Xtreme575

Well, Paco and I made it safe and sound. He was ok in the car, I can't say it was his favourite day, but I was proud of him. We now are at my parent's house, along with my two sisters, their husbands and two kids each, so its a housefull. Paco has been very quiet, taking it all in from his playstand. I've noticed his droppings are a little more brown than normal, but it's gotta be the stress. Same pellets, same water, etc. My family is being great, they are talking to him, but being respectful of the fact that he is a tamed bird, rather than a dog, so I'm thankful for that. The big joke is for them to say a swear word at him in the hopes that he will repeat it... If the worse that can happen is that he says "Bullsh*t", then I'm not gonna stress over it. Besides, he isn't really talking yet anyway! So the jokes on them! My brother-in-law built him a makeshift stand since the one I ordered didn't come in until TODAY!!! :pinch: Anyway, I'm just busy trying to figure out how to have him avoid the neighbour. His ex-wife used to breed Greys and I have talked to her extensively, he wasn't respectful of the birds, so I'm going to be a little defensive. Right now is Paco's dinner time, so he's in my room in quiet eating, I might just visit him, but leave him in there! Wish me luck!

Well, Paco and I made the first half of our 7 hour drive to my family's place. We are now at a hotel and will finish the trip tomorrow after he has breakfast. The trip was pretty good, although he fell once, but he had to take the blame on it. He was perching on his food dish and didn't have the grip he should have. He didn't stand on the dish after that. Other than that, the only issue was when I passed a truck with a loose tarp moving in the wind! I didn't think anything of it at them time, but it brought a loud scream from Paco that scared me so bad I chocked on my coffee! All was good when I told him it was "Ok", but then he wanted kisses, not something I could do while driving British Columbia's mountain passes! He loves the hotel, and the green curry I ordered for dinner. I hope the rest of the trip goes well for him. I'd like these travels to be met with excitement for him. I also discovered that he likes opera... I think this is in common with Josey isn't it? Sarah Brightman and Paco singing Mozart's Alleluja (sp?) together. Good grief! Merry Christmas, I hope you all have a greyt one! Ryan

It is fun, but boy does he get into it when he gets going! I don't normally see that behaviour because I'm at work when he starts, between 1-2 pm. In the evenings when I'm home he usually just plays quietly with toys on his playtop, no screaming and attacking like he does during the day!

Hey guys, at first I was a little concerned that my CAG was to docile, and I was trying to teach him how to play, but he just looked at my like I was nuts... No comment! LOL! Anyway, I've now noticed that during the days I'm home, he actually spends some time playing, and some time resting, so I'm hoping that he does this when I'm at work as well. The big thing that I've been noticing though, is that he can get very rambunctious (sp?) while playing, he puffs up and lunges at his toys while letting out an awful scream. Then he lets out a sweet whistle before starting the attack again, sometimes punctuated with some clicks! Is this normal play for them? Paco is just over 6 months, is not speaking (often) yet, and has a very sweet disposition and loves head scratches. Do they all get this caught up during play? I know I read that you just leave them as their eyes are often pinwheeling as well, I just carry on with my day and let him have his excitement, but what a shock it gave me the first few times I heard it?!?!?!?! I thought something got into his cage!

Bravo! I love the description of the Grey's stare! You just can't seem to get away from it! Fantastic! Karma to you!!! :laugh:

My glasses... Paco was nuzzling his beak behind my ear one night while cuddling before bed, he found the earpiece to my glasses and before I had a chance to stop him he had the plastic piece slipped of the frames and chomped right through it! How could I even get angry, he was so proud of himself for figuring it out! :pinch:

Hahahahahaha! Thanks for the laughs on that! Paco knocks on the bathroom door with his beak before wolf whistling at me to let him in so he is able to continue his close surveillance! :sick:

Just a quick update, Barbara sent me a note on my e-mail to thank me for my kind words that I sent after I received the 2nd DVD. I am going to assume that it was Barbara, since she signed it off herself. I feel more excited than a teen-girl just meeting Taylor Lautner from Twilight!!! LOL!:blink:

