katana600

I think Dorian is just keeping his light hidden under a basket. My first daughter didn't walk until she was 15 months old. We were getting concerned, but just encouraged her and bam, she stood up on her own and took off running. She had been admitted to the hospital for croup and had to have shots into her throat because swelling closed her airway. As soon as she could breathe she had incentive. Dorian hasn't had the incentive for foraging. Someday you will discover just the incentive to learn his brilliant side he has been hiding. Miss Gilbert is cunning. There are so many times I wish I could get in her mind. Yesterday we had a fun moment. I turned on the radio and Joan Jett was singing "I Hate Myself For Loving You". Gil had just pitched her usual fit when I gave her fresh food and water. She tried to bite me, she cussed and she picked out her clean water dish and drenched me in a passionate moment. When that song started I asked if it was her theme song and started singing from another room. She danced wildly, bobbing her head in agreement as though I finally got it through my dense mind. She hooted and whistled and danced wildly like a whirling dervish. I have never seen such motion on her part. She danced, I danced and we both laughed. This morning she tried to bite me and flung her water at me again. She is on a week long quiet spell. Her dancing was a hopeful sign that I'm going to see her true self someday soon.

I came in the first time for the smile. When I saw it in the "what's new" I had to come back to see what cleverness murfchck inspired this time. I hung in there for the graphics on Dave's and that was great. We have a pretty funny group here. Thanks folks.

When I saw the most recent pictures of Isaac, I felt a long breath of relaxation and relief. Why? Because Miss Gilbert has had a recent relapse and has chewed off to her fluffy grey underwear down her chest. She has one strip of feathers down the center if her chest, a mohawk style of sorts. She has been a little more quiet for a couple of days. These episodes are less and less frequent. Each time when I come around the corner to a snowstorm and bedraggled little soul, I deflate and spend some time wondering. What has happened to her? What does she need from us? How can we help her? Is she ever going to overcome her past? Then, I see this thread update and I see Isaac. The peace of understanding comes to me. He is the happiest, most loving, engaging and best understood best friend I have witnessed since you brought him home. In the same way a well loved comfortable pair of jeans gets stressed and frayed from everyday wear, so is the way of our greys. There is no magic cure, no forbidding them to be fuzzy and also no guilt or need to fix this for Miss Gilbert. Time has already proven she is okay. She will have occasional setbacks, and she will also be beautiful just the way she is today. Thank you Stephen.

Well done! Your bird room is beautiful and well appointed. It's nicer than my own bedroom. :-) You may inspire me to step up my game.

Thank you Lori for caring. There are certain highly motivated people who will research, have a mentor and training for the dedicated and loving task of hand feeding a just pulled chick. There will be those who are successful and it will be the benchmark for the greatest experience in their life. There is nothing I would wish to detract from those successful experiences. A person so inclined and so passionate may well want to become a vet tech, vet or perhaps even a breeder. Sadly though, that's not going to be the majority. I wish you both the very best and that your lifetime commitment spans decades.

That's funny. I did see his rock work on the video. It seems like Jabber, Java and Toby are the working birds of the flock. Java does the same thing climbing or flying with a "payload". She once flew a short distance with a shot glass and dropped it right on my head. It must have been nearly double her body weight. She will grab partially filled water bottles and fly off with them. She has the intimidation factor down. She looks so sweet, swaying, asking to get out of her cage. Visitors say "aww, let her out, I don't mind". If its just dinner company, I know better. If its a long term guest, I start slowly and warn them if she does land on them, call her bluff and don't panic. For the most part, she lands and I can see by her body language if she deems them friend or foe. If she decides she likes them she makes the cutest quiet little kisses. Then I have them give her a treat. She has the most evil sounding version of "heyyyy" and I know I need to get her back in her cage before mayhem ensues.

My family objects to my sneeze. It comes out of nowhere, is like a loud percussion and I always sneeze twice. It surprises me too. Miss Gilbert has never picked that one up. Her funny one is to imitate the sound of hubby's long honking nose blowing every time he gets out of the shower. During the week he is up too early but on weekends as soon as she sees him head to our bedroom she will start the nose blowing and laugh. It's priceless. Her timing is impeccable.

