Hey lorna, I'll give those a shot, some birds nails grow quicker than others, and some manage to keep them less sharp, but in most cases birds do need their nails trimed periodicly, the first molt usually happens around the time the bird is about a year old, after that it can molt a couple times a year, molting is the process where new feathers replace old and warn feathers, it can be light or sometimes heavy, when heavy it can look as though someone has plucked a chicken with all the feathers both the outer and downy feathers in the cage, for a bird there could probably be no such thing as "to much" out of cage time, with some folks having busy schedules we have to try and work around life and do what we can, make the 3-4 hours your able to allow him out quality time vs the quantity of time, probably the reason he doesn't fly around is because he has found a comfort zone on your shoulder, this however is not the best practice, but is one that I feel should be left to the birds caregiver, a few stories of being bitten in the face from birds on shoulders here lately on the forum has changed a few minds, I bathe my birds usually every day weather permitting, some birds really hate getting wet, mine love it, so for me its pretty easy, you just have to make sure its warm enough when you do it, about 75F degrees, either inside or outside, many actually let the birds use the shower, birds should get 12-13hrs of uninteruped sleep a night, basicly sundown to sun up just as in the wild, if your bird sleeps in an out of the way place where there is little to no activity around him, the you don't have to cover him, if it gets cooler in your house in the nightime by all means cover him, birds can drink jucies, just make sure their natural, ones without added sugars, if you can squeeze your own that would be great, then you now exactly whats in it, birds tend to hide the fact their not feeling well pretty good, its sometimes hard to tell, when you get to know the bird and how he acts its sometimes easier to tell by observing odd behavior, look for signs of listnesses, not eating or drinking, stooping or sitting with head down, not perching, going to the bottom of the cage, loss of weight and monitor the birds stool for changes, these are just a few, there are many sites on the web available to give you other warning signs, hope this book I just wrote helps answer some of your concerns
