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EarLy on I became interested in parrot nutrition, I took class on it , researched it, spoke to countless parrot owners...I am passing on to you some of this info, It is only food for your thought, nothing more... BEANS: Please note that large raw beans - such as Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, and Soy - can cause toxicities when fed raw, causing digestive upsets for people and potentially for birds. large beans should be cooked to make them safe and digestible. For those who do not want to take any risks, cook large beans thoroughly. Certain uncooked dried beans contain enzyme inhibitors, are indigestible , and may cause visceral gout in birds. These enzyme inhibitors may prevent or decrease the utilization in the body of substances, such as trypsin and chymotrypsin, to produce nutritional deficiencies. Beans that can interfere with proteolytic enzymes are lima, kidney and soybeans. Cooking these beans for at least 2 hours destroys these enzyme inhibitors. Other dried beans do not appear to contain these enzyme inhibitors.

Welcome! Your CAG is a very handsome guy! Greys need to progress along on 'grey time', which is difficult for us humans to always keep in mind.

Looks like you have a nice setup for him. I would say he's asking to slow things down a little with his new situation. They always settle down, it just may take a while. It took our Huey about 6 months to come out of his shell.

These photos make me want to have an entire flock of cockatiels too......But a same gender flock so that I don't have the occasionaly population explosions.

Hi. I am a new member and a new Dad to an adopted older CAG. Have only had him for almost a month. My necessary visits to the adoption center went very well. He doesn't like females so I (male) had no problem handling him. First 24 hours at home went well, but the second day he was stepping up to me and for no reason he chomped on my hand and drew blood. My unfortunate reaction was to pull away and this had him fall to the ground. Not sure if something spooked him? So, now, we are in the process of building trust again. Have been doing target training and lots of treats. His diet from his previous owner was all seed so have been slowly trying to change him to a better diet. Will be a long process.

I'd give a couple or three weeks on the nail trim.

Fantastic! I was thrilled to see this this morning. What a blessing that you happened to be a neighbor.

Shortly, I'll make a large post We really have to research what we feed our fids and in what combination. A short example, we never salt our fid's foods. But, chard and spinach are loaded with salt so should be fed at a minimum. One of my favorite, garbanzo or chickpeas, bond certain enzymes depleting them from the fid's system. A favorite, red palm oil, is the largest source of artery blocking food sources on the market extreme high cholesterol. I've always called it the "Red Hype"....I'LL go into that later hehehehe....

It's really super simple and such healthy nuggets of goodness. The sky's the limit as to what you can add, or want to hide for that matter. Mine aren't pellet eaters in general, but they get their fair share inside the birdie bread! As for thawing, I keep a small container in the refrigerator that's usually a 3 day supply and then replenish from there.

May have to try this. I have a few bags of old pellets that have been in the freezer for a while waiting to become a nice birdy bread.

Fantastic! Thank you, had no clue it was so easy. Does it thaw well?

It's really very easy and doesn't require a recipe other than your imagination. The base that I use is Harrison's pellet ground into flour like consistency You can use any pellet of your choosing. Remove to a separate mixing bowl. Then food process anything you want to add to this 'flour'. I always add those things my fids won't eat unless it's disguised. For my crew it's bell peppers, kale and most anything orange or green. I always add sweet potato to all my birdie bread. Add enough water to get it to the consistency that works for you. Add whatever cooked grains you have, spread your creation onto a pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 350. I crumble it, freeze and use as needed.

GreycieMae gets, what GraycieMae wants! You just provide the cash and ship[ping address. Hahaha.

Any chance you'd be willing to share the steps taken to make the bread. I've never made it and I am betting mine would love it.

Nada, nyet, no

Welcome to the forums and thank you for taking in a rescue bird. What is his name? He is a beautiful bird! One thing you will learn quite quickly is a little thing called "grey time". This is the time it takes for a grey to adjust and accept changes. This can be changes in routine, toys, location, people etc etc. Your bird has just undertaken a very big change and at a month in everything is still very new. Your bird is trying to adjust to a new home, a new human, a new routine, new sounds, new toys... everything. This can be a bit overwhelming for a grey as they can be a little change adverse at times. It can take days, weeks or sometimes months for a grey to adapt to these kind of changes and come out of their shell. This is what we call 'grey time'. Some changes may be more readily accepted by the bird than others... so there's no telling how much 'grey time' is needed for different changes. The important thing to remember is that the grey will show you when they are ready to accept a change or a new offering. They will also show you when they are not ready. A lot of this is shown via their body language- so pay attention to what your grey is doing... especially if you receive a nip or a bite...e.g what were the eyes doing, how were the feathers being held? There may be some subtle signs that your bird gives you before he resorts to a bite. Given enough time, you will start to be able to read your birds body language and will be able to know when the bird has had enough or is happy to progress. You will have many amazing years together and it sounds like you are already off to a fantastic start. These forums are full of information so feel free to have a look around. Ask as many questions as you need to- there is always someone here who can help and advise!

