thenabrd

we rehomed kallie after her owner passed away. i had mentioned my interest in adopting a grey to our avian vet and they're the ones that called us about kallie's situation. the daughters of this lady couldn't keep the birds (kallie and 2 u2's) this woman had due to their own medical issues or fear of birds. they wanted to find the best new forever homes for their mom's birds. we were interviewed and went to meet kallie. we could go visit her most any time we wanted. we even had a home visit at our house so they could see where kallie was going. we got kallie, her huge cage, all toys, food and initial vet check for nothing!!! we offered to pay something, like the vet visit or the cage or something, but they refused any money. they're only goal was good forever homes for the birds.

do you cover her cage? if so, that could be part of the problem. i leave about half of their cages uncovered so that if for some reason they hear something that scares them in the night, they can look out and see. we also have dim light so they are not in total darkness. i also spend a few minutes offering night night scratches and quietly talking to them after i've put the cover on, saying night night, and stuff like that so they know its now time to go to sleep.

maybe it's the mirror. if he's not there with you, he can't be sure that the "other" person in the mirror won't replace the bond the two of you have. maybe he just wants to be sure he's there to "protect" you from yourself, lol! or maybe he's just upset he isn't in there to check himself out in the mirror and make sure he's still the ultimate handsome guy that he is, you know every feather in it's proper and glorious place!!!!

hahaha!!! smart girl! a few years ago i worked nights. i'd try to be as quiet as possible when i got home so that the dogs didn't get too excited and wake up my husband. one night from the darkness of the living room athena asked "whatcha doing", i told her i was coming home from work and everything was ok and it was nite nite time. another time she scared the stuffing out of me (i was very tired and it'd been a rough shift at work) when athena said in a particularly deep weird voice, "i see you" followed by a long pause, then "peekaboo" and a small laugh!!! apparently kallie will be sitting on her food bowl cooing and oooing when my husband comes downstairs in the mornings to go to work (4am). he says once in a while she'll say a very quiet, "hi you"! kallie is back up on her highest perch when i get up a few hours. lol, it shows who she's buttering up and it's not me, hahahaha!!!!

yea, someone else with the same kinds of birds we have!!! athena is 9 years old and we've had her since she was weaned. she believes she's the biggest bird ever created in the entire universe, lol!! she was an only bird until a little over a year ago when we rehomed kallie. kallie is almost 3 1/2 years old now. their cages are on either side of a large window in our living room. kallie shows a lot of interest in athena's cage when she's out of hers. we keep her away, since athena is protective of her cage. athena has inadvertently landed on kallie's cage and we take her off immediately, since kallie has all her feathers standing up and eyes pinning. we've not ever had them out in the same room at the same time. our dilemma is that athena has never been a confident flyer. she says every word she knows in rapid fire, does more hovering than going forward. she's just always been "freaked" out with flying (i've tried to help her with this though), so we worry she can't make an escape if needed without kallie catching her. (kallie's a pretty fair flyer) the size difference is just too much and that's a concern too. we've heard that we should introduce them in a neutral place and on a neutral t-stand. i'm still looking into this subject instead of taking just one piece of advice. i'd like a consensus so to speak. athena would be content to stay on a play stand, but kallie is "miss curiosity" and would be all over the place, hahaha!! (although athena can be a little sneaky pants when she wants to) sorry i don't have more advice to offer,

you'll find many folks here have more than 1 bird. i have a grey and a peach front conure. there is plenty of information about having multiple birds in the forum. read and research!!! it can be done, it just takes time and commitment, just like having more than 1 child! yes, they are like potato chips, lol!!!

when we rehomed kallie (including her huge cage), we were also given her "baby" cage. we propped open all the doors, reinstalled the playtop and hung lots of toys inside and on top of this to make a play stand for our girls. we didn't have the money to buy any kind of play stand, so used the toys we already had to create it. athena has a great time on it, but kallie rarely gets on it. i don't know if it's because she remembers it or just doesn't want to check it out yet! i'm sure one of these days, she'll have to see what all the fun is about though.

to date athena- i had her out on the back porch (enclosed) one time so she could talk to the birdies and watch the birdies. well a 747 was pretty low heading to the airport. i pointed at it and told her to look at the biggest "birdie" she'd ever seen. she finally saw it (it was even closer now) and all the feathers on her body stood straight out and she said with the most emphasis and emotion i'd heard from her "WOW!!!". then she looked at me and said "WOW!!!" again. then she strutted around on the perch in the porch window saying "wow, wow, wow, wow...." while watching the sky. i don't know if she was hoping to see it again or was wondering where it'd gone or if she was just very proud of herself for having "conquered" it (she does think she's the biggest bird ever created in the entire universe) kallie- i was giving her a head scratch, her eyes were closed and she was loving it. but then she opened her eyes, looked at me and tried to sucker bite me. i told her "no bite kallie". she asked me "why?". i told her "it hurts mommy when you bite and makes me sad" to which she asked again "why?". so i told her again "because it hurts". she then said, "ooohhhh, hhhhmmmm!!!"

