FirstPenguin

Thanks for the encouragement. We really want a flighted bird and sometimes it feels like we'll never find that in a re-home since so many rehomes are generally from those evil stores that clip heavily and advise to continue clipping. The venom is working it's way out my blood but when I first got that email it was nothing but. Crossing my fingers for 2012.

I've been a lurker of sorts for a while now. For those that haven't seen my posts before my girlfriend and I have a Senegal parrot and have strong opinions on the state of avi-culture and various other hot button topics. We've been planning for a while to get a grey as our second bird. We came across the perfect rehome situation on craigslist. Someone not too far away that needed to rehome for health reasons. The grey is well socialized, full feathered and for the most part well cared for. Not only that, this bird had never been clipped. EVER! Our Senegal now about 2 and a half, has had 2 trims ever once lightly by the breeder and once by our vet. All before her first birthday. After that we said never again. So we wanted a grey that would not be nervous around our sennies acrobatics. She's as fearless and agile as a fighter pilot. So we were very excited but wanted to do things right. So we made arrangements for the grey to see our vet and get lab work done since he had never seen an avian vet let alone gotten a lab work up. His current owner seemed agreeable to this since he really cared about the grey and wanted him to go to the right home. So only two days after we met him and his grey, and after a few days and countless email threads. I received this. No explanation. We rode one of the commuter trains 50 minutes each way just to visit this guy. Spent 40 dollars in train fair between the two of us. After asking why, he writes saying his son, who looks to be barely out of high school, is going to take him. How many college age kids do you know who will put their social life ahead of the needs of a congo? I should of known this guy would pull a politician's flip-flop. When we mentioned that our vet requires tests even to board there he volunteered to take the grey back if we were ever away for longer vacations. Clearly a guy not ready to let go. My girlfriend and I made it clear this was most likely not in the best interest of the Grey's own psyche. We really want to adopt, but we're not in a position to take on a really needy bird and this turns us off to the process that much more. I just had to vent about this. It upsets me to no end. Maybe this son of his is up to it but I highly doubt he could do better than myself or his father for this grey.

We use a separate sleep cage away from the main space so that "post 9pm traffic" has less of an effect on their sleep.

looks good on paper, but I don't trust anything on ebay from a no name company. Too much potential for lead or other chemicals.

I believe that travel and new environments, when introduced early and regularly in a birds life, can be made into a minimally stressful event. I think we make bird more prone to stress by keeping them in the same environment for the better part of their life. Depending on how old your bird is, introducing it in small doses could lead to a regular thing and much more adaptable bird. Don't leave for 8 hours in the first go. go somewhere and come back within an hour or two a few times so your bird learns that whenever he leaves he always comes back to his usual cage.

I watched it last night. Not crazy about their diets. Is she considering salt content of the preparted human food she's buying? She had that poor bird up at 3 in the morning WTF. Still, it is a better example than I expected from the reality world, of the lengths people should go to take care of a complex exotic creature.

Been there too, my girlfriend and I went through something similar. I wanted a rabbit air, but no we had to have something "specialized" for birds. We talked with the Jeff, very nice, talked about the Chicagoland area where I'm from and he resides in. He quoted 600 dollars for the deal to me. Gets my girlfriend on the phone separately at work since we were using her credit card and charges her 900 dollars. Which she didn't reveal to me until a year later when she finds a charge on her credit card from JWR that was supposedly for replacement filters and parts. WE NEVER ORDERED THIS. Jeff once again fed us a line of BS that is so infuriating it's not worth repeating. We had to get the credit card involved to dispute the charge even after Jeff said he'd correct it. We've also written to bird talk. Plus all his stuff is not made in the US that's for sure. Air filters are a modern snake oil. I can go to home depot and buy 50 bucks worth of parts and make a home made box and filter that will produce a noticeable reduction in dust and airborne irritants. What a decent filter does beyond this is extremely hard to notice. I talked to a shop owner who reduces bird dander by strapping foam to a 20 inch box fan.

