thenabrd

well darn, i'm not peter pan after all!

our girls cages are on either side of the large window in our living room. the front porch is there as well, so they have some "protection" in their minds. we have a middle school just across the street, we're along the side of it, not the front. athena has always liked looking out the windows and makes her sounds of wonder and amazement whenever she sees something that interests her. she also goes into alarm bird mode with some of what she sees. kallie enjoys watching out the window as well and once in a while will wolf whistle, say wow or make some other acknowledgement of what she sees. she's not a big talker, but does let us know her moods/interests as best as she can. the school buses intrigue her very much-sometimes i think she thinks the buses are "eating" the kids in the afternoon, hahahahaha!!! that said, on windy days or if big storms are coming, i leave the sheer curtains closed. we do have flags that hang from our front porch, all of which flap like crazy in a strong wind and that seems to make the girls nervous if the sheers aren't closed. i think the sheers let them feel there's an added layer of "protection" between them and the world. every night i'll tell them i'm closing the curtains. i try to remember to tell them when i'm opening the curtains in the mornings, but if the coffee hasn't hit yet, i usually forget, lol!!! i also sometimes do not open the curtains wide open, but leave them open slightly, depending on the weather, as well. i just use a combination of things - sheers left closed, curtain wide open/slightly open, sheers open, etc. there are days though, that if the girls seem nervous for no reason i can figure out, i'll make adjustments as well.

lol, flutter wasn't really the correct word (still waiting for the coffee to kick in), but yeah, holding wings slightly away from body, possibly leaning forward a bit, making a noise, following your every move. if that's what he's doing, i really do think he's doing the "i'm a baby bird" behavior. like i said, sometimes our girls do this and they're not babies-athena is almost 10 years old and kallie is 4 years old, but they still do this sometimes!! its very cute. but still, wait and see what more experienced members have to say, i could be very, very wrong!!!

sounds like he loves you! it sounds like he's doing the "baby" bird thing, making a sound, "fluttering" the wings-kind of like "i'm a baby, you're my parent, look at me, take care of me, pay attention to me cause i love you". our girls still do this on occasion when they see us or if we have something in our hands that they want. but i'm no expert, so please wait and see what others with more experience have to say!

we have 2 birds and i don't let them out at the same time-ever! athena has never been a good flyer, for some reason it terrifies her. this is the biggest reason i have them out 1 at a time. kallie is the better flyer and much, much bigger than athena, so my fear is athena would not be able to get away to safety as well as she could if she was a better flyer. (think hawk vs sparrow when comparing flying ability, that's pretty much what we have) athena might think she's the biggest bird ever created in any universe, but, kallie is very "interested" in athena. i dont know if she thinks athena is another bird, a moving toy or what, but she watches her intently! i have to watch kallie to make sure she doesn't get on athena's cage when she's out because athena would of course "defend" her home, but kallie's beak would still reach athena through the bars!!

our grey kallie is a rehome. we got her cage as well. i took pictures of the cage from different angles so that we could put her things back in as close as possible to what they were once we got the cage to our house. i thought that doing this would help make the transition a little less stressful since she'd have all her stuff in the places she knew and was comfortable with.

is right/left footedness determined by how they play or how the relax on one foot?

kallie is almost 4 years old and athena is 9 1/2 years old!

well i went with this one and it should be delivered sometime next week. i had kallie in for her regular check up today and discussed this with the vet. he said to make sure it runs on the lowest setting and said having this was a good thing (he has a small one that he showed me in the exam room that he runs on occasion throughout the day), which i will do. Ionic Pro - Turbo Ionic Air Purifier w/Germicidal Chamber/Oxygen Filter thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice!!

an exhaust fan would be the perfect solution, except that the birds are in the living room with us. i don't have any unused rooms for a bird room, plus the living room is where we can all spend the most time together. we've talked about switching the living room into the dining room and vice versa, and leaving the girls in the "new" dining room, since that's in the front of the house and they're able to look out the big window on the front porch. they'd still be able to see us and hear us if we did this. but at this point its just a thought. kallie's dust has been really bad this year compared to last year, so that's the biggest cause for my looking into air cleaners. this year i'd have to dust 5 times a day with the amount she's putting off. to see if i can help this situation, i've put up the humidifier this morning, much earlier than i did last year. time will tell!! i figured that besides no additional costs for filters, an electrostatic might work similar (or as well, lol) to our tv and stereo equipment in attracting the dust, lol!!!

this is another i've found that i'm checking into Ionic Pro - Turbo Ionic Air Purifier w/Germicidal Chamber/Oxygen Filter it says it turns smog and ozone into oxygen and i could care less about the germicidal chamber!! i'm still trying to research this. i'm just not in a position to keep buying filters, that's the biggest problem, i just don't have money to do that!! that's why i'm trying to be so careful making this decision.

