murfchck

It is really hard to get a full picture of the hanging stand we made, but this could give a good idea. We took 2 swings and 2 double swings and attached them together with long branches (perches) Hung a pvc poop catch device we made that spans the area and here it is. ( i hope it posted anyway, lol) Total cost was 85 and it fills the entire bay window. URL=http://s1296.photobucket.com

Congrats!!! I have noticed that my female is a lighter grey than my male, I have 2 girls but the other one has no feathers and is a red factor so i can't compare! I worried about babys too but i gave up stressing about it, they are not "alone". lol

There is an ad similar to that listed here in Dallas off and on. Two birds, same reason. The ad is so confusing though, she/he talks of the two birds and relocating but at the end of the post starts only talking about one. It is like they don't even know what they have. lol

I do rememeber that! I love your new spin on it, and with seven cages and 6 stands i may have to borrow it!!

Oh yeah, the calling the dogs to "go outside, gotta make a pee pee". We never knew we said that, so glad she pointed it out... 15 times a day at the least! I also forgot that Bongo does the backing up beeps too. It is funny how we hear their noises so often that we often forget because it becomes second nature to us.

LOL, at the underwear drawer. Gabby's was a box and i do remember right before the egg laying episode, she plucked her tummy/ woowoo area till it was a hacked mess. Took several weeks before she was back to normal. As far as misting, I do not have one bird that likes it at all. Bubba likes to get in the tub and play around in it but he doesn't bath. We put a a table stand in the tub and found a shower head that sprays a mist and they all get their baths that way now. However that isn't always the easiest so we also have two misting bottles, on is a pump and the other is the spray, i distract them with one and spray with the other, then when they turn their attention to the one distarcting them, i can get them with the other! It is tuff trying new ways to out smart these guys, so every now and then when the grays come to the kitchen counter near the sink, my faucet sprayer will accidentially go off in their direction, hummm, wonder how that happens?? lol

Young and unaware, we let our first cockatoo outside and let him wander all the time. He would climb trees and and hang out while we did yard work. My guys now have large aviaries and only go out with their harness. The hawks here are very bad ( there are three that perch in my next door neighbors tree daily ) and even with the harness, one swooped over my shoulder to get Bongo, so even when you think they are safe a close eye needs to be on them and the sky.

Thank you guys very much. I was having a pretty low day yesterday and i guess i just needed to vent some, so thanks for listening. My hubby kept trying to tell me that Lilly was ours, not to fret, it isn't like she will come repo her. We will pay what we can when we can. lol I think i hate the looming bills and get paniky. It also didn't help that after 9 yrs of not having any family after my mother passed away, my brother and sister popped back into my life on Christmas day. Emotions were too high for me to handle and i finally broke!! Que sera sera! The new bird toys are still in their stockings, we got some out and the birds kinda freaked out so they went back up until we could have some time to get them use to them. I thought Santa did pretty good, 7 parrots, 4 dogs and a cat and my total bill was 150. lol I went shopping in the dog toy aisle discount bin for foot toys. Kongs and tires with rope for the big guys ( and girl) and knotted rope for the greys along with the usual hanging bird toys for them all. Two of the 4 dogs actually got their heads stuck in the stockings trying to get their prizes out. They love Christmas and somehow know, they pestered Pat until he gave them their stockings.

Funny how things change from day to day! Gabby, who i have worked long and hard building a trust up now hates me again and Cotay let me pick her up yesterday 2 times! and head skritches are now expected and a must What fickled little spoild fids!!! I did my second love session with Lilly yesterday and it ended with me more upset than ever before and i cried for hours while my husband tried to console me. lol We know we have to keep her but now i worry about finances and how we are going to get the money to pay for her. I told the lady we would talk at the end of the year and that came really quickly and we were not able to save a dime, in fact, couldn't even scrape two pennies together to save our life! lol So i am embellishing that some but i just can't stop thinking about how we are going to pull this off! I can't let her go. When will hubby win that lottery???? lol

I do hope you are able to get to the bottom of this quickly! Yes dryness does play a roll sometimes and aloe mistings will help ease that but please get him checked out to rule anything else out first. My macaw started plucking his belly area when he was sick and that area was where he hurt so i have learned vet check first, then let the mind wander to come up with the why if there is a clean bill of health! It is heartbreaking to watch and see what he is doing himself, but know that they are still the same beautiful birds, feathers or not. (3 1/2 out 7 of mine pluck, so i hold a special place in my heart for the nudist birds, lol) Good luck and please let us know what you find out!

