SRSeedBurners

Greycie has suddenly within the last couple of weeks begun to lose feathers at what is to me an alarming rate. So far she has no balding spots and you can't really tell by looking at her but we see the feathers all over the place and I keep seeing her with a feather in her beak while she's preening. I've watched her and don't think she's plucking or scissoring them off which leads me to believe this may be normal?!? We've seen all sizes except the long flight feathers. Some as large as the shoulder feathers. Lots of flooffies too. She is also acting really itchy on her head and has stepped up her scratching intensity and frequency. All else appears to be normal. Might be time to investigate the aloe vera misting maybe? Is it molt season?

Try tripping over a paper sack walking down the hallway. You'll quickly see who your Grey values the most. Greycie is happy to leave me to do the fighting

That's one smart Pelican. He's learned to train humans about as good as a Grey.

The biggest issue is it's put out by 'Bird Tricks'. Pretty well known scumbags. I confirmed that when I read something by Barbara Heindrich (sp?) about them. I can't stand their predatory advertising practices. I won't have anything to do with them but that's just me.

The Volkman ingredients look cleaner to me. Vita Prim 'color added' <boo - hisss>. Cucumber, pumpkin and corn are ok. The seeds you need to steer clear of are pit type seeds. Apricot, cherry, apple etc...

That's nice. To me it shows how much those birds mean to you to get something like that.

Yep - divorced here too. Lost all three of my birds to it as well. Wasn't fun, thought it was the end of me for a very long time. Took me a couple of years to get through it but I recovered. Stay strong for the birdies and yourself.

What a cutie. I love those baby Grey pics. Get as much of that in as possible, they don't stay babies long.

yeah, I can't get over how cute she is. "What color is yellow?" - you've got a tricky one there I love how she looked at you after answering yellow as if to say "Ok, I'm gonna have to make this a little harder".

Thanks Dan - our Grey is 'exposed' but showing no signs. Our little Jardines who came out of a filthy disgusting 'rescue' is the one that has PDD. And I say has 'PDD' in a loose sense as 4 different vets can give us no straight answer as to what we're dealing with. But signs and symptoms are pointing to PDD. It's heart breaking because of all the birds I've had, she's top of the list of the sweetest darling lil birdy I've ever encountered. She's not gone yet and I'm already having trouble looking at pics of her and we cry about her nearly daily. It sucks. She's my wife's bird but she's very dear to my heart too. We're really kicking ourselves because everything was fine until we introduced Greycie. Greycie is so aggressive that my wife didn't realize she was keeping 'Raven' from her food all day long and I'm 100% sure that 'Raven' started to go hungry and that led to her immune system starting to get depressed and then the damn virus got hold. Part of why I asked the question above. There was a point where 'Raven' started begging and we both couldn't figure out what she wanted until it was too late. We caught it early but that just means we've gotten to hold onto her a little while longer but there's no stopping it now.

I have a couple of comments/questions about some of your statements: - "if something changes and we catch it early, it's treatable". Was that in direct reference to PDD? I don't believe PDD is treatable in the sense of curable. Once they 'get it', they will eventually die from it. Remission can go on for a while but eventually they start to go downhill. - "it can cause immunosuppression". Was that also referring to the bornavirus? My understanding and my experience (n=1) is that immunosuppression is what can lead to the PDD becoming onset. Then it becomes a situation where the immune response goes into uncontrollable overdrive thereby destroying certain nervous system elements. All the other stuff you mentioned about PDD is what we've heard and I've dug up about the bornavirus. As for the test, I bet I would test positive for the bornavirus - that's how good that test is (not). We've been dealing with PDD for nearly 6 months and have sunk over $3k fighting it and we're close to losing the battle completely. As for your breeder - I would chalk it up to a bad deal. Others may disagree but I would put their reputation out there so others can avoid. I specifically went and found a breeder that had a known reputation for not releasing babies until fully flegded, abundance weaned, her place is tested etc..etc..etc.. There was another breeder right next door that sounds like the one you dealt with. I avoided her like the plague and she was a lot cheaper. The best you can do is stop worrying and just keep weighing and watching that poop. We are addicted to our weight scale and anytime we see an out-of-ordinary poop we both get startled by it.

It's like Christmas when you were a kid isn't it?

Yeah, I happened to see your location earlier, I recognized the city. Had to go reminisce on google maps a bit. I was stationed at Pendleton from 87-94 and lived in Oceanside. That's where I had my first flock that I miss badly. You a Marine or spouse of a Marine? Either way Semper Fi.

When I saw this post the first time I didn't realize there is no wrap. Is the PVC thick enough that birdy can't bite a hole in it? How much were the parts?

omg...I'd never get any training done. I wouldn't be able to resist the cuteness factor overload and stop myself from going in for a snuggle and squeeze.

Haven't seen it posted here yet and I know a couple people here have mentioned feeding it their birdys Goldenfeast recall

Thought of this thread when I saw 'Einstein' posting up on FB about the Goldenfeast recall...

We have a Green Cheek conure that gives my wife the 'tude every time she gets close. I can't imagine it coming from a B&G.

Sounds like a real sweety. At that age I'd say he's a confirmed snuggle bird.

What age is your bird? Is the cuddling limited to certain times of the day? Mine usually likes to cuddle a little in the morning straight out of her sleeping cage and then right after the sun goes down. Not so much in the middle of the day.

That's nice...bookmarked!!!

You very well may be dealing with the beginnings of the terrible-twos which would probably have happened regardless of going away for 8 months. Don't forget that. I'm assuming that you're Grey is around 1 yr based on your timeline. Mine is around 10mos and she's doing the exact same thing you're describing only I haven't gone anywhere. She's a total snot during the day, uses me whenever she wants, flys away when she knows I'm coming for her etc... You almost described my Greycie perfectly My first Grey was not fully flighted and the terrible twos were a LOT less terrible. I think there are some positives and negatives to allowing these birds to rule the roost so-to-speak. I would still not change it though. They love their semi-freedom. Give your Grey some time and attn and they'll come around.

Ours get juice from our masticating juicer. They absolutely love it. It's not your typical supermarket juice that's high in sugar though. Ours usually has an apple, carrots, celery, cilantro and whatever else my wife will put in it.

If it's real...I would love to get Greycie to fly with me. http://youtu.be/g5ew5SCRry8 I used to have a pigeon that would fly alongside my motorcycle similar to this only he would be behind the moto, not in front as the video shows.

I like Clover. He's a cutie. What's the draw on those type of birds? Are they sweet? Affectionate? Playful?