Greywings

Ray it's just that cold Weather making you feel stiff. Loved the post had to share it with hubby who has never had much flexibility. Sounds like Parrot based Yoga don't you think?

You may want ot read our Holistic thread for ideas on some natural approaches to consider for the future.

Well we know for certain she is a she! What a fun surprise she gave you both. Welcome to our Grey world and she should be fine just make certain she gets some nice fresh dark leafy greens in her diet to help keep her calcium at optimal levels. Suggest allowing her to keep the egg until she tires of it to keep her from laying repeatedly. Do watch her with the cat as the bacteria cats have on their claws and in their saliva can be deadly if Ozzy corners kitty and cat feels the need to get defensive. Several of us have cats dogs and birds so we know it can be done safely. I love your avatar photo it has a Greyt feel to it warm and full of life.

Some go into bath mode when you run a vacuum cleaner, Whisper cAG and Fred Fred E@ both have this response.

The best word to help you along is Patience and then a little more patience. A bird from another home is having to adjust to not only a new house but new people, new routines, new sights, smells & sounds. It is a very big deal for them. Give Bobby time to get acclimated to the new digs and new people before expecting her to feel comfortable. Wait until she is ready to interact, stop by her cage and chat or sing or read to her. Many birds enjoy hearing a story and looking at pictures suggest a colorful children's book for starters. Give a little treat once in a while and when she is ready she will let you know she is feeling at home. She may ask for a head scratch or just take that treat gently or offer a foot to step up. Just don't push her before she is ready, earning her trust will help you build a great long term relationship.

What did the Vet say about that eye? It looks pink and irritated in the picture. Good on you for giving a home to this Grey I know you will enjoy your life more with a Grey in your home.

I work outside all year round at the Sanctuary every weekend for several hours. Yes the heat is draining but as long as you stay hydrated it isn't painful like the cold is. Born in England remember living with only coal fireplace for heat. When we were first married we had no heat in a rental house outside Dallas, nothing like taking a bath in steaming water with no heat to dry off in. that house had wall paper the you could watch breather in and out, creepy. Snow is beautiful to look at, miserable to shovel and so cold when it falls into your boots.

Ray I lived in Syracuse in elementary school & had enough snow & ice to last the rest of my life. Love the warm hate being cold, cold hurts although it is a greyt excuse to have Hot Cocoa with or with out a dose of warmer.

Maybe you can write a paper and get a degree in Interspecies Communications.

I think perhaps what we lean while training either ourselves or our animal friends bring understanding, discipline and the reward of know you have communicated a process or expectation successfully.

Stainless steel is the way to go if you can save those pennies to buy one. That was a good question Eshana glad to see you posting again!

Seasons, what are seasons? Living on the Gulf Coast we have Summer and sometimes Winter. There are a few weeks each year when we borrow some other cities weather for a week or two and have a taste of Spring or Fall before the other city gets wise & takes their Weather back. Our flock does not seem to care. We do bring the budgies & Tiels inside when the temperatures drop as two of the Tiels are in their 20's. The big birds Too's & Greys live inside anyway to avoid decibel damage on neighbors. Love your Fall dirt colors Jay! We have black Gumbo soil here expands when wet , shrinks and cracks when dry.

So true! It is up to us to learn how to navigate around all their cleverness.

Scooter 4 how old is your Grey? If that layering peel on the beak bothers you it can be smoothed down by an Avian Vet. although it should be just fine they way it is. The more things he has to chew on and rub that beak on the more he can wear off the older peeling parts it is a normal part of being a bird. A beak can overgrow just like fingernails on people, the length seems just fine as well.

Stress Bars Feather growth requires a myriad of nutrients for normal feather development. Therefore, if there is disruption in the assimilation of nutrients during the time of feather development, this will result in the production of stress bars on the feathers. Stress bars appear as black or depigmented lines that transect a feather, and multiple lines may occur at different levels on the feathers, if multiple bouts of disruption have occurred. If a young bird develops gastro-intestinal problems, digestive disturbances, prolonged chilling or periods when it is not fed (nor fed enough), this will result in the production of stress bars at the same level on all the feathers that were developing during that time. When evaluating a baby bird, if stress bars are present on all contours, remiges, retrices and coverts at the same levels on all the feathers, this is an indication that the baby had periods of time when it was unwell, chilled or improperly fed. Sometimes, a feather sheath on a growing feather will remain on a long feather well past when it should have been preened off, and this pinching may result in one feather with a depigmented line across it that might be mistaken for a stress bar. The key to discerning which are stress bars and which are not is determined by how many feathers are affected. A single feather with a line of depigmentation is most likely not a stress bar feather. Finding a baby bird with numerous lines of stress bars present on the feathers doesn't necessarily mean that it is currently sick, but it should alert an owner and avian veterinarian that the bird has had at least one episode of problems, and this bird should receive a thorough work-up to ensure that the problems are all in the past. "From an Exotic Vet. website" http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/feathers.html

We adopted a retired champion IG from a breeder and his being neutered was part of the deal. As it was when we adopted 2 Irish Wolfhounds many years ago from a breeder-one dog had a bad hip and the other was an older girl. Either way I wouldn't clip even with a contract but would prefer to be honest about it.

