T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
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838.1 | | ROYALT::PULSIFER | UNHAMPERED BY FACTS AND INFORMATION | Wed Jan 05 1994 16:02 | 16 |
| Welcome Rob and Tina,
I offer the tidbits below. When the other noters get time, you can
expect much more detail.
For feeding you should be offering him lots of fresh vegetables and
fruit and keep the seeds to a minimum. Also with your busy schedules
you might want to consider a pelleted diet.
As far as spending time with him, you should spend no more time with
him that you will be able to maintain long term, or you may be in for
serious behaviour problems(feather picking, screaming....)
Inappropriate spaced bars on the cage can be dangerous.
Doug
|
838.2 | time for the birds | MTWASH::DOYLE | | Wed Jan 05 1994 16:58 | 16 |
| Tina and Rob...
I have 3 Conures and all I can say is that I have to agree
with the amount of time you spend with him should not exceed the amount
of time you will have on a regular basis...I spoiled my birds rotten
by spending every bit of time I had with them because I love to spend
time with them but my schedule has changed alot over the past year and
they demand more time than I have and so they have resorted to
screaming (which conures are known for anyways) but I find it hard to
just sit down and relax without having one of them on my shoulder or
lap...I am retraining them to be without me more but it is 5x harder to
do because they were already used to having me when ever they wanted..
so if nothing else even though it sure is easy to hold them all the
time and play with them just keep this in mind.....
good luck.......mary
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838.3 | aggression or solicitation? | ABACUS::MACDONALD_M | The Tincture Tree | Thu Jan 06 1994 13:02 | 13 |
|
Well, I can't offer any tips but I have a question of my own.
Our Timneh makes a cliking sound usually associated with his eyes
dialating and puffing up his feathers. I had come to associate this
with aggression. Last night however as I was feeding him, he started
this routine and kept offering his head for a scratch. This is a major
breakthrough and I was able to touch his head three times. So now I
wonder what this posturing is really all about. This bird is an
import that never really had much handling in the last eight years. He
seems to be adjusting quite well to our hectic household.
MaryAnne
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838.4 | solicitation/comforting in my experience | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Fri Jan 07 1994 13:20 | 12 |
|
MaryAnne,
I think this IS a solicitation noise. (Aggression in Timnehs is more
typically associated with growling and screaming! :-) My Timneh often
made that noise when having her head scratched, and I noticed from very
early on that making that little tttch-tttch-tttch sound seemd to have
a calming effect on her. YMMV.
/Rita
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838.5 | and an opinion | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Fri Jan 07 1994 13:25 | 16 |
|
Oh, and, BTW, I always thought I *taught* that noise to my grey :-)
Learn something new every day, I guess! And I wish you luck and
congrats on your older, wild-caught grey. Although extremely difficult
to tame and befriend, once you can FINALLY accomplish this, wild-caught
Timnehs (IMNSHO!) are probably the BEST pet birds in the world. They
seem, in my experience, to be more *generally* trusting and less
inclined to be one-person birds, and with fewer neurotic tendencies
than handfeds. While I strongly prefer domestically bred birds (on
ethical grounds) I might be very much inclined to look for a parent
raised Timneh as opposed to a handfed if I were to get a grey again.
Much more work, but VERY rewarding!
/Rita
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838.6 | thanks and another one! | BRAT::MACDONALD_M | The Tincture Tree | Fri Jan 07 1994 15:01 | 26 |
|
Rita,
Thanks for that info! This bird is a real character! and a challenge.
But there's no rush so I'm letting the bird set his own pace.
Here's another question that could pertain to any talking bird.