we do use a humidifier starting in the fall. but for some reason this year, the dust has been much heavier this summer than ever, so that's the reason i'm looking at air cleaners. this is the one i'm looking at currently crane co ee 8072 air purifier and i'm not finding anything about ozone, which is good, but it does do a hyper ionic field (their words) so i don't know if that's bad for them. i would put it near the girls cages. i'd have to figure out the best layout for the humidifier and this, lol!!

ok, so i've tried searching this but so far this is the only thread i got, sorry if this is the millionth time this has been asked but..... i've started the process of looking at electrostatic air cleaners. my budget is rather tight and i don't want to have to buy filters again and again so this is why i'm looking at the electrostatic units. i'd rather pay a bit more now than spend much more over the life time of a unit on filters. some units say ozone, some say negative ions, some say "active oxygen" or o3 converting to o2, some say ionizing, etc so you can see where my confusion is coming from. for the life of me, i've read threads here regarding these issues but can't remember if ozone is bad, ions are good or if its the reverse and so on. so i'd really, really appreciate advice on what is on the "no no" list with these things. many thanks in advance for any advice and again i apologize for this being the millionth time this has been asked!

i know what you mean!! i am positive my daddy is cheating on me with another bird either named work or someplace he calls work and that's where the other bird lives. i don't like this work, it keeps daddy from being here to adore me and pay attention to me at all times. daddy and mom went away for a couple of days and we had an ellen come over a few times each day. she's nice, but she's not daddy or mom. i forget to be mad at daddy cuz he's my ultra special super duper person, but i do remember to be mad at mom!! i always make sure i try to sneak bite her for at least 2 days after she's been gone over night. but she's fast, so i haven't had any success in truly showing her how mad i really am at her! but i'll get her one of these days, yes i will!! kallie, you've got to stop trying to sneak bite mommy!! she loves you, silly nut! i keep telling you it was her idea to bring you home and dad just went along with her cuz he knew how much she'd been wanting and waiting for a big grey silly nut like you. if it'd been up to me, i'd be an only bird still. she was sooooo excited about you, but when you got here, you just had to decide dad was your person! mommy was sad but guess what, she still loves you anyway! oh well, more mommy for me, hehehe!! oh and since you outed me for my special "head in my bell i love being a conure" time, i'm returning the "favor". hey everybody, kallie wants to put her head in a bell and pretend she's a conure!!!!! nee ner nee ner nee ner!!! but she can't cuz her bells are tubes so she can't take out the swingy thing that makes all the fabulous noise, so she's stuck with those skinny tube bell wanna be's and can't even get her beak in them!! hahahaha!!!! you look so silly with that tube resting on your head or neck and looking around to see if anyone's watching you, hahahahahaha!!!

both our girls pluck. they get check ups 2x's a year and so far are as healthy as can be. i have tried many things, medication from the vet, more misting with water and/or aloe juice (however, they both hate being misted and it sometimes creates more stress than i'd like, so i have mixed feelings about this. they both like to take baths in their water bowls, athena several times a week, kallie maybe once a month), more toys/shreddables, more sun outside when possible, etc. yet they still pluck. so this is how i approach the problem. athena is our little redneck. she likes to run around in her grey underwear more than she likes to wear her pretty green shirt (she plucks her green chest/belly feathers leaving the grey down and has periods where she stops plucking and gets all the green feathers back). kallie is our little fashionista, she doesn't like to wear a turtle neck and likes to show off her belly button (she plucks an area on her neck and a area on her belly where a belly button would be if she had one). i know this is weird, but this is the way i have to look at it so i don't get stressed out by it and they don't get stressed out about my stress. i hope this helps.

hahaha sarasota!!! kallie used to do the same thing. so i broke one in half and gave it to her. she tried it and went wild for it, so now when i give them, she knows what it is! athena won't go near them, period!!! she'll eat a bit of the meat, but the bones, nope!!!

how about chicken thigh bones? wings are crazy expensive compared to thighs around here, so that's why i'm asking. if thighs are a no no, then i'll just have to wait for a sale, lol!

