Hi, Great group, Parrots & Water too...

[tygponderosa]

Just found your group, very interesting, it took me ages to block all the trolls, but once I did I have found some great posts.

I've got an African Grey called Bertie and a Kakariki called Marley. I also look after an avairy at the pub I work and live in.

Bertie is just over a year old and I love him to bits, I didn't know I liked birds until my wife went out to buy a cockatiel to keep her company and came home with a 14 week old african grey.

We have only had one small problem with him, he hates water. He freaks if we use a gentle misting spray, he won't use his bath, but he likes the bathroom, he loves to follow me there and watch me shower. But just as soon as he comes into contact with any water, other than drinking water, he loses the plot. Is this bad for him? If so how do I get him to like it?

[dividedstu]

Tell me about the troll, it's a recent happening here and the person seems to dislike this group in particular. I would tell you to make sure your antivirus program is up and running and up to date as well since that particular immature individual would seem to be sending viruses to your personal email accounts. I've received a few since making a few comments about the activity of incessant trolling. One was sent as a "Microsoft Patch" from the "Administrator" - duh, like
Microsoft would ever send you a patch. Norton took care of that as well as another the next day. I sent the header information and all of that stuff to my cousin who is with the FBI and he sent it to the appropriate department so with any luck this fellow will be visited soon by the proper authorities.

Anyways, a Kakariki? Are you in New Zealand? One of my books describes Kakariki as the native name in New Zealand for a group of small beautiful parakeets. The book being my 1978 edition of "Parrots and Related Birds" published by T.F.H. Publications, Third Edition. No pictures in the book of your type of parakeet. Any pictures online somewhere to take a peek?

An aviary in a pub, what a concept. What sort of birds does one keep in a pub aviary?

As for your Grey, congratulations on the new addition to your family.
I don't personally think that a Grey that doesn't want to be showered is a major problem unless the dust is a concern for you but my experience is limited. I'd pay attention to what OldMolly has to say-the voice of experience. I would be concerned if the Grey thinks that you are punishing him so if I had a bird that didn't like to be misted I would first of all be sure the water wasn't cold and the room wasn't cold since those would be the physical reasons the bird would not like being misted. A soothing voice, giving no indication or signals that I was punishing or torturing the little guy, no laughing at his discomfort are things I would be worried about. The other thing is to be patient. Some things take a good deal of time to introduce.
Again, I'd see what Oldmolly has to add. Oldmolly? Where are you? friend of
Timneh Grey
Greenwing Macaw
http://members.tripod.com/~gadbuddhaa/mybirds.htm

[javacrypto]

But of COURSE our Cuppy would love a bath now, wouldn't he? Such a fine fellow...

[dividedstu]

Alright now Oldmolly, don't go getting nippy on me now. :-p

-I actually have a fair number of bird books, the only one that mentioned that bird of which I had never heard was the book I quoted and named. I thought that was a good touch, you know, if I'm going to show advanced idiocy on some subject I'd only do it after having done a bit of research. Ok, so I forgot about the google gods for a moment.
I'm still a bit old school, you know, hit the books for the answers.
And 'antique bird book?' Now you can call me any name you want but don't go dissing my books. :-p

I just now googled the bird

confirmed the fact that I've never seen the bugger before in my natural life. And in the 78 edition of the book I quoted it mentioned that most of the Kakariki birds were extinct or near extinction. Sort of like how in 1978 there were few Sun Conures to be had so the ones available were hugely expensive and really never seen. Now Sun Conures are available and relatively inexpensive. It's nice to see something I read as being near extinction being available so combine that with what I read in one of my older reference books and you have my wonderment translated into the words of my reply. :-p

And I still think it's a valid question about what sort of birds would tolerate the aviary in the pub experience. An aviary could mean finches to macaws I would think. Wait a second, let me goggle a definition of Aviary. (n.) A house, inclosure, large cage, or other place, for keeping birds confined; a bird house

Aha! As I suspected, it's not bird type specific in the definition of the word 'Aviary' sooooooooo, still a valid question. Wait a second this is therefore worth two tongues. :-p :-p :-)

Davis friend of
Timneh Grey
Greenwing Macaw http://members.tripod.com/~gadbuddhaa/mybirds.htm

[Samael]

Thanks for all the advice. The way we have misted him so far is the direct approach, just gently from the front so he can see whats going on. I'll try from above as suggested, I'm sure he will get used to it.

The pub avairy is outside in the garden, we have Cockatiels (Grey & Lutino),
Kakariki's (Pied & Lutino), Indian Ringneck Parakeets, Budgies and Japanese
Quails. They are all breeding birds, the most prolific of which have been the Kakarikis. Your'e right in saying that they are more usually an avairy bird, Marley was a rescue job, he has never developed flight and tail feathers so when he fledged the nest box with the rest of his siblings he was left running around on the floor getting a hard time from the quails, so
I took him inside for his own good. My local avairy centre has suggested that this kind of defect can happen and that with any luck when Marley comes to moult his adult feathers should grow normally. I hope so because he is such a happy little fella.

By the way, I'm in England, Cornwall to be precise, which is on the southwest penninsular of the British Isles a great place to be if you like beaches and Ocean. The pub is called the Green Parrot.

[javacrypto]

Hi John and welcome! Kakarikis are lovely little birds, I have only seen a very few of them but they're quite nice. I think I've read that they are more aviary type birds than pets but I could be very wrong because I haven't actually read a whole lot about them and could be getting my "bits and pieces" mixed up .

When I got my grey a couple of years ago he also hated water. However, bathtime is part of living here, and he got misted anyway. It wasn't long before he stopped trying to avoid the "rain" (I always mist from above and let the water fall down onto them, and only spray one of the birds directly if they actually enjoy it) and actually started to like it, and eventually got as excited as the others when he saw the water bottle coming.

When he first joined the flock, I'd talk "happy talk" about how wonderfully refreshing the rain was, what beautiful birdies they all were and how fun this was, etc. (the other birds who were already convinced of all this probably wondered if I'd lost my mind), and did so for every bird, treated/spoke to/misted him no differently from the rest. I'd say it was probably...hmm...maybe just a half-dozen or less of our daily (at that time, it was one of the hottest summers on record and I have no a/c) misting rituals before he'd at least stand still in his cage for it, and not a whole lot of time after that until he learned to enjoy it as much as everybirdy else...

If you can glean anything from my experience that is helpful to you, that's good, if not, that's fine too .

I'm glad you found us!

[beerfish]

Close, but no Banana, It's Perranporth.