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Hi This is mark bishop. I couldnt get on this site when they changed it. It keep blocking me, so I e-mailed them and worked out the problem. How is your bird doing . Ive talked to alot of macaw exsperts. This is what Ive learned . Stress can cause cholestoral to go up. Vet trips and changing of diet can cause stress.Also be carefull of a sraight pellet diet. If it is to high in protein and your bird doesnt get enough fresh water ,it can damage the kidneys. A Vet told me this .1/3 pellets, 1/3 vegies and fruit, 1/3 nuts and grains. .Exersize with your bird as I do. Joise flaps her wings and bob up and down as I dance and clap and sing. We make alot of noise but we have fun. In the bird room I have hooks in the ceiling and have a one inch cotton rope draped from one hook to another . The hooks arent shape. It goes from the cage to the play stand tree. She spends alot of time climbing up the ropes and across the ceiling. Joises diet is in the morning :apple, orange, banana,corn on the cob, brocali,grapes,carrots ,cooked sweet potato,eggs,hard cheese,sprouts.berries.and somme cooked meat as in chicken and food from the table, been soup ,or chili. I mix these.up. Then in the after noon she get a seed grain, pellet mix. Then in the evening I give her a few walnuts , peanuts,almonds or any kind of nuts in the shell. As a treat. As for Pellets I use Lakes pellets. Organic, cold press and my birds love them. They are on the west coast. Roughbrush or what ever its called and I liked them to. I like the cold pressed because the good is not cooked out. I change up the food all the time so she doesnt get board.Joise also loves to play on the floor . We play chase. I chase her barking like a dog, she will go under the couch an come out a differnt side then I let her chase me. Joise is sill a baby . She is about 1 1/2 yr old. I got her at three day old. So weve played hard from the start. Josie and Tommy love to watch cartoons in the morning. sesme street ,telatubbies and ones like that. Thy both love to go for rides in the car and for walks. and into the shower with me about once a week. My birds are very happy and healthy. Alot of new chew toys threw the yaer inside and out side the cage.Trying to exercise your bird is something to play around with to find out what your bird likes . , The rope is opened up and placed on the hooks and leave some slack from hook to hook so that the rope looks draped. Knot the rope going down to the cage. and place toys off the hooks. Joise spend hours playing upside down on it. These are a few things to change your birds life for the better ,I think. Happy birds are healthy As to feeding, watch to see how much is eaten , the reduce to that or a little less. If you bird is a little hungery he will be less picky. and remove the fruit -vegie when the pellet-mix goes in.Try this for a year then go back to the Vet .I will be around and have a good day

Hi Mark! It is nice to have you with us. Thanks for sharing all your learned with us. I found it interesting and helpful.

Hi Brezzy. Thanks for your reply. Ive had birds for 40 yrs. My parrot room almost looks like a jungle. My wife painted the wall to look like it .I hung the ropes . My birds have big cages and are use to be in them ,but when they are out the house rocks. They listen to music or watch tv part of the day. I put a cage like wire with one end open in the window this summer so joise could go out to get fresh air. She is sure a great talker and our neighbors talk to her when they go for walk. Her new words are Hey you , whats you doing , learned on her own. We redid the bird room for Joise. B&Gs are fun parrots but Ive never seen such good talker bird before. She picks up new words every week . I think it is because we make life so fun for her. She was out in the window watching the neighber and his son playing keep away with their dog. Mike hid the ball in his shirt and was saying I dont have it. over and over to the dog and Joise repeated it. Parrots are not just a cage thing . They can make life so fun if you put a little something into it. I tell people these things for that reason. Its the rainy season now so I spend more time in the house. I tend to run on when Im on the computer or climb on to a soap box to preach. Please for give me . Mark

Hi Mark, I share my househlod with a pair of U2's and a Scarlet Macaw and find your post quite interesting. I am new with macaws, and the information on feeding I'm going to try, Ruby will eat just about anything we put in her bowl, but I wanted to be sure I'm providing her with a healthy diet. Thanks for your insite into that.
Also, it sounds like you have quite a setup to keep your birds physically and mentally active, I'm going to set something up like what you have described, I'm sure Ruby would use it, not sure if the 2s would be interested, but we'll see !

Thanks again for the ineresting post.

Howard

Mark, forgot to ask, what type macaw is Josie ?

Howard

Hi Howard Joise is a B&G. She is about a year and a half old. I was taking care of a friends bird when he was on vacation. The pair had laid unfertial egg for two years. Joise was their first chick and they didnt know how to take care of her. She was pushed out of the nest at three day.Thats when she came home with me. Oh also I put 2x4's around the windows when I put the wire cage and platform in it to let her get out of the window to get sun. I have also made hanging playgyms . A y-shaped branch with three ropes going up to a brass ring. If you use your imagination you can make them real neat. I use more than one and make like a triangle with branches going up and down. We have one in the living room for her. Have fun ! mark

marky wrote:Hi Brezzy. Thanks for your reply. Ive had birds for 40 yrs. My parrot room almost looks like a jungle. My wife painted the wall to look like it .I hung the ropes . My birds have big cages and are use to be in them ,but when they are out the house rocks. They listen to music or watch tv part of the day. I put a cage like wire with one end open in the window this summer so joise could go out to get fresh air. She is sure a great talker and our neighbors talk to her when they go for walk. Her new words are Hey you , whats you doing , learned on her own. We redid the bird room for Joise. B&Gs are fun parrots but Ive never seen such good talker bird before. She picks up new words every week . I think it is because we make life so fun for her. She was out in the window watching the neighber and his son playing keep away with their dog. Mike hid the ball in his shirt and was saying I dont have it. over and over to the dog and Joise repeated it. Parrots are not just a cage thing . They can make life so fun if you put a little something into it. I tell people these things for that reason. Its the rainy season now so I spend more time in the house. I tend to run on when Im on the computer or climb on to a soap box to preach. Please for give me . Mark

Schreech has a BIG cage.. very roomy and he likes it! But, he loves his outside of cage time too! He has a wonderful manzita play gym that he spends time on as well as in our laps, on his caw stand in the computer room, in the shower, in his outside cage when he is not directly with Ron or I on the patio, and he even has a cool play gym at my work! He gets around! LOL

He is the joy of our life and his favorite word is Mama! He says I love you, I want my mama, where's mama, step up, no trouble, ought oh, hello, and there are more, but they are escaping me at the moment. He is 9 years old and we have had him since he was 16 weeks old and still getting one syringe feeding a day as well as Roudybushpellets, nuts, veggies, blueberries etc.

No need to forgiveness, you have done nothing! I enjoyed hearing about Joise, etc.