Parrot's in VA

[Wolf]

Tell the local breeder to get lost, that is without a doubt the worst advice that I have ever heard given to someone. I have stayed out of this because I wanted you to get the help you needed from the right person, of course she would have answered and corrected me if I were to be wrong any way. But I don't have ekkies and just didn't want to clutter up the information that you needed. I do however have a Grey and I feed her gloop every day. She is 15 or 16 years old although I haven't had her for that long, but she is my best friend. Greys can be very picky not only about the foods that they eat but especially about who they like and don't like. If you consistently show yours that you can be trusted then she will come around in time. They are very smart birds and as long as they can see you there is not much that they miss as they watch everything very intently. Don't look for a Velcro bird with your Grey as although they like and need the attention as much as any of the Velcro birds, they are just not touchy, feely birds. They can be very happy just perching on or next to you without a lot of touching, but you can be certain that if she is in the mood for head scratches or petting that she will let you know. Mine spends a lot of time on my knee or shoulder as well as on the back of the sofa just hanging out and talking with me. She gets in moods where she wants to wrestle with me and periods where the only thing to do is be kissed for hours on end by her. But she initiates all of these things when she is ready. She also does not allow any other animal, bird, dog or cat to be with me while she is out as she protects me from any and everyone, not even humans are allowed to touch me while she is near me. Other than stories from other people that have Grey's or other things due to reading, I can't tell you much other than how my Grey is with me. They are very special birds and I am honored that my Grey wants me as her human.

[Pajarita]

I second Wolf's comments, that is the worst advice ever and, obviously, given by somebody who does not know enough about birds and cares even less for them!

Grays are not easy birds and they do bond very deeply to their chosen human, sometimes taking a looooong time before they bond with somebody else after they loose their chosen one but it does happen. I promise you it does and you can take it to the bank! I have a Timneh gray that ended up in NYC Animal Control when found in a high school basketball court (they called the bird club I used to belong to and the president asked me to go get her -she was at the Staten Island facility- as I had a bird rescue at the time). She was quite rough and unfriendly to me and all she knew how to say was F... YOU! in an angry man's voice. She has always preferred men because, obviously, her previous owner had been a man and chose my husband on sight - but my husband is not a parrot lover and although I shamed him into paying a bit of attention to her, it was not enough so slowly but surely she has became more and more friendly to me and now she steps up, perches on my shoulder, kisses me, etc. She would still fly to my husband as soon as she sees him but, if he is not around, she is fine with me. So just be patient and give her time, she will come around. Let her out of her cage by just opening the door. Put perches on the outside of her cage or a playstand near or above it with some toys and produce for her to eat. Spend quiet time with her (grays are big on quiet time), talk, sing, whistle to her, keep her company, offer her a treat every now and then and praise praise praise praise (they LOVE praise!) and, eventually, you will start seeing a change in her.

Now, as to the 'get rid of one of the babies'... well, the thing with ekkies is that if one wants to get them a companion for their own sake, one is better off getting another one of the same gender because ekkies are HIGHLY hormonal birds with breeding seasons that last 9 months in the wild so you need to be very careful and keep them at a super strict solar schedule as well as never feed them high protein (not easy to do in captivity as all parrot foods are high protein). But this doesn't mean that you cannot have a male and female that do get along without a problem and which will not be hormonal all year round! All you have to do is have impeccable husbandry and, in reality, it's the same thing that every parrot requires so...

[Hayden_69]

Thank you all for the input and word's of encouragement. I will try working harder with Squeak's and hopefully, in time she will come around. I couldn't stand the thought of selling her. She was like a child to my dad and even still mimics my dad's voice. Even though we've only had Tiki and Kiwi a short period of time, we don't want to sell one of them either. My mom is very attached to Tiki and my sister and I are extremely attached to Kiwi. I think as long as we give them individual attention and time apart, I'm hoping all will be fine.

So, I took both babies to the vet today for a checkup. The vet said they both looked great! Kiwi is a little bit smaller than Tiki, which is odd, because I thought he's alway's looked bigger than Tiki. Tiki was 360.00 grams and Kiwi was 349.00 grams. He hasn't been eating a whole lot, but I think it's because he's somewhere new and he will eventually get use to thing's. He did eat very well tonight though, which is great news! I think it's because I mixed mango baby food in with the formula (mango is his favorite). I told the vet that I was starting them on the gloop diet and she said that was a good thing, but I should also give them pellet's as a variety. I'm not sure I agree with that 100%, so I may need some additional feedback on that. She gave me a couple samples of Harrison's Bird Food in High Potency Fine. Any experience with this?

[Wolf]

The reason that vets do this is that many people don't understand parrot nutrition any better than most of the vets do themselves and they are trying to ensure a certain minimum level of nutrition. They don't do any in depth study of parrot nutrition and rely on the feed manufacturers for their information. This does not take into account those species of parrots that require special diets such as the eclectus, who's system can not handle the artificial preservatives, artificial vitamins and minerals and high protein contained in most of the commercial foods available to parrot keepers.
Up until very recently Harrison's did not recommend feeding the high potency formula to birds that did not need a short term boost in the vitamin/ mineral levels due to illness or from malnutrition.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is correct. I have a few avian medicine text books and the diet section is pitifully short and so very general as to be useless. Not that they could do it any differently as there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of species of birds all with different dietary ecologies so a textbook that covers them all would have to be the size of a building
And, he is correct again on the High Potency. It used to have a warning label on it but it no longer does and I don't know why because it's higher in protein and vitamins than anything else out there in the market -which is pretty much the worst thing you can feed an ekkie! Besides, avian vets usually recommend Harrison's because they sell it themselves...

[Hayden_69]

So, I switched the bird's over to the Gloop diet. They all seem to really be enjoying it! It wasn't very difficult to make at all.

In other new's! Squeak's decided that she was going to lay an egg this morning! This is my first time dealing with this and I am not sure what to do! I've noticed the last few week's she has been acting really funny. I bought her this shoe foot toy and she's been treating it like a baby. She lay's on it and she adores this toy! I wanted to take it away from her, because I felt it was going to encourage her to lay an egg, but I felt bad, because she loves it so much! Now, I have an unfertilized egg on my hand's. Any idea's on what to do? This is her first egg, to my knowledge.

[liz]

Who ever you talked to is full of poop !!!!!

[Wolf]

Don't worry about the egg, but be aware that she will probably lay another one every other day until she has a full clutch of 2 or 3 eggs. Since they are not fertile let her keep them until she losses interest in them and then toss them out. I would make sure that she gets a calcium supplement so that she doesn't develop problems due to a lack of calcium. I grate a little cuttlebone on my greys food on a weekly basis but with yours I would put some on the food daily for the next couple of weeks. I would encourage her to eat foods that are high it things like beta carotene and calcium such as carrots and broccoli as well as other vegetables.

[Hayden_69]

Thank you, Wolf. I'll pick some up tonight and start grating it on her food starting tomorrow. Thanks for the helpful tips!

[liz]

I use a morter and pestil to grind it up.