smithie007 Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hello! if you have read any of my posts you know that i am the proud and terrified owner of a 7 week old timneh african grey. proud b/c she is sooooo cute and teriffied cause i have no clue what to do and i dont want to break her!:unsure: I have the "for the love of greys book" but most of this is for after she comes home. what should i be doing with/for her while she is still at the store? what should i be doing while i visit? are there any "games" in particular that we should be playing with her? when will she start talking? when will all her feathers come in? she doesnt move around a whole lot right now. she doesnt quite get her feet under her, well at least she couldnt last week. when will she be walking around? do they automatically know how to perch? should i try to teach her? will she automatically fledge? do i try to help her with that too? ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!:woohoo: *blows up with excitement* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imme Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi Smithie, wow, that's alot of questions I don't have any real answers for you so hopefully someone with more knowledge will be here soon. At what age will be bringing him home? If you are waitting until he is fully weaned then the answer would be the Breeder would be taking care of most of those problems for you, except the talking, that's up to you. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi Smithie, How often are you visiting her ? Each visit will help you to begin the bonding process with your baby,if the store lets you handle her gently & talk to her,your voice will become familiar to her & she will recognize it,it will be something familiar and comforting she can associate to when you get to bring her home. Around 9/10 weeks you will see a big difference in your baby's feathers,nearly all would have come through. They have to learn to perch,a perch low down in the cage is the best way for them to learn,again at 9 weeks they should be perching,but this is just a rough guide as greys are individuals & each will progress at slightly slower or faster rates. Around this time also, hopefully the store will begin to teach the "Step Up " command, this is something you do with her.Hear is a link... http://exoticpets.about.com/od/behavior/f/birdstepup.htm Fledging means taking its first flight.Your baby will automatically begin to flap her wings vigorously in preparation for flying, if you are considering wing clipping please allow your baby to learn to fly first & build up her muscles. As for talking that comes much later,it will vary for each bird, some start as early as 6 months others will not utter a word for 12 months,dont focus to much on the talking ability,it will come but never forget that some greys may actually never talk/mimic but that is rare.<br><br>Post edited by: lovemyGreys, at: 2008/04/13 12:25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi love my greys! My fiance and i go visit her every week. We live about an hour and a half away from her. if i could afford it i would go see her everyday. The store encourages us to play with her. we cuddle her and talk to her and introduce new toys which she promptly ignors.:silly: wow perching in only two weeks! that's cool. She must be growing faster than i realise! Yeah we will have to clip her. My grandfather is kinda afraid of birds but he does anything to make me happy.(he wouldnt buy me a pony though:P )I'm afraid that if she was flying around and she startled him he might, unthinking, smack her or something. the store says that they let them fly for a while before they clip them. is that good? they said it helps them to get their balance and to land well. They told me that she should be able to come home around 13 weeks. does this sound right? or would it be different for a timneh? Oh! one more question about feathers. she has these little purple feathers around her tail. there are some of the red ones too but will she keep the purple???? i hope so. thats my favorite color!!!:woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi Imme! the store said that she should be able to come home at around 13 weeks. i cant wait! at the half way mark. This waiting is hard when youve been waiting since she was 2 weeks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi Smithie!! You will not believe how much they will grow from week to week. You will be utterly shocked when you arrive. :-) If your not already, take photos so you have a history of growth you can reflect on later once your fast growing baby is finally at home. It's really cool to go back and look at the photos of their growth and also of you and/or wifey holding and interacting with them. You are doing everything right and are fortunate you can visit every week. That's what we did and it really ties that bond and familiarity between you and your Grey from such a young age. Post some photos if you have them. We love seeing photos!!!! :woohoo: Heck, even start a weekly blog here so we can all enjoy your experience too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 Hi danmcq! i will try to do that! i have to get all of the images resized first. I take them with my uncle's heavy duty camera. :whistle: hopefully i will be able to get everything up and everyone can watch her grow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Oh Cool, can't wait!!! :woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Yes smithie the tails feathers will become a dark shade of maroon/purple.The Timneh African Grey Parrot is a dark grey bird with shades of light grey on the body. The eye area is of bare white skin. They have a "bone" colored upper mandible and a dark maroon tail. The Timneh is smaller in size