celticdance

We recently left town for a week and had to board our two birds with a local store. It was, in fact, the store where we purchased our Grey. He is about a month shy of a year old and is a very social and gentle bird at home. He has had no problems with new people and is, in general, a typical baby. Lovable, needy and cuddly.

Upon picking him up from the boarder, he had bare spots on his nose and seemed considerably lighter. The caretaker said he was ornery and kept attacking her when she went to feed him. She said the bare spots on his nose were from him banging against the cage while attacking her...it just doesn't sound like my bird.

I am wondering if this is caused by 1) him being caged the whole week (they had nice big, clean cages, but the room was pretty crowded and it we don't leave our birds caged. We let them climb and play. They are only caged at bedtime)

2) Us not being around. Do we think he is social, but he is only nice to strangers when one of us is there?

3) Could the bare spots be a sign of something else that I need to take him to the vet for.

as a side note, since we got home, he is perfectly happy. He greeted me so joyfully at the boarder and was so thrilled to be back. He is chattering and preening as normal, but I DID notice that not much of his food got touched yesterday, so I am gonna keep an eye on that.

Thanks a million!

I love that you have it in alphabetical order :-)

I think its cute that baby greys babble just like human babies do. They make all kinds of speech sounds until words finally start to form. I love when he is chatty and just sits on his cage and babbles away, its hard for me to get a word in edgewise :-) But its neat just to listen to him talk and try to figure things out. He has a roosting cage in a room near my bedroom. This morning as I was waking up, I was listening to him do his morning chat to himself and he, very clearly, said "hello chicken". Its always astonishing how clearly it comes out when it finally does.

I hope Whiskey doesn't change too much, he is very sweet and gentle right now. We have recently added a 5 year old Amazon to our flock and she is a royal pain. She really doesn't like me but loves my husband. She makes the sweetest, funniest sounds and I like watching her, but I just can't handle her. She is definitely in mating mode right now, so hopefully her agression will subside once that does, but man. I hope I am not heded for that with my baby grey.

He is not a DNA'd male...we just decided he was a boy. Someday I will have it checked out :-) Thanks for your comments.

Hi all,

Just wanted to share these with other Grey owners. Whiskey is doing so well!

this one I am especially proud of. My baby has said his first word!!!!

I can't read through all of these, but they are all really heartfelt postings. I just thought I would add my two cents...Whiskey has changed how I look at all of our pets. The amount of research and care that went into preparing for a bird and the understanding that birds are really such intelligent creatures has changed even the way I see our dogs.

My best friend has a baby boy, and I would have to say that the baby and the bird are about developmentally the same age. They both babble in their effort to form new words, love being looked at and held and talked to and they both LOVE to shred paper! They also both love whatever it is you've got. No matter WHAT it is, they want it. I think Whiskey has changed the way my friend sees animals too :-)

I think that birds have a special place in my heart now. My 11 year old recently asked for a parakeet, and a couple years ago, I might have said yes. Now, I feel like it would be like giving her a toddler. No way. She can have one when she is mature enough to respect it properly. For now, I think she can have a fish...

Now at the end of this over-long post :-) One thing I WISH my parrot had changed is my sailor mouth. I know it will be a problem in the future...but its just one of those things about me that might just never change, lol. Oh well...here's to trying!

We decided, after much deliberation, not to get another bird right now. But they certainly have an addictive quality. We still go to the local bird shop and visit the birds :-) Just dreaming, right?

Hi all,

I bathe my CAG once a week. I mist him until I think he is soaked all the way through, but with feathers, they never seem to get really soaked, do they?

In any case, I am wondering, how much is enough? Whiskey doesn't really enjoy being bathed and I don't want to upset him, but I know he really does need a bath. I was told "soaked to the skin once a week". But what does that really mean? How soaked is soaked? And is once a week really enough? Just looking for a little guidance in this area.

Cheers!

I cried from the very first chapter, and have a hard time shutting up about this book. Great story. Really great story. I look at my parrot and have so much respect for him, no matter what. Dr. Pepperberg's work has really far reaching implications for animal rights. Don't you think so?

I am looking for a really good vet in the Phoenix area (Arizona, USA). Any suggestions? Visited one already and can't say I was super impressed :-( I see one on the link given below, but I am just wondering if anyone has any recommendations?<br><br>Post edited by: celticdance, at: 2010/03/29 06:17

Actually, my username comes from my dance school name, the Celtic Dance Academy. So it IS Irish...but Whiskey comes from a song the my husband sings called Nancy Whiskey, and another one called Jenny Grey's Whisky and a little ditty that a friend of mine likes called Whiskey Johnny. The songs are Irish, Scottish AND English :-)

Since we have not had him sexed, we decided that Whiskey is a nice, Gender neutral name. He just seems male to me, so the Johnny part stuck. If we ever find out that "he" is a "she"...Whisky Jenny works fine too and sounds almost the same!

Here is a picture of us reading his favorite book.

I am not having much luck posting pictures. But I have a few and will post them when I figure it out. Whiskey is a Congo African Grey. And he is cleaning my hair right now. Gotta love it!<br><br>Post edited by: celticdance, at: 2010/02/03 03:07

Hi,

Just introducing myself and my parrot. My name is Sarah and I have been a proud parrot owner for two weeks now. His name is Whiskey Johnny, and we mostly call him Whiskey, but Johnny slips out every now and again too. He is five months old and sweet as sugar. Can't wait to spend the next 60 years together! :-) He is already mimicking whistles and clicks. He barks like a puppy too. I love listening to him try to make new sounds. He is a really fascinating creature.

Has anyone every heard of Greys "adopting" a smaller bird, i.e. a parakeet or a cockateil as a kind of pet? I heard something like this from a fellow parrot lover and was curious if anyone else had heard it...