HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bavenell@next.com (Bette Avenell)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: New African Grey!!
Date: 4 Jan 93 21:19:46 GMT

Saturday I brought home a 5 month old Congo African Grey.  I'm pretty excited  
about this, I've wanted one for a long time.  If anyone has any info they'd  
like to impart, I'd appreciate it.  

I've had 2 cockatiels for a few years, and I've subscribed to BirdTalk for a  
long time, saving the back issues, and I just bought some books specifically on  
African Grey's, so I do have access to a lot of good information, but there's  
nothing like actual experience!  

He was hand-fed, so he's very tame, already sitting on my hand and letting me  
scratch his head.  He seems to be the most active on top of his cage, when I  
hold him while sitting in a chair he puffs up and stands on one leg and naps.   
Either he's really secure, or I'm boring him.

I could also use some help on naming him.  I'm going to assume he's male just  
to keep form calling him "it", as I understand it's really hard to tell the  
sexes apart without drawing blood or something.  A neutral gender name would be  
best though.

Bette Avenell
bavenell@next.com
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: rei@athena.mit.edu (Cynic)
Subject: Re: Speaking of crows...
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 02:48:21 GMT

This topic has come up before, but since no one has replied about it
yet, here is the answer about keeping crows:

It is *illegal* to keep crows without a special permit.

(This was brought up both in Bird Talk and on the net)
It is illegal in the U.S. to keep native birds without a permit.  So
don't rush out to catch a crow or any other native species!

One more anecdote about keeping crows (did I hear this on the net?):
A family rescued an injured crow and raised it, and it became a good pet.  But
when they heard that keeping them was illegal, the parents sent the bird
to wildlife officials (over their little boy's protests, I believe).
The wildlife officials promptly destroyed the bird because it was
permantly crippled.  Sad, huh?

-rei

Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: hawk@hawk.sps.mot.com (George Hawkins)
Subject: Re: birds & polymer clays
Organization: Motorola Inc. MMTG Oakhill Austin Texas
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 19:06:13 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.164742.1@gumby.mgi.com> thompson@gumby.mgi.com writes:
>
>I received a bunch of FIMO clay and a book for christmas -- neat stuff--
>well anyhow, while reading the book it has a Warning!!!!!  When
>you bake the polymer (sp) clay, it omits fumes that can be hazardous
>to your birds.  I did not see this warning anywhere on the packages
>of clay.  But the book spells out real clear, it may be deadly to your pet
>birds.
>
>maggie
>

THANKS MAGGIE!


I sure would like to hear from the chemist that
posts on this net to hear his opinion on what this
stuff is made up of. [The fellow who described the
makeup of teflon outgassing]



regards,
George Hawkins
------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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From: jgaukel <judy@nepac.ucsd.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Camping with pet birds
Date: 8 Jan 1993 18:33:11 GMT
Organization: scripps inst. of oceanography
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: alfa.ucsd.edu
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d13
X-XXMessage-ID: <A77308E710021B32@alfa.ucsd.edu>
X-XXDate: Fri, 8 Jan 93 10:33:11 GMT


Does anybody there ever take their birds camping?
I had Blondie the cockatiel with me several years ago, wings clipped, out
of cage, she really enjoyed it, mom handing her grass samples to chew...
UNTIL  mom went to get something in the tent - it spooked her, and
she took off.  Up gradually, further and further. 
:(   I thought she was a goner.  This was in S. Oregon, big (huge) pine
trees
everywhere.  Couldn't hear her after a while.  Well, we went off to
see some caves, but left her cage in full view so if she by chance would
return, she'd know we were still "about".
  We were gone about 4 hours.  I came back and dejectedly was walking
around the campground, and did her little whistle, hoping for some kind
of something...  and I hear this FRANTIC "come GET ME!" whistle, coming, 
of course, from SOMEWHERE... way up high.  She stopped calling, so I
turned
on a spigot to get some water running to make her sing some more.  It
worked.  Finally we found her - way up in the top of the tallest tree
around
for miles (of course!).  My boyfriend back then climbed up to get her,
and once he got up there (he was smart enough to take a rope), she turned
out to be WAY way WAY out on the end of a branch (about 1/16" diameter!),
still wanting to be "rescued".  We passed the cage-branch up and he stuck
it out to her, and she hopped on, running all the way to his shoulder for
the "pet me" routine.  Gads.  We passed up the car-cover bag, and he put 
her in it and lowered her, and she never made a fuss.
  Any other similar stories?  Or is my bird the only one who's "afraid of
the wild"???
   :)    
- Judy
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: grant@tiamat.ucs.sfu.ca (Grant Dimock)
Subject: Re: Scary 'Tiel Behavior
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 21:56:40 GMT

