hpeer wrote in news:49482755$0$5532
:

Larry,

Ya know, I believe there are "bird people" and then there are "not
bird
people." You either git it or you don't.

Clearly you "git it." As do I.

That is the best laugh I've had in a couple of days.

Thanks.


I got fed up, tonight, after a couple of hours of calling the flocks.

Do you feed yours softened Zupreem Monkey Biscuits? Try it. I
guarantee not a single crumb will reach the cage floor.

Take a small bowl and put 2" of hot faucet water in it...no hotter than
your finger can stand. (We don't need scorched crops.) Drop one Monkey
Biscuit, which is as hard as concrete out of the bag, into the hot water
and float them for 20 seconds, which heats and softens them. For an
Amazon sized parrot, one biscuit is plenty. For macaws, give him 2.
Notice how absolutely quiet it is until they have been consumed. I've
never met a parrot that doesn't simply love a softened Monkey Biscuit.
My macaw was raised on them as soon as I could quit injecting baby
parrot slop down his gullet.

Once they get used to this treat, do not become concerned at the crazy
displays you'll get every time anyone picks up a bowl in their presence.
Bowl = Biscuits! Great treat...real cheap and just great for them.

If you travel with your parrot, don't leave parrot seed in the cages.
Feed them one biscuit softened every 4-6 hours and keep the car totally
clean in the process. They won't complain....and it's great food for
them, though I wouldn't recommend it for a regular diet. I don't feed
kibbled dog food crap to my birds. I feed a sunflower-based parrot mix
from Higgins, since the ABBA seed I fed for many years kept loading the
house with hatched out worms and moths. Higgins feed is less expensive
and irradiated to kill all the bugs. Birds are beautiful on it....great
feathers.

On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:27:00 +0000, Larry wrote:

hpeer wrote in news:49482755$0$5532
:

Larry,

Ya know, I believe there are "bird people" and then there are "not
bird
people." You either git it or you don't.

Clearly you "git it." As do I.

That is the best laugh I've had in a couple of days.

Thanks.


I got fed up, tonight, after a couple of hours of calling the flocks.

Do you feed yours softened Zupreem Monkey Biscuits? Try it. I
guarantee not a single crumb will reach the cage floor.

Take a small bowl and put 2" of hot faucet water in it...no hotter than
your finger can stand. (We don't need scorched crops.) Drop one Monkey
Biscuit, which is as hard as concrete out of the bag, into the hot water
and float them for 20 seconds, which heats and softens them. For an
Amazon sized parrot, one biscuit is plenty. For macaws, give him 2.
Notice how absolutely quiet it is until they have been consumed. I've
never met a parrot that doesn't simply love a softened Monkey Biscuit.
My macaw was raised on them as soon as I could quit injecting baby
parrot slop down his gullet.

Once they get used to this treat, do not become concerned at the crazy
displays you'll get every time anyone picks up a bowl in their presence.
Bowl = Biscuits! Great treat...real cheap and just great for them.

If you travel with your parrot, don't leave parrot seed in the cages.

Don't know why, but I'm seeing Larry with a parrot on his shoulder,
wobbling down a pier - with a pegleg.
For some reason he's got white stuff staining his red shirt all down
the back.
Anyway, do you perch your guys up there?
Do they have "accidents" on you?
Curious. I never look up at pigeons a'perchin'.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Don't know why, but I'm seeing Larry with a parrot on his shoulder,
wobbling down a pier - with a pegleg.
For some reason he's got white stuff staining his red shirt all down
the back.
Anyway, do you perch your guys up there?
Do they have "accidents" on you?
Curious. I never look up at pigeons a'perchin'.

--Vic



1) - Anyone who takes an uncaged expensive parrot anywhere near a dock
or the water is a complete idiot. They cannot swim and drown almost
instantly. Anyone who leaves them with flight feathers is also a fool
unless they live in equatorial SA where the escaped bird can survive on
his own when he leaves.

I'd never have a bird on a boat. That's simply crazy.

