Burkinagin

(Sorry for such a long delay in responding to your great support. Internet has been off and on so irregular this past week. The joys of living in West Africa) Thank you all for your wonderful advice. You all are teaching me so much. It was my mother that had told me not to whistle with Wozzie, only use words. She said she read it somewhere. Now after reading your post, I understand how misinformed she was to tell me this. Poor Wozzie... I am going downstairs right now to whistle with him. LOL Thanks again everyone!

Thank You! Your ideas are great and bring all kinds of encouragement for me to try to get my creative juices to flow to create fun things for Wozzie to play with. The colored straws have been a great success and have given him hours of fun.

Well, we've had our Wozzie with us for 53 days now and what a joy he has been to us already. Quick question. The first couple weeks he was with us, he was saying very clearly, (low voice) "Bonjour", and an occasional "Hello" but only when I was out of the room or my back was to him. Suddenly words stopped and only whistles. I know to only talk to him, we hardly ever whistle with him. ( I read this on your forum to do). From what I can recall, the only difference was that we had changed his living area, his small cage to his castle. Any suggestions?? Wozzie is now whistling like crazy during our cuddle time and cant hardly stop kissing me. LOL Two weeks ago, this wasn't happening. Progress, I love it! But not knowing his age, I'm wondering if he older, and was never taught to talk, will he or can he start learning words at an older age? Gin

Jeff, Sorry i forgot to tell you, we base out of Missouri. My two sons live in Parkville, MO, North of Kansas City. This is where we consider our home seeing that we raised our kids here. Great place! I see your from Tulsa. We have been there a number of times because of our travels to raise funds for our churches here in Burkina. (we call it deputation). God Bless and thanks for the connection

I wish I could but the place I live, I cant find an Avian vet. There may be one here somewhere in the city, but we don't have yellow pages, just word of mouth. (Burkina Faso, West Africa) I keep asking though, you just never know...LOL

You know of Ouagadougou and you spelled it right? I'm impressed already...LOL Yes this is the city we live in and plan to work here until retirement age, which is awhile yet. My concern with Wozzie within our life style is that we return to the states every 4 years for our furlough time which is up to a year time. (will be having this time Jan. 2014) I do have a lady here that has said she will keep Wozzie for me during our time of separation, but I know that it is going to be difficult for him and myself. It almost kept me from rescuing him, but when I saw the condition he was living in, I couldn't stop myself from making the commitment to him. Its one of those things we will have to work through when the time comes. And when the time for us to return to permanently, I don't know if it will be possible to bring Wozzie because I don't have any paper work on him. I don't know of an avian vet here yet, I'm still asking around. I had my vet for my dog come and take a look at him, and he brought vitamins for him. He said He needed them because it is the rainy season here now. He really didn't know much at all about my bird, I could tell by his amazement of how I was handling Wozize and all the affection we were exchanging with one another in front of him.

Oh my goodness, I am learning so much from you all. Thank you for sharing. You have know idea how much it is helping me to learn about my Wozzie.

Hi JeffNOK, I just recently joined the forum and titled my introduction "I'm so Amazed" on July 7. It tells a brief snapshot of Wozzie and the very little we know about him. (I really don't know his gender, I just decided to call him a boy). Do not know his age, I have absolutely no paper work on him. He has chosen me to be the love of his life, but will let Ken, my husband, pet him but with extreme caution. I would say, yes, somebody has worked with him, but not much. I went to the man (on a street corner) who sold him to a friend of mine, and that same day, I bought him from her. He couldn't answer any of my questions. (I was thankful for his honesty, and that he just didn't make up answers to appease me) All he could tell me was that it was a man from this country (Burkina Faso, West Africa) that owned him and the only word he speaks is "Bonjour" (Its a french speaking country). Jeff, Wozzie is amazing! I had know idea birds had so much personality. Everyday we are growing and bonding. Right now, I am really working on watching and learning his body language for when he is trying to tell me things. Thanks for showing interest. I could use all the support I can get right now, with the little knowledge I have about my CAG. God Bless!

Our little Wozzie came to us in this little cage. From what we know this is all our little guy knew before he came into our lives. (Very little is know about him). First thing, a new cage was made. Secondly, I made him a new toy with colored straws. HE LOVES IT! (I learned to make from your forums ). We are one month into our new life with Wozzie and loving him dearly.

