Veenyx

It is with a heavy heart that I look for a new home for my TAG, Archie. I recently went through a divorce, and my life circumstances are no longer conducive to parrot ownership. I feel it would be in both our best interests to find him a new home. I raised Archie from the time he was 10 days old. Parting with him will not be an easy thing and I will be looking for an excellent home. He is a very intelligent little guy with a great vocabulary. He gets along well with other birds and dogs of various sizes. He is not afraid of dogs though, since mine have never posed a threat, so he would need to be placed in a home with dogs who are respectful of birds. Like most Greys, he is cautious of strangers, but capable of warming up once he gets to know someone. He will come with a large corner cage. Rehoming fee will apply. Please email me at Superpeeps83@gmail.com if you are interested and would like to see pictures of him and the cage. Sorry, I will not ship him.

I have recently been going through some life changes and I am concerned about my Grey's well being. About a month ago, my husband and I decided to seperate. I just started grad school and with classes, work, and my internship I am going to be putting in some very long days, 5 days a week. Archie is used to being out for most of the day so I am afraid he will not do well with this new arrangement. His cage is located in the corner of my livingroom and my pionus also lives in a cage in the livingroom so they do have eachother to communicate with throughout the day. I have considered a few things I can do to keep him entertained while I am gone, but would really like some more suggestions. I have thought about buying a variety of cds (nature sounds, soothing music, kids songs) and rotating through them. I will also put lots of foraging toys in his cage. I have thought about getting a pet sitter as I will need one to let the dogs out anyway... but Archie really isnt a fan of new people, so I dont know if he would benefit from a petsitter coming to hang out with him. I never imagined leaving him alone for such long periods and I feel really bad about it. However, I am not going to rehome him because I am going to grad school and I am not going to skip grad school because of a pet... that would be silly. So any suggestions you may have to help me entertain him would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Amy

LOL Lambert58. I find it odd that she assumes Lola flew away. Since the birds were outside unattended (seriously??) it is possible that someone came along and snatched her. Granted it does seem more likely that she flew away, but you never know. I guess we should ask the psychic! I hope Lola is safe and happy, where ever she is.

Congrats! Babies are so much fun!

I'm so sorry this happend to you! Unforunately, I also learned how cruel people can be through a series of animal related incidents. Do you know for a fact there is a man in nursing home? If so, contact him immediately. Also, please contact the police and tell them everything you can about Edward. You need to do everything in your power to get your bird back so you will always know you did your best. Please don't let this terrible act keep you from adopting another bird in need when the time is right.

You and Issac will not be disappointed! As I mentioned, my birds just love it!!

I got the medium one.. I think it is $100. My Timneh, Caique, and Pionus just love it. It was the best $100 I ever spent on the birds. The quality is outstanding and IMO far outdoes anything the average person can create. I say go for it! You won't be sorry you did!<br><br>Post edited by: Veenyx, at: 2010/03/02 05:52

I feel bad for those poor kids. I hope they are able to finally find a home where they are wanted.

In July, a friend of mine was selling all of her breeder birds. I decided to buy her pair of Timnehs. I had always want a TAG and thought it would be a fun experience to raise my own. Well.. it turned out to be a disasterous experience, but I did get Archie out of it. Two months after I purchased the pair they had a clutch of three babies. The first baby (Archie) hatched two weeks before the other two, so on the day they hatched I removed him to give the young babies a better chance. A week later both of those babies and the daddy bird died unexpectedly. I believe the male had some kind of tumor which caused him to stop feeding the momma bird so she was unable to feed the babies. Needless to say, it was a very sad day. So, Archie and I did not choose eachother. We were thrown together, but it has worked out well.

Great post! I too love my little feathered friends more than I expected (and more than the non-bird people in my life think is sane).

Archie loves loves loves to be sprayed with the spray bottle. If he sees me spraying someone else he will move heaven and earth until he has taken over the water. He showers with me quite regularly, but I dont always allow him to get wet. He prefers the spray bottle over the shower head, but will tolerate both.