In article <50740035@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM> billg@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM (Bill  
Gingras) writes:
> 
> Early this morning (it was still dark), my 'tiel suddently started
> flapping violently in his cage.  I jumped up and quickly flipped on the
> light but he just wouldn't stop.  I stuck my hand in the cage to try and
> grab him but his flapping was so violent that it took me awhile to
> finally get him out of the cage.  Even after I finally pulled him out of
> the cage, I put him on the floor and he continued to flap for several
> seconds more before he came to his senses.  I'd say the whole episode
> took about 30-45 seconds.  It was really scary.  I'm convinced that even
> if he were to have broken a wing, he wouldn't have been in control of
> himself enough to have stopped.
> 
> Has anyone else's 'tiel ever done this?  Was this one of those infamous
> 'tiel panic attacks?

Sounds like it.  Night panics have happened with our birds.  Usually about once  
every couple of months.  With ours, the lights and some calm relaxed talking  
will settle them down, but they will sit and hiss at us for about 5 or 10  
minutes afterwards.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: ubhjp@sun.rz.tu-clausthal.de (H.-J. Pfeffer)
Subject: Parrots right or left? last call
Organization: Techn. Univ. Clausthal
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 08:29:54 GMT



Hello parrot lovers !

This is the LAST call for statistical data in handedness within the
psittaciformes.
 
Up to now we've got 27 replies covering 47 birds in 26 species.
Many thanks to all who answered so far. 
>> One answer (should have reached me on 28th of Dec.) got lost, because
>> of a severe system-crash.  |-(

If you haven't contributed yet, please drop me a line just telling
what bird you (or your friends) have, what sex it is (if you know), 
and if it is right or left handed.
>>> Deadline for this survey is MONDAY 11th. January 1993, 12:00 CET.

Scientific names are preferred, as this is international, but
if you know only the common english names, I will transfer them by using
Forshaw's Parrots of the world (2nd ed.) and other books.

There will be no other use of the data, as to publish a summary 
with discussions in this list newsgroup about 12th of January 1993.
Please send your remarks to :
ubhjp@sun.rz.tu-clausthal.de    or     ubhjp@139.174.2.10
From: jo.lavoy%theweb@meaddata.com (Jo Lavoy) 
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: SENEGAL PARROTS
Date: 8 Jan 93 07:55:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Web BBS 1-513-436-9011 6 Lines 1200 News groups 50,000 files!
Reply-To: jo.lavoy%theweb@meaddata.com (Jo Lavoy) 

When I drove out to Ohio from California I got in the habit of stopping
by good old McDonalds' for an Egg McMuffin for breakfast.  Naturally,
Charlie, my Senegal Parrot would want some.  He really enjoyed a bit of
the egg.  Now that I'm settled I still give him some egg every morning
(cooked greaseless in the microwave) and am wondering if it's okay to
give him egg on a daily basis.  He gets maybe a square inch of egg
that's about 1/8 (plus of minus) thick.   I seem to remember reading
somewhere that too much protein wasn't good for a parrot.
From: jberry@brutus.ct.gmr.com (John Berry CT/90)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: Help!!! My parrot bites/squawks!
Date: 4 Jan 93 13:51:17 GMT
Reply-To: jberry@brutus.ct.gmr.com (John Berry CT/90)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

Have you considered just turning up the heat? When I want to give my yellow-
collared macaw a shower, I crank the apartment temp up to about 82-85, 
beforehand. From being completely soaked, he dries out in about 1 1/2 hours 
with no signs of being chilled. (Annoyed yes, chilled no).

