kins2321@yahoo.com

NCavender I'm so sorry about your loss! Cooper I'm sure, was very important to you. Grief, takes many forms. You will never forget Cooper, and noone can ever replace him. You have so much energy, and I know Saidee has a great mom, waiting on the back burner waiting to be a mom. It CAN happen. Don't give up, and PLEASE give up that she hates you and things won't change. With your energy and zest for life, she can't win. Someday I will post my " rules" for Sophie. I will tell you, rule number five...( I'm very hesitant to share my rules for fear of attack, but I think you need it)... "We are a package deal. Get to know everyone including other animals, and accept them". Nancy

lisachristine Watched the video. Rosie's lack of 100%, but offering 50%, is amazing! I believe she is ready for training, as long as it is done right. No owner should ever put their fingers in a birds cage. I have never done that. Open the door, read books, play games in front of cage. Once bird wants to stepup on the door, say " hello!" Stepup and down, is always done off the door or away from cage. A cage is their home. You will never be invited inside no matter how much they love or trust you. Nancy

Sophie has always regurged to me. She has done so for ten years. Not sexual agression for her. She tends to do it when we have spent alot of time bonding, and have had a fun day. I have had to teach her to deliver it in my hand and thank her. She watches me like a hawk to make sure I understand the gift she has given. I treat it like a birthday gift. LOL! We have progressed to hand only. She would prefer I get it in my mouth, but we can only do so much! LOL Nancy

DanielaWellborn... as many have pointed out, working with jellybean, should always be away from the cage, or on the cage door. I have never put my hand inside their cage to work on stepup or down. I'd be asking for a bite. When you mentioned, " Be gentle!" Why did you say this? Nancy

Mine have no idea what begging means! LOL! What is mine, is really not mine, just borowwing from them!Even though we practiced flying for all of them, they perfected their flying abilities by flying into family room, stealing a snack. Nancy

You almost gave me a heart attack! I thought the same thing. Your baby was truly gone.Sophie learned eventually to stepup to all of us and trust us. Now she hops back and forth to all of us. This morning, Sean and I were reviewing his college bill in the kitchen. Sophie was hanging with us on the countertop blabbing in baby talk, but very serious like us. She'd stepup back and forth until we needed to really focus, told her I had to put her back on her cage while we did some serious banking. I didn't close the birdroom as I should have. She flewout, landed on my shoulder which is very hard for her to do. Sean and I laughed! We praised her, told her NO WAY were we putting her back in birdroom. She flew hard to get back to us. She was happy to be patient and quiet on my shoulder while we finished college stuff.She would have been just as happy to land on Sean. I was first in sight for her. Nancy

NCavender, I agree with birdhouse. Congratulations! Sadiee doesn't hate you, its what she knows! I think you have GREAT progress with a 15 year old bird. Patience and love for now. Thats all you can offer. Nancy

I do care. But... here over and over, how whatever my birds do, is not normal, and I am tired of it.If my birds are on the bottom of the cage, they are having fun, usually chewing newspaper... I'm all over them, saying NO! Providing new newspaper. Nancy

Kiki wishes you all a happy new year. Nancy

SimpleGrey. I will be more than happy to help you, with your grey. I can be reached personallly. Nancy

Jayd... then you need to learn! Stop being a type A personality! You have disagreed with many of my posts, then I see you suggest to do what I suggest! Word by word!Do I care? NO! I only care what is best for our birds.Do what works for you. Nancy

Terrible two's do happen after age two. When he growled, you need to say NO! Pick up and return to cage. Growling is NOT tolerated. You are lucky the trust is already established. Nancy

I already told you PEACE! Yes Kiki is an Amazon. Sorry I posted under GREY. Nancy

Many of us, are more than willing to help with blood transfusions, including Sophie. We don't need to be local. We are all on standby, if transfusions are needed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Nancy and Sophie

