thenabrd

ok, thanks!! there is no calcium deficiency as of our last appt. i just wasn't sure if this could be used for birds even in birdie bread. this is great info to know, thanks again! i wasn't sure if this was an acceptable protein source either, since soy and other beans are a protein/meat substitute!

http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff395/thenabrd/IMG_0024-1.jpg i hope the link works! when we got kallie, they gave us her "baby" cage. we've made it into the birds' playstand. they seem to like it so far!

does anyone know if silk's "almond milk" can be used with birds? it says it has more calcium than traditional milk and i know birds shouldn't get traditional milk. i was thinking if its ok for birds, i could use it in cooking birdie bread and such.

well the dna results are in and we have us a beautiful girl! yea, i'm not the only girl in the house anymore!!! depending on the dna results, i had wanted to call her mellona or lona for short (to honor her original name honey), but my husband really didn't like it, sooo, her name is kalliope, or kallie for short. our husky's name is hermes and our peach front conure is athena (2 years in we found out athena is really a boy, lol) so keeping with the greek mythology theme we seem to have started, we settled on kalliope, one of the nine muses and it's supposed to mean "beautiful voice". her name was honey, so now we're calling her kallie honey and will slowly drop the honey part off. now for the big job of teaching her to step up. she's fully flighted right now and this has been difficult to teach since she can fly away. i'm undecided about having her wings clipped even a little bit and will discuss this with her vet at our next visit. i've read all i can find here and other places regarding this and its a huge decision not taken lightly. i know a neutral area for training is best, but getting kallie to a neutral place is also part of the process right now. oh well, i'll keep trying until we get it figured out!

welcome parrotlawyer and hunter! we just brought home our new rehomed 2 1/2 year old grey 3 weeks ago. her owner passed away and the family for a variety of reasons (fear from one, allergies from another) is the reason for the rehoming. ours does an awesome umbrella cockatoo! she had 2 in her previous home. she called and called in true loud cockatoo fashion the 1st week or so. now she does it only a few times a day. my husband keeps a set of ear plugs from his job handy when she's in cockatoo mode, lol! she even tries to imitate some of the moves from them, but even that is less as times goes on. this forum and the members have and continue to be wonderful! i highly commend them all!!! i've read and learned quite a lot. i've asked questions and have received great answers. i know i can come here with my questions and i'll have plenty of questions in the days and years to come, i'm sure, and feel confident with the answers i'll receive. did i read correctly that hunter was free and that it seemed unusual? our grey, cage, all her toys, all food to start her with cost us nothing (that was not even part of the consideration for us), even her 1st vet appointment was taken care of. we were and still are floored by that, but that is what the family wanted. they did this for all 3 of the birds that this woman owned at the time of her passing. in the process of all this, we've made new friends. i email the one daughter that handled all of this at least once a week to keep her updated on how things are going. she was relieved and devastated with all of this, so i can understand what hunter's previous owner must have been feeling. all i can say is trust yourself and hunter, you'll do just fine.

thanks judygram! i had read some of the recipes on here and thought, what the heck! i've cut it all up into cubes and put it in baggies in the freezer so i can take out a couple of chunks at a time. the other stuff i put in ice cube trays is a trick i used to do when our kids were babies. making my own baby food was so much cheaper than buying it, so when money was tight, i'd have the most interesting looking "ice" in the freezer, lol!

thanks luvparrots! i'm trying to get both birds to eat more veggies, so that's why i'm mixing in apple juice or sauce. i used to do that when our kids were little and refused their veggies! dip the spoon in the green beans or whatever veggie they were "hating" at the moment, then dip into apple sauce or pears or some fruit, then slowly reduce the amount of fruit until it was mostly veggies! now, if i could just figure out the right "bribe" to get our new grey to want to learn to step up! lol!!! i know it's only been 2 weeks, i'm trying to breathe and be patient, but sometimes that easier said than done, hahaha!

can the gel be thinned with water and then used as a spray for the birds? i've read that aloe juice is a good soothing spray for birds, especially in the winter and if they're plucking. normally i can kill the silk plants in the house, lol, but if this can also be used in a spray i might have to try and grow some!