I did forget to turn it up once, and the signs of being chilled were
obvious - he shivvered. Naturally, thats a mistake you make only once.

Of course, I don't how practical this strategy would be in a large house.
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: gibson@watson.bms.com (Minde Gibson)
Subject: Parakeet with Weird Habits
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 15:41:00 GMT

I have a two year old male parakeet that exhibits what I believe is a
strange behavior.  When I call his name he will come running over to me
and jump off his perch onto the side of his cage and hang upside down.
Does anyone else have a parakeet that displays this batlike behavior ?

Also, every night before I cover his cage he flaps his wings and makes
cute little cooing type sounds - Is this also a typical Parakeet behavior?

He is very friendly and enjoys sitting on my shoulder, eating popcorn,
tapioca pudding, bananas,etc.. Really an extremely personable bird.

                                         Minde
From: bmartino@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob Martino)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: More Quaker Questions
Date: 12 Jan 93 18:19:32 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

In article <8JAN199321233507@venus.tamu.edu> jew5001@venus.tamu.edu (WILLIAMSON
, JOHN EDWARD) writes:
>First why are they called both Quakers and Monks?  It seems odd that they
>could pick up names associated with two vastly different branches of
>Christianity.
>

     Well, John, it's because of their very pious nature and uncanny
ability to memorize large ammounts of scripture.  My uncle once had
a quaker that could quote the entire Psalm 119   :-)

_________________________________________________________________________
                                    | "...for since the creation of the
      - that Bob Martino guy -      |  world His invisible attributes,
 bmartino@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu |  His eternal power and divine
                                    |  nature, have been clearly seen,
   God invented science.  so there. |  being understood through what
       ^^^^^^^^                     |  has been made        -Romans 1:20
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "That's the whole problem with science.  You've got a bunch of
  empiricists trying to describe things of unimaginable wonder."
                                                  -Calvin
From: Linda_Richards@mindlink.bc.ca (Linda Richards)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: Favorite snacks?
Date: 11 Jan 93 03:18:21 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada

> Linda Zinn writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <1ik0bdINN5lq@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
> Posted: 8 Jan 1993 13:42:05 GMT
>
> Org.  : Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
>
>
> Are small quantities of people food harmful for parrots? I hope not,
> because my yellow-naped Amazon has a couple of favorites. "Polly
> wanna cracker" to Zack means "Give me a darn tortilla chip, NOW!"
> But that's only his second-favorite. Pizza crust sends him into
> ecstasy. I only give him a little bit <she says with a touch of
> guilt, hoping she is not harming her li'l green pal>. I guess that's not so
> weird. I once had a cat that was wild about avocado!
>
> Does anyone else's bird have favorite snacks?
> --


My Fred (another party animal Amazon) eats -- in sensible quantities --
anything I eat, with the exception of real nasties like chocolate, which I've
been told is poison for parrots.

Of course, he gets lots of fresh fruit. He prefers his veggies slightly
cooked. He enjoys a little bit of cooked egg yolk on occasion and he loves
chewing on chicken bones.

Common sense should seem to apply. Not to much of thingsthat will make him
fat or give him too much of a sugar rush. :) (amazons being what they are)
but they seem to _like_ just about everything.

--



"The fact is -- nothing comes, at least nothing good. All has to be fetched."
-- Charles Buxton



Linda_Richards@mindlink.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: prkenne@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (CAROL SHARP)
Subject: Re: Birds reaction to noises
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Date:  5 Jan 1993 09:07 EST  

In article <1i9s7pINNeuh@network.ucsd.edu>, judy <judy@nepac.ucsd.edu> writes...
> 
>My 6-yr-old cockatiel goes nuts when I open any kind of plastic bag - I
>assume
>from the fact that CORN CHIPS (one of her favorite junk foods) come in
>that kind
>of bag.  She also knows the sound of my car - my roommates used to laugh
>because
>she'd start whistling and singing the moment she heard it, but not other
>cars!
>Any other good noises for birds???