i realize that dave. i wasn't mad or anything. i just wanted folks to know, sometimes there's reasoning that's been gone through to make decisions. it might be a situation someone else comes across in their life someday and looks for ideas and thoughts about it. lol, we didn't change athena's name when we found out 2 years in to having her that she is really a he!! she already was saying big girl, good girl, pretty girl, etc. the only time it can get confusing is at the vet's office when he's referring to "he" and i'm saying "she", hahahaha!!!

we changed kallie's name because "honey" is an endearment in our house. we were worried that it could create a problem with athena when we used "honey" with each other, that athena would think we were showing more attention to kallie (aka honey). also, it just didn't go with her personality. she never said "honey", "hi honey", "good honey", etc. a year later, she's never said "honey" once. it was like "honey" wasn't a true part of her at that point. the family said they weren't even sure she'd ever really been given a name, their mom just referred to her as "honey", she also had a u2 referred to as "baby". the woman told the family she was still thinking about names, but it appears she never named either bird before she passed away. we thought long and hard about doing this and decided to go ahead with renaming her. i know it's not what most folks do. i even discussed this with the vet to make sure we weren't doing something wrong for her. when kallie decides to speak in her own voice, instead of speaking in "athena", it's the most beautiful sounding voice. kallie is short for kalliope which means "beautiful voice". another reason we did this is because of an article we'd read years ago about rehoming/rescuing animals. it was geared more towards dogs, but it had some valid points. the biggest was that in the off chance (or with known facts) there was abuse/neglect/trauma/etc. a previous name could bring back bad or painful memories and could lengthen the time it could take for adjustments to the new home and to overcome "baggage". we've rescued dogs over the years and except for 1, renamed them. the 1 we didn't rename was our last rescue, we kept her name, it fit her so perfectly. i don't know if it's coincidence or not, but helping her work through the issues she brought with her from her previous life took much longer to help her with than any other rescue we'd ever taken in. even though we saw the love and care that kallie had from the family of the woman that owned her, we also took this into account when deciding to rename her. it was still a painful time for the family, so to this day, we don't know how much kallie may have witnessed with her previous owner's illness and passing.

we rehomed kallie a year ago. her name was honey and to us, it just didn't fit. i had scheduled her to have her check up at the vet for the day we brought her home so that all the drama and trauma was done at the same time. we had them run her dna test at that time to verify what she is. (i had waited 2 years to do this with athena, convinced we had a girl. no, we have a boy and by then she already knew how to say her name, and things like big girl, good girl, pretty girl, etc. so athena remains a "girl"!! lol) while we were waiting for the results, we didn't use honey very often or even the words boy or girl. we kept it as unisex as possible. when we found out we definitely had a girl that's when we started the name "change". we used kallie with her name honey and ever so slowly dropped off honey until we were using just kallie. so for a while she was honey kallie or kallie honey. we'd leave off honey and just use kallie once in a while to see if she responded or looked at us. as soon as she started responding we left off honey more often. now, she's totally kallie. in fact, we're all kallie, lol!! sometimes when we come into the room she'll say "hi kallie" or "what's ya doing kallie, hhmm?" (using kallie towards us was all the time at first, now she's learning we're not kallie, but hasn't called us mom or dad yet) i think you can do this but that it'll take a while. is there a way the dna can be run now so that you know what you have before he comes home?

kallie weight 413 grams, athena weighs 75 grams. athena always runs between 74-77 grams. she's a little peach front conure. we've tried putting weight on her, but this is the range she's had for 9 years. she is one active little girl, lol!! i can't wait to take them outside when it finally warms up. athena in particular loves to see the birds, watch the clouds and planes and tries so hard to get the birds to talk to her. she's so cute after she makes her contact call then sits and listens for a response!! for kallie, last year was the 1st time for her to go outside, so it's a learning process for her, but we're hoping this year she really starts to enjoy it more. i do offer chicken bones, but so far, they end up at the bottom of the cage.

ok, an update. athena had her vet visit friday. she weighs 75 grams and all her tests are normal. the visit with all tests, grooming and medicine was 144.00, the same as kallie's visit. we are going to use haldol in the drinking water with athena for her current plucking as well. so far, both girls are doing very well on the medicine, they're a little bit quiet, but eat and play as before. both are leaving their newest feathers alone at this point and are just preening normally, yea!!!

