Birdnut

Whoa, glad to hear it doesn't seem to have been a serious injury. I do worry about these heavy-bodied birds when they work up some momentum flying. I guess that can be one of the risks of flying inside a house. Does Cosmo have all of of his flight feathers? I think they usually have pretty good control of their flying if they have all their flights and have fledged well.

So far, Moussa has been very good about going in his cage. But he does usually get a special yummy pine nut treat for going in his cage, and then I drop a few extras in his bowl.

Thanks for the great pics and vids. How in the world did you manage to resist that little sun conure? I'm afraid I could not have been that strong!

I had to laugh at this. It's the same at our house. The larger birds, like the Grey and the cockatoo, have never really bitten anyone. It's the little birds that will draw the blood. And especially the lovebird, who is feared by man and bird alike. LOL.

We have 8 parrots, mostly of different species. They are loose together most of the day. A few of them have made bird "friends" with one of the other birds and are preening buddies. But they will happily throw each other under the bus if we enter the room and would rather come to us than stay with each other. The only case where two birds have bonded to a degree that affects their relationship with us is with two blue crowned conures: a male/female pair of the same species that are caged together. I would not worry about the two birds in your household. Odds are they won't want to have much to do with each other. If anything, the issues you would probably have would be jealousies between the two birds over getting attention from the humans.

Issac picks at his poop, too?! Moussa will do that whenever he poops on a surface where he can get to the poop, like a shoulder or a tabletop. He'll reach around and pick at it if we don't clean it up real quick. I have wondered if this was normal.

So are you being told that the toe can be "fixed" so that it functions normally, or is it only a question of having the toe amputated? It sounds, from your observations, like it might be a good idea to have the toe removed. With only one back toe on that foot, it could affect her balance and perching a little bit, but she's going to have that anyway with the toe going forward. With this odd toe sticking out under her normal toes, it would probably affect how she perches and walks and could cause stress and eventually deformation up into her leg and hip. I can imagine that this could cause her some chronic pain eventually. I'm no vet, but those would be my concerns. I have had experience with a major amputation in another pet - a cat whose leg bone had been shattered by a bullet (no idea how it happened). Our vet recommended amputating the entire leg at the shoulder. The cat didn't appear to suffer much pain at all with the amputation, and the vet said there really wasn't much there which could be a source of pain. On the other side of the coin, I would be very hesitant to put her under risk of surgery, unless I could be very well assured that she would be safe. I would want to know the surgeon's experience with similar surgeries and what kinds of outcomes they had. I would want someone who had a lot of experience doing surgery on birds. This is a tough decision, and my heart goes out to you being stuck on the horns of this dilemma. I know you will make your decision with love and based on what you think is best for Lucy.

We don't have an amazon, but I really enjoy these stories about the zons. They sound like some real characters. I can't imagine a bird that could be more nosy and worse about getting into everything than our grey!

That would be very upsetting to discover a former friend in such circumstances. I don't think it would do much good to intervene to have kitties removed and clean up. This person has a mental problem and will just recreate the same situation. A person watching this has to feel really helpless. I think the only thing that would really make a difference would possibly be some appropriate medication, and I don't know how one would go about arranging that.

St. David's Episcopal Church downtown also has a center where they have services for the homeless. The center is called Trinity Center, and the door is at 8th and Trinity. When you are following up on the lead involving the homeless man, you might stop by there.

I don't think not pooping in the cage is necessarily about training. Some birds just naturally will avoid pooping in the cage. I think it has something to do with an instinct to not give away their roosting site to predators. My Moussa will wait until I take him out of the cage in the morning before pooping, and I have never trained him or praised him for it. But he will go ahead and poop in the cage if he's in there for a while.

Elvenking: Maybe what got into Isaac was that you were cleaning and not paying any attention to him. I know my nippy conures can be unmerciful when I am trying to clean or do some other work where my attention is focused somewhere else. And my cockatoo will sneak up on me when I'm busy and grab my glasses and fling them across the room. Glad to hear the threat of murder was metaphorical. LOL. But I sure do know that feeling.

Skyyblues: You're not here trying to sell something. I think what people find suspicious is someone coming here soliciting business and using only a hotmail account.

Welcome to the forum, Morana and Zak. Zak is certainly a beautiful bird. Birdhouse: I believe that ring is what is called a "birdie bagel." They come in all sizes. They are made of compressed paper and are good for climbing and chewing.

Boy, when my enthusiastic conure bathers go at it, nothing could contain the water! Those might just help for some of my reluctant bathers. They usually are willing to dip a toe in a water dish and splash a little water on their face and call it a bath.

How frustrating for you! That is very odd. Your theory about wanting the reward for himself is very plausible. Why would he call you like that if someone hadn't found a parrot? Still, I would be careful following up these leads. Don't go alone. I will be very anxious to hear how this lead develops. All the best.

Great photos, as always. Cocoa is such a beautiful bird. I love the one with her wings spread out. It really shows how impressive these birds are.

Hi, Farrukh. Welcome. What other birds do you have besides your new Grey?

Hi, Spock. I think I'm pretty much with you on the holidays. Bah. Humbug.

Ray P: You have a bird bath big enough for a Grey or a Zon hanging in their cage? I haven't run across anything like that. Would love to see a picture.

My Moussa is the same way. Sometimes, when the dishwasher is running, he will try to bathe in the small bowl of water on the stand in the kitchen. But it is only about enough water to splash a little on his face. If I try to offer him a larger bowl, he'll have nothing to do with it. He will sit on the shower rod while I take a shower and thus get a good steaming and maybe some tiny droplets from the shower. But to get him wet I have to lower him into the sink with a little water on the bottom and splash water over him or corner him on the counter and spray him with the spray bottle. He hates it and screams in complaint. But at least he's been real good natured about it so far and has not tried to bite. Bonnie, good to see you around again.

We put all newly purchased seed mixes in the freezer for a week before using. We have never had any problems with moths.

I use Poop-off or Aviclean (kind of pricey). I also use Seventh Generation All Purpose Cleaner, the "free and clear" variety, without scent. Sometimes I use vinegar and water. In any case, i haven't found anything that will always take it off with one swipe. I also let it soak a little while, then wipe. Sometimes I have to revisit a spot several times before it all comes off.

This sounds like a great service. I have noted the info. in the notebook I keep for the birds. Thanks for sharing.

Rambo looks very relaxed with that big giant bird next to him. Lucy is a beauty.