Lambert58

Toni wrote: That's so cool! lol! As a gee whiz, if you have iTunes, there's a birdsong radio channel It freaked Cleo out so we don't use it but who knows; your fid may love it.

We put the Sprout channel on when no one is home. Cleo has nearly mastered the theme to Mamma Mirable's Home Movies lol

Do NOT buy from these breeders until they clean up their act. The post below explains the very dangerous pasteurella infection a recent baby grey had/has... not acceptable (once you read all the links you'll see why): http://www.anafricangrey.ca/forum/index.php?showtopic=12896&st=0

The bottom of your cage is my definition of "parrot pristine." You have to kind of think about how birds behave in the wild and how they fit into the eco system: they grab stuff, haul it to some branch, take a few bites, then it falls to the ground to be gathered by other critters or absorbed into the soil. When you realize this it's very much a Hakuna Matada moment. (google it) They waste a LOT!!! dog barks! bird freezes and drops nutriberry! car horn! bird freezes and drops pellet! shiny thing! bird freezes and drops cherry! What we do to mitigate the $$ loss is: feed smaller pellets (harrisons fine?) and ground veggies versus hand-chopped veggies. You'll notice a HUGE difference in wasted food. But, having said that, keep in mind what I said at the start of the post: their job is to feed the squirrels

Awesome! Here's to ziggy's new loving home Congratulations!

Spock wrote: Anyone else read that and weep? lol 17!? Good lord! We have 6 and taking them all on vacation would be like marching an army across Europe!

As far as beak trimming goes, here's what we do: go to the ferret/rabbit section of the toy store and buy their chewies (they're usually cheaper!! wth?) and make sure you keep that cuttlebone up, for beakiness and for calcium. Hard wood toys and what I've already mentioned should keep that beak nice and trimmed. We also offer in-shell almonds for our fids to work on. That's a nice little beak grind with a treat inside. Remember: it's not like there's some "beak trimmer" they go to in the wild, they just grind stuff.

I think we have that exact playstand! lol! I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them

kittykittykitty wrote: As the article says, it's unlikely that the airborne alfatoxin will manifest in peanut butter. You're probably fine giving it as a treat.

As mentioned in the article, peanut shells can contain a fungus that produces and airborne aflatoxin that is poisonous to our fids. Buying in-shell peanuts at Safeway is NOT a good plan.

Just go slowly and gently. It takes a long time to earn the trust of a grey, in some cases months or years! Treat him with respect, educate yourself, and go slowly. The rewards will be fantastic, I guarantee

For the entire flock, and each "wet bowl" feeds 2 birds, here's the drill: And all these ingredients are organic, purchased from whole foods and thoroughly washed prior to prep/serving. Wet bowls: 2 tbspn of mash. Mash recipe: http://greyttimes.com/?p=68 2 tbspn of ground veggie mix. These are preppeded in batches that will last a month and frozen. Pieces are ground to about the size of a pencil eraser... roughly, and made up of: cauliflower broccoli carrots kale chard corn (fresh cut off the cob) red and/or green cabbage 1 tspn of all natural organic human-edible seed mix, soaked until the seeds start germinating (for nutritional value). Not pet food seed mix! That pet store seed mix crap we only buy to use as training treats lol. NEVER as food. Pure seeds, just soaked for about 3 days: http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/totally-organic-bird-seed.html You can soak them in apple juice, if you're brave, but the batch we tried smelled horrific. Side serving of extra snap peas or green beans, whatever they're craving that morning. Dry Bowl: mix of harrison's pellets, fine and coarse http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/ (depends on their mood) and All Natural Parrot Food organic mix and 6 nutriberries/bowl each day. Additionally, we mix 3 tbspns of baby parrot food, 1 tbspn oats, 1 tbspn harrison's fine, and 1/2 teaspoon of red palm oil with hot water into a cereal mix in the mornings and evenings (for the whole flock). At lunch we offer grapes, apple slices, pitted cherries, oranges slices, and various other in-season fruits as a treat. Also, throughout the day we offer as beaky treats: in-shell nuts, like almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and almonds. (keeps those beaks busy!!!). And the occasional bite of daddy's oatmeal or PB&J We provide the baby food cereal mix because it's good for them, they love it, and if you ever have to give your fid medicine, this will ensure you have a method of delivery. I'd avoid seed mixes like the plague. Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/14 05:25 Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/14 05:26http:// Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/14 05:33<br><br>Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/14 05:34

