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:

As for your question about adopting a grown grey, If I had to do it all over again I would do it the same way as I did by adopting a 3yr old grey. I knew exactly what I was getting because the previous owner filled me in on all the details such as, she doesn't like women, she has never been a plucker, her likes and dislikes etc. There were no surprises that way. I knew she would be my bird and not my wifes even though I rather she would take to both of us. I knew what kind of diet she was on and since I was completely new to owning a parrot, I could go back to the previous owner with questions that I had concerning her. And the biggest thing was I didn't have to worry about her maybe dying in the first year as I sometimes have read on these bird forums. It must be awful hard to get so close to something and have it die and not too long after. I was also fortunate that the seller was concerned more with giving her a good home than a steep price, so we were both happy. Good luck on whatever you decide.

Well she's back to her old self again, screaming and whistling. I just wish those earth movements could have scared that screaming out of her, but I guess we'll just have to put up with it like always.

Even though we live about 200 miles from the epicenter near Oklahoma City , some of us felt it here in the DFW area, including my little girl. She was sound asleep and all of sudden my wife heard her fall off her perch and was shaking real bad. She has fallen off before but would climb back up and forget about it. When I got home from work an hour and a half later she was still hanging on the side of the cage where she went to after she fell. My wife said she lost a few feathers from the fall also. Right now this morning she's still not the same. She's usually very vocal by now but so far not a word. I hope she gets over it soon, I miss my normal talking whistling girl.

I bought the Shark hand held from Lowes for $29. What a relief not having to drag out the full size one. Pretty strong suction too, a lot better than the older ones that came out back in the 80s. I don't see how it could damage the motor since the filter is in the way and catches everything. Best money I spent.

Mine too is a rehome, the third one for her in fact. She's a bit of a screamer though and I think that's why the last person gave her up even though I was told it was for other reasons. I don't think there is a happier grey on this planet the way she whistles and talks and just carries on. For her play time is all the time and we really rough it up. she loves biting me, most of the time not hard unless I cut her play time short and she gets a little upset. But I have to say there are just as many kisses as there are bites so it all evens out. She's bi lingual speaking whatever spanish my teaches her even though she doesn't care for my wife much. Her wings are clipped because we have ceiling fans going on through most of the house especially in the spring and summer here in Tx. and we just sit out on the patio having a good time together whenever we can. I couldn't see coming home and not seeing my little girl waiting for me to give her almond treats .

I wish we had warm sunshine. What we have is hell hot sunshine. Here in the DFW area we've had 31 days of 100deg or better in a row. The last few days have been around 110deg, not our typical DFW summer for sure. I can't even take ours outside because the heat even in the shade is overwhelming. The bad part is there is no end in sight. Ours loves it outside too so she'll just have to cool it indoors for a while.

My girl does the exact same thing to me all the time when she's inside her cage, but I know in our case it's how we play together. Her bites are always the playful kind unless after she warns me to stop it and I persist, she will give me a few nips that keep getting harder until she really lays one on me. We have a really good relationship especially since we've only been together three months. I think she trusts me very much and knows the bond we have for each other.

As for the complicated foraging toy, one of the first ones I bought for my girl was the treasure chest one. After I bought it I started thinking to myself " boy that was dumb, this bird is never going to figure out how to open this thing" since it has two metal pegs that have to be turned just the right amount and then slid through the opening in order for it to open. Well when it comes to peanuts my girl will do whatever it takes to get it. The first time took her about a minute to open it, after that it was in the seconds usually under 15seconds. Too bad it doesn't work if I put some veggies in there. Except for kale, she's not much into any other veggies or anything else that's good for her. I guess after the peanuts would be the chicken bones that she would fight to the death for.

That's hom my little girl started with the kale, I put it in her foraging cage and she started tearing it up and dropping it to the bottom where she would then go to check it out some more. She doesn't always eat it, but she does more often than not.

....why my female CAG makes a faint squeaking noise and lowers her wings while I'm rubbing her head and around her beak area? Is this some kind of mating ritual? She seems to want to be bringing up food also but usually doesn't while doing this. Should I maybe refrain from doing this entirely or is it no big deal? Thanks:cool: