Squeekmouse
Well-known member
I can't believe we actually did this!! Holy smokes it's been a heck of a weekend...
We've been really wanting to add a CAG to our family for a while, but we haven't been able to find anyone in our state that had any, let alone anyone with a few we could choose from. When we got Yoda, he chose ME and it was the greatest thing ever. It would be worth it to us to have that experience again with the new guy.
On Friday night, my hubby and I flew across the country to a breeder in Southern California who had 5 baby CAG's we could choose from. We arrived late Friday night and stayed at a hotel, where neither of us slept a wink. We had a nice breakfast and checked out, heading off to the breeder's home before 8am. She was a real sweetheart and she showed us around her many, MANY outdoor aviaries. Such a thing would never be possible out here in Illinois, there's snow on the ground this week after all. But out there in sunny So-Cal it's perfect. She had a couple of huge aviaries with Cockatoos, and a few for the African Greys. Mama and Papa Grey were right next door to the 3 youngest babies, while the other two babies were in a third aviary nearby with their buddy a little Lovebird. All of her birds are raised fully flighted and handfed. They were all very very sweet and quite energetic.
She brought them into the house for us to interact with two at a time. The two older ones were not interested in us at all, so we soon moved on to the three youngest, two males and a female. The female wasn't too keen on us, and that was fine because we were kinda preferring a male anyway. The older male was a big, strong, brave, confident, and energetic fellow. He was happy to fly to us and interact with us, he even enjoyed preening my husband's beard. The youngest one was super sweet and cuddly. He was a bit timid around his siblings, but wasn't afraid of us. After less than an hour he would climb and fly over to us when we tried to put him down. Meanwhile the older guy had gotten bored with us and was more interested in being on his own. It was clear which one had "chosen" us. We were delighted.
After a few hours with the breeder, we packed up the new Fid and headed to the airport. We flew him and late Saturday evening we were back home. All of us utterly exhausted. Trigger did NOT like the flight at all. He handled it well, all things considering, as long as one of us had a hand in his carrier with him he was ok, but the second we tried to withdraw he would try desperately to dig his way out of the carrier making such sad little peeps.
Here's the catch: All of the babies were eating solid foods, the three oldest have VERY healthy appetites, however the two youngest babies were still accepting formula. I've had experience with the exact same situation with Yoda, so the breeder and I agreed to let Trigger come home with us to finish weaning in our care. She showed us how she feeds formula to the babies and gave detailed instructions on temperatures, consistency, etc etc. She sent us home with two containers of formula, two bags of the seed/pellet mix they were eating, a bag of his favorite treats, and a list of his favorite fruits and veggies (conveniently, they are the same as Yoda's favorites!).
So as soon as we got home Saturday night, first thing we needed to do was feed Trigger. He was hungry and ate very well. Afterwards we put him in his cage in his own room and fell asleep quickly. Yoda meanwhile was VERY happy to have us back. Our parents were taking very good care of him (came over to play with him and eat with him FOUR times in the short time we were away), but Yoda still missed us terribly.
Sunday morning... fed Trigger formula again, then he and the hubby had a shower. It was a long... long.... exhausting, but wonderful day yesterday. Juggling feeding formula and chasing after two flighted birds (one of which is a huge and very clumsy baby), carefully introducing them to each other, the new living situation, lots of treats, toys and cuddles. All things considered, things went really REALLY well. Better than I had hoped for!
This morning Trigger was not at ALL interested in his formula, but was ALL about the fruits, veggies, pellets and seeds. We'll try the formula again later, and I'm going to soak some of his Harrison's pellets in warm water also, to see if he likes that more or less than he already likes them dry and crunchy.
Yoda is adjusting well, he's a bit uncertain about the new guy and gets spooked when Trigger flies. He's also been more bitey than normal. We're being careful to give Yoda first and foremost attention and lots of treats. This seems to be working.
We've got an appointment with our CAV tomorrow, even though Trigger has already been given a clean bill of health.
The hardest parts of all of this is the free-flighted part of the equation. We have a big living room with a vaulted ceiling and a loft overhead, so there's plenty of safe room for flying. Even so, Trigger is like a small helicopter driven by a blind, drunk pilot, when he goes to fly. I don't know how other people deal with free-flighted birds indoors, so ANY advice is welcome. Heck, any advice about dealing with a baby and adding a second bird and anything else anyone wants to offer is also welcome. I'm sure we're making plenty of mistakes despite our extensive reading and research and best efforts. Please be gentle if you choose to point out some of them.
