MarcusCAG

Like everyone else said, welcome to the Grey forums... and your baby in your avatar is precious! Give her a kiss for me when you can!

I'm so glad to hear this news, congratulations!!

Eshana, would you need a better 'full body shot' or is one of just Bunsen's head okay? I don't know if these are sufficient for you to tell, so I can take some more tomorrow afternoon and post them if that will help. Thank you very much, really, at this point I'm exceptionally curious...

Eshana: No "heart wings" were visible. So now I'm really confused! And although we're getting Marcus' talons groomed this weekend, my husband shot down the idea of us having Beaker and Bunsen sexed after the session, too (they come to our house). So, since he "likes the mystery", unless I can figure this out on my own I won't know what to think!

Thank you so much for your replies, birdhouse, Ray P, Eshana... in some respects I don't know what to think now!! If Bunsen starts acting like that again today when he/she is out, then I will look for the "heart wings". I had to Google that term for images to see exactly what I'd be looking for, and I honestly wasn't looking to see how Bunsen's wings were folded when everything was happening before. I was just amazed at the cute, little, odd noises and the fact that he/she kept his/her tail so high in the air. Bunsen does have very bright orange patches on his (her?) cheeks, almost a rust-red in the centers, and a very yellow head compared to the rest of him--which is a bit mottled-looking, some feathers are more beige/white/pale 'butter' in color but have little dots of yellow. I've noticed this when he loses a feather sometimes. It makes me wonder if he is, um, Lutino pied? And I do like the idea of Bunsen being comfortable enough around us, now, to start acting more like a 'normal' cockatiel in wanting affection and attention. That makes me feel very happy.

^^ It's good to know that she's doing the right thing by this Grey, Paul. Then, should you take this darling little one home, you will have a clean conscience and know that she is truly "yours". By the way, exactly how many days do you have left to wait until the woman can legally hand this Grey over to you--if you don't mind my asking? (If you said it already and I just missed it, I'm sorry.)

Barbara2, LAURIT, thank you for the suggestions!

As many of you know, we have a flock of diverse species, one of which is a little Lutino cockatiel whom we've named Bunsen. Bunsen didn't have the best background before we adopted him, and he didn't get much one-on-one and/or loving interaction in his former home. We've had him a few months now, and during that time he has learned to step-up, and he flies regularly (he was basically confined to his cage on someone's back porch for about five years, before), and he has learned to enjoy pellets and millet and et cetera... Anyway, Bunsen will contact call when I wake up, when I get in, all that. Otherwise his 'sounds' are just--I don't know, normal? But this morning, I put Bunsen on the little mic stand (haha) by this laptop and he started making these new sounds. They were quick, and short, and a little pathetic and vulnerable-sounding. He had his head lowered and it was like, He wanted head-scritches! So I worked around his crest as much as he would let me, I 'groomed' him with my nose, etc. I thought it was cute and that was the end of it. But just now, a few hours later, we are in the same situation: me on the computer, Bunsen on the mic stand. He started up again, but this time he turned away from me and lowered his head, sticking his butt in the air. He kept making those odd, cute little sounds. I noticed his cloaca was dilating significantly and it hit me, Could Bunsen be a girl? Is that what is considered 'female presentation'? Honestly, once some time ago I had Bunsen out and was interacting with him, when out of the blue Marcus piped up with, "That's a giiiiiiirrrlll." I kind of looked at him like, What are you talking about? but didn't think anything of it, I thought he was just being goofy. Could he have been referring to Bunsen, after all? From what I've described, does it sound like Bunsen is, in fact, a girl? There have been no eggs... I've been under the impression that females generally lay quite a bit, and so the idea is still a bit unexpected for me to contemplate... Thank you in advance for any replies.

Thank you for posting Java's story and her picture, Dee! She is a gorgeous girl, I can see why she was so irresistible to all of you. But like Greywings asked, how have her feathers fared growing-in since her wretched clip so long ago? I've seen videos online of parrots with more-than-bad clips by people who either have no idea what they're doing or just don't care. I don't understand that. It's like setting a bone or something, there's a proper way to do it and there's no excuse for someone with no experience/knowledge to do something like that and consequently hurt the animal because of it. From your other posts, though, it sounds like Java is flighted again and so I will assume that she is--what's the saying?--"good as rain" now in terms of her wings. I'm so glad she has such a happy family now with you and yours and your Gilbert.

Hello everyone, I did a search here just now in a few of the rooms for "handheld vacuum" and nothing came up, so I decided to post this thread... I know that a few wet/dry vacuum-type of threads have started up here before, but that isn't quite what I'm asking about. So bear with me, please. Honestly, I love our vacuum. It's awesome, gets up all the pet hair, the feathers, what have you. But I've been thinking about maybe keeping a "mini" (handheld) kind of vacuum in the boys' room to help keep it tidier, since it's such a hassle to put our unit together just to attend to a new mess in the birdroom. I was looking at a couple of models at Amazon that run for about $35-$40 or so. The only thing is, in the item description it was mentioned things about 'hard items potentially damaging the vacuum' and et cetera. (It was implied that it was basically designed for getting pet hair off of furniture, but I could just be reading more into it than was originally intentioned.) So does that mean that such a vacuum would be inappropriate for picking up stray pellets on the rug? Does anyone use anything like what I'm talking about to regularly clean their birdroom/messy parrot areas? Or should I just resign myself to dragging all of my attachments out whenever I want to vacuum up the pellety/seedy mess my boys leave for me? Thanks in advance for any replies...

The photos are wonderful--you have such a lovely flock, thank you for updating us all on your feisty trio!

I love picturing the two of them together: Gilbert the 'scallywag' and sweet Java... I actually had to Google photos online to see what she might look like, they're lovely parrots!