As I'm sure you've noticed, wing clipping is a heated topic amoung bird owners. I see you are choosing to leave your little guy free flighted. I have chosen to clip my birds. Three years ago I suffered the loss of a Pionus who flew away. I was letting the dogs out, the bird became startled, tried to fly to me but ended up outside. I live on a hill, so the wind carried him away and I never saw him again. After speaking neighbors who saw him fly by, I learned he was making terrible shrill sounds. My poor little friend was terrified. I know that he died afraid, cold, and alone. Having him fly away was a terrible experience I would not wish on anyone and hope to NEVER EVER experience again. When he flew away, Picasso was in need of a wing clipping. I let it go a bit longer than I should have because I didn't think it would be a big deal. He was very bonded to me and never(or so I believed) would have a chance to get out. I learned one can never predict what opputunities may come up, you can only do your best to prevent them. When the babies were learning to fly, I really enjoyed watching them because I could see how much they enjoyed it. I allowed them to fledge and develop their muscles, then I clipped them for their own safety. I do feel bad sometimes, but this is something I am doing to try and keep them safe. I try to enrich their lives in other ways and they seem perfectly happy.

Congrats! I'm so happy you and Pepper got your happy ending!!

I'm so sorry you are going through this! I lost a Pionus (who's wings were clipped, just slightly grown out) this very same way. I know it's hard, but you have done everything you can possibly do. My birdies and I will be sending good vibes to Pepper and praying for her safe return.

So far, my little Grey doesn't fight me too much when it's time to be put away. However, his best friend, a White Bellied Caique, will fight me beak and nail until I wrestle him in. I think birds enjoy being left with something instead of complete silence. You might want to try bird song radio. My birds really enjoy it. http://www.birdsongradio.com/radio-birdsong-listen.php

I think you can give him his first bath anytime now. I would use a spray bottle with warm water in it. Be careful not to fully soak him just yet. Make sure you allow him to dry in a warm area, everything will be fine!

What an adorable little one! You and your baby look so happy together!

I weaned my baby by elliminating formula (around 10 weeks) and using weaning biscuits. I put them in the microwave for about 20 seconds and allowed them to cool to about 100 degrees. I would then feed him the biscuits using a spoon or my fingers. He was weaned in no time.

Thank you Jane. I checked out the Yahoo group you mentioned and found lots of helpful information there!

With a bird that young, especially a Grey, I would avoid the hand drop method. Greys can become hand phobic so you want to reinforce the hand as a safe place. My baby developed the same biting issue when he began to perch. A strong NO followed by walking away worked very well with him. I suggest you give that a try.

I am interested in training my birds some tricks using the clicker training method. I am familiar with this method as I am used it with great success when training my dogs. However, as we all know.. birds and dogs are not the same. Does anyone know if there are any good websites that break tricks down into steps for easy training? I have tried looking up this up several times and have not had any success. Thanks for the info! Amy

Hello all, I posted an introduction a few months back, but since then, I have just been a forum lurker. I have a 4 1/2 month old baby TAG that I raised from 10 days on. I had a breeding pair, hoping to become a hobby breeder, but it had disasterous results. Little Archie was the only survivor of the clutch and then soon after his dad died. Anyhoo, in addition to baby Archie I also have a White Capped Pionus(Zuki) and an 8 month old White Bellied Caique named Flip-who I also handfed. Zuki wants nothing to do with the younger birds and does her best to keep her distance. Flip and Archie on the other hand, are great buddies. For all intents and purposes, Archie has known Flip his entire life. (Flip used to love to help handfeed Archie) As mentioned, they get along great, but I am starting to worry this relationship may not be good for them. Any thoughts? I have never had two pet birds who got along, so this has never been an issue for me. They have seperate cages-in fact they dont even live in the same room. However, they do like to play every day and will call to one another throughout the day. I guess I am just wondering if this relationship will cause problems down the line as the boys get older. Thanks for the help! Amy

I also have a baby Grey who will sit on the bottom of the cage and scratch to be let out. I've raised him from and egg, and this behavior started when he was about 6 weeks old. At first, we thought it was adorable so we gave him lots of attention for it. Now, at 12 weeks, we have realized that he is just trying to get our attention so he can be let out. Whenever he begins this behavior we leave the room and it stops immediately. If we are unable to leave the room, we make a big show out of ignoring him. It seems to be working as the behavior is occurring less and less. Hope this helps!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have decided to name the baby Archie. :cheer:

It wouldnt let me post him in the original message.. so Im trying again.