CAGonite

I found this recipe at african-grey.com - my litte Ivan devours this stuff and as most have said, its a great way to hide some extra nutritional items that otherwise would be frowned upon or possibly flung in your general direction - followed by a 'toot' noise. Spoiled little brat! :-) Birdie Bread Recipe Months ago Carla stumbled across a “birdie bread” recipe on the net. We tried it and our birds LOVED it. We have modified it a bit to suit our birds and we would like to share the recipe with you. We feed one ‘cube’ a day per bird, usually right after they get up in the morning. Ingredients: 2 Packages of Martha White Corn Bread Mix (no sugar) 3 Tablespoons of baking powder 2 eggs with shells (blend together) 5 jars of baby food. (We use lots of ‘red’ veggies such as sweet potatos, carrots plus a meat mix and fruit mix) 1/4 cup applesauce 3/4 cup peanut butter (low salt) 2 cups baby cereal (find one with the lowest percentage of iron) 1 cup chopped fresh veggies or fruit or both Mix the dry ingredients seperately then blend with the wet ingredients. The batter will be very firm and thick. Place the batter in a 9 x 13 cooking pan (spray will cooking spray to avoid sticking) and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the bread is done to a cake like texture. Cut into 1 inch ‘cube’s and feed once a day. We seperate out a weeks worth at a time and store in the fridge and freeze the rest.

Oh good! It happens in other people's houses too :-)) A few weeks ago my wife was able to get Ivan to step up and she got to pet the neck. The next day with her copious confidence she reached for him and came away with broken skin!! She has yet to recoup from that day and has since referred to Ivan as a 'rat with wings'. Nice Ivan, way to go!

The stars at night are big and bright...deep in the heart of Texas! Houston

Welcome! Let the stories and questions flow! This is a great site and very helpful...as you will see!

Hi Mama, I cannot add anything new that all the other wonderful responders reported except to reinforce the fact that your grey should never come near that same level of audiable annoyance that an eclectus can impose. Well, they can be annoying, but I know exactly what you mean about the eclectus. That was the one characteristic that swayed me from those birds to a grey. I have heard only the female (red) make that incredible screeching sound. Was your bird a male of female? I don't mean to open up potentially old wounds, but I think you did the right thing in putting your former parrot up for adoption. An unhappy owner makes for an unhappy home. You will be happy with your grey and he/she with you!

" If he only lifts a leg an inch or so, he is just faking me out to get a bite " haha- These birds are so dang tricky - my oldest daughter has learned she can neck scratch for about '3 mississippi' and then quickly move her hand or else.... So if I interact less with Ivan...you don't think that will speed the process. Anyone with experience in this? It would be hard for me to do, but I'm willing since my wife and kids are home a heck of a lot more than I am...

Wow! Seems like the theme to these bad behaviors is 'patience, patience patience' - you have a lot of it! Good Luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Hey all, I have a very good bond with my beloved Ivan. Thanks to this site, I know now that Ivan has chosen me for his mate due to the heavy breathing and funny little dance these guys do when they do so. I thought he was too young to choose a mate as he is only 6 months old, but that noise that he was making was exactly the same as others have shown it to be. Either way, we are like two peas in a pod. Well, I have a wife and two young daughters (4 and 6) who don't have much of a relationship with Ivan. He bites them and sometime charges for them. Everytime that happens, he goes into his cage for a time out. The kids are, well, kids! They move too fast for him I think and are very unpredictable. They are my angels and they do give Ivan his space, but that isn't enough when they see daddy cuddling with him every night. My wife doesn't really care for him either as she is timid around that beak of his. She has tried to open up to him, yet she recently came away with a bloody finger. So my question is - if I give Ivan less attention, will he seek out the other flock members in the house for love and attention? Maybe less is more in this scenario? Also, are there any daily activities that one can do to 'win over' the bird and make him more accepting, aka less bitey?

talking toy!? I want one!! Where do you find them and do they stand up to the mighty beak? thanks for sharing!!

yeah - Ivan is a young one...maybe with time he'll get all into it and open his wings like alot experience on this forum.

Dexter, my boxer, had a week long staring contest with Ivan. They came to an impass. My evenings are now spent on the couch with Ivan on my right ankle and Dexter next to my left calf. I'm wondering when Ivan will stop the occasional lurch for the already clipped ear of Dexter's....

I figured I'd jump into this one - Ivan hates - I mean HATES - to be misted - so I took him into the shower with me. At first he was apprehensive, but then after I turned down the spray velocity, he now will walk right under the water. He doesn't get entirely wet, which is why I am a little concerned. He does this pose where he kind of tightens up and makes his body concave so as to let the water just run down his outer feathers and off. You can see actual beads of water just sitting on his neck and head. I try to lift his wing - not too happy on that one. So I'm wondering if the water on his outer feathers plus the steam from the shower - is that enough?

thanks for sharing such an awesome story! It sounds like it keeps getting better and better!

Welcome to the forums and to being a new CAG owner, or rather a flock member :-) I've had my boy for two months now and this site has been extremely helpful! My red palm oil should be in today

I don't have any accessible pictures...but I just tried the whole YouTube thing....hopefully this works out!!

Hey everyone - I just signed up and I just became a proud owner of Ivan, my little CAG. He was born in July of 2012 and has been a great addition to the family despite what the wife might think.... Anyways, I registered on the site to become a better parent and to help others if I can. Greg in H-town