ranging from 9-11 inches beak to tail. Also TAG's can vary in weight from 275-400 grams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 love my greys She could get up to 400g?! thats in the range of a congo isnt it? is there anythingi can do that would encourage her to be on the high end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Well smithie like us they will all vary & you don't want an obese grey Make sure she is introduced to a whole variety of foods. Vegetables,fruit,pulses,pasta,oats etc.. the list is endless.There are some great threads in the bird food room, so please have a good read through them when you have the time.Any questions please ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Share Posted April 14, 2008 yeah i will look through those! Yeah those should help a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Hi Smithie. My baby came home yesterday at 18 weeks. He was just now able to come home. Don't get your hopes up because it call depends on wt gain. They have to be sure that the wt continues to go up before they will let them go so don't push and make sure he is ready. My CAG weighed 380 yesterday. I have to take him back in 5 days to be weighed again to make sure he has not lost too much from the stress of moving. They said that he can lose up to 10% of his body wt but any more than that and they will take him back to feed him. I guess what I am trying to say is be patient and be sure he is ready to go. Post edited by: Char, at: 2008/04/14 22:21<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2008/04/14 22:22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raposa Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Smithie, As you know, I spent time with Jenna about once a week at the breeder's (she came home Saturday). It was a REALLY good thing to do. Jenna often did not seem all that interested in me when I visited, and she'd fly away from me to go sit on her playpen or on the breeder. But it achieved my purpose - she got familiar with me and got to know who I am, so there would be at least one familiar person in the new household. And the day I went to pick her up, she flew to me for the first time ~beams~ She's been home since Saturday morning and she clearly watches for me and responds to me. Tonight I fed her some warm oatmeal from a spoon at bed time, and she chirped and bounced around and spread oatmeal all over her cage and my living room . . . hehehe Anyway, even if all you do is be near your baby on some sort of regular schedule, I think it will make a big difference!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 Hi all! thanks so much for all of the input. I went to go see Evolet yesterday. She came to me. Actually came running/jumping( and a couple trips ) across the counter to me. I couldnt have smiled any wider. kirk says he hadnt seen me that happy since he asked me to marry him.:blush: *giggle* but of course i was dutifully ignored when they came out with the formula. She's getting to big! there's actually enough of her to hold now. I'll put some more pics up on my profile when i get them resized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I can see that you are totally enthralled with Evolet already and doesn't that make you feel so good when they come running when they see you, yah Mommy's here!! I look forward to seeing some pics of Evolet when you can get them posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 Enthralled. yes that sounds about right. Kirk says that he thinks i love her more than i love him. He's just joking though. She's so cute. next week she should be just about ready to start attempting to perch. Well that's what everything im finding tells me. Around 9 weeks. does this sound right with everyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Yes Tracy, aka LovemyGreys said at around 9 weeks they will be starting to perch:cheer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raposa Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Evolet sounds about as precious and perfect as she can be! I know how eager you are to have your baby home :woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 yes! i am absolutely about to get arrested for stalking or something cause when im up there i dont leave the poor store clerks alone. im always asking questions and asking how much she weighs, how much she eats, when i can bring her home. :silly: :woohoo: :blush: I just absolutely cant wait. She falls asleep on me a lot when im there. Sometimes when she sleeps she looks dead cause she gets into these really wierd positions. She tries to get her head back behind her wing, i think, but it never really makes it that far.just kinda bent back and looks like she's broken it in about 7 different places. :laugh: im running out of things to do to get ready for her to come home. Im gonna go crazy when i do actually run out of things!:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 :laugh: I just love your enthusiasm, your going to be a great parent Evolet is one very luck baby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Thank you! i am way too excited. we go see her again saturday. i cant wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Boy, you got it bad for your baby and it is so refreshing to hear the enthusiasm in your posts, Evolet is going to be one spoiled grey, lucky her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 smithie any chance of some photos for us when you visit saturday ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithie007 Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Yeah i can do that! i can get something up. just gotta figure out how to get them into the post.:silly: :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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