Ha ha! Janet, I loved it! Could you imagine the noise in that house by the 13th day!!! Not to mention all the clean-up required! I kept picturing it in my head as I sang through it, it was exaserpated by the fact that I just finished cage duty. Karma to you for taking the time to entertain us all with that! :cheer:

Thanks for the kind words and good karma. We did go to the vet, I would have rushed in right away when I noticed this rather than take a chance, but the vet wasn't open, and I really didn't think I even had time for that, the finch was in major distress! Anyway, the one who was sick is the piggy out of the bunch. The vet figures he had been over doing it, and not taking in enough water. I have added a few more water bins to their cage, and will be laying off on one of their seeds for a bit. I feed them a variety of different organic seeds from Abba, as well as a finch pellet. Anyway, one of the seeds that I feed is a sprouted seed that "comes back to life" when I soak them in distilled water. They are fairly large, and really rich, so I'll back off from that for a while and add more leafy greens instead. The vet was happy with the intervention that I did with the finch, and told me to continue feeding him the pedialyte mixture that I gave him as he seems to respons well to it. He still is having large movements, but they are getting to be a smaller by the day. I'll keep him on the mixture twice a day until his stool is a normal size again.

Ha ha! Thanks all! Both your good humoured responses and assurances that I am not ruining my Grey from speaking are a relief. I'll love him even if he doesn't speak, although I know I've heard "Hello" and "Pretty Bird" several times now, but he always waits until I can't get to him to make a big deal about it... Anyway, he is done preening my hair while I type, and is trying to pierce my ears now looking for skritches. I better go pay attention to him before he moves into his ultimate weapon, a big rubbery tongue in my ear! Gross!!! LOL!

Last night I noticed that one of my four finches was behaving strangely. His feathers were a little puffed, and he wasn't as active as he normally is. I had a closer look and realized that his back end looked swollen and bald??? It reminded me of a thumb! I pulled him out of the cage and took him to the bathroom for a closer look, and in a contained space that he wouldn't be able to fly away from me. Upon a close look, I could tell that his stomach was very swollen, and I could see that he was trying to pass a movement, but it just wasn't happening. When I put him on the counter, he could hardly stand, and seemed to be panting. I really thought I was close to losing him, and it was to late for a vet visit, so I went into desparation mode... I Googled constipated bird, and found instructions for a homeade pedialyte solution that someone suggested can create enough fluid and energy to help them pass their movement. I gave him some from a syringe, he took it readily and I began to notice more energy and chirping from him almost immediately. I left him for 20 minutes, and still nothing, so I continued to research, and was reminded by this forum that Aloe Vera juice is a natural remedy for human constipation, I was desparate enough to try it. I mixed the pedialyte with the aloe and again fed that to my little finch. In the meantime, my CAG was whistling away to me like crazy knowing that that was normally our time together for cuddles and scritches! Anyway, in about another 20 minutes I could see the finch panting away again, wings drooped beside him, but I also noticed that he was pushing and that he had the largest turd coming out of him that I could imagine! By the time all was said and done, he really did put my CAG to shame with the size that he got out of himself... And, he did this three times! What a difference, he was almost back to himself, but I decided to keep him separate from the other three finches for the night. I made him a nest in the bathroom sink, and left him with food and water. This morning, as soon as I opened the door, he flew at me. I caught him again, and gave him more of the solution. Again, three more parrot sized poohs came out, and then he really got back to his normal antics. He was chirping, jumping and flying around happily. I put him back in the cage where he has spent a good part of the day resting in his nest, but he is getting out for food and water, and I am continuing to give him more of the aloe solution. I have to admit, I would have never taken this chance with my CAG, it was too risky, not that I don't appreciate my finches, but the relationship with them isn't nearly the same... nor is the financial investment for that matter. I'm certain the finch isn't sick... He's my fatty of the bunch, and I just don't think he drinks enough as he is too worried that someone might get to the seeds before he does, even though they get more than enough food. Anyway, I guess I have a weekend of birdie-nursing ahead of me... Wish me luck! Ryan