It took me nearly 4 years of hard work to "potty train" Roger-Roger, my
macaw. Unless you simply give him no options, he will not poop on you,
the finest trick any parrot can learn.

There is a parrot club here, but I don't do well in club politics so
don't join clubs. A friend who is a member, invited me to come to a
meeting, so I went. For the occasion, I put on my rarely-worn nice suit
and took Roger-Roger with me in the car. Entering the meeting hall,
there were lots of birds calling each other from their owners'
shoulders, mostly covered with a drop towel to protect their clothes.
Roger-Roger sat, rather calmly which was odd, on my suitcoat shoulder,
minding his own business.

The president of the club greeted me with his beautiful Eclectus parrot
and asked about protecting my suit. "That's no problem, he's potty
trained.", I said trying not to beam like a big searchlight. They
couldn't stand it and pshaw'd me something awful. "It's about time he
went.", I said looking at my watch. "Can I borrow that little trash can
with the plastic bag in it?" They brought the can over and I perched
Roger-Roger on my hand, saying, "Do you business." to him, just once.

Roger looked down at the "target", leaned back and dumped his load
shouting, "BOMBS AWAY!" in a VERY loud voice....right on cue. There was
a round of applause from those who saw it. About 30 minutes later, he
repeated the "performance" of his best trick. That became that night's
topic of conversation on how to get other birds to perform similarly....
(c;

I still give him a tiny chip of Hershey's chocolate for a job well done.
He'll nip me if I've dared to run out or simply have forgotten him.
There's two other things that really fascinate me about this large
macaw. That big beak can skin a green grape so thin it's nearly
transparent, making only one "incision", dropping the skin after sucking
the guts out of it. It's a very delicate operation I never cease to
love watching. Then, that same beak can simply slice through an offered
Brazil Nut you can't crack with a hammer as if it were made of butter.

We go through a lot of grapes...(c;

On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:15:48 +0000, Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Don't know why, but I'm seeing Larry with a parrot on his shoulder,
wobbling down a pier - with a pegleg.
For some reason he's got white stuff staining his red shirt all down
the back.
Anyway, do you perch your guys up there?
Do they have "accidents" on you?
Curious. I never look up at pigeons a'perchin'.

--Vic



1) - Anyone who takes an uncaged expensive parrot anywhere near a dock
or the water is a complete idiot. They cannot swim and drown almost
instantly. Anyone who leaves them with flight feathers is also a fool
unless they live in equatorial SA where the escaped bird can survive on
his own when he leaves.

I'd never have a bird on a boat. That's simply crazy.

It took me nearly 4 years of hard work to "potty train" Roger-Roger, my
macaw. Unless you simply give him no options, he will not poop on you,
the finest trick any parrot can learn.

There is a parrot club here, but I don't do well in club politics so
don't join clubs. A friend who is a member, invited me to come to a
meeting, so I went. For the occasion, I put on my rarely-worn nice suit
and took Roger-Roger with me in the car. Entering the meeting hall,
there were lots of birds calling each other from their owners'
shoulders, mostly covered with a drop towel to protect their clothes.
Roger-Roger sat, rather calmly which was odd, on my suitcoat shoulder,
minding his own business.

The president of the club greeted me with his beautiful Eclectus parrot
and asked about protecting my suit. "That's no problem, he's potty
trained.", I said trying not to beam like a big searchlight. They
couldn't stand it and pshaw'd me something awful. "It's about time he
went.", I said looking at my watch. "Can I borrow that little trash can
with the plastic bag in it?" They brought the can over and I perched
Roger-Roger on my hand, saying, "Do you business." to him, just once.

Roger looked down at the "target", leaned back and dumped his load
shouting, "BOMBS AWAY!" in a VERY loud voice....right on cue. There was
a round of applause from those who saw it. About 30 minutes later, he
repeated the "performance" of his best trick. That became that night's
topic of conversation on how to get other birds to perform similarly....
(c;

I still give him a tiny chip of Hershey's chocolate for a job well done.
He'll nip me if I've dared to run out or simply have forgotten him.
There's two other things that really fascinate me about this large
macaw. That big beak can skin a green grape so thin it's nearly
transparent, making only one "incision", dropping the skin after sucking
the guts out of it. It's a very delicate operation I never cease to
love watching. Then, that same beak can simply slice through an offered
Brazil Nut you can't crack with a hammer as if it were made of butter.

