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Life is sometimes boring, and repetitive, and sometimes you might might be going through the motions. If you live each day as if it were your last, things might get interesting

So I bought a cage off someone who had kept the cage in storage for a number of years. Her bird, before she rehomed him, was definitely a bar chewer and much of the powder coating has been removed. I bought the cage for $200 before I really noticed the extent of the damage. Not only is the coating chipped away, but some rust has settled in too. Not wanting to be out the $200 I did some research into my options and found the first choice would be to have the whole cage re-powder-coated. But after calling around and receiving quotes of $200+ I decided to check into some alternate options. Upon consulting the President of our local Parrot Club I decided to try the following: remove the worst of the rust with hairspray and fine grit sand paper. Rinse extremely well. Then once dry, apply a rust proofing paint on the areas with no coating. This ended up being a significant portion of the cage... It's not pretty to look at, but it's bigger than the one she's in right now and I definitely think she needs a bigger cage, especially since I often work 8-9 hour shifts. I'm just starting to worry this isn't worth the risk... I don't have the extra $200+ to spend on re-coating the cage right now. Eventually I'd like to buy a big stainless steel one for her but that's going to take a year or two of saving. I can't leave her in the small cage for that long. Any advice?

Keep your eyes peeled on CL/FB for one of these if you can't get one outright from Petco: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/you-and-me-standing-parrot-cage

Important advice for our parrots too. I always fear my grey will get bored and depressed -- so I try to shake things up a little for him too. But you know greys - some changes are great and some changes upset them. My job is to find the right balance for my guy!

They are incredible little souls. I am constantly amazed by how empathic they are. The bond with a grey is like no other in my humble opinion.

Thank you for the kind words! I'm very excited about having Auri in my life to stay.

She is BEAUTIFUL! When a bird chooses you it's the best relationship ever!

Huey here. What's going on out there is a severe plucking and biting issue. We've seen them all wearing masks so we know this is what's going on. Plus most of them have been sent home to timeout. Apparently yours is in timeout which can be stressful on you. Instead of letting this get to you, you can use this time to train your hooman, they make great kitchen and wait staff and can do all sorts of tasks to make your day easier. They are trainable albeit some train better than others and you need to use different tactics. I have two hoomans: a male and a female. This is my male. He's a blockhead and very hard-headed. He needs stern training methods. I can't let my guard down with this one or he wants to get all touchy-feely and gets in my stuff. He loses sight of his main tasks: cooking and cleaning, getting and taking. I have him trained to do stuff through whistles and verbal commands, I can even control the pace by using a 'RAWRRRR' and shows him that I am a The TyrannosaurusHueyRex and not to mess. He responds to hard bites as well. Occasionally, and this is when he's in my stuff or I want some alone time with my female hooman, I have to resort to flying biting attacks. Those are rare though and you can really injure them so use sparingly. This is my female. She's my pet. She is trained but she is not part of my waitstaff. I love on her, give her kisses, cuddle with her, feed her (she doesn't realize she needs this). She has recently been confined to the house in timeout but we are adjusting. I have had to have a couple of stern moments with her when she gets a little rough but I let things slide with this one, she's definitely my favorite. Sometimes I do get tired of too much time with my hoomans and in that case, I have my male, the slave, take us out to the outdoor aviary if the weathers nice, or to the indoor aviary in inclement weather. I make sure that he has prepared a nice 'lunches with the ladies' so that I can dine with GreycieMae. You can make this work, just don't let it get you down.