Mr. T

Thank you all so much, he does know is name. His cage has been outside with food water, and toys. And we have been walking multiple times a day with one of his toys that has a bell on it just ringing it as we go. We already contacted all the local stores/vets/shelters with no luck yet but we are keeping out fingers and toes crossed me makes it home or is found. We put up about 30 signs so far in the neighborhood and surrounding areas we are just waiting and hoping at this point. Thanks for all the the support and Jayd I will post on those two sites today. Thanks again!

Hi guys, this is my last resort, contacted all of the local shelters, hospitals and stores. Posted signs and have been scouring craiglists. Fly away 1/30/13 Congo african grey 2 years old, Goes by Winston. extremely talkative. Any sighting or tip please let me know. Thank you, Braydon

Now that's an idea i'm on board with! every time I give mine pomegranate seeds I end up with a cockatoo speckled with overspray lol.

nothing wrong with that my cockatoo wont touch anything cold either.

aww gotcha, our grey and macaw love otter pops frozen so I think they just assume it cold and tastes sweet so I should probably eat it! I have never tried giving them ice cream because I was always under the impression birds are lactose intolerant which is why you should be careful about which if any cheese you may give them. No problem so far though? I would imagine mine would love some icecream....

Sorry I was slacking on adding these from the beginning the next batch I will definitely make a new thread for them in the appropriate location. Thanks!

thanks, I have a ton of pictures on my camera but for some reason I cannot get the site to load from my home computer. I will try again tonight and upload some high quality pictures none of this cell phone jargon. I have been having a blast with our grey as of late since I began clicker training with him.

my humble opinion the best bird store I have ever been to is omars exotic birds (3 stores in CA). The closest store to you is in south orange county, El Toro to be exact its just south of irvine. Probably about a 45 minutes drive for you but I promise it will be well worth it. Amazing staff, all the birds are abundance weened and play freely all day everyday until they are fully weened. They even come with a health guarantee, and a starter kit that includes a few weeks worth of food and a toy! http://omarsexoticbirds.com/

Thanks! I was actually really surprised! we were asked when they were still babies (they still are lol) if they could use them for a photoshoot but we didnt know if they would actually be used. sure enough a few months later they gave us a call and said they were both in the next issue.

Has anyone else tried giving their birds frozen fruits and veggies? I saw a great post about this on one of the blogs I frequent (http://jamiesparrothelp.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/fruit-and-veggie-parrot-popsicles/) and decided to give it a try... so far everyone loves it! I was more interested in an alternative presentation for the grey because he can be really hit or miss when it comes to produce even when served as chop (sometimes I cheat and put some apple juice on his veggies) he will just dig until he finds what he wants. So I decided to try giving him a frozen grape because hes not a big fan of them straight from the fridge and sure enough he loved them. I also tried apples slices and baby carrots and he seems to like those as well but not as much as the grapes. So if you are looking for a good way to possibly reintroduce fruits and veggies they may not love maybe try them chopped and frozen?

I know I am totally bringing this thread back from the dead but I have been meaning to update it with some pics for you guys. Sorry for the crummy quality for some reason greyforums does not work at home for me so these are from my phone, Winston is our Congo and cheezit is the citron cockatoo. The first two are their pictures from the magazine Bird talk they were both in the annual issue this year! Also some cage top fun with walnuts and hanging in the aviary while I clean.

I disagree with this, I think you are confusing a few minutes in time out with some much more extreme like putting them in their cage for hours on end for punishment. Our Macaw used to attack me all the time whenever my GF was home (she was great with me alone) just not when my gf whom she was originally bonded with was around.. In the last two years she has almost grown to like me more than her by slowly building her trust and spending as much time with her as she wanted me to. A time out does not and probably should not ever be for HOURS but instead it can be as simple as turning your back or placing them in their cage for as little as minute or two before you bring them back out to let them know what they have done is not something you wish them to continue.

What were you spraying him with and what was the water temperature? The best thing I have found for our birds is a hose spray attachment that has a "mist" option or I just bring them into the shower with me if they are in the mood and they will usually walk right into the stream, fluff up and walk out when they have had enough. One thing I will say however is water temperature is very important, our macaw is the only one of our three birds that like both cold and warm water, where as our CAG and Too prefer being misted or showered with cold water so keep that in mind perhaps the temperature isn't to their liking or maybe the environment is throwing them off. You say he puffs up and seems interested in the water in his cage, maybe he would prefer to bathe in there? maybe try placing a large enough dish for him to climb into and flap around in his cage as an option? Lastly biting, is something that is natural however some cases it cannot be tolerated example being a friend is holding the bird and about to get a finger chomped off intervene! However I personally don't think punishment works with birds at least not your typical punishment. If your bird prefers to be on your knee and has began to develop a biting habit while spending time with you in that manor perhaps you make spending time on your knee a privilege and next time he bites you simply tell him no! remove him from your knee and put him back in his cage for 20-30 minutes. Hopefully repetition of this process will eventually extinct this behavior if not we can go from there. But you certainly dont want to go squirting him with a bottle and damaging the bond you have. good luck!