hi gabbysue! i started out with a peach front conure as well! mine is named athena and she just turned 8 years old! we just rehomed a 2 1/2 year old grey named honey. we're waiting for the dna results though before we decide on a new name. we didn't do dna on athena until she was 2 years old and then found out she's really a he, hahaha!!! oh well, he's still our little girl! i'd love to hear more about julius! athena thinks she's the "biggest" bird ever created and hasn't quite figured out what exactly honey is, yet!

success! i "invented" a version of birdie bread and they seem to like it. i used corn bread mix using apple juice instead of milk, crushed the egg shells very fine, finely chopped sweet potato, apple and carrot, smashed mixed beans (i cooked them to almost mush first), apple sauce. they're munching away on it and they're being very quiet while doing this, which usually means they really like what they're eating! i wanted to try something "sweeter" this 1st time to encourage them to at least try it. the next time i'll try some veggies like peppers, maybe some greens (they're really expensive right now though) and maybe some rice and/or barley and millet. i also smashed up some baked sweet potato and apple sauce with a bit of apple juice and put it in ice cube trays to freeze. i'll put the cubes into baggies to store in the freezer. i also took the left over cooked mixed beans, added some apple juice and put that into ice cube trays to freeze into cubes for future birdie breads or to thaw and serve. neither bird has shown much interest in veggies, so that's why i'm using apple juice right now as the "bribe" in some of this.

how very exciting birdsaregrey8!! i hope its as fun for you as it has been for us this past week! she's sure been really vocal the past couple of days. the word practicing is very fun and funny to hear! i don't know where she got the really low gravelly "evil" voice from, but even that is funny! i don't know where she's heard to be able to learn even half of the sounds she makes, but she plays with mixing them up and changing them around. some of those combinations are hilarious!

lol, she jumped on my arm and raced up to my shoulder so fast i think she was just a grey blur! i didn't know she could move that fast, hahaha! i was definitely surprised, but now i know she's a little speed demon when she wants to be, so i'll be better prepared next time. i'm beginning to think i need at least 5 more arms to get this training done, one for each direction she can think to go!!

i've tried offering my arm when she's on her cage, but maybe i should put my arm over my head and if she wants to be "on" me badly enough, she'll have to land on it. good suggestion, thanks! i did try to take her into another room, walking very slowly while she was on my head, but she must have seen something she didn't like or know and flew off down the hall. she landed on the floor and so i offered my arm, which she jumped on then raced up to my shoulder. i then took her back to her cage so she could climb around the outside of to calm down as that's the place she's most familiar with. i'll keep at it though and hope for the best! thanks again!

hahaha!!! our's rings like a phone, but then she "answers" it with hello, done in a variety of voices! i really enjoy our new "answering machine"!! she's got more words than hello, but right now she turns her back to us and in a low gravelly voice she practices. what words she's practicing, i have no idea, but i'm sure one day soon, she'll tell us all about it, lol

thanks! should i stop letting her out altogether and train step up through the door first or keep letting her out (i know she needs to come out) and try to get her back onto her cage as soon as she lands on my head. this is where i'm confused. sorry, i just want to do this the right way and not create a problem.

ok, i've had our grey for a week and i know there is a life time to be together and learn. lona is 2 1/2 years old and has never learned to step up. she only knows to fly to your head and land, then maybe slide down to your shoulder for scratches and to play with your ear. that's all she's ever been "taught", to come to her person. i know this isn't a good thing for her to do, but i'm not sure how to stop it and get the step up thing going. i've done some very brief clicker training with her, she'll touch the stick and follow it around inside her cage a bit. do i continue to let her fly to our head? she does this whenever she's out of her cage. i know she needs to come out, but i'm at a loss as to the "how" of stopping the only way she's ever learned to get "on" someone, yet let her have time out of her cage. she's always ready to come out of her cage, even tries to sneak out the food door when i'm changing her bowls. i want to do this the right way and also do what's best for her, so any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

we found ours at pet supplies plus (i'm in ohio). i had to ask if they had them and they were with the dog items. i don't know if you have other pet supply stores close to you in fla. or have farm/feed supply stores, but they might have them. maybe even a toy store? hahaha, i had a more difficult time trying to find chop sticks to use as the target stick!!!