Cute pictures!!! A real cuddle muffin. Sorry to be a nag, but I grimaced a little when I saw the picture featuring the blow dryer for several reasons. Hopefully you're not using the heated settings and just the blower. However if you are, the heating elements of blow dryers and other appliances can be coated with teflon. Not only could you be releasing deadly airborne poison in the presence of your precious fid, you might also be propelling it in her direction. If you mist or bath your bird and it appears to be "shivering" it's not cold. It's a natural behavior to aid drying of the feathers. Second, I can't imagine using dry heat from a blow dryer being good for the skin or feathers of a bird. Goodluck with your new fid, hope I was more help than nag.

Sleep cages are great for small apartments, and great in general. They can help with cage aggression and simulate a natural behavior since birds don't roost in the same areas they play and forage in. I've mentioned my personal setup many times while championing the sleep cage but once more won't hurt. I'm often in a small city apartment. So I have a smaller sleep cage that sits on the upper shelf of a coat closet down the hall from the main space. It works great since we're up moving around after she needs to be covered up. She has the smallest avitech heating panel and a heavy duty cover. This helps us rest easy since the temperature of the main space can fluctuate greatl during the winter nights. Plus the small enclosed space and the closet door helps reduce noise transmission, it's a paneled accordion style door so there is plenty of air exchange in case you were wondering. We even go to the even go to the point of putting an ambient noise machine in the closet to help cover up any extraneous noise you hear through in a typical apartment building. I actually think it makes even more sense in a small apartment if you're not on the exact same schedule as your bird. As much as I want to sleep 12 hours a day. That just isn't going to happen.

You say you left deposit, it sounds like corky left a deposit on you.

I totally believe a bird as intelligent as a grey or otherwise could detect the difference in steadiness, or any other variables that would give away hand dominance.

Just leave a trail of nutriberries leading into the carrier, or something equivalently yummy.

It's really easy to do, take any material you plan to cover the cage with toss it over your head with the lights on or better sunlight and if you see any light coming through it's most likely too light a material.

I'm a big believer that just covering is not enough if the cage is in the main space. For night owls like myself, a sleep cage away from the main space is absolutely necessary. Birds, budgies to greys, are sensitive prey animals and are highly tuned into their environment. So if you're going to stay up more than an hour after your bird in the main space I highly encourage you to consider roosting your bird somewhere else. Even if you're absolutely quiet the vibrations of clunky human shoes on brittle building materials is easily picked up by your fid. Just my two cents, covering isn't enough.

Very cute, definitely something I can relate to freelancing at home as well. I'm a future grey companion, but I can say from other bird experience and general bird knowledge that when they're young they tend to latch on for various reasons. Independent play takes time since playing is a learned skill. I definitely think Spencer being the age he is influences how clingy he is. As far as your keyboard goes... goodluck. Somehow keyboards are super tempting. You focus on them, they make sound, and can be manipulated, how could they not strike a bird curiosity.

I too travel quite a bit with my bird but we visit my parents enough that we leave a cage there that fits in the car assembled and from there will borrow a car to visit others with the fid. The cage linked below markets itself as having "tooless" 15 minute assembly. Might be a good, larger travel cage, if it assembles and tears down easily. It's also the dimensions you desired. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5059+10346+22112&pcatid=22112&s=lh&r=883 Also saw this.... http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5059+10346+5153&pcatid=5153&s=lh Might be pricey but you could find featherland locally or used, those are also collapsible. If you're driving through chicago you could pick this up. http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19301391011&Category_Code=medcage&Product_Count=17 I have a smaller version of this. Over engineered, really well made stuff. Not as light as I had hoped being aluminum. http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19301261063&Category_Code=medcage&Product_Count=51

You're completely right, but trust me based on the language this person was using that wasn't her primary concern. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wants to keep her current living situation and then be able to stop in when she likes for a bird fix. A rescue home visit is different because usually the person visiting isn't bonded to the bird. There is a sliding scale between what a rehome and a rescue bird is in my mind, depending on how many issues, or how much personal baggage a bird comes with. This bird is clearly a well socialized, adaptable rehome. This girl is just plain selfish. Anyone who knows two licks about parrots or greys knows that what she's proposing is not in the best interest of the bird.