Jupiter's vocabulary is pretty limited to "hello" "how are you" which
this bird could say 8 years ago when I first got him (I sold him and he
recently came back, I only had him a short time originally) I have
a strong feeling that the last owners talked alot around him but never
directly tried to teach him words in context. His "noise" vocabulary
is astounding and I do notice him talking to his toy in an "I'm
practicing" voice. I try not to reward him for his repititious
phrases, but it seems to be the only way he knows of asking for
attention. What, do you feel, is the potential for increasing his
vocab. I've heard of birds that get stuck on a phrase and never learn
anything else. I'd rather have just noises than that. I've only had
this bird for a few months and he does my dog barking outside and the
budgie to a "T".
As an aside, I too prefer parent raised birds after having had both I
doubt, except for a budgie, that I would seek out another hand fed.
but that's another note! ;')
MaryAnne
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838.7 | Appropriate bar spacing for congo grey | BARTAB::EVERS | | Fri Jan 07 1994 15:14 | 3 |
|
does anyone know what appropriate bar spacing would be for a Congo
grey?
|
838.8 | teaching talking | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Fri Jan 07 1994 19:18 | 59 |
838.9 | spacing | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Fri Jan 07 1994 19:21 | 12 |
|
re: .7
I don't know off the top of my head, but look for a cage with "amazon"
spacing. A cage designed for amazon parrots should do fine for any
grey. Be sure that there are plenty of horizontal bars as well as
vertical ones - greys like to climb and a mostly-vertical barred cage
tends to frustrate them!
/Rita
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838.10 | thanks for the advice | ABACUS::MACDONALD_M | The Tincture Tree | Mon Jan 10 1994 19:33 | 11 |
|
re: .8
Thanks Rita! I'm pretty much doing what you suggested as far as
talking to him and associating what I'm doing with certain words. I
think as he feels more secure and comfortable in the house hold his
vocab. will improve. Already I've heard alot of the things I say to
the dogs in his daily mumblings. I guess I was just looking for
re-assurance that he wouldn't be a broken record ;')
MaryAnne
|
838.11 | to .7 and .8 | GLITTR::COMPTON | | Mon Jan 10 1994 19:55 | 22 |
| Okay, I can't resist putting in my 2 cents!
re: .7 - bar spacing - I agree with Rita ( no surprise, since she was
one of my first 'teachers' about bird stuff) -- the Prevue Hendrix 125
or updated 122 is something many stores have on hand, so you could look
at the bar spacing for reference (I don't particularly think they are
the best choice for a cage, though)
re: .8 and before from MaryAnne - our handfed grey is a year and a half
old and has successfully mimicked words and sounds since he was about
five months old. He decides what to pick up (yep, sure does like those
swear words I promise I only said just that once....). He also amazed
me last week when his next door neighbor, my umbrella cockatoo got on
top of the grey's cage (domestic handfed, twenty-two months old--they
grew up together). They grey said in my voice "UP, UP, UP...." -- I
leaned over so the 'too could get on my shoulder...then the grey said
"GOOD GIRL" just like I do! He gave the 'too an order and she obeyed!!
He is always saying "Hi, Boo...Hello Boo-Bear (some of her names), but
I thought his putting together the way to get her off his cage was
another example of the intelligence of this species. So MaryAnne, be
careful what you teach your Timneh to say! He could end up ordering
the dogs out of the house!! ;') /Linda
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838.12 | vocab update | ABACUS::MACDONALD_M | The Tincture Tree | Tue Apr 12 1994 16:51 | 14 |
|
Just thought I'd update on Jupiter's vocabulary. It took awhile for
me to begin to really hear what he was saying in his mumbling sessions
but I began to pick out alot of the phrases I use for the dogs. I was
always envious when I'd read stories in Bird Talk about the talking
ability of greys and how they can reason. Well more recently I've
heard Jupiter creating his own sentences. His usual reply to himself
for a "how are you" is "all right". The other day he replied with
"good" A word he hears often from me. This morning I was upstairs
getting dressed and I heard "whacha doin apple" which brought a big
smile to my face. I now have first hand experience of what I'd only
read about. It is truly amazing!
MaryAnne
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