murfchck

Ahh, that explains her being so happy under a towel on the kitchen table or her on the floor darting to the toe kick area under the cabinets. I only wish i had a web cam to show what happened yesterday, i do not think words will really show the whole picture but i will try. I am in the kitchen, 2 greys on the hanging stand in the bay window, one grey on a chair just as you enter the kitchen but in the living room ( open concept) a macaw one each side of the chair. Lilly on the table in the kitchen and Gus on the other side of the living room on his stand. Gus decided it was time to join us in the kitchen and took flight, lost altitude and knocked Gabby from the chair sending her for a flight, Bongo in the window got scared to took flight. Lilly saw Gus and jumped on the floor to join him and engage in a fight. Gus is freaked out as Lilly is charging him, i push him off to the side sending him sliding on the tile floor Lilly is still charging so i offer my brand new tennis shoe on my foot for sacrifice, she grabs it and i lift my leg in the air until she is now focused on this and not Gus. All the while i am shouting to hubby who is outside in the blissfulness of nature. Gus makes it to the baby gate and climbs up, Gabby is back on the chair and Bongo was back on his stand, i am still standing there with my leg in the air because now if i set my foot down, i will crush her. I manage to coax her to my knee where she can step up and she did perfectly, got her into her cage and went outside to tell Pat what had happened. I mentioned that Gus was on the baby stand and he could say was "thats not good, he will chew the wall".. UMMMMM? My heart is beating 90 to nothing and he is worried about a wall? Poor Gus is so scared he will not unwrap his feet from the bars and i didn't want to upset him by forcing him to step up, let him calm down was my thought. Pat walked in and asked him if he was ok, put his arm out and the booger stepped right up and all was right with the world again. He asked me why i have so much trouble handling the birds? If he had seen how i just handled them he wouldn't be asking such a silly question!!! I need to move to the country!

Yeah, rain heading here too, tomorrow thru Thursday. That kinda sucks for the birds, Lilly the most. She WILL not stay on her stand and when it is her or my ankles, the ankles win and she ends up in the cage. Time for tuff love, she was only out for maybe 20 minutes today, i kept bringing her out but she wouldn't stay put for longer than 2 seconds and so we would do a time out, i couldn't keep up so her time outs went longer than 10 minutes. Pat got home and the same thing, he would put her in time out and once back out, down she went and trust me, no one is safe when she is on the floor. My poor chihuahua has the scar to prove that. Even poor Bongo is suffering, he flew to me when my back was turned, normally i would just raise my arm some what for him to land but all i heard was the flutter and then flash backs of my neck getting bit and i jumped, scared him and he went straight to dad...He NEVER goes to Pat ever, three years and this was his first time to fly to Pat. Broke my heart but was happy he felt safe enough to land on him. Starting to get that overwhelming feeling again, last time was Gus, now he is pretty much a gem.... How long does this season thing last anyway? I heard 4 months, God help me if thats true. I will be in a looney bin soon if that is true!!!!! Pat said if she ever did get a mate, she would pluck his head bald just to show him who is in charge.

LOL, i gave up on any idea of being a hand model when these guys moved in. I have more dents and scars than i care to point out! It is funny though that they are like a point of passage to fellow bird owners, you will find us comparing scars and stories!

It was a beautiful sunny warm day again (sorry), then the winds kicked in but the birds didn't mind it. Lilly of course was outside and the greys were in the other one from noon until 5. Pat and i took the day off yesterday and did nothing but what laundry needed to be done for the work day today. Gus was out on his leash and the macaws were just running around getting into everything! Lilly is our hawk alarm and trust me when i say she hasn't missed one yet, in fact she tells the entire town. Who needs the storm alarms when you have a Lilly to guide the way?

It was in nice out yesterday so Lilly went out to play, alllll day. She just loved it and didn't want to come back in. If the aviary had a roof and some protection, we would have left her outside. Because we only have two aviaries, we had to rotate the others. She bites the toes of the greys so until we make a space between the cages, they can't go out when she is out but the macaws backed her down when she came after them and she doesn't bother Gus's toes ( just his head). It got to both Toos out and the macaws running amuck all around the back yard, with Pat and i chasing them around. Bubba found the grill and decided the igniter switch wire is a great place to hang on, we told him "no" just once when he did it and now thats his game. Good times. Pat also took the hose and made it "rain" on them, first time i ever saw Lilly try to bathe in her water bowl. The tops of the cages are covered with bamboo so it dripped for a while and they both just loved it. Gus was grooming and wiggling his butt for the remainder of his time outside. Today, the greys get to go out!

