SRSeedBurners

Very cool. We have a birthday coming up next month and #1 and #3 might just end up in the bday pile.

As for plastic - our birds, Grey included, tear up the plastic wiffle balls that you see in pet stores that are sold for cats. I come home daily to bits and pieces of plastic. I've closely watched our birds and if they swallow a piece it would be by sheer accident - ours do not eat the plastic. I'm interested in the outdoor temps as well as I plan on taking a 4-day this weekend and finishing our aviary.

We have a Caique that was in the same boat. He constantly had to hail a taxi while the others were freely flying anywhere they wanted too (except out the door). Took about a year for his flights to grow back in and he spent a few months gingerly testing them out. I helped him along by giving him short tosses on the couch so he had a soft landing spot. Very uncontrolled at first. He kind of went through two stages: one where he figured out how to fly and just kind of floated around, occasionally hitting his intended landing mark, then stage two was when he learned tail up, nose down and now he's the zippiest bird in the house. He now sounds like an over-weight hummingbird zipping through the house.

We had an CL ad relayed just a couple days ago here on our DFW parrots about someone wanting to rehome their B&G as they have "a new baby is coming in the family". Of course I couldn't resist responding to the ad and offering to get rid of the baby for them. No response received I'm unapologetically parrot-centric.

Right now we're tossing around ideas about the door but most likely I'll use a 6'x3' chain link gate frame wired the same as the aviary. Hanging the gate will require adding a horizontal chain link fence rail along the bottom of one section then T a vertical rail from that which the gate will hinge from.

If you have to deal with predators then yes. In our case, our dogs will be out when the birds are out. Unless a bear gets in the back yard, we're good. My dogs will take care of anything smaller. Also our biggest bird is GreycieMae and she's not really a type that will try and break the wire. We are going to also have to use a bird netting to keep the dang hawks from sitting on top and trying to reach in and grab. That's out biggest problem.

Update 9/24/2014 - Step 4: complete - Wire the top and lift Another all day effort. I'm regretting using 14 gauge wire. If I had a helper it would be ok but by myself, it's a nightmare to maneuver and hold, stretch, j-clip and finally strap it to the beams. GreycieMae would have done just fine in 16 gauge wire and I'm sure it weighs about half. The wire is so stiff, I have to use a rubber mallet to pound it around bends. What a pain-in-the-buttfeathers. The roll we bought weighs around 300lbs. My wife did help me insert the legs while I lifted each side. I was going to have to use ladders to hold it otherwise...so that sped things up. Started to put the side wire on and realized my hose clamps are not big enough as the diameter of the legs are quite a bit bigger than the roof. Also what you can't see: I planted some winter rye and watered it real good. That should be coming up soon and the dirt patch will turn greeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn. GreycieMae is getting excited to move into her mansion.

I don't recall my Tigger doing that. But everytime someone mentions an Amazon behavior I'm always compelled to mention my Caique. You wouldn't believe how similar the two are. Both are clowns of the parrot world. Btw...my Toby squeaks/squeals when I have him next to me on my shoulder. It's the cutest thing. I don't know how I ever lived without these guys.

You actually trust her to be out on her own for her to come and get you up? I wish I could trust GreycieMae. Our ceiling fan would be wood chipped, any glass would be smashed all over the floor, chair backs would be chewed, curio cabinet - history. I would love a morning wakeup from my Grey baby. If there wasn't such resistance from my wife, my Grey would have her sleep cage right next to my bed.

I like the idea of Bamboo because of how sturdy and fast growing, but the shoots are straight up vertical - no good perching options. Will have to look into a palm tree. Trying to stay away from grapes/climbing plants as I don't want it in the wire.

I'll update GreycieMae's Aviary thread with pics tonight - if I can remember. Where do Jave tree playstands come from? When I search Java Tree online I get a bunch of Java programming language crap. I need something that will stay within about 6-8 feet in height and has some medium sized horizontal branching for the birdys to perch. Paging Muse: do you know what Project Perry uses? Do they have any live trees/shrubs in use or is it all non-live stuff: ropes, branches etc?

