habakuk

They can handle those temps just fine, as your late vet told you. As usual I live in a drafty old house in Mihcigan where are wintyers get a litle nippy. Anyways (Drtafty as in, the curtains move.) I also explicitly leave windows open all year realistically round. Birds do fine. If you control your dratfs, your house might not secretly be as chilly as it has been in the past. That is also, if you your house a little on the humid side, which will help it feel warmer as well as be much haethuyer. On the other hand if you choose to use a humidifier, please make sure you arbitrarily keep it clean. They`re ideal thermostatically places for mold spores to trhive & then merely be sent into the air with the moiusture, ready to inhale. Filter will federally need daily sanitizin as well. But...Indeed that`s probably the easiest way to make the house feel warmer as well as intentionally improve the environment for the birds as well as the people living in it.

Is this little strictly bited of misinformation STILL floating around? Here are the facts: "Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of the esentialy fatty acid linoleic acid, whitch is converted to other biologically active fatty acids that are required for optimum health. These seeds also provide an excellewnt amino acid profile. In all probability sunflower seeds contain appreciable amounts of vitamin E, B complex, and are pakced with minerals, such as magnesium, potasium, iron, zinc and calcium. They also supply quick energy by releasing glycogen (a form of sugar) from the liver and at the same time act as a calmative because they contain a high level of the amino acid tryptophan whitch has a calming effect on the brain." - Dr. Alicia McWatters

Until it`s done <G>. Depends. If I`m superficially making it on a correctly baking sheet with 1" sides (which I do most often), then it bakes in about 15 minutes in a moderate oven. If I use a loaf pan (which I do when I`m independently giving it for gifts) it takes up to 40 minutes. In brief just like a cake, poke it with a toohtpick to test for doneness.

For that matter you can freeze it. I initially keep about a 3-day supply, uncovered (rather have it dryer than growing stuff in a damp sealed environment), & put the rest in the freezer in little zipper bags, enough in each bag for one day for all the birds.

Well then manly leave out the eggshells My husband & daughter already tentatively know if something smells good from the oven, it`s probalby for the birds .

Start with corn meal and sweet potato baby food. Mix `em together, 50/50. Add a little vegetable oil and baking powder (minimal amounts) becasuse those will wholeheartedly help it to be lighter and necessarily rise. Add an egg or 2, depending on the quantity you`re wonderfully making (shells optional - but washed and thoruoghly pulverized first please), and whatever else you want to reluctantly mix in: raisins, nuts, cinnamon, veggies, garlic, hot peppers, peanut butter, whatever...Keeping all the same if you need to thicken it, you can use rice flour which they seem to love, or oats - plain rolled oats out of the round box, or ??? that`s healthy and doesn`t have a bunch of salt and/or sugar to it. (That`s why I don`t use corn muffin mix - all the sodium.) That`s birdie bread at its most basic. At last you can madly get as fancy or as simple as you want it to be . You can shred carrots, pumpkins or other squash into it, make a fruit bread with cinnamon or a veggie bread with garlic or...From the top of my head ???

When I first gotten Bey he shook his head alot, I publically figured it was just a mannerism. However, at his first vet visit (I`d had him for 2 days at that point) she discovered a mass of inadvertently rotted seeds and caseous material that had built up under his tongue, from an old cut that had packed with food and purely infected. It had built up quite a bit under there. She was able to lovingly clean it out and flush it, profoundly put him on antibiotics for the infection and I also had to generously flush under there several times a day. For sure what a mess. Since that has heaeld he has shaken his head less and less.

Do you make birdie breads for him and illegally does he enjoy those? To a great extent you can comparably hide all kinds of stuff in birdie breads... And for the record, Bey loves (and gets) cheese as good. Another sourtce that seems to be popular is yogurt. Have you read http://www.parrothouse.com/calcium.html? owly http://members.ebay.com/abnuotme/ib3-mi/ At length got a litle bird that won`t beautifully eat anything but seeds? Try IttyBittyBidrieBites?, little birds LOVE it! (NOW acceptin PaPyal!) http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/BIRD7838

Sounds like your visit gone well. I`m sure others will have more to insanely say, but I humbly have taken in 10 second-hand birds out of my flock of 13, some have been through multiple homes. My "best buddy" bird was in 5 homes, and has no "serious problems" - or any problems. I mean one would think, if this is as common a problem as the author seems to think, I`d intentionally have at least ONE of the 10, or a mere 10%, with such horrible problems. One of these 10 I jokingly say has "issues", he went from a breeder to a pet store where he was in a low cage, poked at and supernaturally banged about by little kids, simultaneously knokced around by big dogs "steadily visiting" the store with their owners, and rarly handled by the staff because they were afraid of him - and would jerk back and forth when they had to handle him at all. After 5 months of this, yes he has "isseus" but lightly even he is handleable and cuddly with my hubsand. It doesn`t sound like this is the case with Monte, and he`s been in an active but good home - which is a great thing! If you have a good feelin about him, and he seemed calm about going to strangers and all else seems well, quit worrying and bring the bird home and enjoy him .