i use an old lace table cloth for athena, our peach front conure. i cover all of her cage but the front. for lona, our newly adopted grey, i have a dark sheet on the back area of her cage in case she feels the need for a more "secure" space. then at night i use a lighter sheet for the top and sides and leave one end of her cage uncovered. they get some low level light this way. we have a 12 1/2 year old husky and his bladder doesn't last the night anymore. so some nights he needs out 2-3 times. so to help prevent the birds from becoming spooked and trying to "fly" to safety, we leave them with the ability to "see". bed time on work nights is 7 pm or so, since we get up around 4 am! non work nights, its closer to 9-10 pm. but they get to "sleep" in the next morning, lol!!! i'm keeping a look out for a really large lace table cloth to use for lona. i'm thinking by this weekend i can get rid of the dark sheet on the back area of her cage. she's been very vocal and outgoing since we got her last saturday, so hopefully she'll be ready for it to be removed.

i've looked and looked and haven't found anything about edame (steamed soy beans). are these safe and is the pod safe too?

well, its monday now and things seem to be going fine. athena took a bath in her water bowl, then a little while later lona tried to take a bath in her own water bowl. she's just started being interested in doing this in the past couple of months, according to the family we got her from. i did some clicker training with athena, lona watched intently. so i tried showing her the target stick and she reached out and touched it. so i clicked and rewarded and praised. after that i went back and forth between both birds, clicking, rewarding and praising. athena is out on her cage for this, lona is inside her cage. i can't get athena to reach across my arm or hand to touch the stick without biting. i'm keeping at it, she needs to relearn how to step up. i'm hoping lona will get the idea and that teaching her to step up will be "easier". time will tell. lona makes all her sounds, plays vigorously and eats very well. our favorite at the moment is when she rings like a phone, then answers it with hello!!! she's been more out going than i thought she'd be, which is great. she even wants head scratches, which we give her as often as we can. i know one baby step at a time, but sometimes, that's hard to do, lol!!

well we're home now and lona is in her own cage again! she travelled pretty well for it being the 1st time since she was a baby. the vet check went well too. her white cell count is up and the vet thinks its from stress at this point since every other test is clean and has good numbers. athena didn't go into her "alarm" mode. yea! but athena and lona are looking at each other from their respective cages. hermes, well lona freaked out the first couple of times she saw him, but she just watches him now, no freaking out! lona is making her sounds and is eating well. so for the moment, i think we're good! the adventure begins!

thanks morana!! i'm so excited i just can't sit still! yes, i'll be getting pics soon, hopefully not all of them of her inside her cage! i know she's going to be one mad, sad, and lonely little girl today though. a new home AND a vet visit! but this way, it's all over today and the trust building can start. i thought that was better than getting her here, then in a week or so taking her to the vet and risking going back 10 steps for every 1 we'd just taken. i've got lots of her favorite yummies already here, so i'll "kill her with kindness" and lots of her favorite treats!

well, the day has finally arrived! i'm soooo excited. we get to bring lona home to her new forever home today! i go to get her in a couple of hours. we're headed straight to our bird vet for a checkup. i wanted to get all the trauma and drama done in one day. i'm sure the questions will start pouring in now, hahaha! she's never learned to step up and i know that's the first place to start once she's comfortable and ready. i've been telling athena, our peach front, that today is the day she becomes the little big sister! i'm so thankful to have been given this opportunity and an humbled by the trust that has been placed with us. i know we'll have some bumps along the way but that's life. get ready athena and hermes, the fun's about to begin, lol!!

hahaha!! the little thief!!! we'll be getting our grey in a week or so. i've been visiting her every week for the past month or so. she loves my keys!!!! so, we're going to make a bunch of foot type toys of little keys for her to play with! she was very ornery yesterday!!! she's going to be quite the personality i think, hahaha

i don't have my grey yet, but i can tell you about my peach front conure, athena. she'll be 8 years old this month (wow, that's gone way too fast, lol) and she'll do her "baby" routine on and off, even now! she'll lean forward, make little sounds, and flutter her wings. she'll do this sometimes just for attention and sometimes for a taste of what we're eating. i think its adorable as she was weaned when i got her and didn't have any "baby" time with her. but i am curious to know if this is ok for a grey to do, since within the next week or so, we'll finally be bringing our grey home. she's 2 1/2 years old and it'd be good to know if this is something to enjoy or something to try and avoid, so to speak.