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Great ideas for diet! Sophie gives out her certain " squack" of dislike for any form of pepper! LOL! She doesn't even try it, my little devil. Nancy

birdhouse... first, I want to apologize. I can see why you thought when I said " I won't tolerate" Sophie overpreening, as I wouldn't love or accept her anymore. You know I love my girl, and if she did pull every feather out, that would never change. I am lucky, she has never pulled her feathers out. I meant that if Sophie starts overpreening after so many years being here, I wouldn't tolerate it! I would do everything I could do, to figure out what was going on. There are times outside of molt season, she will overpreen. I can't spritz her or shower her more than once a month. I get out my vaporizer, run distilled water, put it in the kitchen and I get wet. I act like I enjoy it, and she wants to be part of it! LOL! She checks it out, gets wet and annoyed. BUT... as I continue to enjoy my bath, she comes back for more! LOL! Nancy...1 point, Sophie....0. YOU are a fantastic parrent, and if your bird is bald, that doesn't matter! I know parrents aren't responsible for their bird plucking. It is a 50/50 chance. NEVER think it is your fault that your bird has plucked his feathers!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have done everything right. Nancy

That is so sad! It breaks my heart. I want to volunteer to help with birds.... but I know I will want to bring them all home. Nancy

I fell terrible guys. It was Stephen's post about Isaac and I let my emotions take charge. Isaac looks GREAT and it should have been all about him. I am proud of Isaac and dad, as I know we all are.Sorry Stephen and Isaac. I don't recall me being " insane", on the playground when my kids were little! I use to think all the other moms were crazy with their " over protectiveness" ! What have I turned into? Nancy

Awwww. Everything sounds great! I am glad the vet visit went well. I too, believe in reasoning with Sophie. I think Peck has come along way in such a short time! Can you imagine what he will be like when the trust is 100%? He is a wise bird, and already has shown that. The sky is the limit with Peck, now that he has a home and parrent to let him see the true potential he has. I LOVE that Megan and he have been calling back and forth. I agree that Megan probably will teach him how to fly, as Kiki taught Sophie. Peck is on my bird radar, for a bird to watch! There may be ups and downs, but I think he is going to be amazing! Nancy

birdhouse... I meant what I said. For my birds only. I do not, and will not tolerate their over preening. They are not rescues . They are educated, trained and loved. If they are over plucking, thats an issue that needs to be explored. Dry skin? Bored? I will explore all their issues. But no....they are not allowed to overpreen. Of course I love them to death, they are spoiled. I don't wait for the bird to tell me what is wrong. Can I put three birds of different origins in one cage to go get trimmed? Yes. They all have learned to love each other. If I adopted a bald bird, could I do what I do? No. Nancy

Sophie loved, and did quite well with walking around before she could fly. She can now do both, but still prefers to walk.Whether she flies or walks doesn't matter to her. Her goal is to get to me or kids and once she achieves her goal, she is happy! Don't worry about crying... Greys are empathetic. They may not understand why you are sad, but that you are. Peck sounds fantastic, and I suspect he understands your sadness. Nancy

If Sophie didn't love and trust me, the shower business would be like the Wizard of Oz! I'm MELTING.... I"M MELTING!!!! Sean and I clean the cages. When the dander is high ( we know who it is), we just look at each other and know. Sean always says ( do you want to tell her, or should I?) I always tell Sean to tell her, I'll be waiting in the shower. I put on a tee shirt and shorts... Sunny goes first and loves it! Sophie playing on the floor with Sean. Sunny comes out, Sophie goes in. NO ROM NO! I tell her she is dirty and needs a bath. She tells me " Sophie no dirty!" Then she flips into every song she knows trying to convince me not to shower her. It gets done and quickly. I always cuddle her after and tell her I am sorry you don't like to shower and I love you. She forgives me quickly. We partial blowdry her as she likes that, but don't want to dry her out.Its a pain in the butt but we love our girl and her attempts to avoid the shower. Nancy

LOVED the picture of Jaxin and Smokey. Especially liked bird on wrist only. GREAT start of a relationship that is going to see sleepovers for many years. While I also had a clipped bird, that eventually became fully flighted, harness training needs to start too. I kept Sophie " trimmed", I wouldn't say clipped because she could fly room to room. She was clipped when I got her.... let her grow her feathers and then she was trimmed. We practiced flying with her. She can fly quite well, but I totally understand and support people that chose to trim their birds initially, then slowly work on growing their feathers with the intention of free flight. nancy

Get home guys! LOVED the picture. I think Sukei knew it was his special day. Nancy

Peck looks great, and you are doing an excellent job to get him acclimated!I think your periods of crying, is mourning for Mars. Mars was very important to you. The mourning process takes a very long time. Mars will always be important to you, as well as us.I would love to hear a story about Mars, as well as a story about megan and peck. Nancy