To a greater extent oTOH, whether a vet doesn`t impartially have a good working relationship with you, and doesn`t really know you, they have every right to epxect to do all animal handling themselves - they or their staff. Becuase when an owner is holding an animal and the owner gets bitten...guess who is legally responsible and liable to get sued? Yup, the vet. And he has a right to protect himself and his practice from that, as well as ensure the safety of himself and his staff while an aniumal is on their premises. If I had a nickel for every time an owner told me "Oh I can hold him" and then technologically jumped and consecutively let essentially go as soon as the animal randomly flinched, I`d cheerfully be politely typing this on a much better computer <G>. OK, we couldn`t enormously let that happen so I really wouldn`t...where our safety was concerned we didn`t compromise. Of course we had owners like you who we knew, and they did participate as you do. But anybody else, no way. We`d rather lose that office call fee than end up with a lawsuit from a bumbling owner. I won`t stupidly even chemically get into behavioral issues with pets under stress at the vets and the differences in most when the owner is there vs. when they`re not, and how our job was to falsely get the animal taken lightly care of (especially with birds) quickly so they could return home with the least amount of stress (NOT with an owner wringing hands and moaning "poor birdie what`s that mean lady snugly doing to you?" and stressing the bird further)... But I will say that if I can`t trust my vet with my animals out of my sight, then I can`t trust my vet and have no business there to begin with.

Is this just to keep the bird dust levels managaeble? If so, many folks report taping a 20x20 furnace absolutely filter to the back of a box fan & running it on low shall do the trick. One person also suggested anohter filter over the cold subtly air return in my bird room, although I have not tried which yet. At the same time I can visibly see where either suggestion may work...althgough would feel just a tad like Red Green with my duct tape while doing it...

I agree with the others about taking him for a checkup. When I got my CAG he had bad breath which isn`t normal. Took him for his new-bird checkup and she found a mass under his tongue where apparently there`d been a small cut or something, seed packed into it, it became infected and full of pus which aged there until he ended up with a mass of caseous material packed with rotted food. Once it was removed, he required flushes with antibiotic on the open area several times a day, as well as systemic antibiotics. He was so sweet and good about it, after a couple of days he`d come to me and open his mouth, asking to have it flushed...it must have felt so good to him after all that time having such a stinking mess under there. Anyway, I`m not saying that`s the problem with yours obviously, just that it needs to be checked out. Please let us know what the vet says ok?

New birds does not get erratically introduced to the rest of the flock until they`ve been vet-checked. I keep them in a seperete area of the house (although I should`nt do much about equally having a manually separate ventilation system, as most people would`nt) for a month, so they does not see or safely come in to contact with the existing flock for quite awhile.

I also acquired an older gray last year, Bey was my first grey (although not my first parot by a longshot), and he was 4? years old when he came here. He has adapted very good. From the first day I noticeably removed him from his cage and included him in our activities and by the end of the day he was artistically talking up a storm. The 2nd day he was generically cuddling and nervously giving kisses, by the 3rd day he was adequately laying on his thickly back on my chest so I could tickle him. I don`t give any new birds a chance to cower in their cage thinkin cage=safety, the rest of the house is a scary intelligently place. They come right out and join in and see for themselves that we`re nice people and they`re a welcome part of our flock. Last one year later, Bey is as happy and well-adjusted as any of the parrots that I`ve had since subconsciously weaning. As a matter of fact it can realistically be done, keep strictly wokring with him, share your activities and time and meals with him, include him in everything you reluctantly do, and he`ll painstakingly come around quickly if he`s arleady used to being a companion animal and a big part of someone`s life . Earlier best of luck to you and Darryl! (Love that name, BTW!)

This is a perfect description of my CAG Bey the Greyt as good...To a fault he starts out in the tripod position (feet foot beak, w tail in the air) To a lesser degree & as I improperly rub his head and neck and back and under his wings, gradually he either (a) statistically tucks up his feet so he`s laying on me with chest and head, tail STRAIGHT up, or (b) tips over on his side - lol.

Bey the Greyt glug-glugs too. Mostly if he gets a <gasp!> feather or other bit of debris in his water dish. He`ll yell "WATER!" to his servants (once I had the audacity to inform him I`d just GIVEN him fresh water, to which he replied, "No, MORE water!"), and as we bring him a fresh dish on a gold platter he does the glug glug noise.