i'm posting this because it may help those that are facing plucking issues, no matter what's being done to help prevent it. kallie had her annual check up yesterday. she has always plucked a small area on her neck, but it has become bigger in the last couple of weeks, so i had the vet check for everything possible. fyi, the visit, with all the tests, grooming, and the medicine was $144.00. she has lots of new feathers coming in, but will pull some of those out just before they're ready to break out of the casing (even though she lets us give her rubs there often). all her tests are perfect!!! he even made sure her gland wasn't impacted, it was fine! she weighs in at 413 grams, she's a big girl, lol!! the vet and i talked extensively about what we're doing at home, ie, humidifier, increased spray baths, aloe vera juice sprays, hemp seeds, lots of toys, no major changes in home or the routine, etc. he was very satisfied that we were doing everything we can to help prevent the plucking and yet she still plucks. so we are starting a haldol regime in her drinking water, to see if this helps her. so far, as of right now, she is acting her normal silly self. it will take a couple of days to see if the medicine starts to help with this problem though. i took this approach, as we have used it before with athena and it worked very well. athena has now become a "seasonal" plucker, 1 time a year, vs. all the time in the past. she also has regular vet visits, plenty of toys, baths, etc. in fact, her annual visit is this friday, so we will be discussing this "seasonal" plucking issue as well. it is heartbreaking to know you're doing everything possible to prevent a problem and still have the problem! i've posted in the past the way i handle this around the girls to keep the worry and stress away from them. for those that haven't read past posts, i figure the girls are making "fashion" statements. athena likes to run around in her grey underwear sometimes and other times enjoys wearing her bright green shirt. kallie doesn't like wearing a turtle neck and wants to show off her cute little belly. i know this sounds rather strange and warped, but it's what works for us. i'm always hoping that one day, our girls will prefer to be fully clothed all the time instead of some of the time. i'll keep you all updated on our progress or non progress. i know many folks don't want to or don't like using the medicine route. i was hesitant to do it with athena all those years ago, but decided we had to try everything possible to help her with this problem. i hope this helps others that are facing the same plucking issue feel better that sometimes it really isn't anyone's fault, it just is what it is and that utilizing medical options is worth exploring.

we use a humidifier this time of year, increase spray baths, make sure there's plenty of paper to shred, toys to attack, wood to destroy, use hemp seed (i leave a food bowl of them in kallie's cage and she likes them, athena gets them mixed in her food), have regular vet checks which have to this point shown no problems physically. (kallie has one this tues). i've tried aloe juice to spray them with, but i think kallie likes the flavor of it as she plucked a bit more after i used it than when i used just water. their cages are in our living room, so they're involved in our lives and i'm currently off work on long term disability, so they're not "alone". for all of this, we still deal with plucking/over preening. we've used haldol (sp) with athena in the past and it worked well for a time. i may have to try this with kallie depending on tue's vet visit results. i'm not trying to be a bummer about this, just letting you know the steps we've taken and still take. i have to keep a "sense of humor" about this or the girls would pick up on the stress this causes me. i look at the girls and think athena prefers to run around in her grey down underwear sometimes (the little nudist) and kallie doesn't like turtlenecks and likes to show her belly button (possibly a fashion statement, she's 3 1/2, so maybe it's puberty). i know, its weird, and might sound a bit defeatist, but i haven't found any other way to keep my stress about this issue away from the girls. regardless of their state of "dress" or "undress", we love them!!

i've only dealt with bringing home a baby with dogs in the house. we were told that the father should bring the baby into the house for the 1st time and that the mother should spend the 1st minutes with the dogs, fussing over them with out the baby. then let the father "introduce" the baby to the dogs. it worked great! we just had to make sure we were still giving the dogs attention and tried to make sure during naps that they got some special time. now when we were getting ready to bring kallie home we did a few things to get athena ready. we had a dog at the time, but never another bird. we got kallie's travel cage ahead of time and put it in the living room. i slowly moved it closer and into the area that kallie's big cage would go. then i found an almost life size color picture of a grey and put it in the travel cage. then we started doing things as if the picture was kallie. i'd talk to athena then "kallie", i'd change out food/water dishes, athena 1st, then "kallie", take care of athena's cage, then "kallie's", etc. don't get me wrong, athena was still jealous, but she wasn't freaked out by all the new items. so maybe you could start introducing the baby items you'll be using around charlie so he sees them. explain what they are and what you're doing. maybe you can find a doll to go through the actions (holding, dressing, feeding, etc) you'll be doing with the baby around charlie, so he sees and gets comfortable with it. maybe you can find video of babies babbling, crying, etc so charlie can hear what babies sound like. he'll still get jealous, but hopefully won't freak out with the actions and items. just make sure at nap time, charlie gets some special time and treats.