Wow! I can't believe today is Paco's 6th month hatchday! He didn't really get to celebrate it though, I had to work, all though I bought Timmy's for everyone at work to celebrate (Timmy's for those not Canadian is a favourite Coffee & Doughnut chain named after Tim Horton the company founder and ex NHL Hockey Player)! Paco got to stay home and antogonize my housekeeper who was in today, she's scared to death of him even though he is in his cage... Anyway, Paco keeps sucking me in to returning his whistles! I can't seem to stop myself. I go into another room for a second, he whistles or clicks at me and I try to remember to answer him with words, but every now and then he is so enthusiastic that I find myself answering back with the same noise he made!!! I gotta stay focused on trying to keep him to talk, he's sitting on me now happily whistling and clicking away... Help me resist the temptation!!!!!!

I use it. Before I first bought my parrot I checked with an independent bird store and the owner owns 13 wild greys. She was the one to ask me to check with the breeder to find out what food he was eating after weaning. The breeder was using Zupreem. Not to beat up Zupreem, it seems that a lot of others use it, and the bird store does sell it, but she doesn't recommend it as she said that they use orange oil on it to make it smell/taste better, she warned that the orange oil could build up in their liver and cause illness. She gave me a number of samples to try my baby one, Roundybush, Pretty Bird Species Specific, Harrison's, and a number of others. She really pushed me to try to get him on Harrison's. The clear winner was the Pretty Bird African Grey Species specific pellets. So, that's what we are on now. The bird store owner assures me that it is second to Harrison's and Roundybush, but apparently it is still a good quality, and healthful pellet. I ran out once, and went back to Zupreem just to get me by, he won't even touch it now... I'd be interested to hear if the more experienced parrot owners have any opinion on this pellet. Like I said, I just followed the advice of the bird store owner and what he likes. Just remember, do not use Pretty Bird for another species on your African Grey. Again, I was warned that doing that can cause liver damage. If you can get your Grey on Harrison's, it really is supposed to be the clear winner.

All I can say is that I didn't know where to "start" on training tricks or behaviours. After watching the video it took me two sessions to have Paco "turnaround" and "waving", it'll just take a little longer to perfect. More importantly though, it taught me to really let him make his own choices on stepping up, rather than a forced step-up, and other choices that he wants to make. He is loving it, and we still have boundaries. Again, very impressed with both Barbara and the customer service with Good Bird Inc. I'm ordering more from them already!!! :evil: Visa loves me. *sigh*

I thought I would take a moment to say how impressed I am with both Barbara Heidenreich and Good Bird Inc. I had been looking for something that would help me learn the basics of training, and after reading the posts on Grey Forums, and other internet searches I decided to give Barbara's videos a try. I ordered Parrot Behavior and Training, and Introduction to Training online from the Good Bird Inc. website. I was anxious to get the video, unfortunately it took a bit longer to get then I had hoped, this was not the fault of Good Bird Inc., but instead, Canada Customs... Finally after a few weeks it arrived in the mail! I couldn't wait to get upstairs to watch it. As soon as I took it out of the package I heard a rattling sound which dismayed me. Opening the DVD case I had discovered that the disc had slipped off the hub that is supposed to hold it in place, and the disc had been rubbing around in its cover. It was pretty scratched, but I popped it in the DVD anyway. The video was excellent, I learned lots, but was frustrated as it did skip quite a bit. Anyway, I e-mailed Good Bird Inc., not to ask for anything, but instead just to let them know what had happened, and to ask that their videos get a bit of a shake before they mail them out. I told them that I was very impressed by the content of the video, just dissapointed that it was irritating to watch due to the skipping. The next day I had an email that lead me to a link to their magazine which one normally needs to pay for to access. They were very apologetic and told me that they hoped the magazine would appease me. I was more than happy with that. I reassured them that I would continue to order Barbara's videos as Paco progressed in his training, and that I just wanted them to be aware of what happened to me. Needless to say, tonight I came home, there was a replacement video sitting in the mailbox! I was astounded. What phenomanal customer service. Barbara and Good Bird Inc., have a lifetime customer out of me!!! By the way, Paco learned to "turn around" and "wave" in two training sessions using Barbara's methods! Pretty impressive!!! Anyway, 5 stars to Barbara, and 5 stars to Good Bird Inc.! Ryan