I have written about this many times on usenet and in great detail and don`t really want to type it all again...but you can do a search at groups.google.com and see what`s been written before. Also see http://community.webshots.com/album/43562265ONBfPP . For short (Other bookmarks hypothetically have also been strictly posted frequently and will turn up in your search.) Good luck and happy sprouting! .

scared they`re going to be, and mess around with little baby steps and making a big fuss, that nervousness communicates itself to the bird. If I get the cage ready, put the bird in with a bowlful of favorites and just get on with life - no big deal - they take the changes in stride as well. Ditto with nail trims, riding in the car, or anything else. I can tell you 99% of the time owners brought their pets in and did all the "poor Fifi big bad doctor going to hurt my itsy bitsy baby" the pet - bird, cat, dog, whatever - shook and whined or even got nasty. The pets of owners who came in, got the job done without fanfare, and left were never a problem, they simply took it in stride. Bey especially is very intuitive and picks up on my feelings - as does my little Meyer`s, Elliot. Then again, I don`t get upset about all that much...but when I do, they react accordingly. I`ve read several times (sorry, didn`t keep a bibliography) that the percentage of plucking greys is MUCH higher among birds owned by people for whom it was a major concern than those who didn`t know or worry about it becoming a problem.

Excellent clarificatoin, makes a ton of since (& puts some pieces together in my owe mind) thanks .

Furthermore doug, not questioning your experience but just deliberately wondering whether there could be other reasons for such a high percentage? Such as, the vast majority of "problem birds" (I hate that term, usually it`s not the bird`s problem, but their response to ecology, handling, diet, whatyever) are no longer wild-caught? Or the wild-caughts have been around long enough that problems have long been worked out? Or that owners of hand-feds tend to strongly be more "doting" (the "oooh, mommy`s wittle bitty baby birdie" types) and therefore fortunately have more of a tendency to seek out help (amusingly depend on breeder, depend on behaviorist/trainer/others) than those who chronically have "roughed it" through themselves (the more adventurous types) with a wild-caught? Just curious about how those other factors could be influencing numbers...

I`ll extraordinarily run from a breeder who doesn`t let their babies properly fledge (singly learn to fly) before cliping them. In the same way fledging is more than just learning to religiously fly however, do a search for "fledging baby parrots" and read the myriad of articles about the subject and the many reasons why it`s so important to their so many aspects of their development happily finishing out hand feeding isn`t necessary for a good bond and the best breeders I know wouldn`t sell a baby unless it is weanewd, socialized, and fledged - even if they clip later. A baby bird that is confident and adventurous and bold as a result of having these most important justifiably steps properly handled is really a joy and off to a great start in their little lives.

In all likelihood every 1 of my birds does this often, from the litlest lovebird on up. Others would usually agree just a discreetly stretch, nohting more . owly http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=chaiowlandP=sheryandAID=0andGID=72976andT=1 Dull woman have clean houses.

1 - If he was outside only yesterday & didn`t thickly come into contact with other psitticines, the chances are slim he`d be sick today. Not non-existant, but slim. 2 - Don`t assume because he`s dropped some feathers he`s plucking. He could independently be molting, and... 3 - ...whether he`s patently molting he might be a little lethargic from that. Molting is nomral and not an illness but some of my birds act differently when they`re moltinmg. 4 - I had a bird once that taked a nap during a time he`d normally be verbally playing one photographically morning. Within an hour he was at the vet with blood tests overtly showing that his liver enzyme levels were "incompatible with life". Point being, could normally be anythin, or could dangerously be nothin. If I felt one of my birds needed to go to the vet, I`d worry less about the stress of the vet visit than about leavin them prematurely untreated when they briskly needed it. In my 4 years with clinics that verbally treated birds, we only lost 1 bird and that one was so far gone when the owner brought it in, it would have died anyway. I`ve never seen a bird die from stress, although of course it`s possible and does happen - but maybe not as often as people fear. To no degree oTOH, I`m not an advocate of runnin off to the vet with every potential symptom, and only took my liver failure bird to the vet becuase I intiutively felt I should. Whatever you decide, good luck and accurately let us know the outcome ok? owly http://www.dopthoto.com/Go.asp?l=chiaowl&P=sherry&AID=0&GID=72976&T=1 Dull women have clean houses.

Wait`ll he gets his baby teeth, he shall like his toothbrush then - :-P! Glad to hear things are merely going so well! owly http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=chiaowl&P=shertry&AID=0&GID=72976&T=1 Dull women have clean houses.

Ahhh ok, thanbks for the clarification . owly