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My CAG and my Double Yellow Headed Amazon don't like each other very much. They tolerate each other and try to steer clear of one another. However, the CAG is still young (19 months) and lately he has been challenging the Zon more. I'm having to intervene a lot more than I ever did before. I would never leave them unsupervised.

Simon has started biting me all of a sudden. He's 19 months old and in the past few days he has begun nipping me on the ears and fingers. It's not super hard, but it's hard enough to be uncomfortable and annoying. And it's frequent! I've tried putting him down whenever he does it, but he flies right back to me for another chomp. He's also flying a lot more and challenging the other birds more than he ever did before. It's like he's got ants in his pants. I'd like to nip this new biting habit in the bud before it gets entrenched, but I'm not sure how to handle it. Any suggestions?

Oh, I'm so very sorry to hear this.

Simon Grey is 18 months old (male), and Kazoo the Amazon is 15 years old (female). I've had Kazoo for 20 months and Simon for 15 months. They seem to like each other's company from a distance, often making noise at the same time, or enjoying the same music. They just don't like to be too physically close. Until recently, they were both afraid of each other, so they tried to give each other plenty of space. If they found themselves on the same boing, for example, one of them would quickly fly away. Recently, however, they both seem to be standing their ground more. Today they had two spats on a boing, where neither would leave and they were hitting each other with their beaks. Both times I intervened and moved one of them to another boing. Can someone explain to me what's going on, and what I should be doing? One of my theories is that as Simon's getting older he's becoming more dominant, even though Kazoo is bigger than him. Another theory is that maybe they're establishing a new level of friendship, one that allows them to be physically closer, and they're just working out the details. But really I have no idea. I just know that I don't want either of them to get hurt, or to feel bullied. Should I intervene, and if so, how? Is there anything I can do to help them be friends?

My Amazon and my lovebird both eat Tropican. They love it, and it smells delicious. (I've tried it - it's not bad, but not as good as it smells.) My Grey wasn't interested in Tropican, so he eats Harrisons. (He shares it with the dog, which gets expensive....)

I don't normally pray, but I'll make an exception for you and Java.

Simon doesn't mind towels. We play peekaboo with a towel after our shower, and he loves looking for my face under the towel. He just doesn't like being wrapped in a towel and plunked on his back so his nails can be trimmed. He also doesn't like anybody holding him except me, and I feel bad handing him over to her against his will.

The post with the video of the woman "teaching" the Grey owner how to handle her bird reminded me of a problem I'm having. I've had Simon's nails groomed three times - once by the vet when he was in for his check-up, and twice by a young woman who makes house calls and does grooming of birds, cats, and dogs. He really hates it. She wraps him in a towel and he has no choice but to submit, though he screams and tries to bite and get away. After, he's so hot and upset. I hate it too. I hate handing my bird to her. I worry about traumatizing him and I worry about how it might affect him and the bond of trust between us. But I don't know what else to do. His nails need to be trimmed from time to time, and there's no way he's going to consent to it. Any suggestions?

He's now having big long mumbly nonsense conversations with himself, with two different voices taking turns talking! One of his voices sounds like a man who has had a tracheostomy and speaks through a mechanical device in his throat. The other one sounds like a little girl!

Actually, I've never heard this myth before. I have a mix of birds - a Grey and a lovebird from Africa, and an Amazon from South America. They all get along okay, but they don't like to share space. (Well, Oboe the lovebird does, but the big birds won't let him.) So as long as they can keep enough space between themselves, everything's cool. For example, if Simon and Kazoo end up on the same boing, one of them has to abandon his perch (usually it's whoever's on the lowest perch). I feed them all pretty much the same stuff, although Simon likes Harrison's pellets and the other two like Hagen's. They all get offered fresh food for breakfast and homemade mash for dinner.

Thanks! I'm really very excited. Tomorrow he'll be one and a half, and I love watching him move through different developmental phases, just like a child. In the last few weeks I've noticed some really big changes in him - more vocalizations, plus some differences in how he plays with his toys, and how he relates to the other birds. For example, he's got these large lego-type blocks. In the past he would always hold one in his foot and chew it. Now he always plays with two at a time. He holds one in his foot and rests the other one (the one in his beak) on it. I know that doesn't sound like such a big deal, but to me it's huge - he's using a tool! He's also playing more aggressively with some of his toys, especially the hanging ones. I'm not sure what it means, but I think it's probably healthy for him to know how to vent his frustration. He's becoming a toddler.

Oh that's interesting. I thought most of them started talking much earlier than that. At my parrot club, people said he wasn't talking because we whistled to him. But I like the idea that he's been learning all along....just like a pre-verbal child.

Simon will be 18 months old next week. I was beginning to think he would never talk. He likes to whistle, and he clucks and clicks, but he has never said a word in English, or even imitated a phone or a microwave. This week he started making new noises. They're more word-like than any of his usual noises. It's like he's babbling in nonsense conversational tones. This morning he was doing that and I said "I love you" and he said something that sounded like I love you - not the same words, but the same intonation and inflection and the same number of syllables. We did it four or five times, back and forth. Do you think he's learning how to talk? I admit I got a Grey because they're good talkers...but of course I fell in love with him for all kinds of other reasons once he was here, and it didn't really matter so much that he couldn't talk. Still - talking would be the icing on the cake! (And I have to say, he's got the sweetest voice.)