Everyone has pretty much said it all already, so if I sound like a mimic then please forgive me: I do still think of you and your Murphy, I honestly do, and I hope that wherever he is Murphy's okay and well, even if he's not safe at home with you like he should be; and I do still hope that you both will be reunited someday. Even so, I am so glad to hear of this connection you made with this little Grey, who knows yet what the future will bring? But I think it shows hope for you both, that you can find happiness and trust together again in another Grey-human relationship. If it can be so, I hope that you both can have that relationship fulfilled together.

Wonderful! I'm so glad to hear of Shyloh's new accomplishments--he must be very happy with all of you.

Thank you, Gwen, you too!

I've held off on saying this for a while now, and I don't mean to be disrespectful in expressing myself here this way, because I know people have strong feelings regarding this issue and each person has a right to their own feelings/choices: Nevertheless, I think that to hold such a view that a home where a parrot is kept clipped and consequently considered automatically unsuitable for the bird, is short-sighted and a bit naive. Yes, parrots were made to fly, like most other birds. Yes, some parrots do not take well to having their wings clipped. But others seem to take it in stride, I know our Beaker does and we've had him clipped professionally a number of times. If the option is for a parrot to live out its life in some loving home where they are paid attention to; where they are loved and fed well; where they are interacted with and give enrichments--but clipped--then I believe that is better thing than, say, a bird who remains in some animal care facility where they are left without constant individual care and remain there for who knows how long? If the caveat is for the bird to be clipped, let them be clipped and adopted and loved. If a family feels they need to clip their bird for it to be safe, let it be clipped. If it can be allowed to remain flighted, then there is no arguing that is the better thing. But you can't say that someone who is confined to a wheelchair still can't enjoy their life, which is what some people seem to be comparing the clip vs. flight issue to in some respects. No, maybe they can't walk like humans were designed to, but they can still feel joy and experience love and have a full life in their own way. Saying that a clipped parrot does not belong with the owners who made the decision to have it clipped is ridiculous--you want to just tear it away from its flock? Circumstances sometimes dictate less-than-ideal situations, but situations may change in the future anyway, and for people to be judged so harshly when I'm sure most of them love their birds very much and are just doing what they think best, at that moment in time... is arrogant.

Humans weren't designed to eat McDonald's nonstop--haha, I think it's safe to say they weren't designed to eat it at all! There are protein/carbohydrate/fat sources much more easily digested by the human body and which offer myriad intact other nutrients, enzymes, and cofactors that McDonald's food could only dream of possessing. So if Greys have naturally been eating the same source(s) of nourishment for thousands of years without human intervention/guidance and flourishing on it, then it's probably very good for them.

Welcome to the Grey Forums! Have you chosen a name for your new baby yet? It will be lovely to get to know you both through your posts as you begin your life together.

I love the shower one and the picture in particular where it looks like we're being "eyed up", haha--thank you so much for sharing! Wonderful photographs!

Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing these! Gracie is gorgeous and you just look so happy--congrats!!

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Like luvparrots said, I think if you just explain to Isaac the situation, he will be better equipped to make his own birdie decisions about how he will act/feel while you are away for an extended period. My husband is generally gone most of the day, and I am usually at home for the better portion of the day--but sometimes we both have to go out together for longer periods at a time. We just tell Marcus what's up--and he actually seems to act a bit suspicious anymore when he sees us get into our "routine" (packing food, me getting up earlier, etc.) so it's not like it's unfamiliar to him (or the other boys) at this point. They don't at all like it but they know what to expect now. Although, again, these are comparatively rare instances. And sometimes we get the cold shoulder when we get back! But even though it makes Marcus unsettled, I think, to realize that I'll be gone for a while, too, during such times--I think he is reassured in some respects when I take the time to spell it all out for him, "but we'll be back LATE" or whatever. Now, sometimes when I open my closet he'll ask me something about "Going to work", which is what he knows my husband does. So I figure he associates "going to work" with being out of the house for a looong time during the day. As long as we do come back, although our fids may resent the absence, I don't believe trust will be broken.

I personally have never seen Marcus, or any of our other "boys" (because we, too, are only assuming when it comes to our Beaker and our little Bunsen) scratch like that. I do know there have been a couple of threads on the topic in these forums elsewhere, though, if you want to do a Search on them here. But maybe, like you suggested, Roscoe is just making things comfortable for himself in there? Your cockatiel photo in your signature is lovely. And yes, Dahlia is supposedly a Newfoundland dog/Golden Retriever mix. We adopted her from a rescue when she was two... supposedly she once had a sister who lived with her and a doting couple, but I don't know what happened for them to give them both up. Dahlia's sister was adopted from the pound immediately, but Dahlia was going to get put down when the rescue organization spotted her and realized what a doll she is. I believe she was in foster care for a couple of weeks before we spotted her bio/ad online, and the rest is history... but we were told that her daddy was a Newfie, and her mom was a Golden Retriever. You can see a picture of her with me in the thread "Grey Owner, what do you look like?" a page or so back from where it is in the Grey Lounge right now. She's not at all big for her parentage, only 60 pounds or so, but she definitely has "the look" of a Newfie. Dahlia's getting a little older now, though, but she still is as loving and loyal and mischievous as can be. I don't doubt your dear Fred was as wonderful as you say he was. I will, thank you! And I hope you and Roscoe and everyone else in your 'flock' have a great day!

I hope you two had another wonderful evening with the tent game last night. Thinking of you both...

Welcome to Grey Forums, OzzyCAG/Sonya! At this point, like you said, "nice and slow" is the best thing for all of you, but despite whatever negatives Ozzy's past home might have brought to his life, it sounds like he's ended up within a loving new situation. Ask all the questions you want here, we all love Greys and are more than willing to help if we can.