I have been following this thread and didn't feel like I had anything to offer since I got a weaned six month old. What I do want to say is our breeder had been hand raising chicks for thirty years. There was no doubt in my mind that all three of her chicks were more than a business. She and her husband taught them to fledge, to get along in the world and how to be birds. They really put their heart and soul into those babies. I learned to hand feed from them and thankfully had the confidence to do so when my baby got sick. I had to give him meds and hand feed to give him nutrients when he started losing weight rapidly. He passed away and we had a necropsy that confirmed he had PDD. I did have a fantastic mentor and vet support and did learn to feed him out of necessity. While I have no doubts Lori and Robopetz are caring, competent and really committed, hand feeding and bonding change the dynamics in the event of an unfortunate loss. The breeder lovingly cares for the baby with the knowledge of preparing it to leave and love someone else. When we bring our baby home it does become family and even after five years, the pain of losing Juno is still as raw and breathtaking as the day he died. I only had him seven weeks. If I had it to do all over again, I would still want a weaned fledgling because I believe over all with all baby birds the mortality rate is much higher in the first weeks regardless of who is hand feeding. I also believe the decades of experience learning how to give just enough attention to help them thrive and just enough independence to stimulate self reliance and curiosity. It's all a fine balance. For the two who have decided to hand feed,you have my greatest respect and I know you are taking every step to learn to do it well. I just have had a learning lesson that gives me a different perspective.

I physically worked hard today and decided to try Aleve PM thinking it would help me sleep with a little back pain. It's 2:30 am and I am wide awake. My wiring is a little off, the part that should make me sleepy has me wired like drinking two pots of coffee. Gilbert keeps calling to me softly saying "time to go night night".

Is Toby your Caique? The way you describe him is similar to Java. She has been determined to drive every intruder from our home. At any given time that has been our cats, dogs, kids, friends, neighbors, my husband, a foster cockatiel and all three of our greys. She is eight years old if they were honest about her age when we got her. I have my doubts, she seemed a lot older than four months. She has always been real sweet to me and has bitten me when she was startled. She has a powerful, fearsome bite worse than Gilbert's. Funny you say he goes to work. Java gets on top of the refrigerator and when I as what she is doing up there she says "I'm working". She doesn't talk as often as Gilbert but when she chimes in to join a conversation, it is spot on and always really amazing and funny. I'm so glad you took a chance on Jabber and he surely loves you.

No wonder this is such a vibrant caring forum. Our members are interesting and unique. 1. I grew up in a junkyard and once spent the summer disassembling, cleaning and reassembling an old International truck engine with a blown head gasket. 2. After I had two kids, I went to school to be an electrical engineer but pulled out for the third time for my husband's corporate moves in my last semester. I wanted to work on prosthetic hands. I did manage to get a computer science degree in the process. 3. Apparently I'm attracted to injured wild animals. Have nurtured and released raccoons, a skunk, a baby owl, a squirrel, an opossum, chipmunks, a tarantula and birds. 4. I swam in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Caribbean Sea 5. I injured my spine water skiing at 19, have had a lumbar spinal fusion, fractured it when I fell off a scaffolding and had it redone from the front. I don't learn very quickly.

Love the name, Bob, too funny. We lived in Fort Worth and in Houston and never saw one outside. Is this a pet that escaped or something you see often in your area?

Oh how adorable. It brings back those heart pounding moments of meeting and holding my baby greys for the first time. I can't get enough of these baby pictures. My MBS (Multiple Bird Syndrome) is having a serious flare up now. Lucky you to be helping these little ones learn to love people and get ready for loving homes. You are perfect for this "job".

You really can't predict what will set them off. This time the tape may have been the catalyst which sent her into hiding, next time she may chew on the white tape. As we read with you, I'm sure each of us has felt that rising panic. They are masters of disappearing or blending into their surroundings. It's one of the things that make it so difficult to recover them if they get outside which is one of our greatest fears. I'm so sorry for you and Beautiful getting a fright and also quite relieved you found her, rescued her and calmed her. I'm sure your heart was pounding too loudly to hear yourself think.

How is Jabberwocky doing? Has he learned new words? Has he made peace with your husband? Java has also pierced my hubby's ear, nose, cheek and lip on separate occasions. They now are on guarded but fair terms. He is such a beauty. He holds his head and lets you touch his beak in the same way as Java. How does he get along with Kizzy?

