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She's pretty!

Lovely flock! It sounds like you have a very fun household. If you don't mind me asking, whereabouts in Canada do your parents live? I'm Canadian (Ottawa, Ontario) and I know a few crazy bird people....er, I mean bird-crazy people.

Wow! He's very cool. How old is he?

It does look like the ideal thing for a parrot, doesn't it? I can't imagine someone installing a wine rack in the ceiling and not screwing it into the joists...those things get heavy when they're filled with bottles of wine! Dayo must have good reflexes!

I'm glad you went, even though it turned out to be unnecessary. Sometimes the peace of mind is worth the money.

I think it can work too, as long as they're closely supervised. I have to supervise my cat with the parrots, to make sure nobody gets hurt, and I imagine you'd instinctively do the same with kids. One note of caution, however: I see a lot of birds for sale on the used bird boards, and very often the reason for selling is "We just had a baby and we don't have time for the bird anymore." Try to think very honestly about whether or not this will happen to your bird, and if you think it's likely, then don't get a bird. (Also...if you get a grey, then it might be going through the terrible twos around the time your baby arrives. Just something to think about.)

I borrow my boyfriend's golden retriever. He just walks around hoovering up everything he can find - bird poop, cat puke, everything.

What irks me most is indifference.

3. Quit my job and live like a hobo, since deep-down that's what I really want anyway. Your Amazon flies out the front door when you open it just for a second to take the garbage out. Your Grey is sitting on his stand, your two-year-old is in his highchair, and there's oatmeal cooking on the stove. What do you do first? 1. Chase your Amazon 2. Grab your kid 3. Turn the stove off 4. Put your Grey back in his cage

I don't clip any of my birds for the same reason as dw13. Birds fly. It's a huge part of who they are. It's one of the best things about being a bird. It's integral to their sense of safety and security. To clip their wings is akin to crippling us to protect us from getting hit by cars crossing the street. Personally, I think if we want to live with birds, we have to be willing to modify our environments to suit the birds, rather than modify the birds to suit our environments. Also...Simon's wings were clipped by the breeder, and that hasn't stopped him from flying. It's only stops him from flying WELL. It just breaks my heart to see him crashing into walls and doors. I can't see how it has protected him from anything. If the door were open, he'd be gone, clipped wings and all.

He's probably so pleased with himself that he's trained you to perform this wonderful cracker-fetching trick!

Welcome! It's so sad they lost their beloved mama, but I'm happy they all found good homes. I'd love to hear more about what she wrote in the journals, if you can decipher them!

It's probably not Amazon selling it for that price, but someone in the network of used book dealers that Amazon references when a book is out of print and no longer stocked.

That's so sweet that he was willing to trust Paul just so he could see you. He wanted to see you more than he wanted not to trust Paul. Get better soon!

I don't know about the bird microchips, but there is definitely some controversy over the safety of microchips in dogs. Some people (and some researchers) believe it causes tumors at the placement site. Not immediately, but over a long period of time. My dog was microchipped at the age of one. Approximately 12 years later, he developed a tumor at the site. It grew on the back of his neck, outside his body, and got infected and bled a lot. He had it for the rest of his life, and it was a problem. The tumor might not be related to the microchip, but I'd be concerned about this technology, particularly in a bird, since they have such long life expectancies. Incidentally, my dog got lost only once, at about the age of eleven, while he was being looked after by a friend. The Humane Society picked him up and scanned him for a microchip and did not find it. They said this sometimes happens over time. The chip either "disappears" or simply stops working. Again, given the lifespan of a parrot, you'd want something that's going to work effectively and safely for many decades. I'm not convinced microchips are there yet.

I keep reading that Greys need full spectrum lighting. Do babies need this too, or can I put it off awhile? (Simon's 5 months old tomorrow.) I don't think I want to rewire my house to install lighting in the ceiling above their cages. A pendant style lamp would be awfully tempting for them to climb and chew on. Is there another option? I did pick up a few expensive fs lightbulbs at the pet store awhile back, that fit in a regular lamp. I don't know if that's good enough. It bothers me to point the unshaded bulb straight at the poor bird, because it's awfully bright. How long are you supposed to keep it on for each day?

How exciting!

Simon is surprisingly easy-going about new things. He loves new food and new toys. He likes when I change things around in his house. He's comfortable trying new things again, even if he failed the first time - like flying to the windowsill, for example, when he crashed into the window the first time. He's a little more hesitant about being handled by new people. Should I encourage him to let new people hold him, or should I let him keep his distance, since it makes him uneasy?

How long does the honeymoon period last with a baby grey? I feel like I should be taking advantage of this time to teach Simon some things, but I'm not sure what those things are, so mostly we just cuddle and hang out.

Does he get some time outside in the sun?

Do the birds still get to see him when he's not feeling well? Do you think they understand?

I just wanted to say he's very cute. I hope it's just a matter of lower confidence and less practice as a result of being housed with the bigger CAG babies. I hope he catches up soon. I'm rooting for him! That room that the pictures were taken in? The store provides that room for you to visit in? Wow.

That's wonderful. Here's .

Me too, Jay.

Simon loves raw almonds in the shell. They're his specialest treat. Kazoo, on the other hand, doesn't seem interested. I'm going to try opening the end for her, and see if that makes them more appealing. Thanks Dave.