Brendon.

Well Dan, I heeded your advice. I've been showering Lester a bit less now, only 3 times a week. I should mention that despite all the bathing he was getting before, he wasn't TOO dusty but still had plenty of dander, and wasn't ever caught picking at his feathers at all. He's also in the middle of a molt though, so that makes sense. In any case, now I'll just let him sit in the bathroom with me while I shower, so he doesn't get too upset. I have a little watering pail that I'll sprinkle him with outside so he can have his own "mini showers" when he wants.

I know this might be a little hard to believe, but my grey Lester absolutely LOVES taking showers. I'm pretty sure it's actually his favorite thing to do. When I take a shower, I have a perch fixed to the wall, so he takes a shower too. He has a little basket in there with rubber ducks and such too. He insists on being held up right under the showerhead and doing his thing -- he ends up soaked from head to toe. In fact, if he hears the shower running and he's not in it, he gets a little upset. I was wondering if, as is the case with dog or human hair, there is such a thing as taking baths too often for a grey. He's been having them every day or every other day (whenever I shower) -- I live in Ontario, Canada and it's been quite hot and dry here lately. Obviously I use no shampoo or anything on him, just warm water. Lester is also in the middle of a molt but doesn't seem to be too dusty. Thanks!

You might want to try enticing him to dig through his foraging toys by making the "treats" more obvious. My bird didn't want anything to do with his foraging toys until I stuck sunflower seeds around the outside so he learned that he had to work at it. It can also be helpful to make a few holes yourself at first just to get them going. You can also start by making some really easy toys to forage, and then gradually increase the difficulty until it starts to take more time to dig through. Stuffed egg cartons are a great place to start. If I ever have a sock with a small enough hole in it (so long as it's clean) I'll stuff bottlecaps, paper, legos and treats in there too. You can try cardboard boxes, cardboard tubes, foraging balls, etc.

Plain and simple, on a metal skewer and stuffed with lego, string and almonds wrapped in napkins: http://www.aussiebirdtoys.com/images/pt%20737.jpg

Honestly I entertained the idea of a "specialized" bird carrier for awhile but they can be pricey and my grey was uncomfortable in most of them. At the end of the day I went with a simple dog crate like this one: http://www.midwestpetproducts.com/files/1950949/uploaded/1518-wDog_FULL.jpg It doesn't come with a perch, obviously, but it's definitely easy to set up and clean. I just have an extra rope perch or two that I put in there with toys. The bottom tray slides out really easily so I can line it with paper towel. The whole thing collapses down to become very small if need be. It also doubles as a sleep cage if I ever go up to my cottage or anything. If you are worried about drafts or the cold getting in, especially if you are traveling in the winter time, just buy an oversized sweater and pull it over the top. You can fit the handle through the neck hole and it works like a charm. The only thing to really beware of with one of these is that you need to make sure your bird's head can't fit through the bars on the sides.

I guess it's kind of the same story with people

Quick question for you all... this is something that has happened to me in the past and it resolved itself, so I'm thinking it's probably okay. I just wanted to find out if you've experienced anything similar. My grey Lester yesterday took a bit of a spill and broke a little blood feather on his belly. A little bit of bleeding ensued, but it quickly stopped. Today Lester slept in until 10:30 and is napping even now, in the middle of the afternoon. He's been eating and stuff, but I've noticed that if he ever takes a tumble sometimes it'll make him extra tired the next day. Is this normal?

Oh and as for the pooping in the food thing, make sure first of all that there are no perches or toys positioned above where the food bowl is. Often they'll poop in there purely as an accident. If your bird is chronically pooping in her food and eating it on purpose, you might have a broader problem on your hands, although this is unlikely. This would most likely take the form of a nutritional deficiency, but again, if you ensure she's eating a balanced diet it shouldn't happen. Young birds sometimes pick up dumb habits that don't make much sense to us... the average toddler will likely eat a worm or two just for the sake of it. This might be something she'll stop doing soon enough.