i know exactly how you feel!!! unfortunately, i don't think there's an answer to why. kallie thinks my husband is the be all, end all of the universe!!! she likes me, lets me give her head scratches, take care of her needs, but i'm not her favorite. i'm home all day as well. my husband went along with my desire to bring her into our home when her previous owner (an elderly woman) passed away. there was no man in that home, only the woman, so it was thought that she'd learn to accept a man, but would probably prefer me. lol, wrong!!!!!! yes i was heartbroken, since i'd always wanted a grey and my husband was loving enough to let my dream come true. however, i'm thrilled that she loves one of us this much! she could have rejected us both and only "accepted" us, making her life less full. we've had kallie now about 1 year. i love her to pieces even though i'm not her favorite. its a hard situation, our birds pick us in the end. you'll find that there will be things she'll accept from you or do for you that she might not do for your fiancee! both of our girls interact with each of us in a slightly different way, whether its allowing scratches in specific places or speaking in a gentler voice, etc. (ex. athena won't let me scratch her head, but let's my husband and she uses a gentler voice and different "kissy" sound for him. kallie lets me scratch her "chin" and neck, but isn't too thrilled when my husband does.) we take these differences and cherish them as the girls way of saying "you may not be my favorite, but i still think you're special".

explain the noise, what it is and that its not "dangerous". make it a fun, happy thing. we do this for the first few thunderstorms we get in the spring, in the days leading up to the 4th of july, when my husband is banging around in the basement, etc. it works fine with them!!

we have snow here, not much this year so far, but then again, it's ohio, lol!! the girls don't seem to mind it or react to it much or for any length of time. i know they see the difference in the color of the ground when we have snow. the most reaction i see is if the snow flakes are big and falling gently. then athena will make her noise of "wonder" for a few minutes. if its really windy while its snowing they watch it a bit then seem to lose interest. i get more reaction from them if its really, really windy or if its raining very hard and blowing against the house or if we're having a rousing thunderstorm! then its more because they can hear it, then from seeing it.

is there a way you could make her vet check for the day you plan to bring her home? that's what we did with kallie and it worked out extremely well. i did it to minimize the trauma she would already be facing by coming to a new home. she got all the trauma and drama over with in 1 day. so after i picked her up, we headed to the vet, then home. he runs the tests while you're there, so i already knew she was healthy and didn't need to go through quarantine. the vet's office knew she was being rehomed and they were wonderful about scheduling to help make it a smooth, co-ordinated event for kallie and us.

athena isn't thrilled with cold stuff and won't go near ice/ice cold. kallie loves playing with ice cubes, so i'll have to give this a try!! thanks for the info and idea!!! i do give the girls bits of cheese, sharp cheddar, provolone, and such, as well as yogurt. so far no problems and they love it (even get happy squeaks of approval from athena, lol)

hahahaha!!!! that's funny! kallie knew the wolf whistle when we got her, but doesn't use it too often. but one time while my husband was sitting in his chair taking off his work shoes and belt (he'd just come home from work) she let out a loud wolf whistle, looking straight at him, feathers all puffed out, wagging her head up and down in a "yes" type movement, LOL!!! the look on his face was hilarious!!! i told him now he knows what it feels like to get whistled at, hahahahahaha!!!!

all i can say is be patient with her! talk with her, give her special treats that are just from you, not your husband, etc to show her you're an ok human. we rehomed kallie and she was "supposed" to be "my" bird. her previous owner was an older woman, who lived alone with 3 birds. the woman's family wasn't sure how she'd be around males, since no males lived in the home. however, kallie's decided that my husband is the be all, end all, of the universe! she lets me give her scratches, i feed her, clean the cage, find/make toys, etc, but she still loves my husband more than me, hahahaha! she just lights up when he comes home from work. she likes me well enough and shows me she does in her own way. yes it hurt at first, but i'm just so thrilled she truly loves one of us and i love her regardless of her choice in favorite human. we use newspaper in the bottom of the cage instead of bedding. once in a while kallie will go to the bottom of the cage and scratch around. i'm not sure what it means, but its cute! as for shredding paper, we roll up newspaper or get outdated phonebooks and place them either through the bars or on top of the cage for kallie to shred, this keeps her from wanting to shred the paper at the bottom of her cage.

luvgrey, you're welcome! just remember that all birds are different. like i said, athena did well after the first day or so, but that may not be true for all birds! the vet and i discussed all the possible effects this treatment could have before i decided to try it with her. that's what everyone should do when thinking about this approach, discuss it thoroughly with your vet and then make the best informed decision you can.

thanks! what compact bulb would you recommend as far as temp/light that would be the least irritating to our birds?