murfchck

I never thought of the hissing sound but i have used it with them in the room before, Bubba likes the steam so i never gave it a second thought. I guess i am back to normal mopping and steaming when they are not in the room. I also found out yesterday that Pat had been working with Gabby and her harness and it was on the counter so she was pissed about that too. ( He got it completly on her and then she freaked out. Been months to get to this point. ) Hubby got irritated with having to rescue me again with Gus and Oliver. I love holding them but then they won't let me put them down so he has to come over and get them off me! I am such a push over with them anymore. I have been trying to be firmer but the fearlessness i had almost 2 years ago has changed since i discovered i enjoy not getting bit. Gus had climbed onto my head with both right and left talon up my nose, Pat just walked over and said "really? How did that happen?" then Oliver has started trying to be a shoulder bird with me, i can't let him because he loves nipping me. He isn't biting, just love nips but thats way to close to my face. I gotta get brave again, i think that is part of Cotays problem with me, she knows. lol

LOL, Gosh yes, most of the food will end up on the floor, the walls and I have had steamed squash on the ceiling before! That is why alot of people will measure the amout of food they put in there for them so they have an idea of how much is eaten. I keep track of the birds weight though and not the food. As for loving food one day and hating it the next, very normal. It works in reverse also, hates the good stuff one day and then the next will love it, so keep offering the greens even if they get flung. They gotta put it in their mouth to fling it out and one day in that process they will bite down a little harder and discover they like it! As for the singing and dancing, keep it up! My whole flock will start dancing with me, and it is so much fun. I have found with that snapping my fingers to the beat while moving the hand up and down gets Gabby boucing up and down to the beat, Bongo also. Cotay just makes the snapping sound. We have had Cotay about a month now and are still trying to discover her likes and dislikes. She also will not step up for me and I am having to do the stick, however when i just put the stick in my hand she flys off. We still do this everyday so will get use to it and me but once she is off the cage and on the floor she steps up to my hand without issue. She is what is called cage aggresive, once away from her cage, she is a different bird. Well she still hates me and loves hubby but it is a process, just be consistant!

I never thought of that. I always just try to lure him out, but making it a game never crossed my mind, thank you! We will start that this morning. You gotta know that when i can say Gus was our best behaved yesterday, it was a bad day in this house. lol All the birds were nippy and grumpy. I sure hope that today starts fresh and everyone wakes in a good mood. Gus was a sweety pie and pretty quiet, the macaws came in second other than their beaking each other ( which is normal but makes me a nervous wreck ) but the greys were awful. lol The would strike at me and bite me even if i was just walking by. I had the steam mop out and Gabby was growling at it, it isn't like i have never used it before, gesh. Gus though shocked me, i can't sweep or mop around him because of the handles so he goes into the other rooms while i do this. Yesterday i just said to myself he has gotta get past this, lol. I had swept the night before after they went to bed so i went straight to steaming, did not phase him in the least. Since it is more like a vaccuum he wasn't scared of it, yeah! Just had to deal with Gabby and Cotay hating it.

Welcome! I have also rehomed older greys, one 22 one 11 and one 7. They are set in their ways but in time will come around. The 22 year old after a year and a half just started letting me touch and play with her and still only when she is ready. Grey time is very slow so be ready for it. As much as we want to just pick them up and love them, it needs to be from afar. They do not understand yet that they are in a better place, right now all they see is how the have been removed yet again from a home they assumed would be forever, the more moves they make the more time it takes for them to trust again. The grape in the bowl to get her back into the cage was the best thing you could have done, don't force her to do anything she is not ready for, let her make the decision when she is ready! Congrats!!!

I hope so because it is a heart string puller.

Makes total sense. I am not sure where Gus got his, more than likely the same way. I was told by the lady we got him from that the people who dropped him off with her said the would put him in the shower with them and he would wak around the bottom of the tub while they showered. HA! Not only does he hate showers, he hates feet so hmmm, thinking he got kicked a few times while in that shower with them. What still breaks my heart though is when i go into their room in the mornings and he runs to his bowl and buries his head as if he is so afraid and hiding. He has 4 bowls but one is just for him and hiding, if it makes him feel safe then who am i to try and take that away. He had a big bucket that he would do that too but it was too unsafe for him to try and hide in, i could just see him slipping and the handle choking him or even breaking his little neck. It now has a stuffed bear in it for him to talk too.