Quite simply, potty training is going to be a game of patience for both of you. The only way you can teach her what you want is if you reward her in the appropriate context, and "put her back" if she does something wrong. My bird took me about 2 months to completely potty train. What he knows now is that before someone picks him up, he should poop to "get it out of the way" first. If you walk over to his perch and say "make a poo" generally he'll squeeze one out because he knows that otherwise, nobody is going to play with him. It's actually funny now because sometimes his poops are so small you can tell he's forcing out whatever he can just for attention. There are always going to be the occasional accidents, but for the most part, you can set boundaries. It's also very important to become accustomed to how often your bird will need to go, or if there are particular times he'll need to go for sure (for instance, if you wake him up). While you are in the same room as your bird, whether he's in the cage, or not, ask him to poo. He won't understand at first, but do not pick him up until he does it. He will poop within 5 minutes anyway. As soon as he does poop, praise him and offer a treat, and pick him up only then, but also repeat the cue "make a poo" so he'll associate it with the action. If he is on you and he poops either on the floor or on you, put him back on his perch and walk away. If possible, make sure he watches you clean up after him. Over time this will get easier. My bird has now learned that when he has to poo he'll point his beak in the direction of his perch and make noise (he doesn't talk yet). They're meant to communicate... it's what they do best. You'll just have to pick up on it. Best of luck!

I have an especially little Timneh Grey named Lester who is about 10 and a half months now. The reason I say he's especially little is because he only weighs 285 grams! This might be worth taking into consideration so I thought I'd mention it first. I'm facing an interesting dilemma with Lester. As much as I've read about feather plucking and its variations, I can't seem to find much literature on my specific problem. I thought maybe in asking here someone with a bit of experience could help me out. Lester has been looking quite scraggy as of late, mostly because he has a feather problem. Lester tends to break feathers quite regularly... he's excitable, active (though clipped) and plays a bit rough. While this usually takes the form of a haphazard wing feather sticking out at an odd angle, he has also lost nearly all his tail feathers. In fact, as of today, he only has one left! (it looks ridiculous by the way) When I say he loses feathers, I don't mean the entire thing. What's been happening is that Lester will break a feather, and the remaining "bottom half" / the shaft is left in his skin. The feather shaft does not become loose, and he does not seem inclined to remove it all. If I go near it he will readily voice his disapproval. At the same time, it would seem that leading up to the process of his molting, Lester hasn't been removing his feathers properly either. Rather than to remove the entire feathers, as would be normal, he seems to break them very close to the end of the shaft, but leaves the bottommost part still attached. The inside of his wing is lined with feather stumps. What has resulted is a painfully slow molt, with hardly any signs of new feathers, as the old shafts remain in place. Some of the remaining shaft bits are so small and close to the skin, it would seem impossible for him to remove them now even if he tried. I have spoken to two veterinarians about this. I also had blood work done (which came back healthy) and did an extensive review of Lester's routine, which the vet deemed to be satisfactory. Lester eats a varied, rich diet, exercises well, gets plenty of attention, etc. He has a ton of toys and is not bored by any means. He also has a perch in my shower and enjoys a bath at least every other day. At night he sleeps on a special perch in a quiet room with a curtain around him. One of the vets has suggested having Lester anesthetized and removing the feathers manually with pliers, but in the long run, this doesn't help me if this ends up being a persistent problem. I am wondering if maybe Lester's molt is just a bit delayed because of his small size. I was also curious if anyone would know how this type of behavior is typically corrected, if at all, or if there are things I should watch for. Thanks so much! Here is a picture of Lester (for anyone curious)

It took a lot of maneuvering lol. Because it is such a large ring, I was able to pull it apart fairly wide first. I have made a point to be very careful with all of the parts I use. The only beads I've bought are labelled as lead and BPA free. I also always monitor my bird for the first couple days of having the toy just to make sure he isn't ingesting anything harmful. This is obviously the case with leather strips (always vegetable tanned, got them from a bird store). When it comes to things like the carabiners and keychain links, I always boil those before using them anyway, but it would seem that my bird doesn't even touch them. I have supervised him with all of his new toys, and he never even looks at what they hang from... they're mainly used just for hanging the toys. I'm always very careful as to where I place the toys too, as if the carabiners are "above" the toy it's unlikely that my bird will be sticking his feet in them as he stands on his perch. It is still always of paramount importance to watch how your bird plays with his toys, but there are inevitably going to be some small hazards in anything you put in the cage.

