kashalp

My buddy Skippy hates red palm oil. Ive been trying to add the palm oil to his treats/food but everything that touches it he tosses to the side. any suggestions or ideas? how do you normally serve your rpo? thanks steve

I know I'm pretty new here but curious to know if the admin could install a mobile template? If there is anyone else like me they will know what I mean when I say I do 99% of all my Internet browsing on some sort of mobile device (iPhone, IPad etc etc). The full default style template is not very mobile friendly. Still functional, but a mobile version that users can opt to use would be way more effieciant and easier to read/browse. Thanks for reading.

Very curious but hesitant about this product.... someone please find a decent review and share. there is a video also incase anyone missed it from the link above:

So coming up the last weekend of this month, me and most of my close by friends are going away from Friday AM - Monday early PM. The trip is about 3 hours away and I will not be able to bring my TAG skippy with me. I may have a friend who can stop by possibly Saturday and Sunday to change water bowls and top off food but I'm kinda worried about leaving Skippy for such a long period of time. Curious to know what the longest period of time everyone has left there grey at home for? He won't be "alone" lol as his cage is next to my IRN kiwis so there will possibly be some bird talk to keep sanity but still... Also when you go away over night do you leave radio on 24/7? I always leave it on during the day while I'm at work but this will be the first time since I've had skippy that I've gone away for more then just a few hours. Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks Steve

Perfect, thanks all. anyone ever try any canned corn and have any luck? would be too easy to store a serve some of that lol

Yes, yes and yes lol well to the 2nd question almonds and peanuts are a yes. Havent tried cashews or pistachios yet. Also until recently i always thought fruit to be more benefical which we eat alot of in our house... i now know i was incorrect, but vegetables are not as popular in our house so having a good variety on hand 24/7 doesnt come around to often. Which veggies do you find to be most beneficial for greys if you were only going to keep 2-3 on hand at all times?

I'm more specifically looking for your TAG's weight but im sure CAG owners would also appreciate hearing for comparison. I was recently told that my TAG Skippy was under weight so i borrowed a scale from my friend Brad (user name Keeco) and put him on it to see for myself. It turns out Skippy weighs only 260g. I've heard Tags can be anywhere from 275-400, so even if he just has "a small frame" he is still below the lightest/smallest on that particular scale reference. Thanks Steve & Skippy P.S if any IRN owners are curious my female Indian ring neck Kiwi weighed in at 116g

Hello! I’m pretty new to the forums and have only owned my TAG Skippy for just under 2 months but I have a bit of other bird experience so ill give this a shot and answer the questions that I can First of all, most bird bites hurt! The idea is to watch for the warning signs and not get bite, but if it comes down to it be deliberate, calm and steady and don’t pull away as I’m sure you’ve already read. Most birds don’t want to hurt you and will give you plenty of warning before a full blown bite occurs. Even if they wrap there little beaks around your hand/finger, that isn’t necessarily a bite and you shouldn’t be afraid of that. Keep in mind that they use their mouths like hands so a hint of grabbing you with the beak might not be a bite at all. Watch for signs such as clicking, growling, tight feathers, or anything that appears aggressive. You will know a warning sign when you see it. Don’t be discouraged if you do see them. Simply walk away for a few minutes and try again. My TAG Skippy was 5 years old when I got him and I exposed him to the entire family including my 9 year old son almost immediately. We all started with "cage time" talking with Skippy and letting him learn our voices but since I was going to be the main care giver nobody else in the family really held him for a couple weeks except me until he became 100% comfortable with his new environment. Skippy came to me from a home that the owners mostly just let him have run of the house 24/7 with not very much handling so that with his age made for a bit more challenging acclimatization period then most who purchase birds as babies. IF it were me and a new born baby I would for sure try my best to expose my bird to as many new people and faces I could asap. Skippy is gets about 3-4 hours a day so far out of his cage and in that time is handled by me or other people about 1-2 hours of that time. The rest of the time he spends in his play area or on boings with his bird buddy Kiwi, my other Indian Ring neck parrot. As for my 9 year old son he handles him whenever he wants as long as I’m in the room. That’s pretty much the only guideline I have and I always encourage my son to talk to Skippy and give him his "cookies". I am a new TAG/African Grey owner myself so I don’t have the most experience with them as most others on this forum but I really believe with a combination of the right bird, some quality time and effort your entire family will be blessed to share a house with a grey. They make tremendous pets and really do become part of the family. Best of luck  Hope that info was even just a bit helpful. Steve

Lol k thanks. I guess since there is nothing negative being said about it I will stick with it for a while since SKippy seems to be enjoying it.