Well, silly me. I only read as far as the page being under construction. Before I closed the window I saw the menu bar across the top and checked out your resident flock. It IS you. Your site is off to a good start.

Is this you? http://www.foreverfeatherssanctuary.com/ I tried lots of combinations and this one looked promising.

Europa's transition to your home is ideal. There are always circumstances for when it is necessary to make this kind of change. For you to have a well loved African Grey with the support and contact from her original home is optional. The progress you have made so quickly is a testament to your welcome, slow and steady approach. It's also speaks to Europa's breeding, life experience and temperament and of course, to the love and respect of her first home. It makes me so happy to see that you have been chosen by this very special girl.

No wonder you were a calming voice patient voice in the creation of a safe haven for Miss Gilbert. Her disposition and world view is much like Dorian's. Dear Dorian, You're okay. Don't worry be happy now. I believe you and Miss Gilbert are going to find your wings. Be brave, try new things a little at a time. Trust your mama, she has wonderful things to share with you. With love from your friend Dee

Great thinking. It's tough to decide what's the best approach to reach our goals for the best development of our companion parrots. This type of room will help crystallize our thoughts which become our methods for giving our best to our birds. Thanks for expanding on these ideas. I like the idea of having an individual thread to follow each unique parrot through this path that joins our lives for a while.

Miss Gilbert is entering the third week of her campaign to break my tenacious iron clad grip on my sanity. I joked about her being a "prepper" for asking "ready?" over and over again. She just gets in a groove and asks and asks hundreds of times a day. I asked her today "Ready for what?" She mocked me with "What? What? What?" and laughed at her big joke. So to get her off track I called out "Jim" and she went into her Jim/David debate with herself. I must say, I went to bed early and heard a great shout. Gilbert lured David in for a night night head scratch and bit him! I don't know if this just tickled my funny bone because I have seldom heard him react to anything with raising his voice or just purely delighted that its not just me. Java even giggled at him. He came to bed and said he's never seen such a fickle woman in all his life. He was just incredulous that she lured him in with sweet nothings like "night night sweet boy" and "sweet dreams". Just recalling his "ordeal" has me laughing until I snort. That's what she has been doing with me for more time than I want to quantify. Then, right when she is being a wicked little monkey I heard her today putting together something she struggled with for more than a year. Since I got the DNA and told her I knew she was a girl she starts her happy lilting "Gilbert's a good boooyyy!". She sounds like she is going to say but abruptly cuts short at "b", then she repeats over and over "Gilbert's a good" and stammers. I felt bad that it changed her references to herself. I would tell her "it's okay, you can be a good boy if you want" and she has been hung up on this. Today when I was in the kitchen canning all day I heard her come to a resolution. She very slowly and deliberately said "Gilbert's a good pretty girl", she laughed and said it several more times. Time will tell if she reverts back to her habit, but it just seems like she figured out something wonderful and pleasing for herself.

That was awesome! Thanks Dave.

Poor little Gabby, and poor Lisa too. That would have scared me too. I haven't quite gotten over clipping a toenail too short... On a weekend when the vet was closed. What was I thinking? I never did that again. Miss Gilbert broke a tail feather once and there was a lot of blood. It's worrying to see our companions distressed or in danger. You sleuthed it out and she is okay mama bird. Good job.

That video is beautiful. Both my parrots are imitating a whistle from one of yours. I could not believe the magic of seeing Rio when you mentioned him blending in. You have a beautiful aviary. The devotion of you and your wife to your parrots is an inspiration. You have me wondering where is the best spot to install an aviary? At my house of course. I may need to find where you sourced your wire. Great job, well done and very creative.

Oh what a precious little one you are adding to your flock. My heart went pitter patter looking at that baby picture. Have mercy that is a beautiful macaw. I am just guessing, but is a Miligold a hybrid of the Military Macaw and a Blue and Gold? The first parrot I ever saw was a blue and gold macaw named Yoda. I visited him twice a week and brought him bananas, my first love, before I was married. I knew I wasn't ready for that kind of commitment but it was a wonderful introduction. I too am looking forward to your life with this little gem.