neoow

Haha that's pretty cool. Alfie is forever telling the cats off for me. I quite often hear "No!" or "Off!" or "Oi!" coming from Alfie (in my voice) when the cats are up to no good! When we had a dog he used to tell him to sit, stay, go outside and come in.

I kept holding my breath through most of the story. Almost forgot to breathe! Was so happy for you when you were reunited with Rico! What a rollercoaster of emotions that was- and I was only reading about it! I can't begin to imagine what you were going through!

What an awesome update!

Photos please!! Happy Hatch Day! :cool:

Alfie grew up with a dog and a cat was added later on. Our dog (Ben) was a german shepherd and he was a big softie. However, I never trusted them both enough to let Alfie out when Ben was in the house, I always put the dog outside first. The same rule applied when we got Buster the cat (especially as the cat was forever bringing home dead animals). However Ben was always watchful of Alfie and if he did anything like fall off a perch or just clatter around his cage, Ben would go running over to make sure he was ok. Alfie would climb down the cage to check Ben out too- he'd even slowly stick his beak up Ben's nostril (ew!). Neither of them minded. Buster the cat was very indifferent about Alfie (thankfully) and never bothered him. Alfie would climb down to try and pluck Buster's tail if he left it leaning against his cage but that was it. However, I still never trusted Alfie to be out of his cage in the same room as Ben or Buster- just in case something awful happened and I wasn't able to prevent it. If Alfie rubbed either one of them up the wrong way, I knew he was done for. (e.g if he bit one of them or irritated them enough). Alfie did get out of his cage once when nobody was home except for Ben. I don't think I closed the food bowl hatch properly and Alfie climbed out. Thankfully, nothing awful happened. They were home alone in the house together for an hour or two. My sister came home from work, saw that Alfie was out and called me. I had to come home from work to put Alfie back in his cage because my sister was too scared (having been bitten previously) to try it. Thankfully neither Ben nor Alfie had come to any harm. However, after that, Ben was always a bit wary when I opened the cage door/food doors. So I'm not sure if he got spooked by Alfie flying around or if Alfie had tried to land on him. The same rules apply now- I have two indoor only cats. They are bengals so are super high energy cats and love to play with toys that they can consider to be 'prey' (e.g a toy on a wand and string). I definitely would never trust either of them with Alfie out of his cage. They know to keep their paws to themselves whilst he's in the cage but I don't know if they could resist if he was out of it when they were in the room. Alfie for the most part is pretty indifferent about them, but I know he could do a lot of damage to them if he wanted to... and they could easily kill him. In fact one of my cats is very agile and can jump very high, so I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to pluck Alfie out of the air. When Alfie comes out to play, they get shut out of the room. I agree with others and do think the animals involved will make a big difference to whether or not they'll get on. I have seen videos similar to the ones posted earlier with parrots getting on just fine with dogs and/or cats.

Welcome! I just saw your other thread. Well done for offering your home to the African Grey in need- despite already having your hands full with your current birds! I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will come along and offer some valuable advice shortly.

Haha uh oh! Busted!!

Oh yes! I'd forgotten that in my previous house Alfie learned the noise of the door being unlocked. Scared the heck out of me on more than one occasion!!

Not to thread hi-jack but I'd be interested in the recipe for birdie bread

Alfie burps and farts courtesy of my sister (yes, really). In fact, that was her "name" for quite a while- whenever he saw her, he would make his burp and fart noises. He also coughs, sneezes and blows his nose... or should that be blows my nose? He regularly joins in when I start coughing and sneezing. He also mimics my laugh.

I don't have anything useful to add, I just wanted to say that I really admire all the work you are doing, Muse. I read your posts with great interest and think you are doing an amazing job. Thank you.

I have to get Alfie's beak trimmed every so often because it grows quite long and is wonky. If I look at him straight on his top beak grows over to the right and the bottom beak grows over to the left. Its been like this for years, so I have to keep an eye on it and get it trimmed to prevent him having troubles eating, drinking and getting around his cage. As far as nails go, he mostly keeps these in check himself. He has various perches to assist with this which are made from concrete or covered in something which looks like colourful sandpaper. I regularly replace these and they do a really good job at keeping his nails from growing too wrong. I decided against getting his wings clipped because he is a very strong flier and I am very careful about doors and windows when he is out of the cage.

Hahaha... hilarious!!

Sully is a right chatterbox! Amazing! Alfie goes camera shy whenever I get my phone out. I have to secretly record him if I want to hear him chattering away to himself!

Alfie's wings were clipped twice when he was very young. The store I got him from recommended keeping his wings lightly clipped. After the second time, I decided it would never happen again. He was only lightly clipped both times, but I saw no benefit to it and it was so stressful for him that it just wasn't worth it. He's quite a strong flyer so the wing clip had no effect on him once he got used to it. I'm always super careful with doors and windows (and cats!) when he's out of his cage and he doesn't come out when I'm cooking as he can be a bit unpredictable about where he chooses to land... and I don't want him to land in a pot of boiling water! The thing I realised was that, other than being super stressful for him, if he got out, he'd be able to fly away anyway- wings clipped or not. I also thought that having a bird and expecting it not to fly was like having a dog and expecting it not to wag its tail... or bark. I just wish I'd thought about it sooner rather than listening to the person at the store. Hindsight is always wonderful, isn't it?!

