this is basicly a government body)that most dog food contained mostly wheat and by products(beaks, feet and feathers, etc. - this is a SMALL portion of info.!)... anyway, based on this information I set off on reading ingredients of bird food in the last 2 weeks not knowing if any corralation(SP?) exists between the 2 types of foods. What I found was very suprising to me - the amount of wheat in bird food - I thought this was somewhat odd based on the fact of nutritional values seemed lacking with such high wheat content - has anybody researched the break down of the top bird foods? Sunday I was talking with the owner of the bird store I frequent and she mentioned she had just come back from a "bird convention" in Houston,TX and I mentioned this to her and she brought up a study that was mentioned regarding pellets - interesting... based on blood work, the best pellet was ZUPREEN and she proceeded to tell me about the first 3-5 brands. She happens to carry all of them - hopefully I can spend more time with her this week and discuss this topic more! I weened my Nape on Dr. D's and switched over to Zupreen which I use today. To change or not to change?? I was on the verge of switching to Harrisons but it came in 3rd or 4th... I will report back what I find out.

Beautiful Amazon!! I love when they are "kids"!

Like most, I'm excited! My Grey(finally named him - BLUE!) should be ready this week... woohoooo! It looks like this will be my last purchase for the next 20~ years!! Macaw makes 6...

Well... I went to my favorite store for food and on my way home I found another new store and thought... hey, it's Sunday, I have time - let's stop! I went in and noticed the store was new, very clean and it happened the owner greated me at the door(very nice lady). I turned and noticed a Hans macaw... I couldn't help myself when she mentioned the price drop due to the fact she had been with them for almost a year! She(dna tested) is a GREAT bird having been played with for a long time, I couldn't resist! I'm heading down to pick her up this afternoon... pic's to follow.

Let's see a pic of your new one!

Good Luck with your too! If you have a good one(if you like velco birds!) there are no other birds like them. One of these days, hopefully, I will find another!!:cheer:

Here's a new pic of my youngster... this is a brutal wait!! August~ seems like a long time:ohmy:

Good post, I will be weaning my birds from Zupreen. Hopefully I can find it.

Good post, I will be weaning my birds from Zupreen. Hopefully I can find it.

I agree with Danmcq 100%. He said it all!