I have a quick question that I'm not finding the answer too, in my readings. How would I know if Wozzie's wings have been clipped to prevent him from flight, or if he has just never learned. After you see the cage our little guy lived in, I am thinking he probably has just never learned. Today in our play time he was really showing out for me and flapping his wings like crazy. The more I praised him, the more he continued this behavior. We had such fun! I apologize in advance for all my silly questions that one should probably know from a little common sense. Also,there is one feather on his left wing that is sticking out sorts and not laying flat with the others. Should I just ignore it? I was hoping after his bath that Wozie would pull it himself, but it's still there. Maybe you all can direct me to a forum I am not finding abut this...thanks again...Burkinagin

Thanks for your encouragement. Ken And I are enjoying and loving our Wozzie so much. I have taken a few pictures I will try to get uploaded in the next few days. I go to bed every night with my IPad, reading and learning more and more each day. This morning before I even had my morning coffee, I had my colored straws out with other fun little things to make Wozzie his first homemade toy. Ken was just shaking his head laughing I think more at me with my excitement of Wozzie loving it so much. I also made him a ring out of brown paper with peanuts, crackers and a few other things I know he likes now. I've been telling him "Merry Christmas" all day with all the fun things he is receiving. He has played for hours today and continue even as I type this. I am taking your advice and really studying Wozzie. Again, I am amazed at how much he is communicating to me with his body language. I have a quick question that I'm not finding the answer too in my readings. How would I know if Wozzie's wings have been clipped to prevent him from flight, or if he has just never learned. After you see the cage our little guy lived in, I am thinking he probably has just never learned. Today in our play time he was really showing out for me and flapping his wings like crazy. The more I praised him, the more he continued this behavior. We had such fun! I apologize in advance for all my silly questions that one should probably know from a little common sense. Also,there is one feather on his left wing that is sticking out sorts and not laying flat with the others. Should I just ignore it? I was hoping after his bath that Wozie would pull it himself, but it's still there. Thanks again...Gin

I am so amazed already at how much I am learning from all you here at Greys forums. What a blessing it is to have found you all. Let me try briefly to tell my story. Here goes... For many years I have heard my husband express how much he wanted an African Grey. Due to our life style I knew it was not possible when the wanting began. After living in Kansas City, MO for many years, and after our children had grown into their adults lives, we finally knew it was time to step into the life of Missionary work in Burkina Faso, West Africa. (A dream that finally became a reality. That is a long story made short in order to get to the point about my bird) We have been in Burkina Faso for 2 years now. At a ladies conference with many other missionaries, I overheard a lady say that she had rescued an African Grey from a horrible situation and was needing a home for him. The rest is history. I quickly made arrangements to surprise my husband and was so happy to have our WOZZI as a part of our family. The first 3 days were great, with the two them bonding as I had read about, trying very hard not to be jealous. My husband and I both were on the internet day and night trying to read and learn all that we could about Wozzi. Remember, we are in West Africa, so we do not have Avery Vets here to go to, or books to purchase. Then it happened... my husband had to leave town for a few days and during that time Wozzi decided that I was going to be the love of his life. He wont have anything to do with Ken now and continues to bite him anytime he tries show him attention. This occurred 2 weeks ago. I have continued to do research and just 3 days ago, found you all. You cannot imagine how elated I was to have so many of my questions answered just by reading your post. So here are some of my dilemma's. The only information I have on Wozzi is that it was a Burkinabee family that owned him prior. THAT'S IT!!!! No age or sex is known. I am choosing to call him a HIM only because I am reading that opposites attract. Wozzie appears to be in great health, with all feathers in tack and not seeing him pluck or dig. From what I can tell the only negative behavior I am finding is the biting everyone but me. He shows extreme affection towards me, kissing me constantly with the sound of a kiss, and always wanting me to hold him. We practice step up and step down everyday. He is a cuddlier from what I can tell, by his desire to want to be on my shoulder and chest all the time. His words are very limited. I've only heard "Bonjour" (we are a french speaking country) and just today... HELLO! (a bilingual bird) LOL I started singing to him Old McDonald last week and already he is trying to whistle the tune so I know he is at least trying. Wozzi does make the sound of the chickens clucking really well, so that leads me to think he was outside all the time, which is most likely here in this country. Now Wozzi is in a beautifully made bird cage I had especially made for him that is 6 ft by 3 ft and opens up at the top. (I found a picture off the internet and took it to our iron workers here and they made it for us). It is beautiful!! I will welcome any bit of feedback you all would like to give me if time allows. In the meantime, I will just keep reading and learning and enjoying your posts. God Bless Burkinagin (Gin)