Hope you had a wonderful hatch day!!

Congrats on your present! We also have no human children so our Christmas is about the same here, on our terms, lol. Our gifts came Sunday while at the mall getting my glasses. We stumbled on a store that made phone covers with pictures you can email to them. I walked away with 4 different phone covers all of the fiddos! Even my husband got one. It was a small fortune but these things are so cool, I am really wanting to go back and get more because I got home and found better pictures! lol

We did some cage moving over the weekend. Lilly is pretty much a don't walk by my cage kind of a girl and she was right by the door. We moved her (and Gus since the share the double cage) to where Oliver was and put Ollie nearest the door. SOOO much better, lol, less screaming too. This holiday time is messing with their semi schedule and making them a bit cranky, as much as i love Christmas, i can not wait to get back to normal. And Lilly stole another heart. A friend of ours stopped by and he and Lilly were inseperable. It is really quite odd that people just see her and fall in love. They don't even have to hold her, just something in her eyes i guess. She won me over years ago and i had never held her. Gus looks exactly the same but it is Lilly everyone flocks too. So now there are two familys wanting to take Lilly home with them and poor Gus, its just us who loves him! lol I did get a shock last night, Cotay, (who looks at me like a chicken bone) let me scratch her head. I thought it was a fluke but i did it a second time and then called Pat in to see our third time. That is the first time i have been allowed to touch her. She still will not step up for me unless i drape a cloth over my arm, but to let me give her head and neck scratches is a Christmas miracle!!

Welcome! First off you need to slow down with your new companion. These guys are nothing like a dog or cat and require so much more of you than you would expect. They are more like a 2 year child than a "pet". I have had Bongo for going on three years and he is just starting to really open up. My husband and i have 2 more greys that i still can not handle due to their fear, i will not push them just because I want to handle them, it has to be their choice or i could ruin what little trust we have built. Please explain what you mean by handicapped. There are many of us on here that have birds with handicaps. Gabby has a twisted leg that is turned in and her toes on that foot are limited to the use of only one toe. This does not slow her down at all, most disabled birds have no issues living a full life. It scared me some when you said something about getting rid of your birds because it screams when you or anyone else is around it and it had only been with you a day or two. When anyone is ever thinking about getting a bird, the first thing they should know is that this is a commitment, and should not be done on a whim. This is why there are so many rescue facilities for birds. They are not throw aways if they need a little extra effort from us to care for them, there is no "one size fits all" bird. They have real feelings and with each new home the baggage they carry gets more and more. Bongo doesn't talk in words like we do, he chooses not to, but if i tossed him to side when he wouldn't use human words, i would never have know how exceptional he is to communicate without them.

I love them all, even the screaming because i know they are being birds and are comfortable enough to let it loose! My fav though is Bubba at night. We have this ritual of nut and kisses and night-nights, but when i start lowering the lights and saying sunset he starts with his "I Love". ( It is more like "I lub" but he won't say you.) To me, everytime i hear him say that, my heart melts! The one that makes me laugh is Cotay. If we even look like we are walking to the back door she says, "Wanna go outside? Gotta pee pee?"

That is sooo true! When the noise level gets to us and we say, if only we could have a few moments of silence... Then we get it, and we are jumping up looking for the birds on countertops, in drawers, tossing my Christmas sugar boat lid to the floor to match the everyday one that she tossed months ago, on top of curtains, hanging from pictures, oh list can go on where we find them when there is silence!

Cotay does the high pitch, in your ear, chirp. Lucky though she only does it to Pat. Gabby does three knocks, which in its self isn't bad, it is the hard bite she gives right after that makes me not like that sound. Bongo is an angel, he does not do anything annoying, yet. Lol

I have a bird that is afraid of low lights and it started a riot last night. We had to run out when Pat got home last night so i had dinners ready and we put them back into their cages with food while we ran out. I didn't see Pat lower the lights for them and i had their corner lights on so there were shadows everywhere. It was as if the shadows were attacking them. Mostly Gus and Lilly but their fit caused the others to join in. We even brought them out of the room to feel safe but it just wouldn't stop. Finally we just had to do a lights out and put them all to bed. Took less than a minute and they were fast asleep. Before i even remembered the shadows though, we tried everything and even thought they were trying to tell us something wasn't right. Could it be the heater. we shut it off, the humidifier, shut it off. Gesh, the things that play in your mind. On a side note, spoke with the lady i got Gabby's cage from and her 65 yr old bird passed away on her birthday. How sad it was as that girl was full of life and herself when were there in early November. Her consilation is that she knew this girl had a wonderful with them!