Mine sings along to the theme from Night Court.  She goes nuts when she 
hears it!


            " Learn from the mistakes of others
             you can never live long enough to
             make them all yourself"

                                *Carol*

			
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: jew5001@venus.tamu.edu (WILLIAMSON, JOHN EDWARD)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: RE:favorite treats
Date: 8 Jan 1993 21:26 CST
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: venus.tamu.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

As a word of caution regarding feeding birds "people" food,
there is an article in the Feb issue of _Bird Talk_ about
a parrot with high cholesterol apparently brought on by
eating too much people food.
From: jew5001@venus.tamu.edu (WILLIAMSON, JOHN EDWARD)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Quaker transport
Date: 6 Jan 1993 17:41 CST
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: venus.tamu.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

I will (hopefully) be driving cross country soon to accept a new
job.  While I question the accuracy of my sources, I have read two
recently published books that state that Quaker/Monk parakeets/parrots
(the books can't agree on the name either) are not allowed in some
states due to their perceived crop damage potential.

Does anyone know what states have this law?  Am I going to have to
hide my bird while I cross the state line?  I will be driving through
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington.


Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: rei@athena.mit.edu (Cynic)
Subject: Re: REGARDING DIET QUESTIONS
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 12:16:48 GMT


Wow, this got long.  Anyway, several notes:

I still haven't found anything about leafy greens and sour crop in
Bird Talk (after digging through about 3 years of back issues) - I
guess this may be some new research result; I have no idea, since I'm
not a vet.  Also, lories are known to have unusual dietary needs -
this might make them more sensitive to different foods, such as
spinach.

But, in any case, I did find this in the 1988 December issue: sour
crop, common in baby parrots, is often caused by bacterial infections
in the alimentary canal, or when stale or moldy food is fed.
Interestingly, "The greatest contributing factor to disorders
[including infections] of the alimentary tract is vitamin A
deficiency."  (Quoted without permission from the article "Avian
Digestive Problems" by Christopher Fiorello)  Birds can obtain vitamin
A (or make it) by eating: (from the 1990 Birds USA; a list of
high-in-good-vatamins-stuff) "yams, carrots, spinach, escarole,
broccoli, winter squash and beets" and (from the January 1992 Bird
Talk; a list of high-vitamin-A/beta carotene stuff) "yams, carrots,
egg yolk, kale, endive, spinach and dandelion greens..."  So maybe
prevention is the best cure - greens might well protect *against* sour
crop in many birds :) (Changes in diet should be done when the bird is
healthy, however, and, as noted above, some species may be
particularly unable to utilize some foods.  Also, baby birds should be
fed baby bird food until weaning time; I can certainly see feeding a
baby parrot leafy greens causing problems!)

As for pellets: pellets are not a complete source of nutrients; almost
everyone I've heard from recommends they be supplemented by
fruits/veggies, although they are definitely better than just seed.
(I don't think that pellets contain many of the anti-carcinogens found
in broccoli, for instance).  I've found that my birds are highly
resistant to changing from seed to pellets, but I did manage to
convert my 'tiel within a week or two (the lovebird is more stubborn
and still refuses ...  at least he eats broccoli, though).

As for no dried beans and rice - no flames from me; I've
heard the stories about birds dying from eating rice thrown at weddings.

Fruits such as apples & veggies such as corn and iceburg lettuce are
relatively weak in the nutrition department.

Once again, more info on the leafy veggies/sour crop connection would be
welcome ... I'm curious about it now.  Maybe someone should write Bird Talk
(if they haven't heard of it already)?

