Karcar

No, I haven't spent any time with the bird and Judy no I don't have any experience with macaws, other than holding and playing with my friends green wing that is a cuddle bug. But to be honest I need to give my new baby (TAG) all of my attention right now. I guess I was just having a brain cramp for a moment, lol, but one of these days a macaw will be sharing my home, and hopefully it will be a hyacinth. Karen

I know that all things worth while takes time and patience and I am more than willing to give my new baby all the time it needs. I just want to make sure I am doing all the right things. This is a great forum with people that have much more wisdom than I , I am so glad I happen to find all of you, Thanks Danmcq

My dream bird is a hyacinth macaw I know of a lady that has a breeder bird for sale at a not too bad price, I wonder if I would be biting off more than I could chew trying to make a pet out of a breeder? What do you think, am I being foolish? Karen :confused:

Thank you, Dave. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything to pro-long the adjustment. I know it is a step at a time, but your words are very encouraging Thanks again, Karen

I wasn't sure where to place this post, Training seemed like the most logical. Anyway I have a TAG who is now about 14 weeks old she is just now weaned. I finished hand feeding her I have hand fed lots of birds so that wasn't an issue, but I almost feel like this was a parent fed bird that got pulled from the nest and sold to me as a hand fed bird, she is WILD, I am using a hand held perch to pick her up when I get lucky that is, You should see me I am black and blue and when she bites down it is for blood. I need some advice on how to go about calming her and getting her use to my hands. I have a Zon that I am clicker training and I have taken classes online about positive reinforcement with bird training but she is too young for all of this I know she is still unsteady and uses her beck for balance but when she sees me reaching toward her she gears up to bite, to make matters worse I just had her to the Vet and she had a bacteria infection that I have to give her meds for twice a day, so she hates me for that too, lol.......HELP Karen

I have a little half moon conure, named Shorty and he is the whole package as well, spunky, bossy, and a sweetheart that loves to give you kisses right after he has taken a good taste of your finger. LOL got to love them! Karen

Nandays are very very loud and the one my mother in law had was forever nippy not matter how much attention he got. As a matter of fact he was down right nasty. Not a good choice for classroom in my opinion. A blue crown conure, or a half moon, would in my opinion be a better conure choice. Karen

He is beautiful!!!

Just my opinion, but it does not look like splayed leg to me. I handfed birds for local breeders years ago and dealt with a few cases of splayed leg and this looks different. Best to you and the baby, let us know what the vet had to say. Karen

I have gone all out and bought a fancy sprouting tower, jars with screen lids ,all of the additives, 10 pounds of different things to sprout and have been rinsing and rinsing and checking and finally got a bag full of sprouts for the birds to eat. NOW!! not a single bird will touch them I haven't given up yet, anyone had any luck with sprouts? Karen

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, my lucy she is a YNA and a sweetheart, she is the loudest of the flock but she is also the most fun. Karen

Hi Del, I like to think of names that could be for either sex when I don't know which sex the bird is who knows you may find out at a later date. Even words make cute names, ie Mischief. I just went thru trying to come up with 2 new names for my baby fids some of the ones I was considering were Kiwi, Pogo, Bandit, Buddy,Dolly, Pee-Wee (for small conure) My husband liked names like, Pirate, Captain, Ziggy. But the final two were, Shorty (conure) and Kenya (TAG) Have fun picking a name and I know you must be excited about your Zon, I just love my YNA, (Lucy) she is so comical and fulls this house with laughter every day. Smiles, Karen

My cag and zon will both eat meat, hubby has handed pork chops, roast, and the most freaky is they will eat chicken, lol, the cannibals. Should I let him give them meat? Karen :confused:

Amazons are great birds for giving easy and understandable body language for when they are not in the mood, heed by these signs and bites are avoidable.