Straws are a staple here. They do spit them out, so until i see otherwise i can not give up the straws!!

We started with little flight lessons with Bongo. Pat would hold him and then kind toss him in my direction. ( i don't actually mean toss but there isn't a better word for the action of kinda nudging him with the flinch of the arm ) For weeks we would only be a foot away from each other then we slowly spread apart, it just didn't seem like he was getting any better at it either. Those crash landing were breaking my heart! (here is a hint too, don't try and catch him with your arm, let your bird try and aim and land on it. I out of instinct, tried to follow and catch him on my arm and it screwed the poor guy up cause he just didn't know where to go!) After many many months of this, he is now our best flier and just loves to do laps around the kitchen when i am not looking! His feathers are still coming in from his clip before we got him 2 years ago, so don't wait to start the lessons, just start off where he can gain confidence in himself, the rest will happen with being consistant!

LOL, Never thought of that but have 5 of those too!

We have 7 and they are all out at the same time, seperate stands for the most part, seperated by species. Greys have their area, macaws have theirs and the Toos each have their own stand because Lilly pushes Gus off when they shared one!

Oh and the day just kept getting better... We had left the birds in their cages in the morning so Pat could get a bit of stuff back into the attic, we had all of the cage skirts we forgot to put up yesterday, and then we were going to try and venture to the grocery store. So Pat went up and i bent over to pick up a box and Pat came right back down thru he ceiling in the bird room. Legs just dangling with him sitting on a rafter stunned, i made sure he wasn't hurt then did an emergency evacuation of all the birds because of the insulation. Cotay was the worst hit, somehow didn't have any on her but it was covering one side of her cage, all over her boing and in her food bowls. Lilly also got some in her cage but her damage was from her freaking out when it happened and she broke some feathers. The others i just needed to get out because of the dust. My suprise, no issues from any of them to get out. Cotay will not step up for me but up she came, Gus will take forever to decide if it is safe to step, he came right out and Bongo likes to play chase me around before i will step up, he was at the door wainting. So our day was spent fixing the ceiling and them removing everything from the 7 cages and cleaning them completely top to bottom. And to top it off, now Pat's car wouldn't start. A neighbor came and helped him with that, fingers crossed it starts this morning! Gesh.

Murphy's law at work. Pat had my car fixed Thursday, alternator went out. When he picked me up that day my passenger door broke and now can't be opened from the outside. We have been iced in now since Thursday evening and we tried to get out yesterday because we were pretty close to being out of people food so we spent close to an hour scraping ice off my car only to discover the windshield cracked all the way across. Then after all that still couldn't get the car to move. We ended up walking to Walgreens and spent 40 bucks on crap food, chips, chocolate covered cherries and bacon, lol. We have spent the last two days cleaning out the attic, we brought everything down and cleaned it out, condensing everything down to just a few boxes so we had many extra containers and lids. I got his bright idea to take the lids and do some sleding out front. Pat finally got brave enough to give it a try too. He got on and i gave a push, and almost peed my pants as he went past our neighbors front window on all fours like a dog with no way to stop himself, then when he did stop, he couldn't get up so he was stuck there. He has this fear of ice since he slipped one year and dislocated his knee in the front driveway, so seeing him play in it was fun! The birdies though are less than thrilled with this weather, even though they don't go outside everyday, it is like they have cabin fever and they are getting nto everything. I use to have a beautiful palm tree that is now tatters of stalks as an example. Lilly and Gus have elevated the screams and Cotay keeps asking if we "want to go outside, gotta pee pee." Gabby is just bored and chewing up boxes, my couch and trying to eat an elf. The macaws are just sitting there looking at us, not even playing with the toys. My Bongo is just happy where ever he is! I did manage to get the mantle decorated, we hung 14 Christmas stockings on it, Pat told me it couldn't be done, HA! I will get a picture and show you how i pulled that off!

LOL, i love the toilet brush description! Was the stand in the same place before when he would use it? I had to move one of ours just about 6 inches so that they couldn't reach a painting and Gus who was always the one on that stand will not go near it now. He will lay as flat upside down as he can get as you walk him over to it. So Lilly now uses it. After watching her on it, we noticed there are shadows casted on the wall now, where they were not there before. And Gus IS afraid of his own shadow.