Yeah that's a good point, besides it undermining bonding with a fid. We are of the moral standing that rehoming is the better thing to do but are worried about our current fid being smaller and around a bird with unpredictable baggage. The rehomer in question also wanted first dibs if we ever rehomed the bird. So in a perfect world she wants to rent the bird out till it's convenient for her to reclaim him.

So in our search for greyness we've decided that our current situation may dictate that a baby from a breeder but we still keep an eye out for rehomes. One in particular responded after we had given up on finding a rehome. This person was out of the area and had a healthy well take care of grey. She wanted updates about the bird if I adopted it. She didn't know at that point how far away I was. When I mentioned where I'd be come from this was her response. I responded by saying the obvious issues of bonding etc. Selfish thinking like this makes my blood boil, had to vent. Thanks for reading.

Opps! Well that's even worse! A rose at least has a some wine cred. During the holiday's we rag on my aunts who drinks white zin by referring to it as, "oh that pink sh*t." All in fun. I'm just jealous I can't have both dog's and birds. Cheers!

I would imagine your Ana Grey being a Timneh is slightly more maneuverable than a more barrel chested Congo. Can anyone comment on the difference in flying for TAGs vs CAGs vs Zons?

Thanks for all the input. Just to clarify I'm not interested in looks. I think the TAGs and CAGs are beautiful in their own way. TAGs having an almost gothic appearance. It's never been a concern. As I started before I like the larger cuddly birds with personality, but am not in a situation where I would have space or the distance from my neighbors to have a macaw or cockatoo. In addition, the contemplative personality really attracts me to the Greys. That look they have about them, that instantly tells you they're thinking, weighing options, and calculating their next move. On to the update. This is going to be a long process since we're waiting several months at least. I've located one or two more semi-local breeders that are willing to go un-clipped. PLUS, my girlfriend has finally caved on the shipping issue for the moment. Her concern has always been that being shipped through the airline would be a traumatic experience for a young bird. I finally pointed out that 2 strange people showing up, putting them in a carrier and then driving so-many hours could be equally stressful. Our sweet little sennie got picked up, then driven through torrential rains. The sound of the rain on the roof of the car must have been quite a fright. It's been helpful to be able to vet breeders who breed both. Still, the more local we go, the more times we can visit the breeder before bringing a fid home, which of course eases the transition. Its funny to hear about how cuddly some of your Congos are and how some Timnehs aren't. All the anecdotes on here have helped us (especially my GF) to be open to either subspecies. Thanks.

I was with you until I realized it was a glass of rosé Kidding. Cute pic.

Welcome. I'm in a very long research phase as well. If you're going to pull the trigger on one of the older birds there I'd do it now, NOW, or after the new year. Here is why. In an ideal world you would have lots of uninterrupted time to get acquainted with your new flock member and the approaching holiday season is a bit of a monkey wrench in that. Depending on your situation it either frees up time or if you're like me makes your life anything but the usual routine. That routine is ideal for the first few (6 or more) months you have a new bird, barely weaned or rehomed. I would personally focus on your sun conure and wait till the new year. However, one of those poor rehomed, petshop birds would be better off in your home than a pet shop. So if that's your bird, don't let him sit. I almost pulled the trigger on a rehome that fell through and really got the itch after that slipped through my fingers. I finally talked myself out of doing it this year after a bit of searching for the mentioned reasons. GOODLUCK!

Funny. I have the smaller version for our Senegal which we purchased from windy city parrots site. Not crazy about the construction but for a change of location it's great. SO much lighter than the kings cage stuff. We take it into central park during the summer for flock picnics. We call it her office. So we can say, "Where is evie?" "She at the office."