dm.bourgeois

How long do they do this Dan? My CAG is a little over 6 months old and still does it, is she till looking for that motherly gurge?

My CAG is now 6 months old as well and she hasnt started talking either, she does like to welcome the sun every morning though. She will whistle at the sun coming up and going down. This is usually when she is most vocal. Is this common?

This seems to be some kind of behavior that my CAG, Rose, usually does when she sees me come to her cage and I initially put my hand towards her. Is this a type of greeting for a grey?

When looking at my 4 month old Rose, I noticed there is a patch on the back of her neck that if I pull the feathers back I can see bare skin. Is this normal? Is it other feathers growing in? She also has another patch on the bottom of her neck as well..... They are about the size of a dime of bare skin after i pull the feathers away from that area. Thanks in advance.

Kingsnake, I do have to say, putting my cage together was a pain in the rear. The guy told me it would take 45 minutes.... it took me 2 1/2 hours! The instructions were very lacking on my cage as well but with a little cajun ingenuity I was able to make it work. I think it would be a good idea for cage companies to have better assembly instructions because it seems to be a common theme.

I havent thought about harness training really as far as her flying around with harness. We have a harness with a small leash that she can be attached to me when we sit on the porch. We have A LOT of hawks in the area and dont know if it would be a good idea for her to flying around outside, what do you think? I need to read that post on potty training again as well because I think if we can master that it wouldnt be as bad with her not being clipped.

Thanks Bran! The guy i brought Rose to has clipped tons of birds wings, he is a rather old man, he does have to hold them steady but I think it might be a shock factor of such a drastic clip as he gave her. She can still land pretty well but I think she is just upset she cant fly now. Maybe if I had a bigger house and I could have my own office I could put her in there and let her fly around but I dont think I will ever want her to fly around an entire house.

Thanks for the input so far. I understand that not allowing my grey to fly all over my house might not be the best choice for my grey but its not like I have a big house to begin with. The wife doesnt like the bird flying all around and pooping on random things. I have to keep a precious balance between my marriage and my grey. As long as my grey will warm back up to me within a couple of days I guess I will be ok. Let me add that the breeder let her fly for a few weeks before I got her, was that not enough time to learn how to fly and land? Now, since the clipping, when she tries to fly she lands like she should, not with a huge thud. Ussually it is from the couch to her cage and she now doesnt make it to her cage so she lands on the floor and climbs up the cage and onto her play top. Is this not how a pet bird is supposed to be?

So my grey had been flying around the house and the wife didnt like that much. While my wife was gone Rose, who is 4 months old and I have had her for 3 weeks now, flies right into a wall and I hear a thud. I flipped out and thought she hurt herself. From what I can tell she is fine but at this point I decide it would be best to get her wings clipped. I bring right then and there to get her wings clipped. Needless to say it didnt seem like a pleasureable experience for Rose. Now ever since, this was yesterday by the way, she has had this attitude towards me. She doesnt want to step up, turned her beak up at the mashed sweet potatoes I made her tonight, and barely will tolerate me petting the back of her neck. Can anyone tell me what is going on here? What should I do? I feel horrible but I got her wings clipped for her safety and to please my wife. Thanks in advance.

Eshana, I havent taken her shopping yet, but I do plan on taking her to Petsmart like the breeder did.

JDS .... I wouldnt say we have "mastered" it but she will eventually let me put it on her. She kind of picks at it sometimes when it is on but for the most part she is pretty calm with it on. My breeder started putting her in it to take her for car rides a few weeks before I was going to pick her up. I owe it all to my awesome breeder I got her from, Beaks of Paradise in Zachary, Louisiana.

My bird has a few things she is doing that I don't know if they are normal or not, maybe you can help me. She fluffs her feathers up often and also some times she makes this clicking sound with her beak. What do you think? And also, how do I know if my bird is happy?

My wife and I wanted the bird but we didnt want a bird flying around the house so I would rather get the wings clipped than leaving them at length.

I got home today and Rose has decided to fly around more, maybe because she is becoming more accustomed to her new environment. The breeder clipped her wings after letting her fly for a week or two. The thing I noticed today was when she flew off my hand she could ascend in the air, and I was told that when they are clipped they should only be able to descend but they still use their wings to flutter down. Is this true? and also since she ascended in the air I should get a few more of her feathers clipped? I was thinking about doing it myself to save a few bucks but have recently read that it is best to have someone else to do it because they will hold it against you? Thanks for the advice.

Over the course of the last couple of days I have been perching Rose on the shower curtain rod while I take a shower. Today I put her on my shoulder when I was done and the water was still running and she jumped off my shoulder and on to the floor of the tub, I naturally thought it was because she was scared when the water hit her so I turned the water off and put her back on the rod. I was doing my nasal rinse a few minutes later with the sink faucet on and she was on my shoulder, she came off my shoulder and into the sink basin right under the water. I let the water run for about 15 seconds and she just sat there like that was what she wanted to I ran it on her and then turned it off. She seemed pretty happy afterwards so I am assuming that is what she wanted. The breeder had never tried to give her a bath so this was her first experience. I want to plan on getting a shower perch for her if this is what she enjoys. Do you all think this is a good idea? I did let her dry naturally and not from a towel or blow dryer.