Simon: Mr. Bird Kazoo: Girly-Girl, Kazooky-aki Oboe: Littlest Oboe, Little, Obes, Obi-wan, Obomeister, Lovey All of them: Bird-birds, Lovies

Katana, thanks very much - I assumed you'd never seen the original question and so hadn't answered - thanks for linking back to it!

Oboe has nine lives! The cat, Duncan, caught him in January and he spent three days in the hospital and then several weeks more at home being hand-fed and living in a dark box on the floor of his cage. I wasn't sure he was going to make it or if he'd ever fly again. But he's as good as new now. Even better, actually, since the whole experience made him more affectionate and less bitey. Katana, I wanted to ask you a question. You're a quilter, right? Do you use a spray fixative when preparing your quilt sandwiches? Is it okay to use that stuff with birds in the house?

She seems fine, thanks for asking! The one-eye-closing thing only lasted for one evening. The next morning I watched her very carefully and was prepared to take her to the vet if it continued to happen, but fortunately it had stopped. But holy hormones! She's definitely in a destructive mood! Every chance she gets, she's looking for trouble.

Simon's 15 months old - today is the first anniversary of the day I got him!

I'm so very, very sorry for your loss. You took such good care of him and loved him so much, and I hope you take comfort from knowing his life was good and happy even if it was way too short. I hope someday your family will feel ready to love another Grey.

I love the little basket of lovies! I let my lovies have a couple of clutches a couple of years ago. I still have Oboe, the youngest baby of the first clutch. I broadcast them over the internet using a webcam, from the laying of the egg to hatching to hand-feeding and the first flight. Your pictures just reminded me of that special journey and how much I loved it. (I wouldn't do it again though. It's a lot of work, and in the end I found I couldn't really fully let go of those babies. I cried when I sold them and to this day I still worry about them and wonder how they're doing.) Your babies are absolutely adorable.

My Grey (Simon) and my lovie (Oboe) are enthusiastic eaters and they'll try anything. I'm always looking for new foods for them to try. The latest is sunflower sprouts - a big hit. They also love peas, broccoli, purple cabbage, zucchini, and various other veggies. Variety is the key. If I give them carrots every day, they'll get bored with them. Kazoo, my amazon, lived on pellets and peanuts for the first 13 years of her life. She's been with me for a year and a half now. At first she didn't want anything to do with her breakfast offerings, which consist of veggies, nuts, seeds and fruits. But then, gradually, after a few weeks, she started finding things she liked in there, and then she got braver and tried other things. She may never be as adventurous an eater as Simon and Oboe, but she loves breakfast time now, and she has made a lot of progress. Her favourite veggie is broccoli and her favourite fruit is apple.

Kazoo's going through this right now too. She's an Amazon, almost 15 years old. At what age do they tend to outgrow it?

It sounds to me like you love your bird very much, but your mom is putting you in a position where it's impossible for you to provide your bird with a healthy environment. Is there any way you can negotiate with your mom? Maybe ask her to let you keep the bird in your room or the living room on the condition that you'll keep the area as clean as humanly possible? Ask her for a trial period - say a month or two - and if she's not happy with how it's working out, you'll find a new home for the bird? Or offer to take on additional chores in exchange for her putting up with the bird being in the living room or your room? (Is there something she really wants from YOU that you could include in the negotiations?) It's an unfortunate fact that birds are messy. Everybody here knows they're worth the mess, but it sounds like your mom cares a lot about cleanliness and isn't really a bird person. It may not be possible to win her over. On the other hand, it's also an unfortunate fact that kids are messy, and she decided to have kids anyway and tolerate the mess, so maybe there's hope. Besides, I'm sure you mean a great deal to her, and if she realizes how much your bird means to you, that's got to be worth something to her. I hope you can find a way to negotiate a little leeway with your mom. But if you can't, I believe you love your bird enough to want him to be healthy and happy, even if it means he can't live with you anymore.

We just noticed this today. Kazoo (14-year-old Amazon) is closing her right eye for a few seconds at a time, several times each minute. There's no discharge or anything like that. She seems to be feeling okay - no noticeable differences in health, behaviour or activity except for the one eye. Any ideas what might be going on here?

I'm getting my bathroom redone - yay! This company - Bath Fitters - creates a custom built acrylic sleeve that fits over my existing tub. It's a full seamless surround. But I'm worried about my birds. I asked the man what kind of chemicals they use during the installation process. He said mostly they use stuff to clean the existing tub, wall, etc. The sleeve is made elsewhere. They use isopropyl alcohol and butyl based solvents. I'm not really familiar with these things, though I understand the first one is rubbing alcohol. Do you know if they are safe for birds? The bathroom is on the second floor, the birds are on the main floor. I could move them if I absolutely had to, for the day. (It's a one-day process.) But they'd have to be in strange surroundings without their cages, and I think they'd find that a bit scary.