hey guys, its kallie. those wingless flying things sound really, really scary. i'm glad we haven't been invaded with them here, that would freak me out. i have another problem, sorta like dorian's and sorta not. it happens almost every day in the afternoon. the mommy calls them big yellow school buses with a white roof and a black hood. i'm used to them and their noise now, but i just can't get used to seeing those things mommy calls "kids" being eaten by those bus things. the worst part is those "kids" look so happy to be eaten by those buses and they run right inside the buses tummies!!!! its just crazy! then sometimes after the buses have left, more kids that are bigger show up and make really strange noises. i only catch a glimpse of them from where i'm at. they carry big shiny things in really odd shapes and that's what the noise comes from. those kids and their shiny things walk and walk in patterns. they always have one of them stand in one place and wave their arms around. that poor person hasn't taken flight yet for all that arm waving happening!!! maybe those noisy shiny things are supposed to help the one without one fly, but they must be making the wrong noise for that to happen. i feel sorry for that person, they look like they're working so hard to try to fly and so far - nothing! i'd love to go show them how to fly, but the mommy, well lets just say, she guards those door things if i'm out of my cage house, so no sneaking out, darn!!! well i better scoot, athena's got her head out of her favorite bell now and she's giving me the stink eye over here!!! later

this is kallie. sophie, what do we do? do we take a splash splash in that water on their face or do we drink it? kallie, you are still such a baby!! its not a splash splash, its take a bath!!!!!!! no we can't take a bath in it, there isn't enough to fling every where. i never thought of drinking it, its not in a shiny bowl and its moving, not still like in the shiny bowl. athena, it might be take a bath to you, but i hate baths!!! i barely tolerate a splash splash but you're right, there isn't enough to fling every where. but i like moving water, especially when i play with those really cold slippery toys in the shiny bowl. but i don't know why they keep disappearing, very strange. i'll have to run more experiments. hhhmmm..... sorry sophie, athena here, kallie and i got side tracked! so what do we do when water is rolling off their faces?

hey bongo, its kallie. my flock has been crazy lately!!! first, for a few weeks, that little "human" was here on and off. now it's running, actually up on 2 legs like the rest of the flock, but its running and the flock follows it everywhere!!! i still don't know what it is, they tell me he's a "human" but i'm convinced the flock is telling fibs, cause its actually some kind of monster thing. i even tried to prove it was a "human" by going low in my cage house and turning my head for a rub, but nnnooooo, the flock moved it away from me!!! i'll just have to keep trying though, cause until i get a head rub from it, it is not a "human", it is a monster thing!! then my mom just disappeared for a few days. she'd come back home for a bit then leave again. she said its cause that gramma person had surgery. i don't know what surgery is, but it sure makes mom crazy with stress and she disappears. now she's home again, but every time she says she has an errand and will be right back, i worry she's going to disappear again. so for the past few days, i've been letting her know, i don't like her. no rubs, no words, nothing. she says i'm "pouting", but i can't "pout" cause i don't have any lips (see she's crazy!!!) athena here. kallie is right about mom disappearing. i'm "pouting" too, but i'm doing it different than you. i make even more noise and then when she tries to touch my toes, i run away and try to bite her!! that's what she gets for not staying here worshipping us like we deserve and require!! but kallie, i think we should probably start not being mad at her and pouting anymore. she has been making us great dinners (even though i won't touch most of what's in there, but it does look nice). oh about that "human" thing. kallie, you're almost right about it being a monster thing. and i hate to tell you this, but there's more than just the 1 you've seen!!! there are 2 more, but you weren't here when they were around!! just be glad you weren't here when the other 2 had to move very, very, very far away. mom was very sad, and had water rolling down her face. i never knew that mom had water pipes in her face and that they end, up by her eyes of all places!! that was very creepy seeing that water coming out of her eyes like that, eeewwww!! those 2 got bigger every time they came over too and they also did more things each visit. my theory is they start off as monster things, but as they get bigger they must turn into "humans". maybe they're some kind of strange butterfly or moth because those start out totally different than they end up too. maybe that's why those other 2 moved very, very, very far away-cause they're changing into humans and its soooo scary and dangerous, they can't be seen while they're doing it!!!!!

athena was 2 when we finally did the dna test. well athena is a boy, not the girl we thought we had, but we still refer to athena as a she. she was saying pretty girl, big girl, prettiest girl, etc by then, so what the heck, once a girl, always a girl for us, lol! it only gets confusing at the vet sometimes, hahahaha!!! so when we got kallie, we did the dna 1st thing before settling on a name.

