TheKismetGrey

Thanks for the responses! I am not expecting to train Gumbeaux to do anything fantastic (although dishes would be great ) I just want to spend a little more quality time and keep him interested and thinking. I have actually clicker trained 2 house cats and my horse before, it can work on any species (even humans!) as long as the habits/motivation and thought processes of the species are understood. Even feral animals can be conditioned with a clicker, operant conditioning, no biggie. What kind of things do you ask your birds to do Karcar? I'm hunting for ideas. I have only done a few sessions thus far, working on very basic commands (stepping off shoulder, being restrained as would happen at the vet's, etc.) but he is super excited about it!

Hi again! For those of you who were following the story of the Stray Grey, a few months have passed and our leads have all turned up dead ends (for us... we had a few lost greys found by the owner, just not THIS lost grey.) Still looking though! The food issue fixed itself, thankfully, and the bird we now call Gumbeaux is doing very well! He is extremely social, loves EVERYONE and is even patient with apprehensive handlers and young adults (with supervision and an "escape route" of course.) I have collected a sample for DNA sexing and am becoming more and more attached. I tried not too get attached, I swear I did!! There is no doubt that we are flock-mates, even the dogs. I am a HUGE advocate of clicker training and have trained personal and NUMEROUS rescue dogs over the past fifteen (:::sigh::: that hurts) years. Gumbeaux is going to be my first bird. From what I figure, it's just the same concept using shorter and more frequent sessions. Has anyone "clickered" a Grey or is anyone familiar with the Karen Pryor/Ian Dunbar methods? I would love to start a thread for support/ideas/brainstorming in general! I also had a question about greeting behaviours in CAG's. Sometimes Gumbeaux seems a little immature with his body language. I'd love to get a ballpark (young, adult, senior) of his age if at all possible. I know, it's probably futile.

HA! Wait until THAT gets circulated around the office the next day Too cute!

Didn't take it like that at all! I generally don't put much about myself in profiles until I know I want to stick around a forum (there are a lot of forums where people are just.... dumb). I certainly can and will do though!

Frederick, Md

HA! I hear that, KimKim!! We had a Harrison's tasting party at work one day (I picked the bag up on the way into the hospital). A few techs and some of the doctors all tried it, I didn't think it was that bad, actually. Sadly, this bird is not that open-minded. I tried that same trick last week and he just looked at me like "Are you insane? Those are TERRIBLE?!"

I understand that, Jayd. I've never seen a pellet tree in the wild I am not the type of person who fills a bowl with pellets and calls it a day. I do, however, believe in keeping them available as a supplement to a balanced diet as the bird sees necessary. I consider it a back-up plan in the event that he doesn't particularly what what I have offered one day. To put it this way, he has 3 food bowls in his cage right now, 2 have fresh goodies, one has harrison's, roudybush and zupreem mixture (not much of it either) and there are a few little foraging gems hidden around the cage as well. As the OP of the first link you posted states "Pellets provide a lot of vitamins, minerals and proteins that your grey may not get otherwise if your bird is a picky eater or doesn't like veggies." That sums up my standpoint too, they are NOT a substitute for a varied and balanced diet of naturally occurring products, nor should they be the bulk of any nutritional plan. I have just been looking for that prepared diet that he would actually EAT so that I could be sure he's getting what he needs. I am sorry if I sounded like I was just going to feed a bowl of prepared diet and offer a baby carrot as a treat. I can assure you that is definitely not my style of care!

It has been done, and not much on the way of responses. Everyone either had a banded or microchipped bird. So we are once again, waiting to hear what he says as a means of identification. The person who found the bird initiated all of that last month, and we are still in contact regarding potential owners.

I don't know why I clicked post, I wasn't done I found the secret; Zupreem. I went out to get some extra toys for rotation today and grabbed a small bag, on the "why not" thought. The minute I pulled it out of the shopping bag, he popped over to his dish and started pinning his eyes. Gobbled it up without a moment's hesitation. Since I now have a decent base, I will no longer worry so much. I still plan on getting him onto something else, but I can relax that I am not missing an important nutrient. I have been offering him EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN (that won't kill him). For the first week or so, he ate WONDERFULLY, but now he's starting to be a grey again (I think he was just DYING (literally) for a few decent meals and trying to get his system back in order after that ordeal) I know it can take time, I was trying to be patient I was just more worried that I wasn't going to get it all right nutritionally. I feel very confident once I know I have a balanced meal in place, and the rest of the goodies can be just that; the good-tasting-good-for-him-goodies. I will mind a lot less if he turns his beak up at his "fresh offerings" dish now! I also realized that I posted this in the wrong place, an admin can move if they want. Once again, Gumbeaux and I THANK YOU!!!!

I know, and that's fine

I have been wondering the exact same thing, as I wandered craft stores for a few hours a week or two ago. I did make a hoop-type perch using the hemp rope from the craft store. Gumbeaux doesn't chew on it, but I made sure that it did not have an odor (many I found at various stores that day smelled obviously of chemicals). Short of calling the company, I doubt there is any good way to know for sure (and even then, what are your chances of talking to someone who knows the process the item *actually* undergoes during production.) I REALLY wanted those grapevine wreaths, but was leery because they were SO inexpensive. In my mind, inexpensive generally means unhealthy- for myself as well as my pets.

He's moved in and being called Gumbeaux. He began wolf-whistling to me when I left the room and we would call back and forth to each other as I moved through the house. I'm his flock, and that's fine I decided to add a little "adventure" to my life and taught him the theme song to Indiana Jones. If he does end up back at his original home, they're going to want my head on a stick for all the random things he's picking up around me! However, for the time being, it is really fun to get dressed every morning to a very ROBUST version of that song! He is talking while I'm obviously awake now, but not actually interacting with me while he's talking/singing. No biggie, all in due time; I just wish I could understand his quiet little mumbles! The only phrase I have been able to pick up is a very loud "Does he talk?!" which just puts me in stitches every time I hear it. The only problem I am running into is the dreaded conversion to pellets. The ONLY way I have managed to get ANY bit of pellet into him is to grind them into a powder and offer it in baby food (organic with the lowest sodium and iron content I can find). We have moved from mostly baby food to a very thick oatmeal consistency BF/Pellet powder mix. This is alright, yes? I am planning on phasing out the mixture after adding in larger chunks of pellets. Oh, and thank you for all the previous posts that I have been reading! You're collective wisdom is astounding!

He's SUCH a cutie!! (and I love that "new cage" look it will never look that neat again!) Congrats!

I am very ready for a new member of my family I have actually spent the last 6 months sending in applications to rescue groups, meeting birds and owners/rescues and having my house "inspected". I was only able to take this bird on such short notice because I had the perfect cage sitting there just..... waiting. (Hence the name "TheKismetGrey" this bird is the exact personality I was looking for!) I understand that banding/chipping will trace the bird only to me, however, microchips can have the information changed quite easily so if the original owner pops up it will not be a big deal. I was assuming the registries that handle the band info would be able to do the same thing. People move, animals are rehomed, phone numbers change, emergency contact information changes, they have to be able to adjust information otherwise it's useless as a safety net and no one would care to use it. Thanks for the info, I'm going to have to ruminate on this for a while...

Today's readers can read every chip (if the chip was originally placed in the US) as the UK and other countries require a different type of chip. However, even then, depending on the scanner, it may still be able to be read in the US. They have done a good job making sure every domestic chip can be scanned, sometimes you do not know which brand it is, but a few phone calls and websites like 24petwatch.com can solve that!