kins2321@yahoo.com

What has worked for me, is having three birds of different origins, getting along. When I take them to get trimmed, I can put them all in one cage. My groomer has asked me, " how do you have three birds of different origins get along?" I say" what do you mean"? I don't make any choices for my birds. They do. I have three rules. Many may not like it, but it works for us. Wrist status only, until the trust is established. Then they go to shoulder. Stepup and stepdown, a must. Play on top of your cage all you want, but I will always be taller than you when working on stepup. A simple step stool. We as parents make many things complicated. It doesn;t need to be. Just listen. I was given that advice when Sophie came to our home. I listen to her all the time! She can be quite unreasonable and I laugh at her. She knows it. Nancy

Yay! I got a 90 on my final test. All is good. I am now human again. Jocelyn... we all struggled with our birds favoring one over another. I truly got annoyed that I would do all the work and Sophie would prefer Ryan. WHAT? WHY? I did all the feeding, cleaning cages, get up in the middle of the nite when she had a bad dream. I did all the education, teaching stepup and stepdown and got bit. Cleaned her cage, fed her, gave her fresh fruits and veggies and dealt with her throwing them at me in refusal. But in the end... I sent my boys off to college, the birds were fine with this. They talk to them on the phone and have never had an issue with them being gone. Now they are home. All the birds are happy and excited. Ryan is singing and playing the guitar, Sophie is singing with him. Kiki is chasing Sean's feet, her favorite game. I am happy and content. My goal was for all our birds to love the entire family. My goal was met... plus some! Nancy

UH Oh!!!! Jasper is one of " those!" LOL! He enjoys his toys, demonstrates his intelligence right off the bat. You have no idea how many grey owners are jealous! Many new grey owners have babies that just look at their toys, have no idea what to do. They are smart, but owners don't know what to do to help them. On the flip side for you... you will have to continue to find very stimulating toys. Keep letting us know what works for Jasper. It will help many parents. Nancy

Be careful of course. I would let Storm play with your hair to his hearts content. Sophie has always enjoyed playing with my hair, and it is long also. She does get tangled at times, and she is patient for me to untangle her. Storm needs to show patience to be untangled, if not, can;t play with your hair. Last resort.... would you be willing to cut your hair if Storm was in a situation that required it? My answer was yes. That doesn't need to be your answer. You just have to have an answer of your own before deciding to let Storm play with your hair. Nancy

All my birds love a shower, or spray.... except Sophie. She watches them shower, but whenever I have sprayed her or showered her, she thinks I have attempted to murder her and is mad at me for a day. Whatever I have done, and believe me, I have tried it all, Sophie DOESN'T like water! I get it! She grooms herself quite well but once in awhile... I apologie from the beginning and spray her. She is dirty and needs it.She gets truly pissed at me, but I know she will forgive me. If I had a former plucker or a rescue bird, I would be very careful about introducing a shower or spray. The trust has to be there 100% before I would attempt it. Just my opinion. Nancy

Kristan and Cheshire Cat.... you guys are BOTH going to do great. I believe you are both smart enough to do well in school. Interestingly enough, I never was the greatest student in my late teens and early 20's... BUT since going back to do a very intense class at work ( got a 90 by the way), I know that if I went back to school now, I would be an A student. Nancy

Stepup and stepdown, takes time and patience, but very important! For me... I consider it one of the most important steps for a bird to learn. All my birds hated learning it, would beg, bribe me, anything they could think of. I would have none of it! They had to learn, and they did. A decade later, they all stepup, without me even prompting them. Sometimes I feel guilty, when they want to stepup the moment I walk in the door, and I have to tell them... " give me five minutes!" Nancy

I should have explained more. Remember, its just a matter of personal choice, and what works for them. For our family, to have an " open cage concept", meaning cages are next to each other, doors are never closed, can jump back and forth between gyms and cages... first, birds needed to develop trust amoung each other. To have different species to adjust to each other, the trust needed to be established between me, kids, and the birds. That is the first priority. Of course, all birds play on top of their cages. They all have gyms there. BUT.... if they are biting, haven't established that trust with us humans.... there is NO WAY they will be taller than me for me to attempt to pick up! It won't work. I always have to be taller than my birds when working on " stepup, stepdown". A simple step stool, always did the trick. When Kiki was younger, ( the only bird that went nuts with a molt), I would wait for her when she came charging across two cages to attack me. I was taller and waited to see what she would do. She skidded to a halt and stepped up quite nicely. This was a decade ago. Now, it doesn't matter who is taller than me. Noone bites no matter where they are on their cage. Nancy