Happy Hatch Day! Paco and I are excited for Chimay, and his new toys! :silly:

Oh no... Paco jumps from foot to foot with his neck stretched until you make friends with him. I spoke to soon, he just said "Pretty Bird", it was a bit garbled, but definately "Pretty Bird". Any suggestions with the weight? He is clipped (although I'm on my knees praying for a molt each night) so that he can have flight again. I feed him a "salad" of bok choy, a few grapes, broccoli (sp?), green beans, asparagus, red peppers, jalepeno peppers, carrots, yams, spinach, and a bit of corn as a treat once or twice a week. He eats Pretty Bird pellets for AG only, I try Harrison's, but they are ignored. He also gets a breakfast of the equivalent one ice cube of Pretty Bird's "Birdy Banquet" per day. I do leave him with his pellets during the day while I'm at work. I figured he would eat when he wants. His cage has lots of toys that I rotate, and he is in an Avian Adventures Medianna cage, which is pretty big, playstand on top. I've ordered a playstand for him and am just waiting for it to arrive. It is a 4.5 foot "tree" from Parrot World... What else should I do? Should I take the pellets out? Stop the bean mix? Put him on the floor more? He follows me around the house... Thanks all!

:blush: Alright, confession... I wasn't nearly as nice to the dog owner as I let on to be, I just didn't want to show my true nasty side to the group yet! I'm very protective of Paco, so I kind of let the dog owner have it a bit, although the pup was very sweet and I would have loved to have played with him myself!

So… I thought I had solved the problem with Paco chewing the feathers under his crop! I was convinced that it had to be an infection from within the crop that was irritating him, and that a good vet visit, some expensive tests and a miracle. I called the vet first thing this morning knowing that the avian vet is only in the office closest to me on Thursdays, but I was willing to drive as far as need be in order to get some resolve to this tricky little issue that has been plaguing us. Off to the vet we went, Paco loves a car ride, so he was quite happy to whistle away at me from the back seat in his carrier. Upon arriving at the vet, I could see that our Dr. was in seeing a young man and his oversized German shepherd pup. We waited. At the end of their examination the guy comes out of the room with the dog on the end of his lease and allows the dog to get closer and closer to Paco. I noticed Paco puffing up and the red tail feathers fan out while the dog was still about four feet away. The guy was going to let his pup come right up to the cage. I said to him, “Hey, your stressing out my parrot!” and he replied, “Well, I want my dog to see him”. WTF? Pardon my language, but you see a parrot in a cage happily interacting with its owner, you come out with your dog and see the parrot’s feathers all stand on end… Idiot! Anyway, the vet did another thorough examination of Paco, including his crop, he is fine. I’ve tried all the suggestions that I have gotten from all of you, thank you by the way, and many others that I have seen on the web. I think that he uses his chest like a child uses their thumb. When bored or stressed, chew. Anyway, I will continue to try to help him overcome this bad habit. First by allowing him to fly again as soon as this feather clip grows out. I see the importance of allowing him to fly, and really want to give him that freedom. Not to mention the vet felt that he had put on too much weight (from 438 grams on October 10th to 477 grams today, Nov 26th) and that he felt a “bit soft in his chest”. The cutest part of the story was after Paco’s fighting and screaming at the vet during the crop exam, the vet allowed me to go to Paco to “rescue” him and look like the hero. I told the vet that I was confident that Paco would want to “make up” with him and be friends again. Astounded the vet said, “I don’t think so, but I’ll try”. Paco immediately stepped up for the vet, and as usual, leaned forward for kisses. A habit he came to me with. Whenever I make a mistake with him, or stress him out at all, he insists on kisses and won’t settle down until he gets one! The vet had to give him a kiss. Ha ha! Anyway, I have a healthy 5.5 month old CAG who seems to have a slight feather chewing problem that is in a straight line across his chest. No more talking (had a couple of hello’s early on), now he is just whistling and making all sorts of strange sounds, including the sweetest imitation of my finches!

