Birdnut

Ditto on the heavy-duty stainless steel bell ... definitely the all-time favorite toy. A steel bucket to stick their head in and make noises. Moussa loves his foraging box toy. Smallish toys on a length of chain that he can swing around wildly. Noisy toys hung down from a perch that can be lifted up and dropped, over and over and over again.

Stained concrete floors throughout the downstairs of the house where the birds are. We already had birds, so it was a requirement when we bought the house.

When you're afraid to do something, 'cause it might make the bird mad. When guests keep looking up, trying to figure out who that is in the next room. When you buy groceries at Wal-Mart, but shop for the bird at the expensive health food store.

Cricket obviously wants to reinforce your behavior of letting her out of the cage.

Chezron, thanks for bringing up the dangers of phthalates. I was just watching a documentary on PBS last night that covered this. One happy thing is that all the measures we may use to protect our birds from these kind of environmental pollutants benefit us as well!

Janet, your birds imitating your sighs while you clean their room made me chuckle. When I clean the bird room floor, one of mine asks me what I'm doing, and when I tell her I'm mopping the floor, she exclaims, "What a mess!" Now, wonder where she heard that?

When I feel the need to burn a candle, I have been using the bird safe beeswax candles put out by "The Birds and the Bees," which are available through avitec.com. They have no added scent, but beeswax has a nice scent in itself. I have also occasionally used incense sticks, which I do not light, but just prop a bunch in a glass or jar where they give off a subtle scent. I especially like the Sai Baba Nag Champa incense. This stuff will give a nice scent to a room without burning anything. When the sticks dry out and no longer give off scent, they can just be replaced with a fresh batch. Doug, do you think something like that might satisfy your wife for her office area? Any feedback from anyone on whether the non-burned incense stick idea would pose a problem for the birds?

You and Isaac are both so awesome! Thanks for sharing that video.

Our cockatoo likes to watch TV with us. If there is any laughing or screaming on the show, especially children laughing or squealing, it sets her off on a crazy cockatoo fit. She really gets going when she hears the voice of the Hyacinth character on that show, "Keeping Up Appearances." If some music comes on that she likes, it sets her off dancing in what we call a "boogie attack." Our lovebird's favorite show used to be the Teletubbies. I do think children's programming works well for birds because it features happy voices and sounds and upbeat music.

My birds also like music with a strong beat. I play African drums, and my dancers are more likely to dance to just drumbeats than anything else. Since so many parrots seem to respond to music and rhythm, I have often wondered what value that sense of rhythm has for them in the wild.

Very interesting info. on visually sexing. I think males also tend to have broader, flatter heads, and females more rounded. This is just all too cool. I am so happy for you.

What a beauty!! Congratulations!

That is an interesting question. You would think that any predisposition to mental illness would quickly be selected out in a any kind of wild population. But not necessarily in birds that are being cared for as pets. @ Eshana: I definitely believe you about Shelby's precociousness. I have two blue-crowned conures that are the same age, same history - in fact, they were clutch mates. The female is way more intelligent than the male. She surprised the staff in the pet shop when she started talking as a baby. She picks up things very quickly, often after one trial - both vocalizations and behaviors. I've had her watch me when I say something new and then try to repeat it after me. She's really good at using speech in context. We laugh and say that she's the smart one, and the male just carries her books for her.

Ray, your story about Cricket is definitely a "how it's done" story for anyone else who might adopt a zon. Or any other parrot, for that matter.

Our Moussa will sometimes talk when I'm around. But he saves the really good stuff for when he thinks he's alone.

I have heard that Amazons are known for their scents. I don't have an actual Amazon, but I have a couple of species that are sort of distant cousins and that have distinctive scents. We have a blue headed pionus who has the most wonderful sweet musky scent. Some people don't like the way a pionus smells, but I just love it. Then we have a parrotlet (Amazon in tiny body) whose face has a faint but distinct skunky scent.

OMG! If I had a video of our Moussa getting a bath, he would not only be avoiding the water, but he would also be screaming like ET. He absolutely hates water. He will sometimes play in the water dish on his playstand in the kitchen, but he just gets water all over everything but himself.

Awww. That's a great photo! Thanks for posting.

When I had an upper respiratory thing a while back, I did a lot of coughing, and of course my birds learned to cough. Now, if I cough a couple of times, they cough back. I think they think it's some kind of contact call.

Of course he runs the show! He's just waiting for you to realize that! LOL! (Sorry, guess that's not too helpful.)

I have an ancient uncoated rice cooker that I've used for many years to cook grains. It works great, but I've never been thrilled with the product I get with brown rice. I found this recipe, and it produces awesome brown rice. 1 1/2 cups brown rice 2 1/3 cups water 2 teaspoons butter or vegetable oil (I guess you would want to use the oil) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 375F. Spread rice in 8-inch square baking dish. (To double recipe, use a 13 by 9-inch baking dish; the baking time need not be increased.) 2. Bring water and butter or oil to boil, covered, in medium saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, immediately stir in salt and pour water over rice. Cover baking dish tightly with lid or a doubled layer of foil. Bake rice 1 hour, until tender. 3. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Fluff rice with dinner fork, then cover dish with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Let stand 5 minutes. I boil the water in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup and add the salt and butter directly to the uncooked rice, before pouring in the water. This really produces a brown rice with a superior texture than what I get from the rice cooker. Just thought I'd share.

Your vet will use a dremmel tool to trim your baby's claws, which will gradually blunt the claws and not cause serious bleeding. One thing to keep in mind is that trimming the claws can affect your bird's ability to perch and climb securely and confidently. I have noticed this especially with the heavy-bodied greys. Just something to keep in mind and perhaps discuss with your vet during your visit.

Yes, this molting business has got to be uncomfortable for them. It's definitely a stressful time. Moussa's body feathers looked rather rough for a while, but now he's looking good in that department. I have to tell you that this molt has been going on for some time. Seems like it's been going on all summer. Moussa has several blood flight feathers coming in right now, and he's been molting coverts. I have read here that this first molt can be a real booger. Good job on the wood for chewing. I bought a bag full of wood pieces and have been tying to tie them together into new chew toys on a regular basis. I have also been using the Creative Foraging System foraging toy. This toy has cardboard refills with dividers in them that you can stuff. I stuff it full of shredded paper and hide surprises in it, like nuts or carrot sticks or pieces of soft wood to chew. Moussa just l-o-v-e-s this toy. I also have a little stainless steel bucket that hangs on the side of the cage that I put foot toys in to chew and play with. I sometimes wrap the little toys in paper and tie the present up with sisal string, so he has the job of unwrapping it.

As far as pellets, Moussa eats Pretty Bird African, Roudybush medium, or Harrison's High Potency Course. He also gets an assortment of fresh and cooked foods and an evening treat of nuts and seeds.

We've been having the same issues with Moussa. How old is Sully? Moussa is about 18 months and going through his first molt. As his molt started, he began chewing at the clipped flight feathers. (They were kind of beat up to start with, from his energetic flapping.) Now for some time he has been getting new flight feathers, and he seems to want to worry at those, too. These are big blood feathers that keep getting damaged and broken, as there are no existing flight feathers to support them. This has resulted in some minor bleeding -- nothing serious, thank goodness. I was so anxious for him to refledge with his molt, but that's not happening. His flight ability as steadily degraded as this molt has gone on. Now he has a tendency toward crash landings, and of course that is further damaging flight feathers. His tail is also a mess. The molt has gone well on the rest of his body, and other than those flight feathers, he's in fine feather. We have consulted our vet, and he just recommended keeping him busy, some fresh air and sunshine, and frequent baths.