We go through a lot of grapes...(c;

Great hearing the "bombing" was the bomb.
But you've destroyed my image of pirates with parrots.
How did you potty train Roger-Roger?
Briefly if you wish.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote in
:

How did you potty train Roger-Roger?
Briefly if you wish.



Three words....Repetition, repetition, repetition....holding him over that
can and yelling BOMBS AWAY for a long, long time....Same way you get them
to do anything.

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:06:28 +0000, Larry wrote:

I've recovered enough to type this, I think, and the noise has died down
a little, but they're still pretty spooked.....

I have two parrots, a Yellow Nape Amazon named "Zeke" and a Blue and
Gold Macaw I raised from a 6-day-old chick named "Roger-Roger" (he
picked the name up listening to the 2-meter ham repeater long ago).
They're both pretty vocal during periods of light, squawking at the
squirrels climbing down the oak tree next to their window, etc., warning
of the "squirrel invasion" that happens every morning, right after I put
out the old food out of their cages for the wild animals in the
neighborhood who love it.

It's a beautiful day in Charleston, a beautiful week. Global Warming?
It's 73 on the river at 4PM and I've had the place opened up since I got
home at noon. It's going to be 77F Wednesday! Global Warming? BRING
IT ON!...

So, I'm sitting here sipping a Boddington's minding my own business and
this little sparrow hops up from the steps to the door sill and looks
inside. I froze to see what he would do if left to his own curiosity.
He hopped inside and started hopping around me. The sounds of his
little claws clicking on the tile were the only sounds outside the fans
in the computers. He must have smelled BIRD SEED coming from the parrot
room so off he FLEW through the house to located it. The very instant
he flew into the parrot room, all hell broke loose! The Macaw has the
capability of sounding like one of those public warning horns at a
Nuclear Power Plant, if he's a mind to. The warning horn must have been
heard for blocks! It was deafening! The Yellow Nape was making this
awful growling sound like a lion startled mixed in with his own warning
calls to the Amazon flock. If a bomb went off I wouldn't have heard it.

Of course, this terrified the poor little sparrow into flight, its best
defense, but he/she was too terrified to remember where he/she came in
so the sparrow made it worse by flying around the parrot room a few laps
before ducking out the door into the computer room and spying the open
door with the sun pouring in....making a very hasty exit.

The parrot alarms are self-resetting, but only after the adrenaline rush
is over. I was laughing so hard my stomach has a cramp. The warning
horns eventually died down into several run throughs of their entire
English vocabulary of funny words and phrases mixed with learned cursing
I've caused over the years when my "noise limit" has been exceeded
trying to shut them up. They're still talking to each other and the
Macaw keeps saying, "Way, Way Too Much NOISE!", over and over. Zeke
keeps repeating "NOW WHAT?!" in a loud voice.

They are no longer bored and falling asleep on one foot for their
afternoon nap.....There won't be any nap today....(c;]

..................you had to be here........(c;]

After I'd finished laughing, I called a lady friend of mine who has a
Green Quaker. After I'd read your story to her, she was howling with
laughter. Hers is called Quito, and one day she called him Chico by
mistake, he replied "Quito" and went back to what he was doing. His
normal greeting when the cover is removed is "Hello", but if she goes
back into his room later he just says "What?", then if she bends down
out of his immediate sight to pick something up, she hears, "What are
you doing, doing, doing".
It's amazing to me that they get the phrases in the correct context.

Jan
"If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined"

Jan wrote in
:

After I'd finished laughing, I called a lady friend of mine who has a
Green Quaker. After I'd read your story to her, she was howling with
laughter. Hers is called Quito, and one day she called him Chico by
mistake, he replied "Quito" and went back to what he was doing. His
normal greeting when the cover is removed is "Hello", but if she goes
back into his room later he just says "What?", then if she bends down
out of his immediate sight to pick something up, she hears, "What are
you doing, doing, doing".
It's amazing to me that they get the phrases in the correct context.

