thenabrd

my conure athena, is really a boy. she was so cuddly and loving when i got her, i was sure she was a girl, wrong, lol!! we finally had dna done when she was 2 and plucked some feathers that spring. the vet thought it was time to find out, just in case we had a girl and needed to watch for egg binding. well by that time, she knew and said big girl, good girl, pretty girl, etc! so we decided that he would remain a she, we just shortened her name to thena from athena. we know she's a he, but she doesn't know and if she did, i doubt she'd care! now it makes for a funny story, since we love her regardless of she or he (although it gets confusing sometimes at the vet, hahaha)!! when we rehomed kallie, i had the testing done right away. she is a girl and there will be no "confusion", lol!!

i go back and forth from 1st and 3rd person talking with our birds. we do it with little children and they understand, so i'm sure our birds do too, just in the way they respond to us. what gets me is that athena sometimes uses her name or "i" when she's telling us she's the prettiest girl in the wholest world (unless she's really boasting, then she adds another wholest, lol) it really amazes me since i'll say to her "you're the prettiest girl in the wholest world", i don't use athena or "i" when i say that to her. she'll even slip in an "i" once in a while when she's telling us "take a bath" before diving into her water bowl. kallie's just getting into talking but she has her own way of letting us know she understands when we use "i" or mommy or daddy or even that she's having a blast battling one of her bells!!

oh, i wasn't sure if you meant those or the regular "bell" shaped bells. i thought if that was the case, this style might work out better for you!

buttaxi, have you thought about bells shaped like this one? they're too narrow for a grey to get their beak into. i have a couple of these (not stainless steel though) for kallie and she battles her bells several times daily. she loves them and expends alot of energy trying to kill the bell, plus she's hilarious to watch while she's doing battle! http://www.naturechest.com/stainlessbell.html

try typing in rehomed, adopted, abused, etc into the search feature up top and that will take you to posts with those words in them and see if you can find some of the info you're looking for!

well, i've had athena almost 8 years now and she's shown no problems with it. her weight stays where its supposed to be and her other things always check out with our vet, who also has this brand/style included with some of the things he sells as well. i also like that at the pet store, if money's a bit tight sometimes, this is also sold in bulk at a much better price than by the bag.

first make sure that the law isn't after the person who stole him, even though it was needed. i've read lots of posts here from folks that have rehomed older very abused birds, not just greys. i think if you've got the time it will work out. i know you've got the heart and love to do it! the biggest thing is allowing as much time as necessary for trust to grow in the new bird, because it could take months, maybe even a year or so. i did lots of web surfing when the opportunity came along to rehome kallie. i found this place and i've seen posts from those that have rehomed, so i know you'll get lots and lots of great info!! good luck

i use the fruit blend. i sometimes think the bright colors spark their interest. athena has gone through an anti red stage, then an anti orange stage, etc. but has always been on an anti yellow thing! with the size i use for her, the yellow is "banana" shaped and the rest are ball shaped. so i don't know if its a yellow thing or a shape thing, lol!!! kallie seems to like the red and orange the most at this point! of course, that's when she's not having fun grabbing a foot full and then letting them drop piece by piece to the bottom of her cage so she can hear them hit then watch them bounce, hahaha!

its the one i use for our 2 birds. they go through phases though when they'll eat it and then they won't. i always have some available in their cages, just "in case", lol!!

let your avian vet know you're interested then. it was over a year from the time i gave them my number and they called about kallie. honestly, i'd given up that there was ever going to be an opportunity. i don't know how rescue organizations work as far as time/money/home visit/etc. we had to have a home visit from the gal helping out placing this woman's 3 birds, which was fine with us. that way they knew kallie was coming to a good home. we had the chance to go for visits so she could get to know us a bit before the move since we waited to bring her home until all the birds had new homes. this only cost us time! we asked how much money they were interested in and were told none. we offered several times, but the family refused. they only wanted good homes for the birds.

have you considered rehoming one? that's how we got kallie, her cage, toys, food and 1st vet bill paid. i had mentioned i'd always wanted a grey one time at my avian vet so they took my number. sure enough, kallie came along! sure she's 2 1/2 years old instead of a baby, but she'd only had 1 owner (who passed away) before we got her. she's been a joy so far, no issues so to speak except for being in her terrible 2's!

this is the one we have http://www.americas-pet-store.com/prevue-hendryx-3163-large-dome-top-cage.html

i have 2 picky eaters myself! i've made 2 different versions of birdie bread so far. i've used apple juice instead of milk and ground egg shells in one of them. i've used apple sauce in both but different veggies in each. they take longer to bake due to the denseness of the ingredients. once they've cooled, i cut them up into cubes and put them in freezer bags to freeze. i take out however many cubes i need every couple of days. i've used sweet potato, apple, mixed beans (pre cooked), greens, carrots, peppers, jumbo millet, etc., but always apple sauce in each. as they like it or accept it, i plan on reducing the apple sauce and adding more veggies. in the future i want to add walnuts and almonds. there's lots of good ideas in the bird food threads!

this is what i do, so far (knock on wood) it seems to work. sometimes we're having something not so good for the birds, so, i bring in their bowls, already with their food in them, and then i make a "big show" of "fixing" their food. i use my fork or spoon and bang/scrape on my plate then bang/scrape on their bowls, all the while telling them "i'm fixing it" or "it has to cool off". they watch me do this and then when i put the bowls in their cage, they go after it! athena will give her happy squeak if she really likes it, and kallie just starts chowing down! they think they're getting what we're having, but when i do that, they're usually getting seeds/nuts/veggies/etc, something completely different than what we're having! "bribery" sometimes works!!

i don't know if this will help you or not, but it's what i had to do to be able to handle the plucking problem. i was heartbroken when my peach front conure started plucking some years ago. i took her to the vet and everything checked out just fine. she's gone back and forth, plucking then growing then plucking again. i've tried lots of things, more baths, different food, medication, etc. but she plucks for whatever reason is floating around in her little head. i had to just start looking at it a different way to stop stressing over it, especially in front of her. she only plucks her green feathers and leaves all the grey down. so now i have a conure that just loves running around in her underwear, lol! sometimes i'll ask her if she's ever going to put her clothes back on again or if she's just going to stay in her underwear the rest of her life! our grey, kallie, has a spot under one side of her neck that she plucks when she's stressed. we were told she's done this on and off over her short 2 1/2 years. her vet check was fine, and since we've had her, it seems to be starting to grow back in. (knock on wood) i'm hoping she'll be able to stop or if she continues just stay in the area she's at right now. i guess if she continues no matter what we try, i'll have 2 birds running around in their underwear. the gal that helped with the rehoming of kallie, said one of the reasons she thought we'd be a good match for kallie is the way i looked at and handled our conure's plucking. she said she knew i wouldn't stress kallie out more by stressing out over the plucking. i hope this helps.

when we rehomed kallie, she had been with 2 u2's. the first couple of weeks, she "called" over and over in u2 for her flock. she would do some of the things the u2s had done as far as moving around her cage. she missed them and she knew they weren't with her anymore. she does her u2 sounds less as time goes on, but when she does do it, she's looking for them, she paces in her cage when she's calling for them. sully misses zoe and over time it will lessen. i still find it amazing that our pets really do feel loss and even grief and i love them all the more for it!

sorry for the confusion, the "manicure" is for their nails, lol!! our vet determines if their beak needs a touch up. he's mainly taking down rough edges and if needed small amounts of over growth. they chew wood and all that, but sometimes their beak just needs a bit of a tune up so to speak. the birds make a big fuss, but they always do at the vet, they're worse about seeing the vet than our dog! but once they're done they don't seem to mind and they seem to have no issues if their beak has been touched up. they are able to eat normally and chew on their toys as usual.

yes, both of our birds have had their beaks dremilled (sp) by our avian vet when he thinks it needs to be done. it's not done at every visit, but probably done once a year, twice at the most (i take them in for "manicures", lol) of course they put on their oscar winning performance for best used, abuse, dying and unloved bird in history act. its the only time i get some cuddle time with our conure, otherwise, she's just "too grown up" for that, hahaha

ok, thanks, was just interested in input compared to the information on the site. sales people can make stuff sound wonderful sometimes even if its not or not really for the issue you need it for. thanks again

so the other stuff on that page, ie. avicalm, featherific, avipollen, etc would not be something to try in addition to the spray? just curious, i don't want to get something that either isn't good for my birds, or is a huge waste of money.

dave, regarding the avitec site. what other products do you use or would you recommend from the page you cited? my conure is a plucker, i'm tired of seeing her in her grey undershirt, lol! we've tried lots of stuff and she checks out fine at the vet. our new grey stress picks a small area on her neck. she's not made it any bigger, but i'd like to intervene. she also checks out fine at the vet. there are several interesting items on that page and i'd just like some input to do the best for our conure and grey. thanks much in advance!!

in that time, read, read, read, and learn as much as you can. maybe the breeder will let you come for visits in the meantime. we were able to visit kallie while we were waiting for the 2 other birds to have new homes found for them. from the time we decided to rehome kallie until we were able to bring her home was about 2 months. but it was well worth the wait. we did this so that those remaining birds didn't have more trauma than necessary and to give kallie a chance to get used to us, our voices, how we look and such. i always took a treat, like an apple or nuts when we visited and gave it out to all the birds. we also had a home visit as well, but it's a good thing. the family wanted to make sure that the birds were going to good forever homes, not someone that might turn around in a few months and sell the bird or give it away yet again. in the whole process we made some new friends! i still send email updates to the daughter of the woman who owned kallie before us and the gal who helped out with the birds when her mother became ill. they love the updates.

our birds have their cages in our living room. we live across the street from a school, so they get to watch the people and traffic during the day and really enjoy it. the roof of our front porch provides them protection from the sun, as that is a south facing window as well. i don't think the south facing garden window you describe wouldn't be too bad, unless it got really hot there. it's still an area where you might put a play stand so the bird can still enjoy watching the goings on in the garden during the afternoon or morning, before the midday sun blazes through.

inky, absolutely! now remember we've only had kallie for about a month and a half and here in ohio it's too cold to take the birds outside. however our conure, athena is an old pro. we have a back porch that has windows on the "front" side and screens on the sides. we have a perch set up so she can run back and forth across the windows and see and talk to the birdies. when we want to take her completely outside as we're working in the garden and such, we use her smaller travel cage. we have hawks that patrol our neighborhood, so unless athena is on the porch, she's in her "mobile home". she loves it and has a blast trying to get the birdies to talk to her (but no one talks athena except athena, lol) we have a couple of small toys in the cage as well as small food and water containers. kallie will also start going outside this year. she has her own "mobile home" similarly equipped. we'll go at kallie's pace, since this will be something totally new for her. on a side note, athena also enjoys riding in the car in her this small cage, that is until we get to the vets, lol!

do you rent, or are you in your own place? that would make an awesome outdoor play house for mojo!!!!