I haven't really had much of a chance to contribute to this forum so I thought I'd give it a shot. Being a full time student, I don't have a lot of money to spend on new toys all the time, so I've resorted to making a lot of my stuff on my own. The nice thing is that you can use basic things from around the house, while also keeping track of what your bird is getting his hands on. You can also reuse pieces from toys that have been destroyed or are no longer of interest. Anyways, these are some of the toys my bird currently has. If you want instructions on how to make any of these, I'd be happy to post them. I'll also post some newer toys as I make them. I'm sure a lot of this is redundant and you guys have seen a lot of it before, but if it helps someone out, I guess it's. worthwhile. Swinging toy (mine loves this because of the chimes) Shredding / foraging (egg carton and cardboard tubes) Foraging / Random -- Can be refilled with essentially anything Preening - made by feeding straws through a pencil sharpener (you end up with "spirals") Favorite hand toy - made by feeding string w/ beads through holes in a bottle cap Mobile -- made with holes in pieces of wood, tied together. You can hang whatever you want here. Random wood toy Foraging wood toy -- made by drilling holes part of the way through on either side of tips of a cut up 2x4 (they give them away at the hardware store for free). You can stuff nuts or whatever you want in the holes and it takes a long time to get them out. You can also obstruct the holes with string, beads, fabric, etc. to make it more difficult. I have several variations of this toy as they're so easy to make differently! Here is the front and back of one of them: I know these might seem extravagant or difficult to make, but none of them took me longer than 20 minutes, and I usually make them in front of the TV. They also last a while so you only need to make new ones every few weeks. Here is a list of common, around-the-house stuff I've used to make successful toys in the past. I generally keep a basket somewhere in my kitchen and just collect miscellaneous parts throughout the month. Other items can be purchased from the dollar store for really cheap: - Cardboard tubes (paper towel, toilet paper, industrial toilet paper (larger and thicker) - Shoelaces - Popsicle sticks - Tissue paper - Construction paper - Thread spools - Cotton, sisal, polyester rope, so long as it's untreated - Egg cartons, random cardboard boxes, etc. - Wood! Use cut up pieces of kindling for fires or 2x4's (usually pine) - Bottle caps - Beads - Empty film canisters - Tissue boxes - Straws - Margarita beads - Buttons - Old cut up clothes (I used sweatpants) - Legos - Puzzle pieces (cardboard) - Large nuts with holes through them (ex. walnuts)

So today I took Lester to the vet after all... he seemed a bit better in the morning but I trusted my gut and went with it anyway. I ran through a checklist with the vet who determined I was doing everything fine. Diet was good, toys were good, activity level was good, etc. We decided to run blood tests, the results of which I'll find out in the next couple weeks. It would be the first blood test I've ever done, so it's a good thing to have if I ever want to compare base levels in the future. One thing that surprised me, on an almost entirely unrelated note, was that the doctor says my bird has been picking his feathers, albeit not in a conventional way. Lester gets a ton of attention, plenty of toys and a decent diet, so the fact that he does it, the vet said, was likely caused genetically. The reason I say it isn't conventional is because he is not missing any feathers on his neck or body, but feathers on his wings have been broken improperly, rather than plucked. I'll try to take a picture of it, but basically the feathers have been broken about midway up the shaft, so that the bulk of the feather is now missing. Some I know have been broken accidentally in the past, but the vet said that his wings, and his tail, were very tattered. It seems that he has been breaking the feathers in the wrong place and leaving parts behind, which I didn't realize wasn't just him preening. The reason this is troublesome is because if the ends of the shafts are left in the follicles, new feathers won't grow in properly. The feathers are also reliant on their bulk (weight) to fall out properly as gravity takes its course. The vet said that for all the feather tips to be removed, Lester would have to be anesthetized first. He's about to go through his first molt, so we'll see whether the tips of the feathers are gonna come out on their own. Thank you for your feedback though, it was very helpful.

Hi there, My timneh, Lester, is about 9 months now. He's a good eater, is fairly active and friendly and goes to bed at around 9 or 10 pm... basically whenever I put him to sleep. For some reason, today Lester has been incredibly tired. I've put him down and he seems to tuck his head back under his wing (he doesn't do this normally) and take short naps. This went on for most of the day, even when he was out on his stand and the room was fairly busy. I decided to put him to bed early tonight since he seemed so out of it. He's been eating and drinking just fine. The only other thing that's a bit different is that he seems to be a little more irritable than normal, but otherwise, nothing is really different. He's just very sleepy. I know that this sort of thing can be the first indication of an illness, so I promptly made a vet appointment, although the clinic is closed today so I have to wait to hear back from them. One thing I considered was that Lester hasn't really undergone his first molt yet... he's lost a few feathers here and there, but nothing significant. It may also be that, for some reason, he just didn't get a good sleep last night, but I would think a single nap or two during the day would get him caught back up. I was wondering if it's normal for greys to sleep more before a molt? Should I be worried?

It occurred to me that there is also the possibility that the blood is coming from a broken blood feather. The cut is on the underside of his belly where the feathers are pretty small, so it would be surprising for that much blood to have come out. Regardless, is there anything I would need to do differently to treat it?