LOL, the sounds were coming from the macaws, each bird was on the back of a chair getting their turn at the squash. lol. Bubba was upset he had to wait for us to film Gus. When i first gave Gus the spoon he got so excited it looked like he was hiccupping it was so cute. He is doing much better, but we are looking into steel toe shoes so we can walk around the house again. He has a foot thing where no toes shall go unbitten. Actually he is less scary with exposed toes than tennis shoes, he attacks everytime when he sees shoes even if they are not on your feet. He has learned to get off the stand when we go outside and yesterday we were greeted by all the dogs and Gus with a large portion of our window sill at the back door. It is sad how he just blends in with the dogs, if they run to the front door to bark, he runs right along with them and is in the middle. Try as we may to keep them apart he just doesn't care, on the other hand the dogs don't care either. We had walked outside to talk to a neighbor who had come over, when we walked back in and past and over the 5 dogs blocking the door, looked all around for Gus then realized--We don't have 5 dogs, one had to be Gus, sure enough he was right there in the center of them looking out the door. He still screams a lot but either our hearing is going or we are use to it and can ignor it better. Cotay helps with this though, when Gus gets to screaming and Bubba is telling him to stop it, she is right there saying quiet, quiet, shhhh. I guess she lived with a Gus before!

Congrats to you and your family. If it helps any, i have 3 CAGs, 2 prettty much hate everyone but my husband and me and one of those two hate me. The third one, my Bongo, loves everyone and when he gets around people, turns into mush and demands to be the center of attention.

Just wanted to share Gus's newest fun thing.. A baby spork!!! Now we know how to get him to eat!!! http://s1296.photobucket.com/user/murfchck/media/VIDEO0084_zps05a5186b.mp4.html

Welcome! The first thing ( after seeing how cute he is ) i noticed was his beak, i can't say it is too long but it looks like my guys. I have not seen another like his until yours. But then in Jackos side picture, it looked normal. I have to have Bongos beak trimmed 2-3 times a year but he has trouble eating and has to go at his food sideways if it gets too long. It grows out from his face and then down and very thick, not small and pointed like other greys. He learns to compensate for his beak and doesn't have trouble with it at all, however he will not eat nuts or chew wood at all.

Gabby is 22 now, wow, i missed her birthday it was the 8th. Bad parront! Cotay is 12.

Beautiful!

Oh is it going to be a long morning for you! Congrats and have fun with your new baby!!! Life is about to change and it will be a wonderful time!

My first attempt using an automated phone system with a talking bird n the background. I heard "I think you said ... Is that correct?" about 4 times before i gave up and went outside to use the phone. lol It was 100 degrees out so when i got a human i went back inside where Cotay had 3 of her own phone calls, then kept saying, hey weirdo and your a geek. The poor guy i was trying to talk to was laughing to much to help me with our cable bill. I was trying to explain to him that i only have cable for the birds while we are at work but the bill has jumped to 200 bucks a month, i love them but thats a lot of toys they could be getting. Good thing is he loved hearing the birds, he cut my bill in half so they could keep their tv programs!

I wasn't rushing her to the vet, just wanting to know if there is anything to watch for as far as her getting weak or anything like that. She has a leg that is deformed so her balance is bad and after the first egg and the struggle she had according to hubby i worried about her falling off the perch. I think weak bones and if she is laying eggs what is she depleting her own body of. No biggie, i know she is fine just being prepared. Nothing to compare to so this is brand new to all of us! With her being extra nice to me, i worried because that is NOT normal for her. She lets me be her taxi but not touch her or even pet her and now i can pet or hug and even touch her under her ever so protected wings, lol. I am a murphy and murphy's law follows me around, the good before the bad theory.

So who remembers a movie or a show with the phrase " do it, do it, do it"? I want to say Ben Stiller says it in Starsky and Hutch. Well Cotay says it too, out of no where she was sitting on the kitchen perch and was doing her normal chatting when that came out. It is something new every day and i look forward to the next day. I know to most of you guys her litlle words may seem silly and every day things with your flock but she is my first talker. Gabby chats a little but mostly just says hello, Bubba maybe has 5 words, Oliver just says hello so to hear something other than that is so much fun. She still calls me phhttthhh like Bubba does but has now added "hey weirdo, come here" to call me, bad thing is when i get to her she just says "your weird"! We are working on the trust thing like i said, i am not trying to pick her up and it has improved a wee bit. Yesterday for the first time when i got home and opened her cage, she didn't fluff up at me. She just came out and went to the top play stand area of the cage. I talked softly to her and had my arm on the cage as if asking her to step up so she could get use to my arm in a non threatning way and she didn't come at it striking out. Baby steps!

