SRSeedBurners

Can't wait for the pics!

I've always wanted to slurp down a June bug grub. Maybe next time I dig a couple up me and Greycie will have a go at 'em...

Interesting stuff Greywings. I have always wondered why around here and other places people say to give their birds fruits and nuts sparingly? I don't see African Greys digging up vegetable crops and lowering their natural fruit intake. My Greycie will bury herself in a mango if given the opportunity. Carrot - meh. I bet they don't drive to the nearest drive through either Exercise!!!

I am more interested in your (vs your birds) personal benefits and such would be interested to know: - how much does it cost you to eat as you've mentioned? - You mention no grains - why? I am on a mission to get away from the Frankenwheat that the food industry (Monsanto) is pawning on the herd, although finding a local source for Einkorn wheat is proving difficult. The oldest people in the world seem to live on fish and rice, not red meats. Although the Mediterranean diet including red meat seems to have some benefit but most likely due to the olive oils they eat?!? Not once do you mention exercise. I also feel better at 44 than I did at 30 and 35. It's 100% due to the fact I started exercising like a fiend. Ages 17-24 I was in the Marines where no one is fat or lazy, at least NCOs. Then I went to college and was still active because I rode my bicycle ALL OVER campus and rode it into the town nearby quite often. THEN I started working in corporate Ameri$$a sitting on my ass 24/7. My health went downhill in a matter of a year, and I'm talking downhill in a bad way. I had never once in my life been fat...I started putting on a spare tire. It took me the next 4 years before I finally picked up something I cant quit - bike racing - and it has turned my health back around. I also will commute to work via bike but most weeks I spend around 8-15 hours of solid training time and I feel much better because of it. What's killing people is sitting in their bubbles 24/7...it's not how even our closest ancestors (meaning our grandparents) lived - little pudding pops under air conditioners complaining about the 2 minutes they have to cross the pavement to get to their next air conditioned bubble. Try training in 90-100 degree heat for 4 hours. I sleep like a baby every time I do it. I would like to get my nutrition under control too though.

Got word that my cousin's house sits next to one that got flattened. Every time this happens around here I'm thinking the move to Pheonix sounds better and better.

A different perspective on this topic: I grew up on a cattle ranch in Northern NM and had a cattleman as a father, therefore we learned to shoot varmits. I blasted everything: skunks, coyotes, stray dogs, cats and most of all prairie dogs. I must have over a thousand prairie dog kills. When I was probably 8 or so, I remember shooting a bird out of a tree and watching it fall to the ground. When I got to it, there was this little feathery limp body and I felt horrible. It was different than blasting a prairie dog. I was never the same after that. For some reason just shooting a bird for the hell of it didn't sit well with me. Later on I got to where I couldn't shoot anything but it started with that little bird. There was something I remember feeling about that bird but can't quite put my finger on it. On another front, I never quite feel the same about my other pets as I do my birds. I love my dogs but they just don't have that deep connection. Even my GCC who we all joke only has three brain cells to rub together I seem to be drawn to more than any of the other critters. This has always puzzled me because birds are so different from us, from the feathers, to the type of skin they have, their beaks etc.... My wife would argue there's nothing like a horse but I grew up hating horses, and cattle and anything that had to do with being a slave on a cattle ranch.

She looks cuddly!

80/20 rule in full affect here. When I was in the Marines we called them the 10%. I started lurking a year ago and knew where the trouble comes from on a regular basis before I signed up - it's all in the archives.

Our GCC Stewart does not like my wife. He starts clicking, fluffing up, side-to-side rocking and this cute little 'licking his lips' routine whenever my wife gets close to him. We all think it's cute, they've both written each other off. There's a line in the sand, we all accept it.

meh...

