Starbuck

[kitt79]

For anyone who remembers, I'm the one who took in an abandoned grey a few weeks ago.

 

Turns out he's a she, and we named her Starbuck, as we are both big Battlestar Galactica fans (the new one lol).

 

We ended up covering her cage at night, and this has worked out fine so far. We go to bed on the late side, so covering it lets her get those few extra hours of sleep in the morning. I've made her several toys which she has almost shredded beyond recognition -- almost time for a trip to the hobby shop again!

 

She's pretty happy with the zupreem pellets, I mix in some seeds for variety. She LOVES apples but we don't do them every day. Once a week she gets some of the scrambled eggs I make for my gouldian finches (egg, a spoonful of handfeeding formula, chopped nuts, whatever else I can find). She also seems to like the birdie bread I made for the finches. She's not too keen on the green veggies, but carrots seem to be acceptable.

 

I've also discovered that as slow and calm as she is, when she wants to be, she's like greased lighting. I dropped a corner of a dorito the other day and she was on that thing and sprinting for the corner where she knew I couldn't get it away from her. I tried to be stern but it was hilarious .

 

The thing that's irritating me at the moment (and I know there is nothing I can do about it)... she has our cockatiel's sounds down PAT. Mostly his most annoying ones! Merlin has a peculiar squawk he does in the mornings and now the only way to tell them apart is Starbuck is LOUDER. LOL. I guess we will learn to live with it. She also gives the gouldian song a go from time to time but she seems frustrated with that one as she can't get quiet enough to get it right .

 

How often do greys molt? She has one flight feather growing back in, but hasn't yanked the other short ones out yet. I worry a lot about her spooking and falling. Whoever clipped her got about 7 flight feathers on each wing -- which is enough to ground my tiel, and on this heavy grey enough to make her fall like a rock . <br><br>Post edited by: kitt79, at: 2008/05/08 15:40

[kitt79]

Other wing...

[kitt79]

Also, ignore that mess in the background. That is my dear hubby's desk lol.

[judygram]

Welcome back Kitt and it looks like Starbuck had a severe wing clip, much too short for a grey with their heavy body. Their wing feathers will come in gradually and not at the same time as they usually shed a few at a time so as not to be flightless when they were in the wild.

 

A lot of greys do not like some veggies but keep offering them in the hopes that one day she will start eating them.

 

I can sympathize with the mimicing of the cockatiels call as Josey does with my sun conure's screams, she can do it better than the conure does but that is to be expected so just ignore it as best as you can.

[kitt79]

Oooh, a sun conure.... I can't even imagine lol.

 

I do take it as a good sign that she's only known me 3 weeks but will let me pull her wings out like that. She got lots of scritches and praise for that .

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Kitt, sounds as if Starbuck has settled very well with you.There are plenty of topics in the bird food room that offer good advice on diet.Yes i imagine mimicing the tiels could be annoying im sure new noises to mimic will follow.

It does look a horrid clip on the wings,greys tend to molt once a year but this can very depending on their environment,during a molt you will see an increase in the loss of white downy feathers,followed by new pins on the head,neck area.

LOL at the desk,get hubby to tidy it :whistle:

[kitt79]

Easier said than done! It's usually me that has to sort through everything and clean it off

[Acappella]

I sympathize. Dorian's my only bird, but he came from a pet store so it often sounds like I also have budgies and canaries, really, really loud ones!:ohmy:

[judygram]

Kitt the funny thing about her mimicing the sun conure's scream is she will tell her to shutup, she screams then says shutup and sometimes when the sun conure screams she tells her to shutup, sometimes she says it like two words, shut up with a slight pause between the words, of course I have my hubby to thank for that:angry:

 

Letting you spread her wings is very good as some members here that have had their greys for a lot longer can't even do that much, count yourself lucky.

[kitt79]

LOL... I just hope hubby does not slip and shout at his video games when she's in the room... he's been good so far, once I told him HE would have to explain to my parents when they babysit our animals why one of them sounded like a sailor.

 

She fidgets a little when I mess with her wings but as long as scritches and maybe an almond or two are forthcoming, she puts up with it pretty well .

[lovemyGreys]

Will you clip her feathers when they grow back or allow her to be flighted ?

[kitt79]

I would like for her to stay flighted, but it will depend on how she behaves. I have some time to get some training done, by the sound of it, so maybe we can work on wearing a harness, coming when called with distractions, etc.

 

If I do end up clipping, it certainly won't be anything like she is currently.

 

I keep my tiel clipped because he is a little punk. I had a bad scare today because he managed to grow *one* feather out, and could fly better than I thought he could. Before I knew it, he tried to get to a cat and flew STRAIGHT into Starbuck's face. I thought he was a goner . She could kill him withough batting an eyelash... I clipped the living daylights out of his wings, I never want to cut it that close again.

 

Merlin was also a rescue but he is not even a fraction as tame as Starbuck. He was somewhat abused before we got him, and though he has made a lot of progress, I don't trust him flighted. He's so easily spooked, and hits windows and walls. I have tried 3 times now to leave his feathers intact, hoping to boost his confidence, and each time something happens that's just too dangerous.