Jan
"If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined"



If a stranger just walks up and stares in at Roger-Roger, my Blue and
Gold Macaw, he will look them as straight in the eye as a parrot with
eyes on both sides of his head can and say, quite loudly, "UH-OH! NOW
WHAT??!", which usually has them eating out of his...his...scaly claws,
in no time.

If you get close to his water dish, he will dip and drink and say to
you, "Wanna drink?!", as many times as you will stupidly fake dipping
and drinking with him.

If you make a little popping sound by moving your tongue against your
upper lip, he will always, without fail, plaster himself against the
bars in front of you and say, "Gimme Kiss!", again as long as you will
stupidly assent to his demands for attention.

Zeke is more adventurous than the macaw, but isn't nearly as friendly to
strangers. He puffs his feathers all up to look as big as possible and
struts around in that "You put that finger in here and I'll bit the
whole end of it off!" offensive-looking display of red tail feathers
fanned all out....like he did for the little sparrow. He doesn't really
like anyone but me until he gets a lot of exposure to them. He'll
defend me to the death if he thinks you're going to touch me and he's
"loose".

Quakers.......NOISY! another NOISY conure!

Has your friend seen the flocks of Quakers that have taken over New York
City?

http://www.brooklynparrots.com/

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:44:22 +0000, Larry wrote:

Jan wrote in
:

After I'd finished laughing, I called a lady friend of mine who has a
Green Quaker. After I'd read your story to her, she was howling with
laughter. Hers is called Quito, and one day she called him Chico by
mistake, he replied "Quito" and went back to what he was doing. His
normal greeting when the cover is removed is "Hello", but if she goes
back into his room later he just says "What?", then if she bends down
out of his immediate sight to pick something up, she hears, "What are
you doing, doing, doing".
It's amazing to me that they get the phrases in the correct context.

Jan
"If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined"



If a stranger just walks up and stares in at Roger-Roger, my Blue and
Gold Macaw, he will look them as straight in the eye as a parrot with
eyes on both sides of his head can and say, quite loudly, "UH-OH! NOW
WHAT??!", which usually has them eating out of his...his...scaly claws,
in no time.

If you get close to his water dish, he will dip and drink and say to
you, "Wanna drink?!", as many times as you will stupidly fake dipping
and drinking with him.

If you make a little popping sound by moving your tongue against your
upper lip, he will always, without fail, plaster himself against the
bars in front of you and say, "Gimme Kiss!", again as long as you will
stupidly assent to his demands for attention.

Zeke is more adventurous than the macaw, but isn't nearly as friendly to
strangers. He puffs his feathers all up to look as big as possible and
struts around in that "You put that finger in here and I'll bit the
whole end of it off!" offensive-looking display of red tail feathers
fanned all out....like he did for the little sparrow. He doesn't really
like anyone but me until he gets a lot of exposure to them. He'll
defend me to the death if he thinks you're going to touch me and he's
"loose".

Quakers.......NOISY! another NOISY conure!

Has your friend seen the flocks of Quakers that have taken over New York
City?

http://www.brooklynparrots.com/

I don't think she knows about the Brooklyn parrots, I'll show her the
page when she next comes over. She would however disagree with you
about Quakers being noisy, especially hers, true if it's startled,
then it lets rip, but normally it's quite quiet. She has had a vets
opinion that Quakers are the "Napoleons" of the bird world, and that
they are the pit-bulls of the bird world.g
So far, Quito seems to be building an extensive vocabulary and using
it in the correct manner, also working on being head honcho. He also
gets into the kissy kissy thing.
There's a book out, I can't remember the title but I believe it
contains the name "Alex" about a lady who raised and trained, I
believe a Quaker to pick shapes and colours, it also had a vocabulary
of about 130 words.

Jan
"If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined"