stephjls

I met this old man who would come in and play with the dogs at my work in his free time. He lived alone, except for him goffin. He would come into my work and talk for hours and hours. I later found out he lived right down the street from me. Well, this past week he had to go to the hospital, and is now on his way to Miami for open heart surgery. He told me he doesn't think he is going to live, and that his bird is being boarded at animal house under my name. We talked for about two hours over the last three days on the phone, about his bird. It is his life. So, I went to pick up the bird at Animal house last night. She's the sweetest bird ever, LOVES attention, and crys if you walk away. At Gene's house, she NEVER stayed in a cage. She was fully flighted, and did as she pleased all day long. I guess Animal House clipped her wings. (I'M SO ANGRY WITH THEM, BTW) She also has to stay in a cage when we're not around. We have other pets. Any advice to comfort the bird while we're not around? We're feeding her the grey pellots and a little seed, she seems to only eat the seed. We are housing her far away from Stazel and Beanie, which btw, both of them seem awfully angry and moody. What kind of toys do they play with? Same as Greys?

Last night she stuck her head in my 100% grape juice cup and took a taste. I was wondering if its okay, or even healthy for her that she did? Could I give her orange juice or grape juice as a treat? I was thinking i'd freeze it into ice. It surprised me, she HATES purple. She won't try anything purple, and when she's done eating her pellots, purple is the only color left. Ha

Thank you all for your responses. I guess Stazel is finally starting to get use to her cage. She's never paraded around it like that before. I know there should be more then one toy in the cage, they just REALLLYYY seem to freak her out. She won't talk, and she'll be stuck to one corner. (Her cage is big enough for a couple toys, but she still sits in this one corner). I'm afraid she won't goto her food and water if she pleases, although the toys themselves are actually on the other side. I guess its common sense to get toys that look alike, the one she hates right now is totally different, very colorful. The others were just plain blocks of wood, with balls and things. I'll try to find a couple like the one she has now. She loves foot toys, but they seem to be an interaction type toy. She doesn't want anything to do with them when we're not handing them to her, picking them back up when she tosses them across the room, and handing them to her again. She does have a stand, but she prefers the top of her cage where (its got the jungle gym type thing). She isn't vocal on the stand at all, and she just sits in one spot.:blink: Thanks for all the advice, i'll keep you updated on her (=

I'm concerned about Stazel and the fact she's a HUGE scaredy-cat. She has ONE toy in her cage. She loved it, but there is not much left of it now. We had a toy on the outside of her cage, but she won't go anywhere NEAR it. Its starting to get me worried, because when no ones home I don't want to turn her into a plucker. She gets lots of "treats" and the t.v. is usually left on, but I don't feel like thats anywhere enough even for the short three hours when no ones home. Tonight her cage door was open, and she was just climbing all over the cage, top to bottom in and out, so i'm assuming she's bored? Usually she just sits on top and talks up a storm and flaps. Even with new food, if we don't "try it" first, she won't even think about it. Is there ANYTHING I can do to make her not so afraid of toys? Even if we "play" with it its a big no no. Any smaller toy suggestions I can buy for her?

Haha, Stazel had picked up sneezing and a smokers cough from the house we got her from. When we first got her she was sneezing and sneezing. I actually got a phone call from my mother freaking out because the bird was sick. I had to explain to her that she was just imitating.. ha

When I got Stazel she would only talk when we weren't in the room. It took her a while to start talking in front of us, and she still won't talk around stangers or company. Just talk to her a lot. Every time we passed her cage we would say something to her. Now everytime we pass the cage she says something to us. (which we usually get a "woooo ohhh" when we pass by, which is to cute)

Thank you for the replies(=

Usually its about 80's in the house. Today its around the high 60's. Even poor little Captain America had to be dragged out from under the covers today, hah. Thanks for the reply !

How do you guys bathe the birds when its so cold outside/colder inside then normal summer days? Poor Stazel has been in 97 degree weather ever since she has been here, able to go outside every day. This cold front put us around 60's, and that may not sound cold to your northern people, but down here in Florida thats a huge temp. drop =/ I imagine you're bathing your birds with warm water in the shower? (which may be the end of the world here, haven't tried that yet.) What about when they're all wet? I'm going to go get her a thermoperch today. My quaker has one and loves it.

glitterysparkle wrote: I don't think i've ever seen a movie as good as the book. Such a cute picture of Ecko though!

