Elvenking

His feet are 4 inches front toe-tip to back toe-tip...Isaac's are something like 3.5 ....measure yours. This baby has giant feet. It's amazingly cute though He is like spider-man in bird form. Never fails to snag the perch. Super outgoing personality. The most curious of explorers. Have you seen flap time yet? Kind of figuring that if you have, you'll know what I mean by "flap time". Ha! Anyway, no matter how you slice it, when you bat an eye his way, he does nothing but make you happy and fill your heart with joy. A new baby exploring the world and having a lot of fun...being allowed not to be afraid. It's an experience that forever warms your heart, and you feel touched by this gift from the universe that you can share such a precious time with such a precious life. My daughter and I share a beautiful bond around this baby that we are truly grateful for. We are gonna have to go see him soon. Thanks for loving him. He is the most innocent soul when you watch him. All you see is the magic of life as you stare at whatever he does. Every living and breathing motion is filled with the magic that makes life so beautiful. Each little pout as cute as the last. Beautiful curiosity. Adorable questioning glares. He's an ever flowing tap into what makes living the most beautiful thing of all. It's a true gift to share in the youth of a precious creature such as an African Grey. They really are like children to me. This was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do in my life. I cannot remember having to turn on my heart when it was so strong. But I am glad he is going to be happy and loved. Thank you for giving him love and I hope he carries your heart away the way he has ours.

My baby is going to be happy.

This is awesome!

The crying isn't over for sure. Thank you for taking my baby in for the best possible result from this. I cry for the happiness he will have when he has all that room to play with other birds. I cry for the hole this wonderful little love leaves in my heart. This baby...he is the best in the world! This one is going to steal your heart like you were blind. You watch.

Well, Greytness has stepped up and volunteered to take in my baby and give him a good home with a few other Greys. We are working out the details, but I feel that I cannot do much better than the life he is going to get there.

I think we may have already completed the mission of finding Casper and outstanding future.

Yeah, that is the one thing for sure. I have to know he is going somewhere good. I'll never give him up otherwise. It is truly hard, cause I love him so much.

Okay, I'll be going now.

Well guys. I have been trying this out and have decided that i make a very tough decision before we get too far down the road here. I am going to seek out another great home for Casper. There are a lot of factors, but I believe that at this time, the best decision for the longevity of everyone is to make sure I get him to a home where someone can dedicate their time to him and give him an area where he is free to roam without consequence. I could keep explaining, but the best of my thoughts and feelings comes down to this. It makes me cry and breaks my heart a ton, but I cannot lead my life with them both, I am stretched to the limits. Having Isaac is already a balancing act with work and life, I was hoping that adding Casper might change that balance for the better, and it is only making my life more unmanageable. So far, things have gone well enough and everyone is okay, just trying to keep things that way. So, I am going to be actively seeking a family for Casper. If you know of anyone in the San Diego area who is looking, now is the time. I am seeking families who won't clip him, have someone home most of the time, no smoking, etc....good GOOD bird homes. I am willing to surrender Casper with his cage and all his toys for 2000 dollars. There will be a barrage of questions and possibly a visit to the home he will go to before any agreements are made to meet him. No bird flippers. Again, I am not in need of getting myself talked out of this. If the emotions I have around Casper and the love I have for him was not enough, nothing can be done. This kept me awake a lot. This is simply the painful course. I believe that Casper is still open and not firmly bonded to anyone yet as he flies between anyone happy to see him. I think he will transition well and I will see to it. Help if you can. I could use any comments that don't make me feel like the worst person in the world. I am trying to do what is best for all in the long term.