Disco the talking parakeet is headed to NYC for a slot on the Today Show (for the record, I can't stand that POS matt lauer). I've watched a few of Disco's youtube videos and was estatic when I saw oh his FB page that he was headed for NYC for a gig on the Show. They don't know the time slot yet but I'd imagine they'll post it on his FB page. http://www.youtube.com/user/MsJumpinJude

Our Greycie is doing all you mentioned and she's coming up on 7mos. She's been doing it for at least two months. She tosses stuff off the counter top: just yesterday she broke a bowl and a glass. It seems like she delights in hearing the crash and peering over the side to see what she's done. I used to think it was funny. It isn't anymore. She's constantly throwing utensils onto the floor. I have to keep the counter tops clear or it's fair game. Her problem is she's extremely confident and I have not figured out how to train her to stop. After the 800th time of removing her from the chandelier, I finally wrapped it in cardboard so she can't land there anymore. Overconfident flighted bird... Biting: if she's doing something she really wants to do and it's something I can't have her doing, I will get a good nip when I redirect her. Her favorite is flying into my wife's hair with her terrordactyl scream and then flopping around and getting all tangled in it. She absolutely loves this. My wife is getting tired of it. So when Greycie slips my guard and heads into my wife's hair and I have to get her out...I always come away with marks on my fingers. The NO-BITE no-works. My former Grey did NONE of this but she was never flighted either. Her demeanor was much calmer, Greycie seems super-hyper for long periods during the morning, middle and late day. If you figure out what works please share it!!!

News like this is awesome. Can't tell you how much I was hoping you would find that Grey.

Don't forget - we want PICS!!!!

Raw cut in sections. Something about the seeds in the casing drives her batty. She will go after okra first before just about anything else. She even has me eating them now. It's a reverse-case of whatever Greycie is eating has to be good so I go after it too Another thing she goes nutty for is corn-on-the-cob. I slightly cook mine in the microwave with the shucks still on it and it creates a naturally steamed ear of corn. I do not over cook, just beyond raw. Throw one of those on the counter and she's busy for 30-60 minutes. She'll eat what she wants and then commence tearing it to pieces which I then gather up and store for later. Greycie does her own food prep!

Greycie goes kookoo for okra!

Anyone ever built a Pergola and turned it into an outdoor aviary? We've always wanted to build an attached pergola addition off the back porch and now we have an excuse - Greycie's outdoor bird studio. We're seriously thinking about putting one in with some stainless hardware cloth or similar. The birdies love to go outside in their cage and get sun but it's such a small enclosure. Would love to see them flying around in an actual tree/bush. Option #2 is to just wrap our current covered patio in stainless wire and do something with the ceiling fan so Greycie doesn't dismantle it.

I've been in contact with Steve at the ParrotUniversity. They're going to make me a reinforced version (additional cost but worth it) and then he recommended doing like you mentioned, putting something on there to divert their attention. I was thinking of wrapping it in small grade cotton rope with some little stainless loops attached to give her something else to go after and is replaceable. Maybe some plastic buttons - she won't leave those alone when we wear clothes with buttons. Haahaa, she can pick at her own damn buttons!!!

The pics were taken once the harness was destroyed. I'm not sure how you arrive at the determination that I let her sit around and destroy it in her spare time from a few pics but so be it. Her typical wear pattern is: if I want to go to the barn, I put harness on, I go to the barn, she picks at the harness, we come back, we take harness off. If I want to go on a bike ride with her, we put harness on, I pedal, she picks, we come back, harness comes off. She does not live in the harness and anyone that would leave a harness on a bird with a non-detachable lead, well, you can't fix stupid. The only time she was ever exposed to that harness in a non-functional situation was when she was being trained to get used to it just as the DVD indicates to do.

Let's see, this harness lasted all of 4-5 weeks? Not great value for the money. Going to have to come up with a stainless option somehow. Will probably send pics to the manufacturer and let them know, their harnesses are definitely NOT African Grey proof as is. Notice the pak-o-bird had to come out with a grey proof carrier. I'm assuming a macaw would destroy one of these in a day if they set their mind to it. One completely severed attachment near the buckle and another halfway chewed through on the bottom portion of the neck loop: Gladly demonstrating her technique: Such a proud moment. Greycie will not be subjugated. Of course, no more trips to the hen house or rides on the bike. She didn't think about that.

Second pic looks like she's grinning!

Greycie's area around her face, basically all the skin you can see turns slightly pink and does get a bit puffier.

Wow, a 41 yo Grey. I thought my Grey that now lives with my aunt at 25 was old. We have yard chickens, llamas, goats, dogs, cat and 4 house chickens (grey, jardine's, GCC and a parrotlet).

Sounds like you found your feathered soul mate!

She's a cutie. Likes to sit on the edge of the food bowl like Greycie. You would think that would hurt but Greycie prefers to sleep on hers versus everything else.