How cute. Nelly sounds like such a doll. Having your best friend on your shoulder sounds good to me.

Well it's Sunday and the peace and quiet of saturday morning is not to be had. All the fids have decided to get up early!! So of course so did mom!! And I might add so did the squirrel that frequents my windowsill. Nelly started off sitting quietly looking out the window until he appeared. Adorable little creature until he starts scratching on the screen which of course sets her off. That in turns sets everyone else off. So I decided we would go outside and sit on the porch for a bit while I had my first cup of coffee and see what the local critters were up to. I took a few peanuts and some fruit and nut mix with me to put under the tree. Quietly we sat until the first chipmunk appeared. That was OK with her along with the robins,blue jays and sparrows. It was that darn squirrel who grabbed a peanut and hopped up on the porch to eat it. She darn near fell of my shoulder. She started off chattering and when she felt she was being ignored the chattering turned to screeching. Now mind you it is 5:45 am and my neighbors do like to sleep in. None of this even phased the squirrel. It was when she inched down my arm onto my leg and glided down onto the porch he decided it was time to go. Nelly paced a bit and then turned to me with her foot up to be picked up. her deed was done!! So not only do I have a TOO that chases seagulls but a squirrel chaser too. Guess I'm lucky there are no bear in my neck of the woods cause who knows???

WE did very well with july 4th..not to much noise and Nelly and I hung out most of the day. But I have recently gotten some new neighbors that moved in next door(I live in an apt. complex) and let me tell you. They have done most of their moving at night when Nelly is settling down for her hour of TV before bedtime. Banging furniture,dropping boxes,arguing about what goes where,the dog barking and in general all the commotion did not set well with her that night or the next or the next!!! She would just get settled in for the night;head tucked under her wing and her little foot up when slam bang boom something was dropped and someone was yelling. At first she tried to take it in stride but then...UH UH NO WAY enough is enough and she started to chatter getting a bit loud at times. I Finally had to move heer into my bedroom in her travel cage so she could get some sleep. Now sometimes she can sound like a dog barking No I idea where that came from. So finally on the 3rd morning I ran into the new neighbor and they asked if I had a dog. NO I said...an ATTACK BIRD!!! SMILED AND WALKED AWAY. The noise has gotten considerably less and I figure the next time I will just put her on my shoulder,go outside and let her do her BIG BIRD act and see if that helps.

Diane, I feel your pain about neighbor noise! Glad to read that Nelly is taking it in stride, for the most part. I have next door neighbors (about 100 ft. away) that do EVERYTHING LOUD! Wouldn't be so bad if it was during daylight hours, but no, they become active about dusk. They even mow their lawn in the dark, navigating by the head light on the tractor.

I have resorted to turning the air conditioners on high and the air filters on high and closing all the doors and windows. It muffles the sound pretty good.

I do have days though that I wish my Macaws were noisy. I have envisioned (joyfully) them falling out of bed onto the floor to the sounds of Macaw calls about 6 AM! I know, my bad

I do have days though that I wish my Macaws were noisy. I have envisioned (joyfully) them falling out of bed onto the floor to the sounds of Macaw calls about 6 AM! I know, my bad

Oh geesh, can you imagine! What a hysterical image!

Feel so bad for Nellie. They try so had to accept all that we humans throw at them, but sometimes, it just plucks their very last nerve.

I locked cages for awhile, many years ago, then decided that was a really bad idea, in case of emergency.

What I do for the round flip latches.... let me see if I can explain. On feeder doors it is easier than on enterences, but can still be done. Even the birds that can undo caribeaners, can't get this one, much more complicated.

On my feeder doors, there is a ring dish holder that is secured to the door with screws. I have replaced one of those screws with a drawer knob on the outside (a bulbus one with a skinnier stem).... this also makes it easier for me to open the food doors with one hand. THEN what I do, is run a SS chain with a caribeaner on the end from a cage bar and clip the caribeaner over that knob. It is very simple, but even if they can work the caribeaner - they can't get it over that knob from within their cage. They can't seem to get their beak in at the right angle between the bulb of the knob and the door to undo the clip and slip it over the knob.

I come home all the time, to flaps open, but caribeaners holding tight. Just remember not to make the chain too long that they could hurt themselves or escape anyway,.

I think if you screwed a knob onto a cage door, it would work there too. I'll have to get a picture of my feeder doors one of these days.

I actually have knobs on ALL feeder doors. I got grape ones (a little pewter bunch of grapes) on Tiki's, and some decorative little boy ones on Red's cage. It was the very first thing I did to each cage, as I had a hard time opening the doors with one hand. After the knobs were on, the clips and chain just made sense.

Good luck!

Anxiously awaits pictures of the caribeaner? What's that???

this is a carribiener..... picture from gearexpress.biz



I'll try to get a pic of my feed door setup this weekend.

Someone from the Caribean islands??

Nate that is what I was wondering!
I even have one of them! I put my key rings on it!!
Now I need to know how it is put on the door.