Ha! What's up brad, I new it would only be a matter of time before U found this forum. Being Skippy over soon

Thank you on a funny note i actually just got out of the salt water fish hobby and used the funds to purchase Skippy and a new cage for him not shown in the video. lol My tank was gorgeous tho, and that video really didnt do it any justice. One of those things you just had to see in person..... I was in that hobby for about 5 years and it ate up alot of $$. By the time video was made i probably had about $12000.00 sunk into that tank since i started "reef keeping". Truely beautiful hobby but i LOVE being able to play with and talk to my new buddy Skippy

Done.. thanks

Anyone here have any experiance with the Tropican Lifetime Parrot Granules for grey? i tried a search and only one result was found of a user that actually fed them. It was suggested to my by my local pet shop as the best they carried. Considered driving the distance and switching to Harrisons but if the tropican stuff is a respectacle brand with no known issues i will stick with that. link to food in question: http://hagen.com/usa/birds/addinfo/tropican.cfm Thanks Steve

Anyone here have any experiance with the Tropican Lifetime Parrot Granules? i tried a search and only one result was found of a user that actually fed them. It was suggested to my by my local pet shop as the best they carried. Considered driving the distance and switching to Harrisons but if the tropican stuff is a respectacle brand with no known issues i will stick with that. link to food in question: http://hagen.com/usa/birds/addinfo/tropican.cfm

Thanks for the info Dave but the video is a tribute to my first week with Skippy and was taken over 5 weeks ago. The wing clipping was just done yesterday so it is not shown in the video as he was fully capable of flight at that time. Also, thank you everyone for the nice words so far.

thanks for the comments. I almost forgot to ask one more question.. Yesterday during the wing trimming i was told that skippy was under weight. I have him on a good pellet diet but wondered if there is something specific that will help him pack some weight on quickly and safely?

Just wanted to take a couple minutes and introduce myself. My name is Steve I'm 31 years old, I’m from the Barrie, Ontario Canada area and i am the proud recent new owner of Skippy, a approx 5 year old Timneh African Grey with an amazing personality! I also own a beautiful 2 year old female Indian Ring neck and have had her since she was about 8 months. I’ve had Skippy for about 6 weeks now and in that time we have bonded tremendously and also battled some feather plucking. His move to me was from 7 hours away with people that only had him a short time so he had suffered a lot of stress and unfortunately began pulling his chest feathers around the time i had gotten him. About 2 weeks ago i started bathing him every day and have noticed a huge improvement in the plucking and it appears he is now letting feathers grow back in. I was beginning to get worried because from about week 2-4 his chest was getting pretty bare with a large skin patch forming, but currently his chest is full of down and showing signs of new feathers beginning to grow I have 2 quick questions to ask... 1. As much as some people would disagree, I have always preferred my birds wings to be clipped. I enjoy taking them outside with me on lunches and afternoons doing yard work. My busy active lifestyle requires me to take my birds with me around a lot and a clipped bird just suits my personal needs better and allows them more freedom/out of cage time then a flighted bird as our house doors are usually found open with lots of traffic flowing in and out especially in the summer months. Anyway... after waiting 6 weeks for Skippy to get comfortable with me I had his wings clipped last night. The only thing i wonder about is the wings were clipped in a straight line and now when he is sitting normally there is a small "corner" edge that hangs out past his covering smaller wings (not sure what the name is, hope you understand) Although it is not and kind of danger or anything to me it is physically not appealing to the eye having this very obvious cut line hanging out. Would it be ok for me to trim them back a tad more and follow the contour of the covering wings so Skippy has a cleaner natural looking wing shape? 2. Question for multiple bird owners... Since the arrival of Skippy my Indian ring neck Kiwi has started to shed a lot more feathers. There is no sign of plucking and no bald spots but when i come home from work there is now anywhere between 5-15 green top feathers which is a lot more than the usual few down feathers that were shed before Skippy came into the house. I was thinking about it and i guess it could be time for a molt since I don’t believe she has had one since I’ve had here (about 1 year 4 months) but I was curious if it was normal/possible for a bird to get stressed and start losing feathers with the arrival of a new bird to the house? Anywho... this post is getting a bit long now so I thank you for taking the time to read this and i leave you with a brief video I made of Skippy after the first week of his arrival with me. You can see the start of the feather plucking on his chest if you look closely and again that was about 5 weeks ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KifptAc9Npk&feature=plcp Thanks for the help. Steve