What a beautiful CAG! As the others have said, they adjust slowly. Just take it easy and slow down. You are off to a great start!

Greetings....you could have all males along with the cockatiels, we had Amazons, Macaws, 'Keets, Cockatoos, Grass Parakeets, Conures, Ringnecks, a Hawk-head, at the same time....lol You can also check Some of the Fids who we shared our home with. Choose wisely for your forever Fid...Some parrots don't like to be separated for more than a few hours. Others, you can take a 3 week vacation and they won't be upset. Thank you, Jayd

Our basic go-to daily chop is baby chard, sugar snap peas, sweet potatoes, pomegranate arils, a grape, blueberry or two, banana, slightly cooked broccoli and my homemade birdie bread, concocted using Harrison's pellets as its flour to which I add ancient grains, hemp seed, kale, red bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, and anything else my fids won't eat if offered separately in chop. I also add quinoa, barley, oats and fresh lentils to my birdie bread. In the evening they can have a small serving of high quality large hook bill seed mix without sunflower seeds. I add a small serving of their favorite nuts, including pine nuts and unsalted roasted deluxe nut mix that I get from Trader Joe's.

That’s what I did! I bought the 40x30x75 dome top Macaw Mansion. It is surprisingly well built and way bigger than I pictured. JoJo is loving it, while Maxi is having a bit of a hard time with it. If you read in one of my other threads, Maxi was locked in her cage for around 20 years and never allowed out, in that cage she had one wobbly branch her whole life so getting her to use other perches has been quite the struggle. She will adjust though, she’s pretty strong. Here she is helping with food prep.

Those look good enough to eat! Any added sugars?

Your best bet would be to check our archives....I also left a bookmark that might help. Thank you for coming aboard the forum. Jayd http://theworldofafricangreys.weebly.com/behavior--body-language.html

Not too big! I buy macaw cages for my greys. Rabbit toys are cheap, just make sure they are bird safe.

Oh I am soooo happy!! You guys did great. What a sweet bird and so lucky! Thanks for the pics! How heartbreaking to see how he was kept. You are a true angel. Please keep the updates coming!

Good morning everyone! A bright new day filled with endless possibilities has begun! Breakfast is served! First go-to food item on this menu? Pomegranate arils! Num! num!

Oh the poor thing. Such horrid conditions. At least he is safe now and will get all of the care and attention he needs. I'm sure he will settle down eventually and quickly realise he has landed on his feet!

The poor little guy is doing a bit of back and forth movements and some light panting. Trying to leave him be, but I just can't stop checking in on him and talking with him. I'm gently rubbing his toes whenever I get the chance so that he can begin to ascertain that touch isn't a scary thing. This will be the first night where he won't have to be anxious about sharing the night with the rats clambering all over his world. And that he won't have to sleep through the night with one eye open.

It happens very easily. I said I was done at 11, and then here comes Sydney! While he's obviously very nervous about all the changes, he's beginning to vocalize. His little 'hello' sounds as if he just took a hit of helium before speaking. It's absolutely adorable!

I think he looks like a keeper! 🤪

No but who knows what the future holds, he may turn out to be such a sweetheart you couldn't bear to part with him, like Steve said, at least he is out of that hell hole.

Well, he's out of that shithole. Let's rehab and see what happens. If you lived here I'd probably entertain the idea. That's funny you say you're up to 11. In my pea-brain I think I'm still at three, but when I count beaks, I count 8. How the hell does this happen? 🤣

Seeing as how you are in the U.K., you can easily get the chain fly screens over there. They work wonders to stop a bird from flying through an open door. This is what we used on the back door where I lost Tinkerbell twice. Once I put the chain screen up, she won't fly through the door. In case you're wondering, she flew through the door trying to find me. Once I was in the back yard cleaning cages with the door open and she managed to pull her bird room door open and flew out of the house looking for me. Fortunately I was about 50 feet outside and she flew right to me. The second time I was going through the door and had no idea she was in the living room. She landed on me as I was exiting the door.

I usually buy toys to get the parts, like the one you see in the pic. Then it's simply cutting wood blocks or whatever to refill. Since my Greybie is a wood block chipper, I refill with wood. I have another one that loves to chip cardboard. As you can imagine, she's easy to make toys for out of a plain old cardboard box.

