Thomas J.

My grey just discovered how great tasting walnuts are. My question is how much is good and how much would be too much? I give her a small piece a few times a day along with some almonds so as not to overdo the nut craze she is liking, what would be a good amount of walnuts per day and is there such a thing as too much when it comes to walnuts? I heard that too many almonds might be a problem but haven't heard anything about that being the case for walnuts. I tried pistachios but she would have none of those, I had to eat them.

Well heck, I found egg #2 laying at the bottom of the cage this morning. It looks like she drops them from her perch while she's up there sleeping because both eggs were broken from the fall. Guess I'll have to order those fake eggs, they sure are expensive though. :-(

Thanks Dave for the comments. :-)

Well its been 3 days now and so far no more eggs. I should have mentioned that she had nothing to do with the egg from the start. Before I read up on not taking the egg out, I had already done so and was assuming from what I read there would be others by now. I should also add that this bird has never been so close to me. She never bites like she sometimes used to and for sure she would never let me pick her up by grabbing her body, only a step up. Now she does absolutely nothing when I pick her up, she almost seems like she's someone else, not the same bird I'm used to having. In a way it's great that we're so close, but dang she doesn't want me out of her sight and when I am she's constantly making that high pitched sound that greys are known for. I'm hoping this is something that will pass in time. :-)

Thanks so much for that useful info especially that article from 2007 Dave. My next few questions would be, since the egg is just laying at the bottom of the cage and the protocol would be not to remove it, how would I change the papers as I usually do on a daily basis? Would I change them and try to put the egg or eggs back in the same spot? Also I've been reading about using fake eggs so as not to encourage her to lay more eggs after the first one. Any thoughts on this, and thanks again for the help. :-)

Well I finally found out that my girl is really a girl since I was told she was that when I purchased her 5 yrs ago(she's 8yrs now) but was never told that she was DNA checked. Found a pretty good sized egg in her cage late this morning. I must say I'm not really thrilled this happened because now I have to be careful of egg binding I'm sure. My question is, what should I be doing now, giving more calcium? Part of her diet is almonds on a daily basis but is that enough now? She had her yearly exam last Sept. and everything was fine as far as any deficiencies go. I believe I might be part of the reason she did this as she has really grown more fond of me in the past few months especially with the mating dance and trying to feed me. I try discouraging this but maybe I didn't try hard enough, something I will for sure be doing from now on. My biggest fear is her getting egg bound, what are some of the signs of this, I mean will the egg be stuck partially out? Any advice on egg laying or how to discourage it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :cool:

Well the checkup went just as Dave said it would. The "stop you're killing me" screaming was also present for most of the checkup, but when she got home it was as if nothing ever happened. Surprised the heck out of me. Anyway I got the results of the blood test today and everything was good so that made my day. :-)

Sounds good. I'll e mail you like I mentioned sometime after the end of Oct. Take care of those little ones until then. :-)

Nice to see they have much to do when alone. I'm assuming you don't get much use of the aviary during winter months? And yeah I can see who is looking like the boss there. :-)

Well thanks so much for that offer. I'll definitely get in touch with you sometime after the end of October and we'll set up a time when we can get together. That outdoor aviary looks like it's a blast for the bird. How many birds do you have, just the two?

Yeah for sure we'll have to get together and check out each others birds. I'll be retiring soon and will have plenty of time to meet up then. I got my girl when she was 3yrs old in 2011 from a guy in Paris Tx. who said he was the second owner. She's pretty much a one person bird with me being her favorite. She doesn't take well to females with my g-daughter being the exception most of the time. Thomas

Hi there, sorry for not getting back with you sooner. I live just down the road in Wylie. I'll be taking my grey to Carrollton Animal Hospital where they are supposed to have a good Avian vet there. How about you, where do you go? Thomas

Thanks Dave for all that info, it was more than I anticipated and I appreciate it. :-)

I'm wanting to take my girl for a full check up and was wondering what it will be like when they draw the blood. How exactly do they do it on birds and will it be pretty traumatic for her? Thanks Thomas

Here's my little girl. It's the one thing she wants more than anything else and that's those head scratches. She loves it just as much when I rub the side of her cheeks also. As soon as I walk through the door coming in from work, she's bent over looking out her cage to see if it's me. As soon as I start whistling one of her tunes, she's up on the cage bars waiting for me to take her out. Of course I have to also acknowledge the dog about the same time or his feelings might get hurt. Thomas:cool: