Added a new grey yesterday...

[Trinkapuppy]

Hi there!

 

Just would like to warn you that I'm a rambler, so this will probably turn looong. If you have the patience to read all the way through...bless you! LOL

 

I am a parrot owner and lover...I have owned an African Red Belly, who sadly passed away from liver cancer last Thanksgiving ($1800 on vet bills trying to save her--the necropsy turned up the cancer that wouldn't have been treatable. Of course.) She was a rescue who had been on an absolutely appalling diet of apple slices and black oil wild bird sunflower seeds.

 

I had a mexican red headed amazon that was 52 when he came to stay with me, and only lived another six months. He had already been failing when he arrived, but we enjoyed out time together.

 

Currently, I am owned by, excuse me, own, a black headed caique (Jynx) who had a badly scissored beak--we run a low power dremel over the points daily, and seem to have it under control. We have even made excellent progress, between the vet and my own work, on getting it to look almost normal!! He arrived mean as all get out--hand fed once upon a time, but not handled at all in nearly a year (he's two). Over the past four months, we have made incredible progress. I can lay him on his back, tickle his tummy, scratch anywhere on him, take him places and have him step up for strangers, etc. He is currently target training, and knows "touch" "foot up" "beak grind" and "spin" and we're working on other behaviours. The first ones I taught being targeted to grooming. We are working on screaming problems. Making slow but steady progress. Made the mistake of trying to teach him to whistle instead. Big mistake. Huge. Gigantic mistake. His whistle about splits the eardrum. Whoops. LOL

 

I also have a cage containing three budgies (all semi-hand tamed, and one of them is also doing some target training), and a crazy, totally unique cockatiel. The first two budgies were rescued from a failing pet store and sick with a bad bacterial infection--a couple rounds of antibiotics, and they're good as new! The third budgie is already 14, and came from a women who recently entered hospice care. He came home, did his quarantine, got a few swabs sent to avianbiotech, and recently entered the colony. The 'tiel was from a home where a Timneh was added...the timneh decided, apparently, that the 'tiel was, in fact, dinner, leaving him in need of a home where he could still come out safely. Somehow over time, he decided to move in with the budgies, and paired off with one of them, even. =0 ) He even does budgie calls now. Oh, and the budgies all do caique calls. Fantastic. =/

 

So, I have been keeping an eye out on Craigslist for a baby who was in need of a new home. I brought home a new grey yesterday...she is two years old, and I am her fourth (and final) home. I picked her up from her previous owner yesterday. She had her for six months, and switched to night shift, so sold her to me very cheap (mostly paid for the cage). She appears to have a few feathers on her chest chopped off about halfway, and her tail appears to be missing a couple of feathers, and the remaining ones are badly chewed. I have found a good number of down feathers on the tray, but so far no signs of actual feathers. She has been preening an awful lot, though, and at her problem areas. She is playing with one of her toys already, though, so I'm pleased by that!

 

Her name was Wall E and they were calling her a boy (in fact, she is not DNA sexed, and I don't know that I'll worry about it until we get to sexual maturity. We're just going to call her a "her" in case we some day see eggs. ) We are changing her name to "Eshe" (Rhymes with Kesha) which is Swahili (a language spoken in the Congo) for "Life". She apparently does not say her name--or any of the past names she's had, either, nor does she respond to Wall E, so I wasn't too concerned about the change.

 

She is currently eating the zupreem rainbow stuff (ick!) I bought her a bag of that, and will begin transitioning to Harrisons and/or Roudybush within the next couple of weeks. Supposedly she eats fresh fruits and veggies, but so far hasn't tried any--but then again, she's been here less than 24 hours. She won't even touch her almonds or the couple of sunflower seeds I slipped in her dish for a treat! DX

 