Over breeding is very different than a wing clip. So many dogs, cats ect. are put down every year due to lack of placement but a wing clip should be a choice. Even birds with clipped wings have been lost on a windy day or taken by predators. I am unclear what the basis is for maintaining clipped wings in the first place.

Higgins is one of the most palatable, Feather glow by Volkman is another good quality one and if you are in the California area Don's Birds makes his own and it is dust free and excellent, he will ship as well. I think all three of these also make a good soak mix or bean mix to make at home.

Corvids are smart and have strong family ties, Walter is a good example of that. It is a heartwarming story, thanks Dave.

I only offer pellets once in a while just so they recognize it as feed in an emergency-not a fan of fake food.

A place to share our discoveries, our joys and our sorrows all bound together by the blessings of sharing our lives, stories, pictures & hearts with all of you and our wonderful birds. Greyt post Ray! It is also a place to look for answers, guidance and a little support for those difficult times.

Excellent advice, quality time is a Greyt solution! Dr.Pepper floats are tasty too.

Bizarre Species of Miniature Dinosaur Identified By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Published: October 3, 2012 Not every dinosaur grew up to be a mighty predator like Tyrannosaurus rex or a hulking vegan like Apatosaurus. A few stayed small, and some of the smallest dinosaurs that ever lived — tiny enough to nip at your heels — were among the first to spread across the planet more than 200 million years ago. Enlarge This Image Todd Marshall With jaws only one inch in length, the plant-eating Pegomastax is one of the smallest dinosaurs ever discovered. Enlarge This Ima ge Paul Sereno and Carol Abraczinskas Some heterodontosaurids grew to less than 2 feet in length and rank as dwarfs in the dinosaur era. Enlarge This Image Tyler Keillor Skin, scales and quills were added to a cast of the skull of Heterodontosaurus, the best-known heterodontosaurid from South Africa. Fossils of these miniature, fanged plant-eaters known as heterodontosaurs, or “different toothed reptiles,” have turned up as far apart as England and China. Now, in a discovery that has been at least 50 years in the making, a new and especially bizarre species of these dwarf herbivores has been identified in a slab of red rock that was collected in the early 1960s by scientists working in South Africa. In a report published Wednesday in the online journal ZooKeys, Paul C. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and a dinosaur specialist, described the strange anatomy of the newfound member of the heterodontosaur family and gave the new species the name Pegomastax africanus, or “thick jaw from Africa.” He also apologized in an interview for not getting around sooner to this piece of research. When he first viewed the specimen at a Harvard laboratory, Dr. Sereno said, “My eyes popped, as it was clear this was a distinct species.” Embedded in the rock were remains of a creature with a short parrotlike beak, one-inch jaws, sharp teeth and a skull no less than three inches long. The entire body was less than two feet in length and probably weighed less than a small house cat. “I’m embarrassed to say how many years ago that was — 1983,” he said. “But I was an enterprising graduate student then at the American Museum of Natural History. All the while since then, I wondered if anyone else might spot the creature hiding among the lab drawers.” The Pegomastax fossils were eventually returned to the South African Museum in Cape Town, the true nature of the one slab still undiscovered, Dr. Sereno said. The main researcher responsible for collecting the fossils was Alfred Crompton, a Harvard professor now retired. Part of Dr. Sereno’s research was supported by the National Geographic Society, where he also is an explorer-in-residence. His close examination showed that behind the parrot-shaped beak were a pair of stabbing canines up front and a set of tall teeth tucked behind for slicing plants. These teeth in upper and lower jaws operated like self-sharpening scissors, Dr. Sereno said, with shearing wear facets that slid past one another when the jaws closed. The parrotlike skull, he noted, may have been adapted to plucking fruit. Dr. Sereno said it was “very rare that a plant-eater like Pegomastax would sport sharp-edged enlarged canines.” Some scientists suggested that the creature may have consumed some meat, or at least insects. In his new study, Dr. Sereno concluded that the creature’s fangs, unusual for a herbivore, were probably “for nipping and defending themselves, not for eating meat.” Other aspects about the new species and other heterodontosaurs, including their chewing mechanism, are evolutionary surprises, he said, and “their anatomy is key to understanding the early evolution of this great group of plant eaters.” Another possible characteristic of the new species, Dr. Sereno said, is that its body might have been covered in quills, something like that of a porcupine. If so, he pictured that in life Pegomastax would have scampered around in search of suitable plants, looking something like a “nimble two-legged porcupine.”

Nancy that works for me, we all know birds are only in this for themselves as far as behavior training.

A new Grey hat!