LMAO Dan, so true. Our greys have a HUUUGE cage. So, often, when we let them out and have them in the office with us while we're working, we let the other fids enjoy their cage (they love ninja'ing their pellet bowl). Well, today, Cleo caught sight of our gold cap and sun conures basking in the sun on her favorite perch right next to her water dish and was furious. She flew to the top of the aviary and stomped around, and when I made the mistake of trying to get her to step up and come back into the office she N A I L E D me! Didn't draw blood but it wasn't for a lack of trying! The kicker is she displayed none of the signs we usually see, she just was like ohh... hi daddy... is that your finger? WHAMMO! First time she's ever been toweled. We made up with snuggles and nutriberries tho Nothing a good treat can't fix

I empathize with you, and it tears my heart out. If I lost one of my fids like that I would be devastated. I don't mean this to sound negative, but this is exactly why you never take your fids out where they can fly without a harness on. I read so many stories like this, it just breaks my heart. Never outside without a harness. EVER.

yeah I should have searched first, thanks

Our TIMGO, Cleo, is fully flighted and loves it. Willow had one wing clipped (4 flight feathers) at the pet store before we got her, so she's partially flighted. It takes her a lot of effort but she can get wherever Cleo can, just not as gracefully. We plan to let her moult those clipped feathers out and be fully flighted. They both know that the windows are solid, and we have no problems with them. We never, EVER use the front door or back yard sliding doors when they're out: we'll go through the garage which adds a layer of safety. Some folks had advised me to get Willow's other wing trimmed to match, but she's gotten so used to it and I refuse to take the freedom that she has away from her. I think it would lead to an unsafe situation where she'd try to fly and would get hurt.<br><br>Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/13 01:01

Our Cleo has just begun to master the theme to Bob The Builder from the Sprout Channel... /leaps out of window

I've only been owned by our parrots since Sep 08, and they're ally very very young. Reading their clicks, whistles and body language has been a real challenge. Early on,I read some things in books that turned out to be totally not true that resulting me in doing exactly the opposite of what I should have been doing. There's precious little information out there on what various sounds and behaviors mean, and you could probably count the number of explained expressions readily available to a novice owner on one hand. I've.. ahem... Cleo has posted a little of what we've learned here: http://greyttimes.com/?p=207 from all our fids. If anyone has more to add I'd love to hear it!<br><br>Post edited by: Lambert58, at: 2010/01/12 23:43

Out of our flock, our most dangerous fids are our GCCs. Those little beaks are like razors with wings. Even at tiny beaking (not a real bite) can draw blood. (note to self: need more cuttlebones)

That's so cool! Congratulations! :woohoo:

Supernova wrote: if you read the article, you'll see that you can control exactly what goes into the grinder yourself. Don't want salt? Don't put any in.

"red" greys are generally the product of focused breeding, which I loathe. These birds aren't supposed to be "red" and breeders that breed (inbreed) just to get a color should be taken out and shot.

Left for you lefties We have 6 fids, and after 1 year, I'd have to say I don't even feel the bites any more. My index finger and thumb look like I'm a professional weed whacker stopper lol. I'll qualify this by saying we don't want our fids to bite, and we do everything we can, but somtimes they're not trying to hurt us but they rip off a solid "beaking" that draws blood, but it's ok lol.

a bird meet with 30 other birds!! Holy cow that had to be fun!

Gratz on your little one! I've never shipped a fid, but it's gotta be stressful so at the other end you have to be prepared for it: a calm, happy, quiet place to adjust once he gets there. Best of luck and holy cow we need baby pics!!! I love the baby pics