Yesterday when I brought her home (after a stop by the vet for a quick blood panel, CBC, gram stain, and choanal/cloacal swabs--I do my own swabs for the little birdies, but would hate to try restraining a grey for it by myself! LOL), she walked out of her crate and asked to "Step Up" at which point her nails shredded my arm like tissue paper, they were so sharp (oops, shoulda had the vet do those, too!!). She immediately attempted to climb to my shoulder (big no no in this house--shoulder is a treat for if we're on a harness and outside). She doesn't bite hard, but is giving me little nips to test me out. At her previous owner's house, she climbed onto the lady's shoulder, and she was unable to get her off. I had to help, as I was far less afraid than she was. She did go into the carrier readily. I'm concerned that she's been pushing the previous owner around, and may have some temperament issues now. We shall see over time, I suppose. I was able to get my low power dremel to the tip of each nail through the cage bars. Surprisingly, I took it very slow, and it didn't seem to bother her in the slightest! In fact, she held her foot through the bar and made a chuckling sound...sooo....NOT going to argue with that! LOL

 

Today, she is much more nervous--I think that the change is permanent is sinking in--and hasn't wanted anything to do with me. I'm OK with that--we'll take it slow! Took almost two months for Jynx to do his first step up. I can be patient! (Even if I don't want to be! LOL)

 

I have many questions for those of you with grey experience, but I will post those into a more appropriate forum when I have more time this evening. I am confident that with steady, positive training, I'll end up with a fantastic bird, but of course, I worry that I'll do something wrong! I always do with my babies, but I always seem to end up OK in the end.

 

Hubby has made me proud by not whipping away his hand even when she did a closed beak lunge at him (then promptly put her head down for a scratch), and my daughters (2 and 4) are very good with the animals (I have so many! LOL) and have been quiet around her cage, and ignoring her exactly as asked.

 

Thanks for reading my novel....I really just needed to ramble about her. =0 ) I am very excited to have her, but of course, it being me, cried to my husband a bit last night, concerned that I was going to end up with a biting, screaming, plucking mess....all out of site and sound of the bird, mind you.

He just laughed at me (silly man!) and said that I had the exact same melt down when I got Jynx.

 

Alright, I'm done now, I promise! I'll be chatting to some of you in the main forums soon enough! Now, in the meantime, I need to go build a few more PVC tabletop perches and gyms and wrap a hula hoop in polycord so it can be hung! LOL Probably I should fold some laundry, too, so hubby doesn't think I'm 100% obsessed w/ the bird.

 

I'll add some pics once I get around to resizing.

[Dave007]

One question-i'm not really sure about it so i'll ask you

 

By any chance, do you like birds?

 

For some reason, I get the feeling that maybe you might say yes although I could be totally wrong.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Dave007

[Trinkapuppy]

LOL....gee....why did you think maybe I like birds?

Just a little. Smidge, really. Honest. Not an addiction at all. =0 )

In fact, I NEVER go on and on and on about them, and I NEVER spend a few minutes here, and a few minutes there doing training sessions and making toys with/for my kids and birds until I realize that I've no more time left to do....oh, I dunno....housework and things.

Yes, I use the same principles I learned from bird training to train my kids. Nope. Don't like birds. Hardly at all.

[Dave007]

***Don't like birds. Hardly at all.

****

 

Thought so. Glad we cleared that up.

[Malikah]

Welcome! Love your long rambling post. You and Eshe will get along just fine I'm sure.

[rbpittman]

Welcome and look forward to more ramblings about Eshe.

 

robin

[Ray P]

That post wasen`t to bad. About a 1/4 of the way I stoped for lunch and just befor the end I had dinner.

Any way welcome to the forum and we also love pictures.(I can look at them faster)

[Cupid]

Welcome!!! Pics of your family please.

[Luvparrots]

Loved your intro and am looking forward to seeing some pictures of your little ole menagerie when you get a chance! Welcome to the Grey family!

[Trinkapuppy]

Thanks for the warm welcome, y'all!

And LOL, Ray! You might just want to avoid the bulk of my posts.

 

Alright....some pics of a few of them....

(Jynx is outside b/c the ends of his primaries were...either chewed off, or hacked off before he arrived here, and he has yet to moult. Hopefully all of his stress bars will go away, too!) We only go out on zero wind days, unless we are in the back on the covered and partially screened patio. We are working hard on harness training, as well, with pretty good success so far. The 'tiel is Diego, and the budgies are Chuck Norris and Cordell Walker (the third one, not pictured, is Ollie)

 

 

And my rainbow bridge girl, Safari (with Chuck Norris down in the corner):

 

WTG irregular resizing! LOL...oh well. At least it doesn't stretch things so much anymore.

 

Eshe is now using the extra perch I gave her! =0 ) (She had ONE. The long horizontal bar. That was it.) She also has three toys--the three she's had since the day the lady got her. I have hung a number of toys around the room, in site of her cage, and have been moving them in gradually--I don't think she's too phobic, but I don't want to push things.

This evening, after the girls were tuckered out from swimming and sitting quietly, she came out of her cage on her own for awhile, and even put her head down for a scratch. =0 ) This much progress on our first day home has to be good!

Most of her vet work that I didn't have back yet came in nice and clean--always a relief!

 

Edited to add: No photo's of my other critters, b/c I'd have to resize too many, but I also have a pair of boa constrictor imperators, 2 corn snakes, 2 stinkpot turtles, 2 chihuahua's, 2 hedgehogs (rescues that are all better and will shortly be looking for a new home--I never really wanted them, but couldn't leave them to be neglected to death!), 2 trio's of African Soft Furred Rats (I dislike buying food for my snakes unless I know the quality of life it had, that it's end was kind, and that it's diet was good and housing clean), and a female mini rex rabbit. I think that's it. My four year old is actually incredibly helpful with the animals...I'm thanking my lucky stars, as long as it lasts!

Edited June 10, 2011 by Trinkapuppy

[Ray P]

Great pictures and also we enjoy off the wall humor.

[judygram]

Hello Trinkapuppy and welcome to our family, you have some great looking fids and we enjoy reading novels especially when they are about birds, our favorite subject. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your lovely flock.

[Trinkapuppy]

LOL Ray....off the wall humor....is there any other type?

 

AAAAND!!! She just stepped up and went on a willing tour of the downstairs! Still having an issue with her nails being WAY sharp despite the mild touch with the dremel I did--this dremel is honestly more for training them...it runs on a single AA battery, and just barely does anything. I've found that for the dogs and birds, it's a fantastic way to start introducing toe grooming.

 

Halfway through the tour, I even stopped by her cage. She leaned toward the cage and I asked her if she wanted to go back to her cage or see the other rooms. She stopped leaning, and was ready to go on the rest of the tour. Amazing how smart she is, and how responsive she is already. The nips have gone from being very hard (leaving marks but no blood) to being gentle push aways when she doesn't want me close. Which I respect.

I'm thinking possibly her previous owner didn't take hints, so she had to resort to nipping? And she's realized already that if she nips, I don't push her, but I also don't remove my hand. If she pushes away gently, I respect her wishes, and remove my presence.

In some ways, these early days are frustrating, but at the same time, the rejoicing in the small victories are just awesome. I love watching the daily or even hourly progress of a bird coming out of it's shell, and learning to trust.

Now, if only I could convince my husband we need to go back and rescue the little lesser citron 'too Eshe's previous owner has, as well.....

[judygram]

Amazing how smart she is, and how responsive she is already. The nips have

gone from being very hard (leaving marks but no blood) to being gentle push

aways when she doesn't want me close. Which I respect.

I'm thinking possibly

her previous owner didn't take hints, so she had to resort to nipping? And she's

realized already that if she nips, I don't push her, but I also don't remove my

hand. If she pushes away gently, I respect her wishes, and remove my

presence.

I think you two are going to do just fine.

[Greywings]

Wonderful transition to her lifetime home and your writing style does add to this forum. Welcome aboard and look forward to learning of Eshe and her progress in your care. Our kids grew up in the same feathered, furred and scaled environment it's good to see another home full of life. By the way if you think a Caique is earsplitting then your ears and brain may melt under the unique and super charged sound of a "Too" Citrons can be wall shakingly loud. Moluccans have been recorded as loud as an aircraft landing.

"A 747 Jumbo Jet produces as much as 140 decibels of noise. 105db is considered damaging to the ear. Peacocks have been registered at 115, Moluccans hold the record as the loudest bird on earth at 135db (average = 120db)"

San Diego Zoo

Edited June 10, 2011 by Greywings

[Trinkapuppy]

Ah, yes. The scream of the moluccan. The sound that is so loud, it almost hits a point where it ceases to hurt, and instead becomes something physical you feel you could effectively lean into. My parents have done parrot rescue for years, and have two moluccans, an umbrella, a citron, and a horrible, evil (ahem, that might be childhood trauma colouring that--he hated me with a single minded determination, and my parents thought it was funny when he ran me off and chased me into my bedroom) goffins. They also have quite a few indian ringnecks and lovebirds. Last count, I heard they were up to 32 parrots, not counting the lovies.....