I have been studying birds body language for just a short time and find my Grey is very hard to read compared to my Zon, as a matter of fact I have to honestly say I haven't gotten Gabby's (CAG) body language down enough to avoid the bite. She can be as calm and cool as a cucumber and you can ask her if she wants a treat and she reaches over to take it , eats it and reaches over for what you may think is a second treat that you are handing her and she will chomp down and draw blood. In my opinion without warning but I just walk away and try to go over and over in my mind what the difference was between the two treats, so far, NOTHING, lol, but I am still working on it, thanks for the posting, Karen

What about opening a probiotic capsule over her food if I do smell something, my grey loves yogurt my Lucy won't touch it. She does it when I first get home and she starts yelling "Hello Sweetheart" and doing all of her tricks her tail is fanned out and she is making kisses sounds and singing then when I get close to her she starts with the head bobbing and regurgitation but nothing is really coming up that I can see and no smells either. We are best buds, but I guess I should walk away when she does that I almost feel like it will hurt her feelings, but I am a sucker for all of her little antics. I don't want to reinforce a neg. behaviour. I have been working on clicker training her and ONLY use positive reinforcement with all of my birds. My husband swears I pay more attention the them than him but I don't hear him yelling hello sweetheart and singing "How much is that doggie in the window" when I get home from work. Smiles, Karen

Hello, I have a YNA she is about 2 1/2 years old and I have started noticing that when she is happy to see me she starts the regurgitation action with her bobbing head and the whole bit. I know this is a sexual behavior, Right? but isn't she too young to be doing this at her age? Thanks for your help, Karen

I have a half moon conure that is a sweet heart he rides around on my shoulder and gives kisses he is a baby and is just starting to talk. He really isn't a very loud bird and I just love his size so small and cute. I do think that conures and amazons are both a little on the spicey side maybe not for beginners. My mom had a little green cheek that was extremely noisey and nippy was putting it mildly he would bite down as hard as he could and he was a handfed bird that was handled as much as possible she is older and her skin is thinner now and can't take the bites. His name was Charlie and she bought him a sleep tent and somehow he got entangled in it and hung himself , very sad! Karen

Thanks everyone it sounds like I did the right thing after all, vinegar was another cleaner I used the others were just stuff like Mr. Clean, etc besides the bleach of course and it has been in the sun for a few days as well. I did fell bad about his poor bird I use the same Avian Vet he did it is the only one in town, I think I would have insisted I come in sooner but hindsight has always been 20/20. Karen

Some people are amazon people and some are not, In my opinion Amazons are a very vocal bird my YN is always yapping about something or singing songs we have sang together or making up her own songs. She is very seldom calm and quiet like my Grey. I kid you not my Grey tells me to tell Lucy (YN) to be quiet for a while. It is a riot, of course I relay the message to Lucy but she just turns a deaf ear. My friend has a lilac crown that is a little quieter than my Lucy but not by much. Best of luck in your search. Karen

I have to say I love my Zon, she is the loudest mouth in the house but so very entertaining. I have Joanie's books she is great.

I have to say although I have had Gabby for 16 years (CAG) and Lucy (YNA) for only 2 I can read Lucy's body language 100 times easier that Gabby, to be honest I'm not sure I can read Gabby at all she is always so calm and soft spoken she may take a treat from you and thank you for it and the second treat handed to her could end up in a crunch to the finger instead. I too just walk away and try to reall every thing in my mind that just happen hoping to see something different that I didn't notice the first time she was handed a treat. She is one smooth cookie I tell you that for sure, lol, got to love her!

Hello Gang, I picked up from craigslist a fantastic deal on a cage and two play stands, It was after I had paid the guy and loaded the stuff in the back of my truck did I find out why it was all for sale so cheap, he stated he just wanted rid of it because it was a sad reminder of his Grey that just died the day before. I ask why the bird died and he said he didn't know he had made an appt with the vet but the bird died before the appt. date. He said he had noticed the bird was losing weight and that his poop had started to really smell bad. Anyway I took the cage and playstand and now have them outside I have been scrubbing them with bleach and every type of cleaner I have. I am concerned about re-using them. Do you thing it will be safe to use them for my new baby TAG? Thank, Karen

Hello, I am the new kid on the block, I have two Greys, One is a CAG (Gabby) and the other that I just got a couple of days ago is a TAG (no name yet) My hubby and I have a total of 5 birds 2 greys, yellow naped amazon, half moon conure, and a english budgie. We are semi-retired just work on-call and the gives us time to spend with the grandbabies and I enjoy sewing and clicker training the fids. So glad to have found your forum. Smiles, Karen