I've been using a "roost" cage at the suggestion of my avian vet. He also reiterated the need for a minimum of 10 hours of sleep per night and I tend to stay up later then Paco should, so I put him in a spare bedroom in a smaller cage for the night. I followed the vet's directions, just have a single perch that is placed so that Paco's tail will not touch the cage bars, however, I've noticed that he roosts on the floor of the cage right at the door rather than his perch... This leaves me feeling horribly guilty, and I'm always tempted to put him in his big cage again where he did perch to roost. He seems good with it though, and makes the choice to sleep where he does, should I just let it go?

Hi gang, I figured out how to add a picture (I hope), so here is Paco on his 4 month birthday.

Hi all, thanks for the very warm welcome! No, Paco doesn't get the radio on while I am away, he gets the television. I noticed that he actually watches it once in a while, so I try to find something that he might enjoy while I am at work - a channel without garbage that he may start repeating to me! So, he does have that, but I've really been noticing that I am having quite a bit of success with the foraging toys that I've been buying for him. I load them up with his pellets, Pretty Bird (he won't touch Harrison's)and I come home to a huge mess, but he seems more entertained then before I figured this out.

Hi all, I'd like to start by thanking all of you for the great information that you have provided to me! I've just signed up yesterday, but have been reading posts since I found the site about a month ago, really great stuff here! Anyway, I am the pround new companion to a Congo African Grey which I have named Paco. Paco just turned 4 months old on Saturday, and I have had him for one month today. Prior to Paco, I had already had four male Zebra Finches which fly and bounce around in their cage happily, but without much interest in me, except for when I'm reaching in to give them fresh water, then all hell breaks lose. Anyway, Paco and I have been bonding over the past month, he has been meeting friends and family with my supervision, and although he prefers me over them, he will "Step-Up" for them as long as they don't "rush" him at all. Paco was hand-fed by his breeder, and had actually been reserved for a woman who was injured and was unable to take the responsibility. So I was lucky enough to be chosen by the breeder to adopt him. Due to the way that things happened,and the distance between the breeder and I, I was unable to spend any time with Paco before I met him. However, I brought him home, gave him space, and before I knew it, he was showing signs of excitement to see me. It's been great. He's been to the vet, who called him a very "Skookum" bird, all healthy, but has shown some signs of feather chewing just below his crop. I'm showering (cool temparature) with him almost daily and spraying the area with Aloe Vera Juice and just waiting to see if I see results. I have also added a number of "foraging" toys that are full of food, although I don't get to see the joy he takes in the discoveries, it's obvious by the mess he makes that he has had fun. I worry that it might be the lonliness that he experiences when I go to work that might be what is leading him to chew, so I'm trying to find ways to keep him busy. I know I will continue to love him even if he is a feather chewer, I would prefer that he not be, obviously. Overall he seems to be a very happy boy (DNA tested), he loves to "talk" back and forth with me when I am out of the room, and has begun saying "Hello", "Paco", and tries "Pretty Bird" but it still sounds very Parrotish. He spends a minimum of 5 hours a day out of the cage, and loves to hop in his travel cage for car rides. He gets an hour a night on my shoulder before his bed time where he cuddles into my next and rubs his beak along the back of my ear. I am going to continue to surf the forum to continue to learn from those of you who are more experienced Grey Guardians, but I am looking forward to the future with Paco. Thanks again! Ryan