I would simply adopt something from them, but they live in Canada and....well, they don't ask for the same level of interaction and good manners that I work hard to get my birds to agree to.

 

I suppose I should reword about Jynx's whistle....it's not that it shatters your eardrums in such a way as a cockatoo...it is more along the lines of nails on a chalkboard. Granted his whistle doesn't hit the decibels that his screams do (which aren't all that loud, but still annoying for anyone trying to watch TV when I leave the room), but they HURT in a way that his screeches just can't manage. That shudder up your spine, make your molars ache, and bounce around in your head until your brain kinda hurt. I think you could bottle the sound and use it in some form of torture.

 

Also, I said Eshe's previous owner still has a lesser citron 'too, and meant lesser sulfur. I believe I was thinking about the citron my parents have when I wrote that. And yeap, I do know how loud they are! Volume level is a factor into why I picked a grey over a 'too, though not by any stretch of the imagination, the only factor.

 

Eshe is now stepping up on command, and rarely says no! =0 )

I've also now bolted her brand new shiny stainless steel bucket full of foot toys into her cage, and she hasn't gotten upset about the munchkin dishwasher basket that is going to be used for foraging. Neither has gotten any more attention that sideways glances, but I believe she's working her way up to it!

 

Edited to add: Also, I had NO idea that peacocks were so loud!! I guess I never really thought about it. Perhaps I will have to reconsider wanting some when I someday have property.....

Although since the long term goal is to put a large outdoor aviary up and offer permanent homes for some parrots in need of one, perhaps it won't much matter. Of course, this is all dreams for decades from now....and who knows where life will really take me between now and then....

Edited June 10, 2011 by Trinkapuppy

[Ray P]

A note on peacocks we have a pair of peafoul and as far as noise I thing my grey and amazon can give them a run for the money.

[Trinkapuppy]

Good to know, Ray. I suppose it's not always just the volume, but frequency, duration, and where they're doing it that drive one crazy.

[Greywings]

I think Ray will confirm the Peafowl do a flock call and an alarm call they will let you know if they see trespassers. I share the house with 3 Greys and 2 Too's the Umbie can call loud enough to hurt you, but with the Moluccan we fostered you can feel the shock wave hit your ear drum as well as the sound.

[Trinkapuppy]

No kidding about the 'toos.

After meeting my parent's birds (again, they really have no control, and are rather owned by their birds) scream and scream and scream and scream, hubby was against birds for a long time. Of course, that was back in high school, and I've had well over a decade to convince him otherwise. He's a bird whisperer in the making, I think. If anything, I tend to hamper his relationship with the birds by hovering, so I'm working hard on backing off and letting him interact and make mistakes that can be corrected.

[Luvparrots]

I so love your peahen and peacock RayP. I grew up with the sweethearts and miss them dearly! I still have some tail feathers in my bedroom. They are so lovely! Thanks for sharing your pictures!

 

Trinkapuppy, I love your flock!!!!!

[Trinkapuppy]

Thank you, luvparrots. I love them too! But then, I'm biased.

 

Well, here's the first video I've gotten to shoot of Eshe--considering that she apparently HATED the 4 year old in the previous home, this is very positive interaction. Then again, Kennedy has a natural way with the animals that flabbergasts some people. The four year old....did not. LOL

 

 

You can also go find many other vid's of Jynx. My favorite is the sneaky Jynx one, where he breaks into the seed container (they only get a little bit daily, and apparently he decided that wasn't enough! Fruits and veggies are one thing, but c'mon, seeds are the best!!) I have since changed my storage methods.

[Eshana]

Eshe? I LOVE that name! Obviously =]

 

You have a beautiful flock!

[Talon]

Welcome to our family! I have very much enjoyed reading this thread. Kudos to you for being soft a bird and pet softy like the rest of us. Just can't seem to say NO, can we?

Look forward to the next chapter.......

[Talon]

Quick question, what is the "training" you are doing with them, sounds interesting, I would love to hear more.....and since you love to write...................