first of all, kudos for rehoming a bird and congrats on the newest family member! you and your family are about to become a flock and its a fun thing to be! kallie came from a loving home. the woman that owned her before us also had her from weaning. the woman passed away and the family couldn't take any of her birds due to their own health issues. they wanted to make sure those birds all found loving homes, so it was a process of a couple of months of visits, interviews, a visit to our house, etc. kallie came with her cage, all toys, foods and a 1st vet visit to assure themselves and us that she was healthy. we already had a bird, so kallie hasn't ever known what it is to be an "only" bird. besides the obvious changes, the biggest for kallie was having a man around all the time (her previous owner was a widow). so, everyone thought i would be her "favorite" being female, well we were all wrong. kallie thinks my husband is the be all, end all of her universe. she likes me well enough, but he's most definitely her chosen. so, be prepared for that as well. we might choose the bird, but the bird chooses us. this doesn't mean that person is then the only one to handle/deal with/take care of/etc the bird, everyone needs to be involved in that, but it means the bird ultimately makes up its own mind who they like "best". are you getting this bird's cage and toys? if so, before you take it all apart to move it to your house, take pictures so that you can set it up as close to what it was as possible. talk to the bird, explain everything. this is a transition process so patience is needed. have everyone go slow, take time and watch for this bird to show it's ready for "more". i know its exciting to bring a new bird home, but too much too fast does more "harm" than good. i wouldn't even think about the harness for a while. this bird is about to have its entire, known world changed. the harness can wait, building trust is the most important thing with a bird! sit by the cage, read, sing, talk, explain things, including noises as even these will be new and possibly scary. remember some greys are very shy/cautious, some are very brave. you'll need to figure out what your new grey is "brave" about and "cautious" about and go from there. try not to overwhelm the bird with everyone right away. maybe have everyone take turns sitting by the cage reading or talking so the bird gets more comfortable with everyone. try to keep on the same schedule/foods at the beginning, then if you need to modify it, slowly make the changes. get the bird checked out by an avian vet as soon as you can, just for your own peace of mind. we did the vet visit on the day we brought kallie home, so all the drama and trauma was all on the same day. taking the bird outside, no problem! get a smaller cage, we use a cockatiel sized cage for kallie to take her outside. but until the bird trusts you and is more comfortable in its new home, wait to do that, especially if the bird hasn't been outside before. kallie hadn't been outside in her previous home, so even though we've had her almost 1 1/2 years, going outside is still a bit stressful to her, but she handles it better each time we do it. we pick a day that isn't too cold or too hot, not too windy either. of course athena is in her own small cage outside with her, but kallie still hasn't decided whether outside is a good thing or a bad thing, lol!! (she can't see the wind, so she doesn't know what's "touching" her) i hope some of this helps. you've come to the right place for information and advice. the members here are fantastic and very knowledgable!!!

kallie is a cag, almost 3 1/2 years old, she weighs around 413 grams, give or take a couple grams. she weighed about 390 grams when we brought her home, so she has added a bit. athena is a peach front conure 9 1/2 years old, she (although dna'd a he, but by then 2 years had gone by, lol) and weighs around 70 grams, give or take a couple of grams. athena also thinks she's the biggest bird ever created in the universe, lol!!! (must be a peach front thing, hahahaha) they're both avian vet checked 2x's per year and he's always very pleased with their weight, so as long as he is, we are too.

kallie uses very few words. she does lots of sounds and prefers when she does "speak" to only do athena-only what athena says in athena's "voice". of course we respond to kallie when she's "doing athena" like we do with athena. we talk to both girls (i'm unemployed so i'm home) all the time. i don't know if we're discouraging kallie to use "her" voice and any words she knows by responding to her when she's doing athena or not. should we be "ignoring" kallie when she does athena? would it be fair to kallie if we didn't respond to her version of athena, but respond to athena saying to same things? sorry, its so confusing. we'll ask kallie if she can say it in "her" voice and sometimes she'll then say what few words she has in "her" voice and we praise her like crazy when she does, trying to encourage more. but i'm stumped. i know not all greys have huge vocabularies and frankly that's not why we got her. i'd just like a little less athena from kallie and more kallie, if that makes sense. we really have no idea what kallie can say since at least 95% of the time she's doing "athena", even when we're out of the room.

dorian, this is kallie. everything will be fine. i know, cause this is my 2nd family. my 1st mom passed away, that's what i was told even though i don't understand what it means. but i was very lucky and got to come home with my new mom and for the 1st time, i have a dad!! i didn't like this new home at first either. it is huge and complicated compared to my old house. did they keep your cage house? i got to keep my cage house and my new mom set it up almost like it was in the old house. since then though, she's added new and exciting toys and stuff to it and even moves things around once in a while. (i think she's testing me, ha) but the new house had strange sounds i didn't know and strange happenings out the big window by my cage house. mom kept the things she calls shears closed but i could still see outside but the shears made me feel protected. now though, i love this new house. i love watching out the big window at the things called cars and trucks (although i still don't enjoy being inside one of them yet) and people walking by, we even have this thing called a mailman! he comes by almost everyday! the best thing about the big window is i can see daddy when he gets home from "work" (i still say he's seeing another bird somewhere else though). across the big window from me is athena in her cage house. she didn't like the shears being closed, she said i was being a "big baby" being afraid of everything. i swear, she just thinks she's the biggest bird ever, but she's wrong cause i'm huge compared to her, hahaha. so, just take your time and you will end up loving your new house. don't forget to ask your mom if there is any extra paper or boxes for you to decorate your new house and cage house with!!!