We've been really wanting to add a CAG to our family for a while, but we haven't been able to find anyone in our state that had any, let alone anyone with a few we could choose from. When we got Yoda, he chose ME and it was the greatest thing ever. It would be worth it to us to have that experience again with the new guy.
On Friday night, my hubby and I flew across the country to a breeder in Southern California who had 5 baby CAG's we could choose from. We arrived late Friday night and stayed at a hotel, where neither of us slept a wink. We had a nice breakfast and checked out, heading off to the breeder's home before 8am. She was a real sweetheart and she showed us around her many, MANY outdoor aviaries. Such a thing would never be possible out here in Illinois, there's snow on the ground this week after all. But out there in sunny So-Cal it's perfect. She had a couple of huge aviaries with Cockatoos, and a few for the African Greys. Mama and Papa Grey were right next door to the 3 youngest babies, while the other two babies were in a third aviary nearby with their buddy a little Lovebird. All of her birds are raised fully flighted and handfed. They were all very very sweet and quite energetic.
She brought them into the house for us to interact with two at a time. The two older ones were not interested in us at all, so we soon moved on to the three youngest, two males and a female. The female wasn't too keen on us, and that was fine because we were kinda preferring a male anyway. The older male was a big, strong, brave, confident, and energetic fellow. He was happy to fly to us and interact with us, he even enjoyed preening my husband's beard. The youngest one was super sweet and cuddly. He was a bit timid around his siblings, but wasn't afraid of us. After less than an hour he would climb and fly over to us when we tried to put him down. Meanwhile the older guy had gotten bored with us and was more interested in being on his own. It was clear which one had "chosen" us. We were delighted.
After a few hours with the breeder, we packed up the new Fid and headed to the airport. We flew him and late Saturday evening we were back home. All of us utterly exhausted. Trigger did NOT like the flight at all. He handled it well, all things considering, as long as one of us had a hand in his carrier with him he was ok, but the second we tried to withdraw he would try desperately to dig his way out of the carrier making such sad little peeps.
Here's the catch: All of the babies were eating solid foods, the three oldest have VERY healthy appetites, however the two youngest babies were still accepting formula. I've had experience with the exact same situation with Yoda, so the breeder and I agreed to let Trigger come home with us to finish weaning in our care. She showed us how she feeds formula to the babies and gave detailed instructions on temperatures, consistency, etc etc. She sent us home with two containers of formula, two bags of the seed/pellet mix they were eating, a bag of his favorite treats, and a list of his favorite fruits and veggies (conveniently, they are the same as Yoda's favorites!).
So as soon as we got home Saturday night, first thing we needed to do was feed Trigger. He was hungry and ate very well. Afterwards we put him in his cage in his own room and fell asleep quickly. Yoda meanwhile was VERY happy to have us back. Our parents were taking very good care of him (came over to play with him and eat with him FOUR times in the short time we were away), but Yoda still missed us terribly.
Sunday morning... fed Trigger formula again, then he and the hubby had a shower. It was a long... long.... exhausting, but wonderful day yesterday. Juggling feeding formula and chasing after two flighted birds (one of which is a huge and very clumsy baby), carefully introducing them to each other, the new living situation, lots of treats, toys and cuddles. All things considered, things went really REALLY well. Better than I had hoped for!
This morning Trigger was not at ALL interested in his formula, but was ALL about the fruits, veggies, pellets and seeds. We'll try the formula again later, and I'm going to soak some of his Harrison's pellets in warm water also, to see if he likes that more or less than he already likes them dry and crunchy.
Yoda is adjusting well, he's a bit uncertain about the new guy and gets spooked when Trigger flies. He's also been more bitey than normal. We're being careful to give Yoda first and foremost attention and lots of treats. This seems to be working.
We've got an appointment with our CAV tomorrow, even though Trigger has already been given a clean bill of health.
The hardest parts of all of this is the free-flighted part of the equation. We have a big living room with a vaulted ceiling and a loft overhead, so there's plenty of safe room for flying. Even so, Trigger is like a small helicopter driven by a blind, drunk pilot, when he goes to fly. I don't know how other people deal with free-flighted birds indoors, so ANY advice is welcome. Heck, any advice about dealing with a baby and adding a second bird and anything else anyone wants to offer is also welcome. I'm sure we're making plenty of mistakes despite our extensive reading and research and best efforts. Please be gentle if you choose to point out some of them.