Birdnut

Well, we all wanted to share our lives with an intelligent creature, and here we are dealing with the consequences ... lol! These birds are just too smart for their own good!

No, they have no feeling. St. Francis said that a person who would withhold compassion from the least of God's creatures would also withhold compassion from their fellow men. These kind of criminals would do anything to any creature, including human beings, for the money.

So sorry for your loss. It brings tears to my eyes, just thinking about it. It is so hard to lose such a dear friend.

You are right about the conures. But don't tell our parrotlet she's small, she'll take you on! lol!

OMG! That looks good. I have a few strawberries in my yard, but they're pretty wimpy compared to those. I also love Ikea stuff. Almost all our dishes are from Ikea.

Jooles, I'm with you. These young people don't start the wars, they just put their lives on the line to protect and defend. May God keep and bless your sons.

Hi Sherry. Good idea about the library. We have a convenience store near here that throws out old, unsold papers in a box. We sometimes pick some up there. I think it's best to change the paper daily.

I, too, have never tried lychee. I don't remember seeing it in the store. I'll have to watch for it and try it.

Wow, birdhouse! You guys really do the 4th up big time! Here in hot, dry Texas, the use of fireworks is usually pretty controlled and limited within the city. We mainly have a big show at the park, and it's more about light than noise. So we haven't really had a problem with this yet with the fids. Sounds like Dave has some good advice. I wonder if it would help to have more noise going on inside the house, so the fireworks wouldn't stand out so much. It would probably help that the birds see you not being alarmed. But I'm sure they can't help being startled ... it's just instinct.

These birds are hysterical. Their antics just keep me laughing. They're a good antidote to taking life too seriously.

Just had a little crisis here and a reminder of some important bird psychology. It started when I burned some toast in the oven (being the klutz that I am). When I opened the oven door to discover the carnage, it set off the smoke alarms. Moussa was in the kitchen (nowhere near the oven). I immediately returned him to his cage, contained all birds, opened all the doors and turned on the ceiling fans. The alarms subsided after about 30 seconds, but I continued to air out the house for a while just to be sure. After a while, and the house closed up again, I brought Moussa back out of his cage. I was a little worried about him from the burning toast, fright from the alarms, etc. He was being very still and quiet, and I was intently watching him, wondering if he was okay. He continued to be quiet, subdued, and looking around guardedly. Then I realized how very, very quiet it was in the room. I realized that the quiet, itself, could be alarming him. I got up and put on some reggae and started dancing around and talking. Moussa immediately popped back into his normal playing around and chirping and chattering self. This was a good reminder to me that birds are made anxious by silence. I know when we got our first bird, we always left the TV or radio on when there was nobody home. I hadn't thought about it in a long time, since we now have a bird room with several birds that always have lots of sounds and activity around them. I have also never seen it so clearly demonstrated with such clear reactions as it was with Moussa today.

I am also new here and have found it to be a wonderful resource. Keeping birds has been a constant learning experience.

Oh, I was thinking that it was Captain Jack Harkness from the Torchwood series. Congratulations on your new baby.

Okay. I just bought this toy and also some other new toys. Also got the collapsible travel cage to use to get the birds out for a little morning sun .. just what I've been looking for. Thanks for turning me on to this site.

What she said!! I'm just concerned that those Malaysian officials are just going to use the information they gather for those "declared" birds to come and take them if they later decide to freeze their licenses. They'll know where to find them.

Lovebirds are the cutest little birds. But do introduce them to the new grey carefully. Lovebirds, especially females, can be very aggressive and territorial.

Hi all. This may be a dumb question, but, do greys like to sleep in tents? Most of our other birds love their sleeping tents. I have noticed on the larger tents that greys are one of the birds listed as appropriate for that tent.

Yeah. We humans just can't seem to let well enough alone. It's just weird.

That was awesome! Looks like Alfie really enjoyed the vacation ... a very handsome bird.

Here in central Texas we paid about $1500 for our CAG at a local retail pet store. I think they're a little high.

Thanks to oblivion for this thread. I'm also new to greydom and found a lot of good insights in these responses. I can already tell that the grey is a really different bird from the rest of our flock. It's good to be reminded how important good communication is. Our approach has always been to allow the birds as many opportunities to make choices as we can.

Your house is clean for a whole day?! You know you're a bird owner when you hide in another room to eat that yummy muffin you really don't want to share.

I joined this forum when we got our sweet baby Moussa, and I realized that a grey was a very different kind of bird to keep and I could use all the advice and information from other grey caretakers that I could get. I have already benefited greatly from your collective wisdom. Also, it's nice to interact with other parrot people where we can talk about our birds incessantly .. lol! (The world-at-large just doesn't seem to understand.)

Those are beautiful. Eclectus have got to be some of the most stunning birds around. I think I, too, would have found it hard to give them up. But sounds like they are happy in their new home.

What a sweetie. You are right that developing a good balance between cuddles and independence seems to be the big issue with toos. We have a G2/U2 hybrid named Gwyneth. She loves attention and cuddling, but does not scream for attention or anything. I think one thing that has helped us maintain a good balance with her is that she gets her special time every evening after the other birds are put to bed when she gets to stay up and watch TV with us and get all the attention and cuddles she wants. She also gets attention through the day, but I think she isn't too demanding because she knows she has her special time to count on. She also has bird friends to hang out with.