Things are going really well. I had some doves nesting near my aviary so I have been waiting for them to leave so I can clean out the area and prevent returns. The doves outside now have chicks and I am sure that given the day I saw em, they should fledge and all leave in about 10 days. Then I get the use of my outdoor aviary\sun cage and that will also help me balance time with the boys. As soon as Isaac can fly again, I'll really have to balance the air space for a while. For now, I am keeping everyone happy and I really feel good about that. It's pretty much what I do on my off hours. I got all organized with vegetable bins I pull out of the fridge in the morn, all my veggie pre-cut and ready to go. My bags of chop all rolled up for the week. Containers for all the dry feed. Ordered bulk newspaper from ULine...600 sheets...I highly recommend...made cage changes so sweet. Isaac is still being Isaac...cute...sometimes cuddly, and funny. I think he might even be looking at the other bird and saying "Hi lil boyeee", I am optimistic. He is less startled now by Caspers flying..as Casper is really taking a liking to figuring out where I am going at all times. Super cute to have a little love sponge following me around again. So it's either Isaac is calm and preening so that I can have Casper out as well...or one of them is in for a little bit and the other is out. Have to go this way until Casper gets passed the early baby days. He is soo damned cute. On another note, I peeked in the house with my cloud camera today and got a feeling of harmony when I saw them both playing with toys. That was the first moment that I thought maybe I have done something right in this.

I would be lying if I didn't say that I often have this feeling that I made the wrong decision, but it is also way too early to tell. So long as when Casper gets older, he can hold his head up and either fend Isaac off or get along, I'd be cool with that. I just don;t want any parrots getting hurt. Keeping Casper close and Isaac under vision. I feel like working with them on the ground as they feel each other out might be helping. They were actually walking around on the floor together minding their own business, I was doing a mini celebration. Please send tons of hopeful thoughts my way, I need them. So scared that I am simply an idiot solving issues the wrong way. The next step is to find my way into a larger house, saving up my down payment currently, will start the active search.

Yeah, as many of you are suggesting, I am thinking it is going to take some time because Casper is still young and needs to get some more confidence. He is starting to fly really well. It is sooooo cute when they are learning to fly. It has only been 4 days. The challenge is going to be to give them both out time and to also keep them separated....soon to be two flying parrots. I feel I am going to have to dig pretty deep for some strength...LOL. On a side note, of course Casper is a pure sweetheart and this time around, my daughter is really interested. She loves him up good when I am loving Isaac up. I make sure to keep my normal interactions with Isaac going while welcoming the new boy. It is challenging, it almost breaks my heart not to give Isaac 100%, but I think he is okay with it because I probably give him more than he wants sometimes anyway. If you have lots of birds.....tell me your stories...let me know any bits of wisdom for my journey.

For now, I am just going to be patient and let them interact under supervision. I will keep reinforcing that Isaac should just be sweet. LOL. It'll take some time, but we have it. i'm doing all kinds of stuff with new baby that I wish I had done with Isaac, showering with me being one of them. Isaac loves the new set up, Casper is as curious as ever. Things are going good. Advice is welcome though.

Okay, so I will be posting some pictures in a while, but I wanted to get the current status of affairs out there. This weekend, I brought a new grey into the home. Casper is just about 13 weeks and beginning to take his first flights. So at first, Isaac was pretty curious as expected. Slowly approaching. Then Isaac seemed to want to feed him. Then like....trying to nibble at his toes kind of...not playfully...but more like not even knowing what this new thing was and probing for a response. Then it looked like he wanted to pry the beak off of Casper. So.....so far have to keep them separate or under heavy supervision. I can;t figure out what Isaac thinks, but I feel like Casper needs to get his bearings more and well as Isaac getting comfortable with a new bird in the house. On all other fronts, Isaac seems like business as usual, the encounters are precarious. If anyone has any advice on how to get Isaac to play nice, pass it along. I'll post some pics when I get back from lunch.

I talked to a pro bird-keeper and he suggests limiting the time out there or just waiting until the Doves fledge to really go for it, then take measures to make sure no nesting can continue there. They fledge in a couple weeks or so I'll play things real safe and take care. Thanks for all the responses. Cheers guys!