What a cutie!! You can fight that urge all you want, but cuddle, love and enjoy because they grow up so fast and will end up being spoiled anyway!

Yea, time out has been our only option. She loves baths, gets quite a few in our effort to stop the roaming, and her being wet doesn't stop her. The little dork dances when she is wet, then she gets on the floor and dances in circles ( it is hard not to laugh at her when she is doing this, we are trying to not say or do anything that would make her think it is okay. ) I don't think i even got to hold her yesterday except to put her back on her stand a few times before she went to her cage. I will say that i am 99% sure she is in "season", so keeping that in the back of the brain in hopes she will calm down again soooooon!

It has been a while and i am sure you were thinking no news is good news, but this is a cockatoo we are talking about so still no good news. LOL Lily has been such a pill. She will not stay on her stand, or the second stand we put up for her, or the table or the chair. For that matter she will not stay in one place longer than 30 seconds. Getting anything done around here is impossible unless she is outside or in her cage. She fought with Gus, he lost and we are still doctoring his head, she drug our smallest chihuahua around the kitchen by her head and tried to get our other chihuahua last night when i walked outside for just one second. I don't think i even made it out the door before she was out of the bird room and into the living room in full attack mode. Later when we were cooking their dinner she jumped on Pat, like Gus use to do to me, and bit his head and then his hand when he reached for her. She got him right between the fingers. It seems she is only content when i have her swaddled like a baby and carry her around. Gus is now very happy and will play on his stand for hours on end, taking out all the eyehooks or destroying toys. Whats funny is that we thought bringing Lily into our home would help Gus with his antics, turns out Gus was a dream bird compared to Cujo, i mean Lily. lol Here is a typical day. I wake up feed the minpin so she can get her insulin shot, she also has an ulcer on her eye so she gets drops and then 5 minutes later an ointment, get everyone else fed and get ready for work. Come home get the birds out, pick Lily up, put her on the stand and reapeat this oh 20 times... Feed the dogs, do Daisys shot then drops then ointment. Then after the birds are in their cages, we bring Bubba out and clean his butt off and put on his preperation h, play with him a bit, then put him up and get Gus out. We clean his head, put on his ointment and play with him some. Take him back and give everyone their night night nuts and lower the lights and put them to bed for the night. Think we are done there? Nope, now i gotta cook us dinner, we eat and i go right to bed. Even with the extra daylight, there are not enough hours in the day!! And to think we have been offered to take over a bird sancuary that has several more birds, and the house we are looking at will come with several birds on its own...lol

And another one here! DFW mid city area.

Welcome! So others have addressed your questions and i will say i agree with them all. First get the collar off, you mentioned you had it off before but put it back on after 45 minutes because she started plucking again, she was just scratching places she hasn't been able to in a while, lol. I have a plucked grey and we have stopped stressing over it. One day when we look, she is bald, the next week we will notice about 6 new feathers then the next week they are gone. This is pretty commen for greys but the more we stress and show them this the more they pick up from us and they start to stress. Get a bigger cage and have it set up at your home! Your little girl needs to be a part of your family and treated as such. Best of luck, with time you both will come through with flying colors!

What a wonderful time! Please keep us updated with Tinkerbell as well.

Bubba went to the vet Saturday, his poo was bad again. They tested it for bacteria and found nothing, however his cyst thing was back and hanging out of his butt when the dr has Pat flip him over. Hemmroids... Really? I am now putting preperation h on his bumm. We spoke with a trainer this Sunday and she just laughed at us saying what we do for our babies! We were kinda worried at first about putting that on him but she reassured us it is pretty common. Fingers crassed we do not have to have them frozen off again. That was a nightmare.

I have one with alot of red also, atleast there is a lot of red before she pulls them out! lol They call it red factor, and it is more and more common now a day. As far as i know, that is just a wives tale of red meaning sick. Coaty is perfectly healthy.

LOL, and follow the directions on it because i sure made a mess of it! (Feather In) I have three pluckers and the most helpful thing has been a mop toy with beads on it, they groom that instead of theirself. Also a swing toy full of felt material, well that is now nothing but a metal ring but it took her almost a full week to get it to that point! Keeping them occupied and bathed helps, but i have read just yesterday that there could be some type of food allergy so we are looking into that too.

That looks wonderful! I would be out there all the time with the birds! I see you now with your flock and a cup of coffee ( or umm, wine ) just sitting out there enjoying the beautiful views and relaxing. Have you seen the commercials for screens for your door where they are free hanging and have a magnet that locks them shut after you walk through? I would add that in front of the door a little way just to help with accidental escapes when you go in and out of there.They would hit the screen first and not go right out the door! ;-)

Lookin mighty cute there! ;-)

A bill of sale I would say most definitely get, old papers would be nice to have but if she doesn't have any oh well. If you and GG are a good match papers won't matter. I am in the ft worth area. If you need any help just let me know. I volunteer with a local sanctuary and I have a made a few good connections in the bird world lately, lol.

I gotta say my Greys have been from cage to cage. We swapped again this weekend. Bongo and Gabby to the separated double macaw cage and the Cotay to Gabbys and the 2's into the others separated. Lol. They are use to it now.

Variety of sizes is good for them, helps them exercise. Ours have the concrete ones also. Try some birdie bread most birds eat that up.

We have 3 greys and they like to be away from each other. 2 share a stand but it is large enough that they are not near each other. There is beaking and sometimes it is just them playing by grabbing the others beak and pulling, as our macaws do often, but then there is fighting with the beak and that is usually actual hitting the other bird with it in a striking action. To add to any confusion you already have, our cockatoos were beaking and in a blink of an eye they were rolling on the floor in an all out fight where one ended up with a hole in his head. I guess what i am trying to say is that in time after you learn your birds body language you will know what they are doing and why, it is really hard to know not knowing them. If your one bird flew away, he was done with it. It is good when they can leave the situation on their own. I know from our guys that they do not like their out of cage time to be on their cage, they are smart lil buggers and want to be in the main part of the house where we are and to see new things. By now you should have heard a contact whistle, that is them checking on you and where you are at and if you are safe, if you can, do that whistle back to them. :-) Best wishes on your new journey! Congrats and welcome!

Welcome, they are both cuties. As you have read by now, Greys have thier own time line and what is a month to us is just days for them so slow and steady. Your hand in his cage, which is his safe zone, is like a total stranger just walking into our house rearranging things and chashing us around. Just leave the door open and he will come out to explore sooner or later. Change his cage from the bottom grate and only put your hands in necessary. If the cage is the correct size, he will be fine until he is ready to come out, remember that the cage needs to be large enough for him to spread his wings out and flap for exercise. Papoo and your hands will thank you! Congrats on your new family member!

Our macaw use to ride on the head rest of the passenger seat until there was a quick stop and he went to the floor board. He was okay that time, my seat however is not from him trying to climb back up while hubby was having to continue to drive... New rule was made that day - no more uncrated birds in the cars! lol It really isn't safe for them or us. Congrats on the new addition, what beautiful colors! We have one with the red like that but she is a plucker so if its ok, i will be picturing your birds body on my gals head until they come back in! lol I see that caption, Mr Rett Butler, is that his name? If not, what is his name? As far as bonding, that will come naturally with your everyday activities as long as he is a part of them. Talking, singing, dancing like a fool and reading out loud to him along with just being there for him. You will do just greyt!!

What a cutie! Glad to hear all is looking up again for you both!

Good luck to you! Poor Bubba has been to the vet so much i think the vet named his new boat after him, "Bubba Mobile". lol Bubba has had crop issues and the breath goes from bad to sweet so often that when the poop smell changed i went into high gear with the panic. As it turned out, i had switched him from Zupreem Veggie to the fruit and that got his juices flowing, so to speak. I still feel like my house reeks of the smell, but i have scrubbed and sniffed his poo until i was blue in the face and nothing is left. I have even brought in neighbors to sniff around just in case because i was going nuts, nothing. It must just be something i will have to get past!! lol

Happy hatchday!