Stazel LOVES the fruit blend. All except for the purple pieces, :woohoo: I plan to mix that in with the other pellots, just haven't decided which brand. Hopefully she'll eat both. She seems to be picking the seeds out of the food her original owner gave her. At least she's eating the fruit pellots along with it. I can't wait to get her off that stuff.

I love that video(= I don't know how many times i've actually watched it. All the parrot videos are favored on my youtube, ha

So cute(= I agree with Judy, that was my favorite part to. Ha, they're so greedy.

Stazel is doing wonderfully. This morning she got to watch me from a distance pressure spray her cage and perches down. She talked the entire time, she loves the sun light. She can say her name, and a lot of phrases used around the house; such as "MOOOM" "bark bark bark STOP" "Captain's a GOOOOOOD boy" (which the good boy happens to be a lot nicer to hear then the "BAD DOG" my quaker spits out in context) and ect. She's picking up words fast, last night she was in the other room making the coffee grinder noise. Luckily, its a lot softer then the real thing.. we'll see if it stays that way. The nipping has almost completely stopped, with the exception of getting very angry when she gets wet. She enjoys biting threw ice cubes, almost as much as she likes to watch them fall and shatter all over the floor. Any food she doesn't want, she throws to the ground to watch the dogs eat. Questions: 1. What do you feed your bird along the lines of pellots. We have about half a bad left of what the original owner gave us, and want to start mixing it in with a. roudybush, or b. Kaytee Exact Natural along with ZuPreem AvianMaintenance FruitBlend. She seems to really like that fruit blend, and loves soaking them in the water bowl before eating them. 2. How do you bathe your bird? Do you use just water, or are you mixing aloe in with it? Stazel HATES getting wet. You'd think we were killing her or something. Anyway to make bath time a little more enjoyable for her? Playing with her favorite toy, also the cheapest. Go figure. And, my dog. He felt left out because he didn't get his own post. So I told him i'd post his picture. -- This is him jumping off the water fall edge onto his favorite raft. BTW, his name is Captain America. -- He has team spirit. Go RAYS! In other news. The dog who gave birth in my neighbors closet is doing better. One of the puppies died, the other one is being handfed every three hours, plus a little milk from the mother.<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/08/30 20:28

Week two with Stazel, and this one's been a bit hectic. Sallas: My porch is not screened in, and no she wasn't wearing a harness. She only has one wing cut, and its very short. As much as she'd like to fly, and as much as she tries, I don't think its going to happen. (but correct me if i'm wrong.) For starters, I work at a doggy daycare and there has been this dog here living with us for a couple of months. The owners don't like her. So I took her home because my neighbors were just starting to look for their first dog. She's small, a doxen basset fauve mix. Her owners SWORE up and down she was fixed. When I told them she was in heat two months ago, I was called a lair, and "didn't know what I was talking about" that the owner took the dog in HERSELF to get fixed. Well, the dogs teets were getting pretty swollen, but she wasn't gaining to much weight. We thought it could just be because her hormones were messed up coming out of heat, but we were wrong. Last night at midnight, (the weekend I take the dog home mind you.) the dog went into labor. She only had two puppies, but it took 3 hours to deliver and make sure she wasn't having anymore. One puppy looks healthy and fat, the other one not so much. Can't wait to call her old owners. Stazel is very picky on her fruits, and only eats the soft sweet ones like cantalope, watermelon, apples, ect. She does love her pellots though. The breeder we got her from said not to feed her to much fruit because in the wild they are seed eaters and all that fruit isn't healthy. When reading and doing research I felt like every site was disagreeing with him saying they needed plenty of fruits&veggies. So should I be limiting them to a certain amount daily? Usually I just give her a bowl in the morning. The nipping has really settled down. She is such a silly girl. Sometimes when i'm least expecting it i'll open the door the the room she sleeps in and i'm greeted with a great big "HIIII" or "Good morning!". She has a lot to say, and is already picking up sounds around the house. (Still to shy to practice in front of us though.) If I play music for her, she'll dance. She puffs up her feathers and bobs her head and makes a clicking noise. Its so cute(= Needless to say, the entire family is in love with her.

