Barbara2

That's what I do, judy. If I'm eating chips, I give the fids cheerios.

He is gorgeous! As to his name, it may be up to him. I wish Jay were here. He had a great story about his rescue. Jay didn't know the history and so he and his wife named the bird "Jim". "Jim" had a lot of baggage and they had to work with him alot. Out of the blue one day their grey said, "I'm not Jim. I'm Joey!" He was rather insistent so they respected his desires and started calling him Joey.

That's really neat, Kimkim! I like it! (And glad Babalu likes it too!)

It's VERY expensive but they have this for a greenwing: http://store.celltei.com/palacmasi.html

There are pros and cons to both. Ultimately it comes down to a very personal decision. I saw on another board a story of a woman who lost her bird. She was devastated! She swore if she ever got him back that she would have him clipped. She did get him back and decided to leave him flighted because the fact that he was able to fly is what allowed him to be able to survive when he was out. It's a tough call. You have to do what feels right for you and your companion bird.

I know it's been said but needs to be repeated: WE REALLY MISS JAY AND SPOCK!!

Congratulations on the outstanding progress! I am very happy for both of you.

Heck no! I actually like people using their given names. (I'm assuming that Deby is your given name.)

That's why I was thinking it was something like hormones. (Think teenage girls.) Or molting. Both of those things affect parrots but not necessarily their appetite or their play by themselves. It does affect their releationships.

If she's been standoffish for a week or so I wonder if it's hormones or molting. It sounds as if some change has occured. Hopefully it is temporary.

Brag away! Another story with a happy ending. I love it! I'm excited for you both.

Please keep us updated, Talon. I'm hoping she is much better this morning.

Thanks for giving us the report. I get a bit frustrated when a post appears about a problem with a bird and then we never find out what it was or how it turned out. Even though I don't have a problem like this right now, I may in the future and this information is very helpful. Plus I'm just curious and want to know what it is!!

That's O.K. I think it's good to have all the different methods on here that work. What might not work for one fid just might work for another.

I have tried my parrots on many different pellets. I have a 16 year old Hahn's macaw and an 18 year old Senegal. (My grey is just a baby) I had them on Pretty Bird pellets for years. After starting my research on greys, I saw some opinions that natural pellets might be better for them. I switched them to Zupreem Natural and they took to it without any trouble. Just recently I got TOPs pellets. (I have to order those. The Zupreem are available in my local pet store.) I put some of those in their bowls. The Senegal seems to prefer them. I'm not sure if it's the taste or the size of the pellets. The Zupreem pellets I have for him are small balls (for lack of a better description) while the TOPs are small tubes. He can hold them in his foot and I think he likes that. The macaw still prefers the Zupreem (larger, oval pellets) If you are able, I would suggest trying some different types and see if Nikki might find one she likes.

How long can you leave pellets (or any food) in the dish after you have put the refrigerated palm oil on it? I put some on Neo's food this morning and then left to run errands. The food is gone now but I was wondering how long it is safe to leave it in there.

I know what you mean about black labs sleeping all day. The only thing different is for some reason our black lab goes nuts when our birds flap their wings! Our little Senegal sometimes flaps like hes going to fly away but he's on his perch. The lab will rush the cage and stand there and bark at him. No matter how many times we tell him "NO!", he still barks when the bird flaps. I just thought I would point that out because it might be a possibility.

Neo is just a baby so I'm sure Timmy would be a bad influence. LOL! Neo doesn't know any bad words yet. Although there have been a couple of times that movies have been playing and I've had to say to him, "Don't listen to that!" (I'm sure he's the perfect, obedient child....yeah, right!)

For me it's between around 8 pm and when I go to bed. I'm ready to chill out and watch TV and would LOVE to have Neo here with me. But it's his bedtime. I had him out earlier when I shouldn't have and he just sat on my arm with his head lowered in my lap while I scratched his head. I would love to do that all night but I know it's not good for him. So he is in his cage within sight of me AND I MISS HIM!!

First story I ever read about a grey. It was in a Parrot Talk magazine about 15 years ago. The owner of the bird had a dog named "Bowzer". The grey would say, "Bowzer! You wanna go out?" in the woman's voice and the dog would be prancing at the door, and the grey would laugh. The sad ending to the story was the day the woman was having to agonize over having Bowzer put to sleep due to illness. She was holding Bowzer with his head in her lap and she was crying. The grey said, "Ahhhh. Bowzer bad boy?" It was the only words he knew to express the situation. I have wanted a grey ever since I read that story but had to wait until two months ago to be ready to meet the demands of such a wonderful creature.

I'm gearing Neo up to visit elementary schools and nursing homes. I'm not excited about taking him to pet stores because I don't trust their birds to be guaranteed healthy. And I don't trust the dogs of strangers. Heck, I don't even trust my OWN dogs!

Dang! By now I've missed it. I bet it's already tomorrow for her. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!

Yay! I'm so happy for both of you!

OK. I voted.

You would have to do it in person to make sure the bar spacing was small enough but you might want to check Petsmart or one of those stores and look at dog travel crates. You would also need to outfit it with perches and dishes but you might want to do that anyway even with one made for birds..