tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 23, 2005 10:36:59 GMT -7
Hi all, I just joined the forum, and I have to say it's an excellent source for African Grey information, there's nothing like experience and I see people imparting plenty here :-) Anyways, I have kept Parrots in the past, and ended up rehoming my last Grey (Mr Grey) due to feather plucking. I had been involved in an accident and had to be hospitalised and the poor bird was passed around between family members until I recovered. I rehomed him about five years back with a guy who looks after bired of all types in ireland and came highly recommended. In three weeks I will have a new Grey he/she is being hand reared at the moment, and thankfully my lifestyle has changed in such a way that I can give the attention that a creature of such beauty and grace deserves, so looking forward to it immensely!!! I'm just so glad I found this forum, it's excellent, and I look forward to exchanging views and obtaining help should I need it. Greg
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Post by Jane on Jun 24, 2005 0:34:55 GMT -7
Hello Greg We will look forward to some pictures in a few weeks time then. My two will be 12 and 14 this year but I have had them since they were babies.
Jane
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Post by Greg on Jun 28, 2005 0:09:37 GMT -7
Way to go Jane :-) sounds like you know a thing or two about the care and maintenance :-) How do you balance giving affection to both parrots do they get jealous ? I have been thinking about it because I have never had two parrots together at the same time, especially with both of them being babies being demanding. G
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Post by Jane on Jun 28, 2005 0:30:33 GMT -7
My two are very different in their personalities. Monty has always been more docile and independent whereas Mitzi is much more possessive of me and more demanding. I think if I had two like Mitzi it would be almost impossible but I do have to be careful and make sure they both get the attention they want. Mitzi gets more jealous of Monty than the other way round.
Jane
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Post by Greg on Jun 28, 2005 5:47:49 GMT -7
Cool, thanks for the advice, I have now in my possession a baby Hahns macaw ! expect photos very very soon :-)
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tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 29, 2005 1:20:26 GMT -7
Ok this is not a Grey Problem per se, but I collected my baby Hahns macaw from the pet shop yesterday. Just over two weeks ago the guy in the shop told me that the bird had two weeks left to be weaned from the baby formula. So I gave him the two weeks plus a few days to make sure the bird had been weaned, only to find out when I got to the shop yesterday that the bird has not been completely weaned as he said was the case. There are two weeks left at one feed morning and evening then one week of just evening feed. The bird is eating solids too, but mainly millet. I tried last night 29/06 17:00 to feed the bird some of the formula, but alas the poor thing jumped at the sight of me holding out the food on a spoon, I did it the way I saw the guy in the shop do it but the thing is that (1) I dont really have the birds confidence yet (2) the mere sight of the spoon seems to send the poor thing in to some sort of fright. After the first feeding episode I immediately called the guy in the shop who told me that the bird would have not accepted the food , because the feed was way too early, he stated 21:30 at the earliest. I insisted that the bird was afraid of me and the spoon I was using, but he argued that the bird would not feed until his/her crop was emptied. I know a bit about bird behaviour as this is not the first parrot I have kept, and I know when a bird is afraid, but I decided to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, so against my better judgement I decided to wait until evening, which I duly did. Not surprisingly I got the same reaction from the bird, he jumped to a different perch at the mere sight of the formula, so i didn't want to push things, after all I only purchased the bird yesterday and the last thing I want to do is have him/her scared of me. I decided to wait until this morning to try again , alas same result . I'm waiting for the shop to open to have a word with the guy from the time of writing this message I have about an hour until he opens, I'm just worried about the bird starving tho he's eating some millet he seems to be scared of anything I offer to him, he has some of the standard parrot mix too but it seems to have been largely ignored. I offered some orange yesterday evening and he jumped at the sight of it. I suppose I'm just disappointed with myself that I took the bird home too early, but the guy in the shop also lied to me, and I dont have any experience of hand rearing, and I'm scared that the bird will become sick/underweight ... as far as I'm concerned I'm bringing the bird back to the shop to let the guy finish the bird off properly, but until then, any help would be appreciated
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Post by Jane on Jun 29, 2005 1:52:19 GMT -7
I am not really sure why the bird is so jumpy if he is being hand reared but I think the best thing to do is to take him back to the shop to be fully weaned. Weaning isn't absolute, some individuals take longer than others but a shop shouldn't really sell a bird unless it is fully weaned.