Good news! Happy to hear all is well!

No doubt thats where the bond began! So i have figured out that Cotay saying "Are you ready? Come on" actually may mean, be ready, i am about to fly to you. Not that she will fly to me, but when she sees Pat, she will say that and then pump her wings getting ready for take off. Yesterday in fact, she bit my side when i was trying to open the drapes in their room, she knows i am actually afraid of her bite. She is picking on me now and taunting me, lol. I got bit by her once and it hurt way worse than the macaws and Gus put together. So now we are working on the trust before i try that again! haha. Our nextdoor neighbor stopped in yesterday, had never seen Cotay before but was greeted by a room full of hellos and she just walk past them saying hello back to them as it was something she does everyday. She got to the kitchen then broke out in laughter when she realized that she was talking to birds, then of course the birds started to laugh with her. What a joy they are, they do make hard days much easier to cope with!

I have some of ours strung with chain from old toys that were picked clean, i put large buttons on each side and wood pieces after that to the top. The others go thru theirs so quick that it just hangs on the chain for easy changing out. We also drilled a hole thru a phone book we cut in half and hung it in the cage, another hit with the greys. I stock up on the bagels when the bird marts are here, Gus picks at them until the color is off then he is done with them. The water bottles are my empties so reallyy there is not expense. Pat gets so mad when there are 10 bottles sitting all over the counter drying out after i cleaned them out just waiting to load them up. For Bongo, i fill it with Cherrios and he bangs it all around for the sound until he discovers the lid, then its his personal mission to remove it.

i am not worried about the eggs at all. There are no eggs in there. #1 broke when #2 came about, # 2 went away when she went to bed without it and didn't want it all day, #3 broke when it hit bottom. She cares less about them, i asked when do i worry about her health, calcium etc. lol. What signs should i be looking for? At her age with her disability, i worry about her health and it taking too much out of her. Since she started doing this, she has become my lil baby girl. Lets me hold her and love on her now. I have even been able to pet under her wings!

We are all here for you! I have any ear any time you need it!

I should know better. Talk about it and things will change. 3rd egg on the bottom of the cage this morning. No sign at all that this would happen. She was full of herself yesterday, helped me shred chicken for dinner, her way of course, and even helped feed the dogs. (also her way, by tossing half of what she shredded onto the floor) She was flying and pooping normal. When do i start to worry? I know 3 is normal but what should i be looking for as far as getting her to the vet? What i really need is a day to myself to have a pity party and just sit and cry without 3 birds laughing at me. I tried yesterday when my washer broke and had my cloths trapped inside it, but Cotay, Bongo and Bubba just laughed at me. I am about worn out. 4 feathers in the bottom of Olivers cage, lots of down in Bubbas cage and dog poo in the corner of their room and then the egg. The rooms are gated, when did they get in there???? Oh yeah, Cotay bit my side this morning too when i was leaning past her cage to open the blinds. Now i have to go to work and deal with the public, i don't wanna play nice today!!!!!

I do that same thing for the greys. For Gus i have to use a water bottle, i put shredded paper in it and a nut then squeeze the air out and twist it some. 30 minutes later, he is eating his nut, lol. I gotta find something a little harder for him to master. We tried a Kong but that doesn't hold his attention. We have the adding paper in all the cages and they love it!

Just an update on Gabby. After her second egg, we removed the first egg. She had her second for a few days and didn't pay much attention to it at all. In fact the second night she went to her cage at bedtime and the egg didn't go with her. She is back to her normal self, talking and dancing and roaming the house.

LOL, I have no doubt thats where their bond started! This fart thing, because we laugh when she does it is her most repeated thing and it has SO many varities. The simple fart noise to the extreme double fart with an ahhhh at the end to a quick one followed by "I have gas". Now as you know none of my birdies will say my name, i am pphhttthhhh to them but Pat has started to say my name after the fart noise or say Lisa has gas and make the noise, my luck she will be the one that learns my name. I will have to kill them both if that happens! lol Who ever first had her and taught her all of this, my hats are off to them, she is one funny girl. I just wish i knew what happened to them and how many times she has been rehomed. I am starting to learn a little spanish, never thought that would happen! lol