So, if you read my post on the health board, you saw we got a 6yr old CAG. There she is outside on our deck! She is very friendly, the only thing we're having a problem with is the fact she can be nippy if she doesn't want to step up. Just enough to pinch, but pinching is enough to scare many people away. (So, anyone who wants to touch her HAS to keep their hand there even though she pinches.) She's eating great, to get her to try new foods we have to eat a piece in front of her before she even THINKS about eating it. Her favorite, are apples. We've been cutting them into little pieces, and every time she steps up without nipping she gets a treat. She just started talking yesterday, but she's very shy and only talks when we're not in the room. Everything from dogs barking, door knocking, answering the telephone and the machine. She does all sorts of clicks. She's ALREADY picked up a few phrases we say to our dogs. (She's only been here since Sunday) My dad's already made her a simple pvc perch so when he's out in the pool she gets to watch from the deck.Which brings me to my first question. Here in Florida, the mosquito's are terrible. Are they going to bother the bird when she has outside time with us? Should we keep an eye on it? and my second questions is she seems to be scratching up her beak. She has very visable scratches on one side, and I noticed her scratching her beak on her sandy perch. Should I take it out of her cage, or is this normal?<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/08/14 01:25

Thanks Judy. The only home she was in was the breeders. She was the only one there that wasn't "as mean as a snake" as they said. I've actually read parrots for dummies front and back before we got the first bird. (We also have a 14 year old quaker.) The book itself was interesting, and I have learned a lot from lurking these boards for like a year now? ha So far, no really bad habbits (aside from the lunging like she is going to bite, but we just hold our hand there through that and she doesn't seem to follow through with it), but I will for sure be asking questions in the future. She will be spoiled rotten (if not by me, by my dad. I slept in this morning, and he had already came in my room 4 times by 8am telling me all the things she's doing) So far, her favorite game is throwing toys on the ground. ha

No idea on a name yet. She woke up today with some scratches on her face, i'm guessing yesterday was a stress and she did it in her cage? No toys in there yet, they are all on the outside. She's a big scaredy cat. As for being nice to us, she doesn't like to come down from the top of her cage. She bites us when we put out hand for her to step up, but its not a break skin bite, its a pinch. So we're just all getting use to each other. She's making two noises, a beep and a squeeky door noise.. she needs to be oiled;) Oh, and her nails and wings were clipped before she came home. So her balance is off, a lot. That may be why the scratches on her head are there?<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/08/10 16:50

So, we decided to try for another bird. We put a down payment on a baby a couple weeks ago. Went to pick her up today, the guy answered the door.... to tell us the baby bird had died. (In a freak accident, might I add...) So, after a long talk we decided to bring home a 6year old female. We're trying everything out, and seeing if she fits in with the family. Vet on Tuesday, so we will see how that goes. (Even though the vet doesn't even really do anything for us..) Hopefully the jinx will be over. :dry:<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/08/10 07:48

Thanks for all the support, we're just all very nervous. I would have come on here earlier, but again, we still feel like we've done something wrong in both cases. If we do get another bird, I will post pictures and updates. The picture set as my default is the one we are thinking about. Also, at this place, they have a baby bird with one wing. It was just born without a wing. They named it "Ilene" (Hah, like I lean). Fell in love with her right then and there. Ha. A good friend of my moms was very interested in her. She's probably half off !:whistle:<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/07/29 21:41

Fat-so is probably screeching for you. Since half of his flock left, he might have it in his head that he will wake up and be all alone. The screeching may be just a call to see you. I would suggest a sleeping cage in your room, where he can see you. I'm not as experienced as some of the other grey owners, so I may be completely off, but it sounds logical to me.<br><br>Post edited by: stephjls, at: 2009/07/28 03:57

Okay, thank you =)

So I can boil the leather and cloth and such on the toys with plastic in vinegar and water, and it will all be good to go? Are the boings included in this?

My baby grey will be here in a couple weeks, therefor i'm preparing. I have the cages, and toys. I am wondering ways in which I can completely disinfect the toys from any virus they could hold. I got them from a bird show recently, and was told that thats practically a death wish waiting. So, how to disinfect? I was thinking I could throw the boings in the wash. I read bleach is bad, so what cleaning solution should I use for that? Or is the washer a bad idea.. I am going to bake the wood perches at 250degrees, how long should they stay in there for? As for the other toys, with leather and plastic and such. whats the best way to clean those? After everything is clean, I plan to put them out in the sun for a couple days. Florida heat will probably kill anything left. Advice and facts please =)

Thank you casper