Jane
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tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 29, 2005 1:59:45 GMT -7
Thanks jane it's appreciated. I took the bird home against my better judgement, but I have kept a fair few hand reared birds in the past and rarely had trouble with them being afraid of me or not wanting to be handled. I have introduced my fingers to the bird, slowly but surely and gotten bitten for my trouble, but I didn't react at all except to let the bird know through disapproving facial expressions and low voice .. I was thinking someone in the shop might have mistreated the bird, because I certainyl haven't done anything to the bird myself. will be calling the shop soon G
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tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 29, 2005 2:42:18 GMT -7
Typical ! I called the shop and the guy is not around today. Guy who answered is not a parrot person So now I'm kind of stuck between a rock and ahard place, the only saving grace is that the bird is eating loads of millet so who knows :/
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Post by Jane on Jun 29, 2005 3:59:45 GMT -7
Perhaps you could offer chopped up fruit and vegetables as well, maybe some cooked rice and mashed sweet potato.
Jane
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tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 29, 2005 5:39:12 GMT -7
Hi again Jane, I went to my usual pet shop guy, and he called the guy who is breeding my grey and the guy suggested soaking some parrot mix in boiling water overnight, and to add some fresh peas and corn, or at least if I had frozen ones to thaw them out and mix about 50/50 with the parrot mix. He also remarked that if the baby is already eating solids, not to be too worried. So my mind is at ease now to a degree :-) I'll also try what you mentioned, but the bird has so far ignored orange and bannana tho they weren't chopped up to a small size and may have scared him. Cheers for the advice, will keep you up to speed on how I'm getting along. Greg PS: how do I upload a pic?
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Post by Africanewbie on Jun 29, 2005 8:42:18 GMT -7
Hi Tallus, sounds like your baby hahn's might have been a bit tramautized by it's relocation to new surroundings. You are also a new parent to it and thus is afraid of you. How many times did you feed the baby at the pet shop before you bought it home? It would have been a much easier transition for your baby if you had been spoon feeding it for at least several times over a period of a week. The parrot guy at the store should have known this.
Since it is eating the millet it should be okay, just make sure it is drinking enough water and not dehaydrating because of the lackof formula intake which provides most of it's water source. You can also put a handful of millet or rape in hot water and let stand until cold. strain off as much as you can and then put into feeder bowl. IMPORTANT: wet seeds sour, so after a couple of hours remove them and make a fresh batch. Also as Jane suggested, give it peeled and chopped fruits like apple with the seed removed or banana. If you have a scale, make sure it is not losing weight.
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tallus
Baby Bird
Joined: June 2005
Posts: 19
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Post by tallus on Jun 29, 2005 8:50:01 GMT -7
Thanks for the advice I'll try that too, you're right about the feeding thing I only did it once in the shop, and it's the last time I'll be buying from this guy. Though I should have known myself, I mean it's my own fault for not researching ....
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Post by Africanewbie on Jun 29, 2005 18:21:40 GMT -7
No wonder baby Hahn is so afraid of you. This is one problem with people buying fully unweaned babies, thay usually don't spend enough time with the babies before taking them home.
At this age it will be wise to offer different foods so that it can develope a habit of eating anything you offer it.
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Post by Africanewbie on Jun 29, 2005 18:42:47 GMT -7
TO THOSE WHO ARE BUYING AN UNWEANED BABY OR PARTIALLY WEANED BABY, PLEASE REQUEST THAT YOU BE ALLOWED TO SPENT TIME HANDLING AND HAND-FEEDING THE BABY AT LEAST ONCE A DAY, SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE YOU TAKE IT HOME. THIS WILL NOT ONLY GIVE THE BABY TIME TO GET TO KNOW YOU BUT WILL ALSO GIVE YOU TIME TO LEARN PROPER BABY MANAGEMENT.
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