Wingy

I am guilty of no towel in the bottom of the bathtub but Jake hated the feel of it on his feet.

Ah so its Gus's version of "DADDYS HOME". Maybe Pat needs to slip into the backyard when he first comes home for you and he to have a moments peace and don some ear plugs. Heck maybe Pat should get in on the screaming too.

You might be on to something in thinking that his cage is to big. Is there something you can do to make it appear smaller to him? Maybe some vertical sturdy branches made into a foraging station or a snuggle toy? Something that would let him think he is in a smaller protected space?

What a stinker. A quick solution would be using one of those bridge type toys that attaches at each end and place it across the outside of the door so it can't be pushed open. You know you need to do all the doors now.

In time you will end up replacing that feeding time with something else that is special.

More babies coming home. Have a great time with Sterling.

Take a breath...now another. Bringing home your baby is so very exciting. You want it to be memorable to you and only you can decide if you want to share her first days home with extended family or if you would like it to be a quieter time of exploring and getting to know each other better. Which ever way you choose you know you will wish you had done the other.

There are inexpensive battery operated emergency lights that go on when the power goes out. I have several of them in various locations to light my way and one by my guys cage.

Any suggestions for a water filter? As much as I would like to I can't put a whole house filter in here. I have the Pur faucet style filter but the whole unit needs replacing so I have been looking at the differences between the Berkey, Katdyn, Britta pitcher style, going with another Pur or maybe something else. I would love to hear the good and the bad.

Until Jake learned the ropes he tried for shoulders and heads. We started putting our foot on the couch and offering the raised knee. That is now one of his favorite places.

I am so very sorry.

Interesting idea. Thanks. I have a Honeywell that I like and was thinking of adding a few more. In some areas box fans might work better.

That sounds very nice and I am a bit jealous. Its 13°F (-11°C) and snowing here. I am ready for some spring like temperatures.

Dave is there anything us humans can do to provide our companions some "wild bird" experiences? I cannot recreate his natural habitat in my living room but I am more than willing to try and offer him pieces of the life he might have had if humans hadn't intervened.

Jake is meh on corn but he loves dried corn on the cob. He doesn't eat but a piece or 2 but loves pulling each nibblet off and then shredding the cob. It isn't easy getting still on the cob human grade corn but every now and again a store will have it. Generally it is with the small animal supplies and you have to make sure it is human grade corn. If in doubt don't buy.

Do you have any boings? Jake just loves his and spends hours dangling, bouncing and spinning. There is a bell at the bottom and I put a bell running through the middle. I can't place any hooks into the ceiling so I bought shepherds hooks that attach to his cage top through the screw holes and have the hook part away from the cage. I'll take a picture later if you want. I think I paid $20 for the large boing and $5 for the hook at the bird fair.

Jeff since Gracie is happy tearing apart stuff maybe you can place a vine or straw wreath in the spot where the wicker one was. If she likes wreath destruction you can always take a class to learn how to make them for her.

Only about 6 vendors regularly travel here but there are regularly 2 or 3 with a lot of toys and toy parts. No one brings birds. Maybe I'll shoot the organization an e-mail to make sure that it is allowed and if the weather is good take Jake in his packobird and stroller.

Pixburgh do you know that there is a bird fair in your area soon? I go to my local one put on by the same group. http://www.exoticbirdfairexpo.com Heck I think most of Jakes toys and all of his cotton rope perches came from there.

Jake does the upside down thing on his boing hanging by one toe tail while he gets the boing spinning round in circles and from side to side. I swear he is practicing to join the circus and his stage name will be bat bird the toe hanging wonder. He loves it and I am always yelling to him to hold on with 2 feet.

I agree with the not liking children thing. My buddy has never been mistreated or teased by a child and yet he hates children and really short people because to him they are also children. He gets very upset, growls and gets very aggressive if a child/short person just walks in the room. I don't doubt for a minute that he would do some serious damage to a child.

I'm protected from debris here but it is a very good point. Not everyone is. I hope you were able to enjoy some of the thunder snow. I usually get that a few times a winter and it is awesome. My DS and I used to go out in the yard during some of the wild storms to watch the show from the thunder snow and the transformers blowing.

A few ideas for the future. Save a few empty 2 liter soda bottles, put hot water in them, cover cages and slide them under the cage. A UPS (uninterrupted power supply) can be used to power a halogen light. Halogen lights put out a lot of heat. Power inverters that plug into your cigarette lighter/power port in your car can also be used to run that light. Only do this if you have a strong battery and be sure to run the car for 10 minutes every hour. If you have a gas oven and it can be manually lit place your largest cast iron pans in there and get them good and hot. Remove the pans, wrap in a towel and place under cages and in your bed as a bed warmer. Do not try using bricks or large stones. I think you did great in a bad situation. You kept your wits about you and came up with a solution.

Jake has one but is terrified of it.

Jake hates hates hates the spray bottle. He thrashes around and has broken feathers trying to get away. He will sometimes take a bath in a pyrex pan but hasn't wanted to do that the past few weeks. Today I was determined that he would have a good soaking bath. I have a bathtub with a shower head and adjusted the water for temp and minimal spray then hit the button so it came out of the faucet and left the water running. I took him into the bathroom and we played with the bird in the mirror for a minute and then I quickly placed him in the tub and switched the water from faucet to shower spray. I aimed the water in the middle of the tub. Jake made quite a fuss but once I moved away 2 steps he starting running back and forth through the water with his wings open but not flapping or thrashing around in a panic. With the water aimed at the center of the bathtub he could have stayed at either end and not gotten wet so I really think his pathetic chirps were just for show. He was one wet bird when we left the bathroom.