Elevinking its another day. You are feeling well,Isaac feathers are looking better.Now get back into parrenting mode. Redevelop your expectations and stick to it! We have all had setbacks, where our birds felt " lost" You get back in the saddle, restablish you are the parrent, they are the child, and pulling feathers is not appreciated.I have had many setbacks...fids started over preening. Once they knew I was okay... stopped their nonsense as they know I won't tolerate it. I may sound mean... but I am not. I just don't tolerate over preening. I DO recognize a molt now, and help them as best I can. Nancy

Wingnut4772... So excited for you and Sterling! If you think you heard it... you probably did! Now remember... vocalization progresses over time. Some chatter quickly, some don't. Some start talking, then stop. Continue to educate, encourage vocalization, and set rules. The number one rule for our family, as I have boys galore, is go into the garage if you need to curse! We have had that rule forever! Sophie has a clean mouth. My boys always knew that was important to me. They delivered. Worse word Sophie knows is Sh..! She rarely says it...and if she does,she knows I will not be happy, so rarely hear it. Nancy

Chezron... number one... you don't need your husband to thrive with your relationship with Brutus. You have your OWN relationship, and Brutus is going to thrive. Sophie DOES make up words and has done so for more than a decade. I always try to repeat back what she says and she always listens. Its not always about learning our language. I try to think out of the box, and see what she is trying to say. I may not know, but she appreciates my attempt, and the trust is developed.I think my attempts for the past decade has been met with Sophie loving and trusting me. No biting, She is always there with her foot up to stepup. " Listen" to Brutus. Brutus will let you know what he needs. I also suggest putting on the History channel or anything stimulating when you are gone. Sometimes I work 14 hrs. I will call one of two teenagers to go check on Sophie. I know they would do it for free as they love her.. but of course I pay them. I am so happy that Sophie is very socialized, and loves when her friends come to play! Nancy

OH.... I am so sorry we didn't have a one year old party! Happy belated birthday Phoenix! LOVED the picture of your baby. LOVED his " comfortable feathers", during picture time. May I recommend Phoenix being a " poster child", for amazing feathers? Truly impressed me Nancy

While we no longer have Kiki our Amazon, she was a fantastic eater, the slowest to wean, would eat everything and anything as she matured. The " true" tester! All other birds would wait for her decision if it was good or not. If she was devouring too fast, they figured it out! LOL Nancy

Muse.... We love our guys just like our kids. Whether it be birds, dogs, cats....it doesn't matter. When we lose one of them, we grieve for several years. The pain is always there, but it does lessen.Your love for Marden, will never change. Your loyalty, to Marden, will never change.What has changed... is your ability to open your heart again. I'm hoping I can do that again since Zoey's passing. We start focusing again on our other pets and their needs.I am SOOOO excited to hear more about Peck. I read your other post and can't wait to hear how things are going. Nancy

trueeast... The old " highchair maneuver!" LOL...They are sooo much like babies. Nancy

Sanveaz... Your post brought a smile to my face! This is EXACTLY what all of us have gone thru! Every new word and action is precious.We are like crazy aunts and uncles and never get tired of learning every new word your baby says!... Nancy PS Sophie is still fascinated with her new word " morning". Morning, day and night! I LOVE it. Nancy

So excited for you guys! I know you won't compare Peck to Mar. Its just you opening your heart once again. Nancy

Brat Birds... I'm so jealous! LOL! Sophie gives me a " no thank you", very politely when it comes to a shower. Once a month I have to go into " mama means business", and its got to get done. She knows and hates every minute of it. YOU are so lucky! Maybe I can send Sophie over to your house for a few days to see Peanut. Sunny and Kiki have always loved their shower, but no go for Sophie. Nancy

Timeout with you... is the goal! Beautiful baby... spoil her and let her know how precious she is. She will tell you soon, how beautiful she is, and she MEANS it! Sean, my son was home, we were watching a movie together, they had a conversation going on. He asked her " do you know what vanity means?"LOL! Sophie LOVES herself, and I LOVE that she loves herself. Nancy

Thank you! Zoey was only eight, died young. She was the baby of the family.Ollie was very bonded to Zoey. Now that she is gone,we are bonding more. He sleeps with me nightly and enjoys pets and cuddles that she would never allow in bed. Our relationship is changing. He's no longer depressed, and knows we can comfort each other. I'm going to give it until May, to see if I have to get him a new friend, or if Sophie and I are enough for him. Sophie is also spending a ton of time with him. Bless Sophie's heart. She is quite empathetic and knows he is sad. Nancy

GCedric... Try working at some animal rescues that have birds. I am sure you would be a GREAT dad of a baby, but I think you would excel more, with a bird that is two or older. Sophie was two when we got her. "A baby", in grey terms. Within two days, she was climbing down off her cage helping us look for Teddy our missing guinea pig. She was walking around saying " Teddy!!!" She found him .Let the bird pick you. They usually do. Just put yourself where your bird can find you. It may not be a grey, but birds fall in love pretty quickly. All of my birds picked us. While they have learned to " love" all of us, each of us are very special to the one bird that picked us. It never changes. Nancy

chezron.... I think you are a great student too! LOL Who are we kidding... they know what they want, when they want it, and then let us think we came up with the idea. Fourteen years later... I'm catching on! LOL! Nancy