do you have any local bird stores that might sell plastic chain? I have one store by me that does but its VERY expensive ($3/ft) so I just buy in bulk online and have yet to have any problem with that chain I posted earlier but the birds have a tendency of making it expensive because I use it in the aviary and in all three of their cages/perches so 50 ft doesnt seem like much in a hurry...

how finely are you chopping up his veggies? I wlll take a picture when I get home but we have been making big batches of finely chopped fruit/veggies/beans/rice/pasta and our birds although apprehensive at first love it now. Basically just food process any fruits/veggies you may have til they are finely chopped and mix it with cooked rice/beans/nuts and raw pasta (pasta will soften up from all the juice). I usually end up with around 16 cups worth and I just split it in zip locks and freeze all the extra and thaw when im going to serve it. This seems to be a good way to introduce variety because when its chopped fine enough its too much work to start picking out their favorites. Also if they really prefer one food you can make that the main ingredient to start and slowly incorporate more variety. It took about a month for our macaw to really give it a try and like it so dont be surprised if they wont touch it at first but the cockatoo and CAG dove right in. I usually chop up broccoli carrots cauliflower corn jalapenos pumpkin squash apples bananas (mashed) almonds cashews walnuts peanuts etc... fresh veggies are best I tend to use most of our gardens surplus as bird food this way and all the stuff they fling just gets composted.

I am not sure whats more bizarre the "coating" or the "heavy metals" in orange and green.... I wonder if the safety colors are reflective and have metal flake in them?

Good Luck Joe! I wish nothing but the best for you and Miko and I am very sorry if I offended you.

Thanks! like I said before we are very fortunate to have the space we do so our birds can enjoy themselves outside on most days. The Aviary has three 48"x48"x84" stalls that makes it very convenient to have all 3 birds out at once plus its a great way to let them air dry in the sun after they shower. this is the only pictures I have of the macaw (getting ready for a shower) more of the cag and too to come:

I completely agree with you and did not mean to come across as a total jerk (sorry joe but reality is tough sometimes) In the last few years I cannot even begin to tell you how many birds I have seen go to "unprepared" owners and its very disheartening watching a beautiful bird take it out on themselves.

HAH! I am glad im not alone... I actually started small and got a parakeet 3 years ago to see if I could live with a bird on a smaller scale and two and a half years later I am the proud owner of Cheezit the Citron. We have a very colorful flock so expect plenty of pictures in the up coming weeks! (catalina macaw, Citron too, CAG, blue Parakeet, yellow Canary)

I actually just bought a new camera on sunday so it should be here before the end of the week! I willtry and take a picture of the whole family "together" it depends on our macaws mood, she has a tendency to get jealous haha. My citron and my gf's CAG are best friends though and love to spend time together chatting up a storm and preening one another.

Figured I would say hello before I start having too much fun on here. So far this is the best bird forum I have come across,(mytoos is the worst forum ever! talk about a total downer) my girlfriend and out 7 year old Catalina macaw has made me fall in love with birds over the last few years and since then we have added a citron cockatoo (Cheezit) and a CAG (Winston) to our flock! We are very fortunate to have plenty of space considering we are in sunny southern california and have a 20'x12' covered out door aviary along with an indoor bird room for them all to stay in at night. I look forward to learning more about these amazing animals as times goes by and hopefully helping the community out whenever I can!

you do realize that by your logic your basically saying something along the lines of: Its ok! because other people here do it too! But its really not ok, nor is it ok to take an animal out of its natural environment and put it in a cage thats too small or shackle it to a post for your own enjoyment regardless of the fact it may be a normal luxury for you. How would you feel if a bird bought you, stuck you in a broom closet to live in and when you were allowed out of that closet they tied you to a wall? I think you should seriously consider what is best for the animal and not yourself. If your limited on space but still want an bigger bird why not look for something in between like a cockatiel or conure. I think most people on here will agree these birds are pretty demanding pets not only psychologically but physically as well. If you cannot properly provide both its kind of selfish to take either of those needs away from the bird.

that is very true, every bird is different! good luck on your quest for chains.

wow they are letting your take her young!!! we didnt get to take our CAG home until she was just shy of 6 months but fully weaned. good luck!