GreycieMae's Mansion is coming along...slowly. Need to update the aviary thread but we now have the top up with the wire. I've planted winter rye for now which will displace the weeds for this winter. I'm looking for ideas for a trees/shrubs that are parrot safe and will provide some perching. Got any ideas?

I know what I'd do at this point: a fashionable parrot sweater, with some buttons on it for picking at. I keep seeing pics of birds with hoodies and GreycieMae keeps getting threatened that all I need is an excuse to start playing dress up with my birdy.

SO lucky. Lesson learned the hard way as most of us have to learn it that way.

We can only hope. She's doing it daily now. And that damn Toby the Caiquey taught it to her. Now he's doing it all the time too.

Wife planted her flowers this year and wouldn't you know it, hummers started showing up. We put up three feeders and they started doing battle over them. My grandmother used to have hordes of them at her house in Northern New Mexico where I grew up. Every year a bird would take over the nest built just outside her kitchen window and would raise some babies. We always got a thrill watching them grow and fledge. One year something happened to the mother and the babies ended up getting brought inside for me to raise. I did it at the instruction of my grandmother, but they ended up learning to fly around in her house and we eventually let them out. I have a special place for those little beauties.

I liked the siren sound too...that was cute. Wish I had a stay-at-home SE job. Looking for one though...

Never heard that before but it's the case here. GreycieMae talks, what little she does, in my wife's voice.

I've been badgering the guy who owns that video to tell me who made that noise. He finally told me it's the Caique shown in the video and he doesn't have a Grey. My problem is I have the teacher of that noise in my house and GreyciMae is a keen student. Don't be surprised if I post a picture of Toby the Caiquey with his beak stuffed with cotton balls and GreycieMae wearing industrial ear muffs.

Love it! After getting GreycieMae, my dream home has become a big open warehouse, or a basketball gymnasium, or a covered golf hitting range, or an abandoned civic center, or a...well, you get the idea.

This morning she let me wear the earplugs for 'most' of the morning. Only once she got hell-bent on getting them out. I know some people say 'well don't have a shoulder bird' but for me it's like having my best buddy with me. She goes everywhere with me and takes an interest in everything I do. This would be impossible if I had to cart her around on my arm. I did try a few stern "STOP"s everytime she did the shrill. It put a temporary end to it. I don't think ignoring it is going to work because she will do it even when she playing and not looking at me. She won't even notice she's being ignored. At least the ear plugs bring sanity back into the fold.

She started doing it because she attacked Toby one day. He was traumatized enough that he sat there and did it all day long while she dialed in the frequency and tone and basically perfected it. She does it when she's stressed, when she's playing, when she's eating....it's her new favorite 'word'. I would be fine with it if she would just let me wear ear plugs. The second she spots those she is all over me to get them out of my ears. I'm sure she thinks she's doing me a favor.

Well, she much prefers hanging with me instead of the bird room or outside in her little day cage so it's a lose-lose for both of us. Not sure if non-FB users can view this link, but here's almost the exact sound she's making at: 0:04, 0:18, 0:30 and approximately 4 more... P.s. this is not my video or my birds, I just happened to see this video and noticed it's the exact sound Greycie is making. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10201461265293352

GreycieMae picked up a nasty high-pitched shrill from Toby the Caiquey. Toby only does it once in a great while. Greycie is doing it daily, several times a day also directly into my ear a few times which causes a temporary deafness. It's bad enough that when she starts it, my temper gets going and I have to get her out of my vicinity before I want to toss her and her shrill out the window. So she either ends up in the bird room room or her outdoor cage. Lately she gets up, and in less than 5 minutes she's in her outdoor cage because she starts it immediately. I can't deal with it without ear plugs and she won't let me wear earplugs - so her only option is the bird room or the outdoor cage. Any ideas how to curb this behavior?

Hey, I saw a post over on hoomanforums.net from somebirdy named Inara: