Update on Gracie

[Drewbake]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! It's great to have such a wonderful community of Grey lovers to turn to with questions about our new baby. Gracie is doing beautifully. She is spoonfeeding twice a day with much enthusiasm. (The spoon was a great idea btw!) She also loves fresh green beans, apples, and cheerios. She crunches up her dry pellets and eats them too. I thought that we may be taking a step backward with the weaning, but decided I would rather have her handfeed longer than fully wean her prematurely. I gave her a couple of nutriberries last night, in which she showed zero interest.

 

She spends a lot of time on top of her cage. She is very sweet and accepting. She lets my kids (6 and 13) pet her gently on the back and she loves to snuggle with me, especially in the evenings. She just sits on my lap and puts her head down to ask for scratches. She snuggles and cooes and is just a very sweet baby (which is quickly becoming her nickname) She has really been a fabulous addition to the family.

 

Question about bathing: Birds that I have had experience with in the past LOVE their spray baths. In my reading, I have discovered that AG's generally do not. Has this been your experience? Any suggestions for introducing bathing? Where, how, when? In cage or out? She hasn't been out of the kitchen or living room, so I hesitate to bring her to an unfamiliar area (ie bathroom) for a new experience. Any thoughts?

 

I love this site and the forums! Thanks for your input and support!

 

Rebecca

[judygram]

You are welcome, Rebecca, thanks for the nice comments.

 

Please do take your bird all over the house and show her everything, it will make her more comfortable to know all the rooms in the house.

 

My grey, Josey, does not like baths, but I do wet her down in the sink. Some of the members take theirs into the shower or use some kind of misting on them. Some even try to take a bath in their water bowl, and some will roll around in a wet leaf of lettuce or some kind of greens. Just don't do it late in the day or she may not dry out before going to bed, not good for them.

 

Give these ideas a try and let us know how you make out, you may have one who loves the water.

[Talon]

Hi, Rececca, Yes, as Judy says, take her around the house and introduce her to many new things, it will keep her more outgoing, and not so nervous. Our grey hates baths & showers, but I do mist her with a bird mister in her play cage, then I put a bowl of water in the bottom, and she will continue her bath there on her own. You have to see what works best for you, try different things, and give it time for them to get used to it.

[danmcq]

Hi Rebecca,

 

I sounds like you are in the same CAG ownership stage I am !

 

I'm going to give Dayo his first bath this Saturday....probably much to his dismay :ohmy:

 

This may be the first new thing he is going to experience that he does not like.

 

We'll see...... I'm hoping he decides to like baths :-)

[Guest briansmum]

hey rebecca and welcome! your little girl sounds lovely. talon and judy are right, you need to let her see other areas of your house so she is familiarised with them, say she flies out of the room she is used to, she wouldn't have a clue where to go, where was good for landing etc. plus it helps them be more well rounded if there are exposed to changing situations when they are young.

 

i would try all ways of batheing her, misting, running water in the sink, offering a bowl of water, taking her in the shower and see if she likes any of them. if not pick the one that seemed to cause least stress. i was misting brian as it was least stressful for me LOL but he ran around his cage like something posessed, so now i hold him and put him under a gentle shower, he hates this too and i end up wetter than him but at least i am taking part with him not just subjecting him to it like with the mister

 

by the way, nice to meet another rebecca, we have such a lovely name

[Drewbake]

I took your advice and introduced Gracie all around the house. We went and checked out every room. She hung out in the bedroom with me today while I did some housework. We played the "Copy me, I'm stretching" game. She must have stretched at least 10 times! I guess she really liked it in there. She also went in the bathroom and watched me brush my teeth. We'll see how she likes the hair dryer tomorrow.

 

I gave her a semi-bath this morning. Really more of an intro to water. I just misted her a few times. The water pretty much beaded up on her feathers. She kind of walked around the cage trying to get away from it, but she didn't skwawk or anything. So far, she doesn't love it, but doesn't hate it either. We'll see what happens when she really gets a soaking.

 

I read through a previous thread here about bathing and got some good tips there. This is a great resource. I also read through a thread on cages - Beccy I think it may have been you - that changed my mind about the cage we were going to get. Someone was recommending a cage no bigger than 24 X 22"(not sure about the height) but after reading the thread, we've decided to definitely go with the larger cage. The reasoning behind the smaller cage was that young greys are clumsy and can hurt themselves if they fall. We have a small 18x18 cage for right now, just for transition and travel. We just want to make sure we get the best cage for her when we spend the big bucks.

 

Dan - I was thinking the same thing about Gracie! She really hasn't disliked anything here so far. We did discover today that she LOVES mandarin oranges. I love the name Dayo! Anything to do with the song?

 

Rebecca

[judygram]

Thanks, Rebecca, for the update on Gracie, you took our advice and it payed off for you didn't it. Just don't spend more time with her now than you plan to spend for the rest of her life, or she will get used to it and may develop behavior problems.

 

The bigger cage is necessary so that they can spread their wings and not touch the sides of the cage, but the smaller one is ok for now, because at this age they are a little clumsy.

 

Sounds like things are going well for you and Gracie and I am so happy for you. Keep us posted as she progress and get us some pictures if you can, we would love to see her.

[danmcq]

Thanks for the update!

 

It is interesting to read the different reactions these intelligent fellows have to different situations, environments and human gestures :-)

[judygram]

Two more days, Dan, two more days and Dayo will be home for keeps, are you excited just a little bit, now that is a stupid question, I'll bet you and Kim are like kids on Christmas morning, you reckon???:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[danmcq]

Excited is a graceful description, when in reality, we are bouncing off the Walls , NERVOUS and can't sleep ...

 

{Feel-bad-00020079}

[dblhelix]

No need to be nervous! B) All will be fine I am sure! Hooray...we look forward to hearing all about this exciting time!!!

[judygram]

I'd like to be a fly on the wall to see that, but not nervous, you have nothing to be nervous about, your baby is coming home and you are so excited you can't sleep, but not nervous. Be sure to post pictures of the homecoming, I am almost as excited as you.{Emotions-000200C6}