Such good news! Well done to you and your son for persevering and rescuing the little guy. I hope he has a very speedy road to recovery!

OH! Thank you for rescuing him! He is a love and will repay you many times over.

Here he is. Skin and bones, but we're going to be fixing that real soon.

My son's on his way over to rescue him. Temp is currently 105 degrees.

I really need to start making my own toys. I usually just buy them from the local parrot store and spend a fortune. Any ideas on where to buy parts and pieces online for toys?

I'll try to find it tonight.

No. Isaac's Dad is getting a baby boy from the same breeder that Maalik came from. Believe me, I did wave the 'you can handle 3 greys' flag his way, but it's a no go. I'm glad to hear that rats are somewhat clean. My concern was over their hanging out on top of his cage, pooping into his water and food dishes and potentially spreading disease to him in that manner. Hope he survives today's heat wave. It's already 90 degrees and it's only 9:30. Projected to be 107 degrees by noon. Apparently this bird's cage is in partial sun. I'll keep you posted!

Would like to know what the vet prescribed. Our Huey is on Haliperidol. I've tried multiple times to wean him off it but 2-3 days after the last dose, he starts to butcher his feet.

The fireworks are tomorrow night. But there were some loud neighborhood ones on Wednesday and it didn't seem to bother the birds. The dogs hate it!!! We'll see what that in combination with flashing lights does. I'll make sure she's covered first, but that only blocks visibility, not light. She'll probably be fine. Haven't been able to get her to step up the last 2 mornings. A few steps back. Wait and see. I think my wife had gotten something from the vet to put in her water or food to calm her down for her destructive feather problem. I'll have to find it. Still no pulled feathers but she chews any wing feathers that come in.

Hello all. i have seen many of yalls picture and you have beautiful greys!! Here is my question.. I have been researching and trying to find information about Congos because my husband and I have finally decided now is the right time to accept the responsibility of a baby. I stay at home now so i would have lots of time for the new addition plus my son is starting school. The entire day almost would be devoted to the new baby. I have found several breeders, some of which are much more expensive (the money doesn't bother me) and others are cheaper. One breeder is nearly five hours away from me and i really want to travel down to meet the babies. She says they have three babies and it seems like as soon as i talked to her she sends me a email saying two more people have inquired about the babies.. im not sure if this is to rush me to give them a deposit to ensure a sell or if they really inquired.. (it was less than 10 minutes of talking on the phone with them).. Another breeder is three hours away.. he also has three babies. Im making the trip to visit the babies this coming sunday. One thing that i question about this breeder is that he leaves the babies with their mothers the first month of life. I have read that this is bad...? Is it? Many breeder that i have talked to take the eggs and incubate asap.. is it bad that the baby has been with his bird mother more than humans at this point or is that fine? Also, i have read that no "good" breeder would ever let a baby go without being fully weaned. This breeder told me that it was my money and he wanted to make me happy.. if i wanted to take the baby at 9 weeks i would or i could leave the baby there til the weaning is finished.. it was my choice.. should this we something to worry about and wonder if they are good breeders? I have heard some people say that they hand fed their baby and everything turned out fine.. i mean i guess it was everyone first time at one point.. you weren't born a bird expert.. This will be my first Grey. So i am very weary of making mistakes. Im not rich so this is defiantly a huge investment for us..! Any help would be greatly appreciated..!!! Rebecca:confused:

Picking through old photo, post soon...♥️

You are lovely people! Appreciate your sharing those feathered souls with us all. Beautiful all.

Thank you! The CAG was Spock and the two sun conures we raised. I was trained to be a "Certified Avian Specialist". In the archives, you can find many posts about our FIDs and rescues. In the younger years, we helped others and then, in the 70's, we added parrots to our list. We bred Cockatiels and at one time, we had over 40 plus our other fids. We only sold 5 birds over all those years....we gave 30 cockatiels to a young lady to open a pet store in Las Vegas. We took in or rescued mentally or physically abused parrots, help them to heal, and then rehome them for no charge other than bird food and supplies. Some birds stayed with us a short time, others for years. For food and supplies, we would take in problem birds and do our best to re-train them and their parronts. We did this up until around 2011(?) when Jay got too ill. We have hundreds of photos....we will post more as time goes on.....Hope you enjoy them. Jayd and Maggie

My goodness! What beautiful birds! If this is 'some', then how many birds have shared your home with you over the years? I especially love how the CAG loves visiting with the other birds.

amazing photos and so many beautiful birds. Thank you for sharing!