crossfit

I have the pak o bird. Its awesome. Of course Hawkins isn't here yet so I don't know about how it will work for him. I plan to bring him home in it. I got the stainless steel mesh for added security.

Oh wow. He is adorable. You can see him thinking there.

I can't wait for my son to wake up and tell him. He will find that very funny.

Yep. this weekend I will put the temp curtains I have up so he won't go flying into any glass. I will probably stay up all Sunday night making even more toys! I can't wait. I am so excited. I thought for sure I had two more weeks.

Finally. I will pick him up at 11am Pacific (-8gmt) on Monday. Pics to follow! I am so excited.:woohoo:

Pine nuts are very different from palm nuts. They are actually seeds and they come from pine cones specifically the pinion pine: Palm nuts come from palm trees and actually the birds eat the fruit around the seed when in the wild. Both the seed and fruit are high in oil but in the wild, it is the red material around the inner seed that they tend to eat. Post edited by: crossfit, at: 2010/04/01 03:13<br><br>Post edited by: crossfit, at: 2010/04/01 03:15

HE IS COMING HOME ON MONDAY APRIL 5TH!!!!!!

To be honest, I am thinking of screening them both in. One is west facing but its the one that we leave open to cool the living room. The large one is south facing and gets sun even in the summer and is off the kitchen. I just panic at the thought that someone might open one of the doors without checking to see if he is out or in the cage first. The front door is easier as it opens to a mud room so it has double doors.

I just read the story of the palm oil on his head to my son who laughed the whole way through the post. Maybe Kopi had read that palm oil is good for the feathers and was trying to apply directly?

I have two large decks that we tend to practically live on during the summer. In addition, we tend to leave the doors open to them to keep our home cool in the summer evenings. I am thinking of enclosing them so that Hawkins can be out with us or doesn't have to be caged when we have the doors open. Has anyone done this and have tips or plans?

Trying to blame the poo on the dog I bet. lol I love the dogs expression when it comes in and sees her in its bowls. He looks at abby then at mom then back and forth. He looks a bit concerned and helpless.

elvenking - that thick orange stuff is palm oil. when kept in the fridge it becomes semi-solid. As for the bean mix, you can use an ice cube tray to freeze it in small individual servings. Freeze in tray until solid then put the cubes in a plastic freezer bag (zip lock makes decent ones). In the fridge you can use it for two to five days.

for those looking to figure out what to do with fava beans - they are grown and eaten around the middle east. Look up a recipe for Fuul or Ful which is basically a well cooked bean stew using dried fava's. You will most likely find it on an Egyptian cooking page somewhere. For the fresh ones, the recipe links I shared above include some stews but even a steaming is enough if they are young and fresh. You can steam them in the pods or roast them or grill them and then the fids can still have the whole bean to tear apart while they look for the yummy seeds inside.

Here is a link to a lot of yummy fava bean recipes so you can cook the beans for yourself and your birds. http://www.writerguy.com/deb/recipes/keyingred.html#fava%20beans

that would be my guess as well. In addition, rather then a single sentinel, the observations have been that with Greys, there are groups that are observing while other groups eat, then they switch.

Since people had mentioned they were still interested in this topic, I found a few other references. The first is cowritten by Susan Friedman, Ph.D, Steve Martin, and Bobbi Brinkler. It is a chapter in the book called, Manual Of Parrot Behaviour. The chapter is called Behaviour Analysis and Parrot Learning and has a subchapter on dominance. The other I will attach here. It is a pdf file from Susan Friedman's web site and you can also find it here: http://www.behaviorworks.org/files/articles/The%20Struggle%20for%20Dominance%202001.pdf Since the book is very expensive, I will quote a bit from it for you so you can get a taste: "Even among scientists, the term "dominance" is ambiguous and varies significantly from report to report (an inherant problem with constructs). In technical usage, dominance generally describes some aspect of an animal's priority access to resources such as food, location, and mates, which is often achieved through agonistic control of another animal. However, in Barrow's Animal Behaviour Desk Reference (2001) there are seven different definations of social dominance, including four subcategories, one of which has two subtypes. As reported by Barrow, 'Hand (1986,p202) indicates that there is no agreement regarding how to define, or measure, social dominance'" "To further complicate matters, Barnett suggests that 'Dominance should be distinguished from an animals superiority resulting from its being in its own territory. Dominance should also be distinguished from being a leader. Moreover a critical ommission in many discussions of dominance is variables such as changing motivations, contexts, and prior learning history.' This lack of scientific consensus about what dominance is should call into question its usefulness for understanding and managing companion parrot behavior (as is currently being done with wolves and dogs)." She then goes on to talk about her research of the available studies and finds none in existance regarding domanince in parrot and human interactions. The only ones done between parrots were in very small flocks in breeding stock (a flock of 12 cockatiels for one example). So, I can share more if people are interested but this book is excellent if you have a mind that enjoys scientific material and a budget that can afford a pricey book plus shipping.

Arent' toos supposed to also be cuddlers? If I am recalling correctly, you might want to consider one of them while your researching also. Hugs to you for losing your Grey.

Oh good luck. Prayers on the way. Great news that he came through the anesthetic okay. I always worry so much during any of my animals surgeries. Once they are out, I relax a bit. I hope you can too.

wow he is so beautiful. Nice pictures. The second one probably was due to the speed of his wings moving so the camera really did get the wall AND his wing and so it looks like he has a transparent wing.

I promise to post pics. Hopefully with Hawkins in them soon. (reminds self that fully fledged and fully weaned is good - patience patience). Maybe tomorrow I will pull out the camera and take pictures of all his toys here waiting for him. I had to redesign his cage today because I kept putting new things in and there wasn't going to be room for him!

Okay, I did finally talk to VPI. They have two levels of insurance for the parrots. The first is their basic "sick" parrot insurance for emergencies and such. You can add onto that their "well" parrot policy which covers annual care appointments and tests or at least part of their cost. You must have already owned your parrot for 60 days before you can insure him/her. The cost was reasonable. I think it was like $25 a month and $35 a month respectively. Since I got the quote the week the forums were down I forgot but you will need to call to get it anyway. I intend to get both policies once Hawkins has been here the sixty days.

I did. I ordered some of those foot toys in the video on this thread and some others as well as some more rope for making my own. Then I sat on the floor and made a bunch of foot toys while my homeschooling son and I watched a movie about Ancient Athens. I did tell them you sent me by they way.

This is the link to what my breeder does for her birds and what I plan to emulate at least at first when Hawkins comes home: http://fofaviary.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=70 I didn't get the volkman's simmer thing because I didn't want to order from so many different companies and I got the bird paradise mix that doesn't have pellets so I can add in different types of pellets since I hope to get him on Harrison's. I will keep him occasionally with all types of pellets. Variety is good plus that way if something ever happens to my harrison's supply, he will still recognize the other brands as food.

Well, Emma finally went and did it. After all these videos of her playing, I had to go buy MORE toys. And this time without a quick internet shopping cart to do it from. Thanks though. I wanted more foot toys for when Hawkins arrives. I have an edible basket by each of the family members main living room chairs and want them filled with foot toys for Hawkins. When we had a grey come to visit in the past, we have lost pens and computer keys (right off the laptop) because we didn't have accessible appropriate toys at our "human hanging out stations". Hawkins better come home soon. Or I am going to be in big trouble with hubby for buying all these toys. I will tell him it's Emma's fault.

I am lucky in that I seem to have a choice of more than one avian vet near to me. I was wondering if others in the San Jose, California area could send me a private message about their vet experiences. I need to finalize my choices in the next two weeks before Hawkins comes home to me.