I am so happy my boys are home from college. Birds are as well. Birds are out of control with excitement, kids are thrilled to see them. Only problem is, I am going to school, i can't handle the extra stimuli, study and do well. I'm being a grouch! I can now appreciate people who go to school, and have all this external stimuli that interveres in learning. Sophie can't wait for me to be done with this class. I have actually closed the bird room so I could study. She was DEFINITELY annoyed. One more day, and I;m done. Nancy

I believe they will be perfect! Nancy

Kiki is all over the tree. Fake or real. It doesn't matter. I'm not putting up a tree this year, as I am working 12 hr. shift. Kids are okay with it. Off to dad's. Nancy

A noisy household, is a happy home! Nancy ( I keep reminding myself that!LOL!) Nancy

I can appreciate the sleep apnea story, While I have two asthmatic children, as they got older and became teens, they tried to ignore their wheeing, not tell me. I learned thru Sophie. She would cough, do a certain bark, indicative of a wheeing child. I could tell. I would yell for boys to come down, demand to know who is wheeing. Listen to their lungs with a stethoscope, find the sick child. I never could understand why they hid it from me. On the third day of a cold, they either wheee, or dont. Nancy

Another suggestion... f you have a room big enough, practice flight with another person on the other side of the room. We did this with Sophie. I started the flight, with Ryan on the other side waiting for her. She understood quickly, her goal was to land on Ryan. she thinks Ryan is the "greatest" thing that ever landed on this planet! LOL! She did very well. While Kiki our Amaon who was a baby when we got her, can fly anywhere with perfect takeoff and landing, I noticed Sophie has been trying to imitate her takeoffs and is doing a really good job! Much better flight! She continues to imitate her, and is learning. Nancy

jbsmomto1 I'm sorry! Yes I read your info wrong. I thought you were getting up late to give feeding. YES! WRONG info on my part. Soooo sorry! You are doing great. Nancy

While having three birds and two dogs, and them all getting along.... I am sooooo happy that they all keep each other entertained when I'm not home. I'm sure many feel guilty when working alot. I do too! Its not a substitute for us, but I think multi flock, does make a difference. Nancy

Maybe try putting one of those suction cup stained glasses on the window. Possibly a " perception problem?" Sees the outside, thinks its right there. I'm sure he's not trying to escape, but bring the outside in! Nancy

Chesire Cat keeping my fingers crossed for you. Asked Sophie to cross her toes.LOL! At 25.... you are a baby with your whole life ahead of you. YES.... you ARE good enough to be a vet. Go for the nurse degree and keep that option open for the future. Nancy and Sophie

I am for one, always there to develop and foster care for all birds. I am also more liberal, don't close or lock their doors. This was the deal I made with my kids years ago, to accept adopting birds. When you continue to allow them to get up in the middle of the night for food, you are stagnating their growth. It is no longer " accepting" their needs, but limiting them for the growth they should be displaying. Part of growth, is following rules and expectations. Bedtime number one! If you don't establish routine, you will spend more time focusing on " bad" behavior, which I promise you will come your way. This will eventually cause delays for your bird. Nancy

Sophie here! I can relate. You did the right thing throwing that nut across the room! What the heck? Does your new mama think she can entice you with threats? Stay strong! My mom did the same thing. I have to admit.... I did give in. Just a little! Tell us more about your mom. Sophie

jbsmomto1 Echo is almost three. He needs to go to bed at 8pm. NO night feeding. You shouldn't plan on feeding him forever late at nite.He is three. Would you get up for a three year old toddler to feed them? NO! Time to teach baby to be a big boy and develop sleeping habits. Nancy

The answer is NO! He doesn't hate you. He is a baby that needs guidance, love and trust. Nancy

Stick traing works for many birds. If you choose this route for a grey, they will want it to be part of the process forever. Nancy

When you have to deal with three birds of different species whom all share their food and space... I can say they all love carrots, greenbeans ,sugarsnap peas, cauliflower, grapes, pears,apples ,watermelon,raspberries, blueberries. The basic for them. Many other fruits and veggies. They love all nuts. I was cleaning their cages yesterday. A heavy sigh. The wall is always painted with veggies and fruits they are not interested in. I spend more time cleaning the walls than I want too! BUT.... I offer them new things over and over. Some finally get excepted, others get thrown against the wall. Nancy

It is so interesting, that so many parents taught their birds some very amaing songs. ( I have to get me the letter that Sophie stole!) Songs that I always thought that were amaing! Nancy