-rei
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: dboldt@dsdbqvarsa (David Boldt (x5679))
Subject: Re: Bird Snacks Summary
Organization: United States Geological Survey
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:56:00 GMT

In article <1iqh51INNd3b@gap.caltech.edu> mikula@ugcs.caltech.edu (Alf Mikula) writes:
>I have a cockatiel that goes completely bonkers over mechanical pencil lead.
>Sometimes when she discovers me doing my homework, she won't leave me alone,
>and even tries to lick the letters off the page.
>
>
>I guess I have two questions:
>1) Is this normal behavior?  Another cockatiel I used to have used to chew
>   up pencils if I left them laying around.  Is there something about the
>   graphite or the clay that's mixed with it?  A taste?  A narcotic effect?
>
>2) Is it harmful to my pet?

As you already seem to know, pencil lead is not really made of lead, it hasn't 
been since the turn of the century.  Pencil "lead" is now made of graphite and 
clay filler, pretty harmless stuff.  My cockatiel also seems fascinated by pens 
and pencils in use;  though if I put the writing implement down she carries it 
to the edge of the tables and watches it fall.  No chewing at all.
-- 
                           -- david boldt   dboldt@qvarsa.er.usgs.gov
                                            US Geological Survey
                                            Reston, VA    (703 648-5679)
From: au500@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Linda Zinn)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Another question
Date: 12 Jan 93 00:40:39 GMT
Reply-To: au500@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Linda Zinn)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


Zack (yellow-naped Amazon) exhibits a very strange habit (at least to
me, and he's come up with no reasonable explanation). Every time
he reaches for and holds onto my finger when he's in his cage, he bites
his own leg. He does the same thing at times when he is holding onto
one of his hanging toys.

Is this the only way he can balance to scratch his leg, or is he
just a little loopy?

As a postscript to the handedness survey, Zack not only holds food in
his right foot, he almost always reaches for me with that foot, as well.

Linda

--
From: rjg@umnstat.stat.umn.edu (Robert J. Granvin)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
Subject: Re: New African Grey!!
Date: 5 Jan 93 20:03:39 GMT
Organization: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota

|> > I could also use some help on naming him.  
|> I've always wanted to get a grey and name him "Earl" (Gray).

Hmmm... :-)  There's always options like "Matt(e)" too, but I like Earl.  :-)

-- 
\\ Robert J. Granvin                                 User Services Specialist
// School of Statistics - University of Minnesota            rjg@stat.umn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: ubhjp@sun.rz.tu-clausthal.de (H.-J. Pfeffer)
Subject: Re: Birdie Interaction
Organization: Techn. Univ. Clausthal
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 09:21:49 GMT

Hi Tom !
I think no prediction can be made in your case. We have the same problem
with our two parrots (Blue-fronted amazon, Timneh-grey parrot). Both live
in our family since more than 8 years. They are living in one room but kept
in different cages. They don't like each other very much, but cannot live
without the other one. If seperated in two rooms they screech for each other.
We cannot let them fly free unobserved. The minimum distance between them
before agonistic behavior occurs is about 20 cm.
Both are about 12-14 years old, of different sex, wild caught birds but
very tame to human beings except children.
So have patience and have FUN !
.............................................................................
H.-J. Pfeffer, Universitaetsbibliothek Clausthal: ubhjp@sun.rz.tu-clausthal.de
..............................eof()..........................................
From: billg@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM (Bill Gingras)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:07:37 GMT
Subject: Re: Crows and Ravens
Organization: HP Stanford Park - Palo Alto, CA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds


You'll probably hear this about a hundred times now that you posted your
message:    

It is illegal to keep crows and ravens as pets.

Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds
From: derich@netcom.com (Scott A. Steinbrink)
Subject: Parakeets FAQ?
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 15:46:46 GMT

Is there a parakeet/budgie FAQ lying around? Give me the site name,
FTP< etc. or post it up for me.

E-mail is welcocme, too.

- Scotty

-- 

Scott Allen Steinbrink
 
NetCom: Derich@netcom.com
America Online: Derichman
Bitnet: 11sstein%gallua.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu 
InterCon: tissue@intercon.com 

Newsgroups: rec.pets.birds