Haha that's pretty cool. Alfie always perks up and listens intently when I'm watching parrot/bird videos too!

Here's another AlfieCam video from yesterday

Yeah its great! I only turn the email notifications on every so often though, as it quickly floods my inbox! But I can check in and watch the live feed at any time, so thats pretty cool.

Bonus photo "It wasn't me!" (He's been playing with the bottle for a while. He likes it so much, he's totally ignored the paper I left for him to shred!)

Here's a few photos of Alfie from today. He was chilling out on his tree and on the back of the armchair. And here's today's footage from my DLink camera. It captures a few seconds of footage when a sound triggers it (over 90db) and then emails it to me. I picked out the best ones from today and shoved them together. Nothing fancy, but just shows what noises Alfie makes during the day.

Hi all, I posted a while back because I was looking into hanging some toys from the ceiling. Some members gave some great tips and advice about doing this (thank you, as always!) but it was going to be tricky because I have artex patterned ceilings and would have needed to find beams to screw into. I visited my sisters house yesterday and she has a smallish disco ball in her kitchen. She hung it from the wall using a hanging basket wall bracket. I thought this would be a great idea to hang toys from for Alfie- giving him extra places to play and hang out on when he's out of his cage. I want to get a plain one, without any decorative bits and pieces that Alfie could get his toes or beak stuck on. Something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003D8G4UQ/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1N3KBJWS9PFAC8FKREKK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455333147&pf_rd_i=468294 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003BQYA4W/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_d0_i5?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1N3KBJWS9PFAC8FKREKK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455333147&pf_rd_i=468294 Does anyone see any issues with this that I might not have thought of?

Ah I'm not sure if it was me doing something right or him just being tolerant of change. He's pretty good and takes most of it in his stride. He likes to take some time to look at all his toys from a distance before the curiosity gets too much and he starts playing with them. I make a big deal of opening the box nearby and showing him each toy as its unpacked. I tell him how much fun the new toy will be and what it's got on it. If he reacts negatively then it doesn't go in the cage straight away. But generally he likes to have a look whilst I'm unpacking and sometimes will come over to poke at it before it even gets put in his cage. I think I'm super lucky that he adjust pretty quickly to things like that.

Haha I love the idea of human toys! But I can appreciate how tricky it could be to entertain a parrot 24/7! Alfie loves his toys. Especially ones which he can pull apart or throw around. He gets really into his toys and flings them around. The more noise the better. He also loves hanging on them. When he's feeling a little sleepy he grabs a toy, gets it to swing back and fourth then sticks his neck under it so it scratches/strokes him as it goes past. It's really cute to watch.

Every so often I decide to cycle Alfie's toys round to give him some variety. He's very good and not as change adverse as some parrots, so he's used to this process. When I feel that his current toys are getting a little stale/boring for him, I splash out and spoil him rotten with some new toys. I always let him watch me take everything out and show him what I'm putting in and where I'm putting it. If there's anything he doesn't like the look of before it goes in the cage, then it doesn't go in. I leave it out but in the room so he can look at it from a distance. It then gradually gets moved closer to the cage, then hung on the side of the cage and then finally, when he's happy, it goes in the cage. This kind of reaction doesn't happen often though- it's usually only for larger toys or toys made form materials he hasn't seen before. In fact I can't remember the last time I had to do this. I'm lucky that he's quite tolerant of new toys. New toy time came around recently and I spend a couple of hours browsing my favourite parrot website: Northern Parrots http://www.northernparrots.com I found loads of great toys (and also got some that were on sale) so I picked a few out (and put some on my list for another time) and Alfie has had a great time with them. Alfie now has a new Activity Wall (he's had one before and had oodles of fun pulling it apart bit by bit. I promised him I'd buy him another. http://www.northernparrots.com/activity-wall-for-parrots-prod346306/ He also has a coconut filled with lots of paper and things to chew on: http://www.northernparrots.com/assorted-brands-coco-swing-foraging-bowl-parrot-toy-prod385167 I have been hiding dried fruit, palm nuts and other assorted treats in there for him. He LOVES climbing in it and having a good rummage round. He has a bucket of toys which he likes to throw all over his cage: http://www.northernparrots.com/bucket-with-bells-hanging-foraging-toy-for-parrots-prod35913 And finally... probably the least popular one (at the moment): http://www.northernparrots.com/assorted-brands-caribbean-foraging-pouch-chewable-parrot-toy-prod37061 He's had a bit of a go at this one, but it's probably his least favourite of the new toys at the moment. I think the others are much more entertaining for him! Has anyone else been spoiling their parrots recently? What did you/they get?

Poor Sully, glad he's doing better now though. Such a good boy for taking his meds too!