Cindy's new home update

I went and visited Cindy today and took some photos. She's very happy and was enjoying being outside with her new mom Christina. Cindy is such a sweet and happy little bird. For those of you not familiar with Cindy and the story behind this post you can read about it in post titled Cindy New Home

African Grey Post

Kendi. He does not know how to hold a foot toy with his foot.

I find most parrot bios a bit vague and "general" so thought I would post this in hopes of getting some "meat & potatoes" info about Congo African Greys from those that live with one.

I've had my CAG Kendi for 2 weeks, Still waiting for DNA results to come back so not sure whether I have a male or female. I will refer to Kendi as 'he". His hatch date is June 2010.

Here's a little about how I came to bring him home. I knew I wanted a CAG at some point, was actually planning on waiting a while and wanted a very young bird. Long story short he was purchased by someone that only had him for about a month, he was never named, he needed to give him up, he apparently had to move to Florida and could not and or did not want to take the bird with him.,,,the details are a bit sketchy. I have no reason to think Kendi was mistreated in any way. I was contacted by the place he bought the bird from since they knew I was wanting a grey at some point.Thats the story in a nutshell.

This a very different bird!, He just sits back quietly and observes. I found my amazon and caique to be very active and making themselves at home within just a few days. Kendi is very happy to step up, comes out of his cage with no problem....in fact does not really like to be in his cage. He is very quiet, makes a few clicking sounds and whistles a bit but mostly just sits next to me on the couch, or on his perch being very quiet. I have not been able to get him to eat anything but pellets. I offer him fruit and veg everyday but has yet to eat any of it. I'm pretty sure he has never seen or been offered fresh food of any kind. He has couple of toys in his cage and has just started being interested in them. I've also noticed he never holds anything with his foot, not even his pellets, he just munches over the food dish. I posted on BirdTricks a week or so ago that I didnt feel he was drinking enough water, thats still the case and his poop seems very dry to me so I am going to take him to the vet just so they can give him a "once over", probably not a bad idea.

Thats just a bit about Kendi. If anyone has any feedback I would appreciate it. I am not having any problems with him, I don't feel like I have a bird with issues, he's gorgeous, sweet and easy to be around. I would of course be thrilled if he talks but know thats not a guarantee, what will be will be. I do talk to him a lot and spend a lot of time interacting with my birds.

Kendi

Cindy/New home

Many of you have come to know my Caique Cindy threw my photographs of her that I have posted. She came to live with me in early February 2011. Cindy is no longer living with me. The story is a bit too lengthy to explain in a facebook post so I thought I would share the story here as to why she is no longer in my house. I spent many hours of thought and prayer over it before I made the decision.

The problem with Cindy was she was extremely noisy. It didn't start out that way, but as time went on it escalated and became a problem. I am a dog groomer and own my own business, therefore I can take my birds to work with me, Cindy went with me everyday and had a large play perch to play on during the day, I also have several employees that would pay a lot of attention to her. After a month or so Cindy stopped wanting to be on the perch at all, she expected to be with me or the girls that work for me, we would ignore her demands for attention but to no avail, ,,,then the screaming would start, it would go on for hours. She would pace back and forth on the edge of the perch screaming. I decided to get her a cage at work to go in thinking that might help, and also thought that possibly being on the play perch in the open was overstimulating her, I began putting her in the cage about mid morning when we are getting into our day of work with the dogs, that didn't help, she just screamed in the cage.

On several occasions about 5 or 6 weeks ago I had to be out of the shop for a few hrs and left my assistants in charge of keeping an eye on Lucas and Cindy while I was gone...on both occasions they said the minute I left she stopped screaming and was quiet and even did something she never did....played with her toys, but when I returned and she saw me the screaming and demanding attention started. I kept trying to make it work hoping she would stop, and that eventually my ignoring the undesirable behavior, and rewarding her when she was quiet would solve the problem, I finally had to stop taking her to work with me. One day when I was using scissors around a dogs face Cindy screamed and I almost cut the dog when he got startled and jerked his head. Her screams were short and ear piercing. Cindy would also start screaming when I turned my clippers on, it would always set her off, since my clippers are running most of the day, the screaming would go on most of the day.

I had to start leaving her at home which I did not like, I did not like the idea of her being in the cage all day, and one of the things I really like about being able to take the birds to work with me is they are out of their cages most of the day, and when we get home they are for the most part happy to go up for the evening and are quiet and content to be in their cages. I could no longer take Lucas to work either, he also had to stay home in his cage because if I took him with me and didn't take Cindy all hell broke loose!

When I would come home from work I had 2 birds that had been in their cages all day and needed attention. My quiet care free evenings became trying to keep Cindy happy and entertained. One night the smoke alarm in my apt went off, ...Cindy decided that was her most favorite thing to imitate, and she did it all the time, it became her favorite new sound to make and it was LOUD!!!

One day when I was at work my landlord called me, one of my neighbors had called her saying he heard a smoke alarm, and it was coming from my apt. ....it was of course Cindy but it was a big ordeal...no landlord or neighbor wants to think there might be a fire in the building.

The same week my wonderful neighbor below me who is sick with cancer mentioned to me in a very sweet way that she could hear Cindy, and that her cats could hear Cindy and they were climbing the walls. The building I live in is old, well made with very thick walls and floors, none of us ever here each other....but everyone could hear Cindy......I spent weeks stressed out wondering what I was going to do.

My assistant Christina who Cindy has known since day one (and loves her ) had been really wanting a bird. She has been looking for a blue crowned conure but decided maybe she would get a caique but couldn't afford a bird in that price range. A couple of weeks ago she really wanted to take Cindy for the weekend, I was going have to be out of the apt a lot that weekend so it worked out. All weekend Christina sent me pics and texts of every wonderful thing Cindy did, I asked her if Cindy had been noisy and she said no....hmmmm... By Sunday I started thinking about maybe letting Christina have Cindy, I struggled with the idea, I really do love this bird, but maybe with all things considered and the frustration of it all it would be best for everyone if Cindy is in a different situation. I was no longer enjoying her except in the evenings when she was quiet and my days at home were spent trying to keep her from screaming. I asked Christina if she would like to keep Cindy....she was over joyed and now has a bird she loves very much and that can do no wrong. Aside from occasional caique noisiness there has been no screaming since Cindy has been with Christina. I do miss her but I know she's with a wonderful person that I would trust with any animal. I still get to see her, actually saw her yesterday, she was glad to see me but it was more like "hey, whats up?" ...then she went back to what she was doing when I got there.

Just wanted to share the story. I wouldn't have let Cindy go to just anyone, It just worked that someone that she loved and that loved her was able to be her new "parront". I really feel like it was a win win situation for everyone.

Kendi "The Loved One"

When I brought this bird home 7 days ago I was told he was a boy, since then the 100% certainty has come under question. There seems to be a lot of bird owners that are fine with not knowing their birds actual sex, I am not one of those people. I had blood drawn yesterday and will not know the test results for 10-14 days.

I decided I did not want to wait that long to give this bird a name. I came across the name Kendi and liked it very much. The name is of African origin, is unisex, and means "The Loved One". I like the way it sounds and I thought it would be cool to choose an African name