Shadow Leaders [latest] Rant

It must be seem like a damn great tyre round a hatchling's leg! I prefer Songy's version - anyway, seeing how much you love her, it SHOULD be studded with diamonds!
 
Hmmm....d'ya know how much of the folding stuff I've parted with in the last week just to get her back home??? We're talking well over a monkey here, never mind diamond studs as well!!!!

She is happy as larry at the moment though - not least as her mum keeps opening her cage up for hours so she can wander out & my Dad keeps popping in to stuff her full of nuts & talk to her having now been smitten my her! Mind you it makes him stop obsessing over the rows he's having with his bird for a few minutes at least!!!!
 
Give her my bird?? No chance!!! :laughing: I've spent the last few days shouting at him as he's been so pathetic [and my brother keeps telling him I'm right too which is even more amusing] - men!!!! :laughing:

Bonz appears to have acquired an enormous vocabulary over the last few days too - she's gabbling away no end! She got silly & nervous earlier (scared of a bloody perch!) & on being told "it's alright!" immediately shrieked back "it's alright!!" at me!
 
You've only been back five minutes and you're already shouting at your Dad, AND the parrot? Blimey! Your form's holding up, Shadow!
 
How did she settle in Dom? Seriously birds are the best pets. I have 2 (my other 6 died last year :( ) cockatiels, hoping to upgrade (to my mum's disgrace) to either a Rosella or Indian Ringneck.

Gotta love the Greys - very smart birds.
 
Haven't really been shouting at the bird Jon - just Dad, useless beast that he is!

She's settled in absolutely fine, GA - not a bother on her. She was a bit stroppy & shellshocked on having to spend hours dragged around Gatwick cargo & customs by strangers but was fine & dandy soon after I was reunited with her (the brazil nuts helped a lot....)
 
I am so tempted to have a parrot, Dom - it's been an ambition since I was about 12 but I am just not too comfortable with the cage thing - I'd love an aviary but know full well I have more than enough to do without one of those as well.

Bonza sounds like a riot and there would be hours of endless amusement with a talking parrot and my mutts...

Er, how much are they??
 
Brian's not wrong!!!

Jules - Bonz cost me £300 but that was cheap - I bought her from the best mate of an ex (well, current then!!) who wanted a good home for her more than the money and he knew he would still be able to come and see her. Darren didn't want to get rid of Bonz but his missus put her foot down as she was their second parrot & he employed the old "I've got you a parrot for your birthday, darling" trick on Helen when she wouldn't allow him to get a second one in the first place!! Ordinarily a Grey would cost you around £500-£600 at least, especially if you get a hand reared one. Other breeds can be cheaper - the thing to do if you are interested is to get a copy of the weekly avian paper; it's called something like Bird and Avian Keeper, costs about 75p IIRC & has scores of birds for sale which would give you an idea of cost. (and I've got loads of books about parrot care and stuff if you wanted to borrow them to get an idea of what you'd be letting yourself in for if you were to get one!!!)

They're great companions to have - different to dogs as they interact with you a lot more. The cages needn't be small either - the one in which I kept her in Gib was enormous and could have housed a macaw, cockatoos or a couple of Greys. The one she's in now is pretty big too & I let her out a lot - all she does is sit on the top of it though but it gives her a sense of freedom!

Of course if you're ever in my neck of the woods (Newbury) you're more than welcome to pop in & say hello to her!
 
I'm not as much of an expert as SL is with regards to these things, but from a little bit of personal experience I'd like to add to her post by saying that you must have the patience of a saint, especially whilst the bird is young.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Apr 2 2007, 04:50 PM

Ordinarily a Grey would cost you around £500-£600 at least, especially if you get a hand reared one. Other breeds can be cheaper - the thing to do if you are interested is to get a copy of the weekly avian paper; it's called something like Bird and Avian Keeper, costs about 75p IIRC & has scores of birds for sale which would give you an idea of cost. (and I've got loads of books about parrot care and stuff if you wanted to borrow them to get an idea of what you'd be letting yourself in for if you were to get one!!!)
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A bloke at work has one, is he right in saying they can live to the age of eighty?
 
A bloke at work has one, is he right in saying they can live to the age of eighty?
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I'd have to know if the bloke in work smokes and exercises, Euro as well as his eating and drinking habits before I could answer. personally the oldest bloke in work I ever knew was sixty-five.
 
Shadow - Love the birdie, great pic. Also really like her perch, proper stuff no wossy twigs for her!

Glad she is back in the UK in one piece and none the worse for her (and your) mis-adventures with box arrangements.

Is her name Bonza? I had a cat named Bonzo, named after Fav drummer.
 
Its with all birds - if you are patient you have a friend and soulmate for life.

My two cockatiels, Andre and Judy (used to be Jude - until she laid 8 eggs last September!) are in an aviary outside the back of our house. They also are hand tamed, so get the benefit of coming back in at times to socialise.

Only problem with birds is they are very messy, and they like to vocalise. My two are up at 5am each morning squawking.

but there is nothing more rewarding when they come up to you, kiss you or hop on your shoulder and cuddle into your face, as my two beloveds do.
 
Oh, God, I can picture the scene now as dawn gently tinges the Somerset skyline, and our forum's South-western racehorse breeder awakes to her avian alarm clock: "GOOD MORNING! GOOOOD MORNING! Julie-Julie-Julie! Wakey-wakey! Coffee time for Polly! Coffee time for Polly!" And then, the walk with the dogs to the barns, with a squawking bunch of feathers clinging tightly to one shoulder, pirate fashion, its claws digging deep into the Barbour... well, the good thing is that there's a healthy flock of buzzards nearby, should things become as unbearable as I think they might... norty
 
Euro - yes, they tend to live to around 65-70 but can live into their 80s :what: (she's only 7!!!)

Isinglass - she came with the name Bonnie but that's very twee & she's a cow so Bonzy (along with various other diminutives) it became!
 
We're on the verge of a Churchill-style speech here I'm sure. She doesn't tend to say a lot (bar "hello" x 1000; "Al!!!!"; "love you" occasionally and a blurted out "it's alright!!" a few days ago) but she's been gabbling away incessantly like a toddler for days now with incoherent babble. Today whilst I was having an afternoon kip she was practising (she tends to do it when she thinks no-one's listening) and I know she's going to let stream forth an entire speech one day, off the bat. She said "howya?" a few times earlier today, was about the only coherent speech I recognised!
 
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