Phoenix, Talula and their captive slaves

[ecodweeb]

Hi everyone,

 

this is my third post. I never properly introduced myself. My name is KC, and I have two greys. The oldest, Phoenix, is my partner's parrot. he moved into our house a year ago, having lived for about 6 years with my partner's mother. He's been in my partner's family for at least 10 years now, we believe he is around 17 years of age -- the band on his foot is too old for any of the known band makers kept records, and no one knows of call sign PAT out of NC. We know he was born in NC; and has never left the state.

 

This is phoenix in his harness (he chews on it, does not like the red):

Phoenix and I go walking on a trail near my house, he rides on my shoulder. I have earrings and occasionally he strikes at it, but this usually is when we're going up or down a hill, and I'm not convinced he isn't balancing himself. Of the two he is the clumsy one.

 

This is poor miss Talula. between 8-10 (band says 99, which I assume is birth year).. she is our most recent addition. We've had her two days as of this posting, she does not seem to care much about Phoenix but I've not let them actually interact. I allow my birds to perch on the furniture with us, both have clipped -- well Talula is feather less from plucking -- wings and so they just sit with us as part of the flock. I've put them on separate furniture, this is as close as I've let them come to one another. They can see each others cage -- one at the top of stairs (Lulu) and the other at the bottom (Phoenix) by the 55 gallon fish tank that has out Oscar, Chamaula.

 

Phoenix has a much bigger cage, and my first priority is to get a better cage for Lulu. Phoenix seems jealous (his feet got hot!) when he saw how she can climb up and down the back of the chair to/from the cushion due to her size. Her feet are much bigger than his, and she can just do things he can't. I think this made him jealous or scared of her, and while he makes a few noises in mimicry of her, they haven't really started talking.

 

Talula is a talker... "Hello!" "What are you doing?" and I could swear (she came from a home with 12-14 year old kids...) she said "I will KILL you!" followed by video game noises once already. She sat near an alarm (as did Phoenix in his past) and both make Brinks distinctive "beep beep beep" noises from when doors opened in disarmed mode.

 

I love them dearly, I hope that miss Lulu starts to trust me more (she screamed to high heavens when I flipped her on her back and used my thumb to pin her beak away from my fingers to read her leg band for the adoption paperwork). She seems to have taken a liking to my partner more so than me, which is fine. His bird tends to favor me more -- so we're equal now.

 

I will add this site to my repository of websites I visit every day, including TDIClub - for VW diesel powered cars, LOST Jeeps - for our Diesel Liberty (notice a theme? ask me about biodiesel!), and the local VW club forums, plus some biodiesel-related forums, and a few other "green" forums.

 

About me...

 

KC is a nickname, the screen name is derrived from the "foxy lady from kansas city" which was where my first VW came from. I have an avid love affair with VW cars; which now centers around diesels -- mostly because I live in NC and work with computers. My side work usually consists of gas station/retail POS back office systems and I tend to travel upwards of 60 miles to a single site to do my work; I work about 24 mile from home -- this is 'normal' I'd say, for my region. If you've never known, VW TDIs, or diesel cars in general, tend to get 30% better fuel economy than a gas car. This works out to about 40-43mpg combined driving, upwards of 50mpg on long highway stretches. Put another way, I throw $34 in biodiesel (non toxic, biodegradable, renewable diesel fuel made from a variety of plants and animal fats, even algae) in the car and drive from the heart of NC to the Mississippi River in memphis TN with fuel left to spare (750 miles on 15 gallon, 50mpg). We have a Jeep with a diesel, and it can go from 400-550 miles on a tank; where the V6 gas model we had got 350 miles highway.

 

As I said I'm a computer guy, and I have an affinity for Linux computers (but work on anything, I'm Apple certified - not something you run across every day).

 

So thanks for listening to my ranting, and I hope to be a more active member of this community. I'm rather young and these birds are too, so I hope that we live a full and long life together.

 

Cheers,

KC

[judygram]

Hello KC and welcome to our family, we are so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you, Phoenix and Talula.

 

Very nice introduction, I love it when new members will give us a lot of information so we can get to know you better and that way it helps when you ask questions.

 

They are both lovely greys even though one plucks but that is not your fault and maybe you can be able to stop her or at least slow down her destruction of her feathers but you will have to determine what causes her to do this first.

 

You will find lots of useful information in our many threads and do ask questions you may have and we will help you in any way we can.

 

Thanks so much for including some pics of your greys.

[ecodweeb]

Well, we've made some good progress with Lulu: she's starting to step up. She's still apprehensive, but she's getting there. I find it funny how quickly they have started to mimic one another. She got her beak and nails trimmed by a female friend of ours -- and she handled that well, I'm thinking she just didn't like the women of the previous house hold and not women in general.

 

She's also a jumper. We found that out when she jumped off my shoulder and onto the table; so now I try to cradle her so she won't jump. Jumping on the table she flapped so hard she rubbed the same joint on both wings raw. Online research said that a small amount of neosporin would help, so we applied it -- she was VERY receptive to this. I was surprised, I figured she would not be very welcoming to a Q-tip with neosporin coming near her wings, but she was quite the sweetie pie.

 

When is mating season? I think they're trying to do mating dances when they get glimpses of each other.

[Eckobird]

Hi KC, welcome to the forum! Your greys are lovely, even miss Talula. Thanks for sharing pics of them. I hope to hear more about you and your greys.

[Luvparrots]

Thanks for the great introduction KC. Can't wait to hear how things go for Talula and that she has finally stopped plucking. Looking forward to hearing how Phoenix and Taluha get along. Welcome to the family.

[ecodweeb]

Thank you all for the warm welcome

 

They are very flirty already!

[danmcq]

Welcome KC and Flock!!

 

Very nice introduction and photos of your greys.

 

Karma to you for taking in a Grey in need of a loving forever home that can mend her back to full featherhood.

 

Another common item used for raw spots as you described is Aloe Gel 100%. It is very soothing and non-toxic to your Grey incase they beak it or lick it.

 

You'll find threads on using Aloe Juice and misting your Grey atleast 3x a week with it to keep the skin supple and non-itchy. Also, the use of Red Palm Oil and foods is pretty much a necessity for Greys since they eat large volumes of the Red Palm Nuts in the wild.

 

Looking forward to hearing more and seeing some photos and videos when you get a chance. :-)

[ecodweeb]

Aloe! I feel so dumb, we keep aloe stocked at all times (both humans of the house burn easy). I will use that on her tonight -- the redness has reduced a lot. We applied a little more neosporin on the areas last night, and she does not beak them before it soaks in (I was really careful not to use excessive amounts).

 

Red Palm oil... I will look for this, can I get it at any GNC/nutrition store? Would it be safe to soak their Roudybush pellets in the juice and then serve that to them w/ fresh veggies and fruits (they get a mix, Phoenix: 1 almond, 3 baby carrots, and a half hand of pellets / Talula: 4 grapes and half a hand of pellets, she's not shown me she likes any of the offered nuts yet)

[lovethatgrey]

Hi Welcome aboard!{Feel-good-00020114}

[MsGardeness]

Hi KC - welcome (from one newbie to another)! I also have a bird (Eclectus) that plucks herself and has since long before I got her 2-1/2 years ago. At least your female lets her "pj's" grow in - that's great to see! Again, welcome to you and your flock!