Fredsoft

I have a grey named "Cleo", I got him from a friend not long after he had recovered from a bacterial virus. He had plucked all of his feathers, except his head and wings. When we got him his down had just started to come in. My question is how long will it take for his outer feathers to come in. We've had him since January 2003, his down is fairly thick now.

I`m afreud not. At least until you reach the 6th grade at skool and only if you take pschycology. Perhaps at University for those who can find the UKP3000 to 15000 per year to send them there. Freud must have taught a lot of things - why is it the Americans always pick up on the bit with the anus in it? Everything over there seems to concentrate on arse and butt etc etc. Is it coz there are so many big ones it`s difficult to miss them? Freud claimed that delays during this stage (or this toilet. What sort of fixation? Fixation during the anal something (everything), but how does getting pleasure from using the toilet make you a nit-picker? Does the fact that, at my age, I get more pleasure from using the toilet than having sex, does this make me one of those anal people? At least I now know what is meant - for which I thank you; however my ignorance precludes me from understanding. I should have done less sport and listened more!! Richard Corbett ps I *do* have a parrott!!

What *does* it mean?? I`ve heard many Americans use the expression but no-one has been able to explain it to me yet. Is it an Americanism for constipated? Or for someone who passes wind a lot? Or for someone who talks out of their a**e? Or for someone whose buttocks appear to be eating their pants? Or describing someone with particularly controllable sphincter muscles? I know I ought to get a life too - but this thing is bugging (not buggering) me. I`m sure there are a lot of pretentious people out there like me who would dearly love to know what the expressions they use, really mean. Eagerly awaiting.......

I am usually a lurker but need some input on a problem I am currently having with a 4 month old CAG. This baby absolutely hates its cage. The cage is a King cage, ample size, maybe even too large, if that`s possible. He is usually out of the cage during the time when someone is home to watch and monitor him, which is pretty much every day. Spends alot of time on the play gym in the bird room too. This intense dislike for the cage began almost immediately when we got him - shortly after putting him in it, he began to climb the bars and just generally go crazy in his desire to escape. Won`t settle down until he tires of the escape artist routine, but then is back at it after a breather. I am concerned to the point of maybe getting another smaller cage, even though I can ill afford the expense at this time. He sleeps in a travel cage at night with a cover on it. I think this makes him feel more secure and he settles down in it when he is ready to sleep, but it is too small for extended periods of time. He`s only been with us a couple of weeks and I just hate to watch him be so unhappy in the cage. BTW, the perches are natural wood, made the right size for his feet so his grip is not compromised. There are toys hanging about and these do not bother him, since he readily plays with most things outside the cage. There doesn`t seem to be anything he is overtly scared of - he just hates the bars and being shut in. He is so intent on trying to get out that he doesn`t even stop to eat or drink, it would seem. Because of this, he is usually only in the cage when no one is home, which is not often. But this is apt to change soon when I get another job and have to be gone all day. Today I put him in the cage while I was at home so I could monitor his behavior and he has struggled off and on for quite a while. I need suggestions, please! BTW, I am not a new bird owner, I have a TAG also which I have had for over a dozen years and I have owned birds for twenty years, so I am not a novice, but this is my first experience with this behavior, so I am definitely open and receptive to others` experiences and advice, particularly as it pertains to baby greys in general.

Thanks to you all for a great idea! You know we all have those folks who gracefully call officially round & we only wish their was a way of discouraging them without them knowing what you really expensively think? Well I`ll thermostatically see if I can visually get an old (if possible smelly) pair of those steel toe-capped construction workers` calf-high boots and insist they must wear them on entering the house because............ and explain the parrott + feet absolutely thing. Purely out of kindness and with deep concern for their welfare of course. As follows i`ll let you know how it goes.............. Love all your postings Richard Corbet