I'm a big regurg owner and supporter. Many don't believe in supporting regurg. I think it is the most important offering of love. Many think it is a sign of sexual aggression. Nonsense! It is a demonstration of love. Of course it is important for birds to regurg in your hand, thank them, offer a gift in return. A simple kiss on the beak always did it for my birds. I always appreciated their offer of love, thanked them for the work it took to offer the regurg. Sophie was always proud. I feel bad when new parents refuse the regurg, think it is sexual aggression. In my opinion, it is a " refusal of love that they are offering!" Sophie still regurgs in my hand. I always thank her. She is always proud. Nancy

Sleeping at the bottom of the cage, is unusual! Who cares? LOL! My birds do so many strange things, I don't even bother to post. Nancy

Many know, I don't believe in letting my birds be taller than me. When they are, I tend to argue more with them. NOT actually bit. I get taller than birds when needed, especially when Kiki is molting. The other day, Kiki was sitting on the refrigerator ( her latest hangout). I was cooking several dinners for the week, so I was in the kitchen for around two hours. Kiki was on the top of refrig, checking out the basket I have filled with toys. I decided to play some opera, which Kiki likes. We played it for two hours. She was in heaven... singing back. Sean came downstairs... begged us to stop singing as we were giving him a headache! LOL! After being on top of refrig, I felt she needed to go back to her cage for toileting reasons. She got sooooo pissed at me, bit my hand and drew blood. OUCH! Kiki hasn't drawn blood for a decade! I was soooo annoyed! I told Sean to get his bird! He laughed at me. ( She's MY bird, when she is naughty!) He told me... "Why did you pick her up?" You have to take the basket down, pick her up when you are taller than her!" What were you thinking! Ummmm... I guess I wasn't! Nancy

you are the new owner. It is now up to you to discover your new greys capability. One years old is just a baby and capable of so many amazing things. Hard to assess since we don't know birds history. I got Sophie at age two, she didn't talk alot, but had a great owner. At 2.5... she took off talking up a storm. Maybe it was the right stage of development for her to learn, or maybe it was we had a very noisy household with lots of animals, lots of teenagers here all the time.We will never know. Nancy

Darwin needs to understand the rules. When he bites Nathens feet, Nathen need to pick him up and say NO! Return to cage. Darwin needs to learn the family is a package deal. His poor behavior, is not tolerated.If he is playing in the cupboard, but anyone tells Darwin he is done, HE IS DONE! No bite, or go back to cage with a firm NO! NO BITE!It is hard to be consistent with the entire family, but important. We went thru that with Sophie for six months. She is an angel, and loves us all. Nancy

Jayd gave his opinion. I respect it. Now investigate the difference between " clipping" and " trimming". No bird should be clipped! I agree with Jayd it is abuse! Nancy

If your grey is getting short of breath, he is demonstrating a symptom of congestive heart failure. In a human, he would require a heart valve replacement. I'm sure, your bird is going to require the same thing, if available. You need to think what you want to do, and if the surgery is available for a bird. Nancy

aronlevi... Absolutely! Your grey is quite capable, once trust is established. Nancy

He looks great! A fifteen month old bird doesn't pluck. Nancy

Everyone needs to make a decision how to train their birds. While I agree it is important for new birds to be fully flighted, I also believe it is important during the terrible two's. for a bird to be able to focus on training. ( similar to having a bird with ADD!) Kidding! Everyone settle down! I trimmed my birds during the terrible two's, so they could focus on other things that were important. They could still fly quite well. My vet( an exotic bird specialist), suggested trimming during training time.I followed his advice, he was right on!( need to find a trimmer that is amazing!) I don't believe in letting a bird on the shoulder, until they are ready. I don't ignore bites... birds need to know this is a behavior that is not appreciated. Return to cage, try again in five minutes. Nancy

I believe, quality of time, is much more important, than actual time out of their cage. I'm sure many are saying " yeah right!" LOL. Now that I have two kids off in college, birds have had to adjust to their own company. Doors are open, bird room door is closed until I get home. They entertain each other. Once I get home, birdroom is opened, birds scramble to come into the kitchen, dogs are waiting to say hi. Once they go thru their " I missed you", with the dogs, dogs go out, I get to say hi. Lots of love and kisses. Nothing like getting home from a hard day, getting lots of love from everyone. Nancy