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I'm new here, Had a Grey some years ago, took ill in her 30's (or so). Recently took in a rescue said to be 14. She is a rather sweet bird, talks a bit and is generally well behaved. Took to me quite readily. A few nips here and there as we acclimated. Steps up readily and makes no fuss when I return her to or into cage. After some weeks, she has become more confident and started to explore. There is the problem. Caught here nibbling, destroying, wood trim around doors, cabinets, etc. That HAS to stop. So far my only "solution" has been to admonish, sternly, have her step up, which she does, more or less readily, and I return her to cage. At first, just to the cage, but, as she showed how stubborn she can be, repeating the behavior, I started putting her in the cage and latching the doors. Spends most of her time pacing and sometimes at food cup, taking a nibble or two. Sometimes just perches on the food bowl for long periods. That may indicate hunger or just a comfort zone? Suggestions?

She is not clipped and has flown a few times, when startled. She climbs down and walks into the hall way and kitchen. There is a small "pass through" between the kitchen and her cage area, so she can hear and see any activity in there. I've thought about an enclosure or blocking the doorway into the kitchen (no door installed). Would have to be something not "climbable" though. I should add that play blocks (kids) and are in her cage. Always room for improvement. I just noticed the bell I hung up requires her to stretch up quite a bit to reach it. So I just put it on a chain to make it easy to reach.

Thanks for the welcome and the tips. Don't have a play area, as such, just "play top" on the cage. Which came missing two bowls, now on order. Not much to attract her there. Tried a bell and now have a hanging "toy" with different bits designed to be shredded. One of those inside the cage as well. There are some similar chewable things in the cage, and the bell, but, she ignores them, mostly. She will nibble at them when I coax her, but, mostly to humor me, I think as they are ignored when I'm not doing that. Problem, for me, in not using the cage as time out, is I cannot attend to her every minute and often have to leave for a couple of hours a day. She does not, so far, seem resistant to going to the cage, which I leave open at night, so she perches on it, rarely in it, at night. I'll try better decoys and substitutes.

Welcome to the forums! Sounds like Corey landed on her feet when she chose to move in with you! 😊

They can be persistent little buggers, can't they?! Firstly, welcome to the forums! Looking forward to learning more about you and your grey. I have a cat tree in my living room which has some wicker baskets. Alfie loves to fly over to it and start shredding it, which obviously I don't want him to do because it wouldn't leave much left for the cats. Unfortunately Alfie is just exhibiting a natural behaviour with his shredding. So I distract him. I have some shelves which he hangs out on and I leave toys, treats and boxes for him up there. It works... mostly, but he'll always try and land on the cat tree at least once. When he is out I put some cushions on the beds so it's a little trickier for him to reach the wicker parts... he sees that as a challenge and hangs upside down on the cushions to reach the next wicker bed 🤣 So I say 'no' and ask him to step up on a perch and move him somewhere else where I want him to play instead. I don't tend to use his cage as a punishment or time out area, because I want him to readily go back in there when it's bed time. He can stay out of his cage and he can go on the cat tree, but as soon as he tries to shred it, he gets moved somewhere else. He knows this... but it doesn't stop him trying!! 😆 Has your grey got a play area? I think it's mainly just a case of diverting them to another area where you WANT them to play, chew, shred and continue with all those natural behaviours. The only problem is trying to find a way to make that place much more desirable than the door frames etc they are currently chewing. You could also try moving them to the play area and then rewarding them with treats for staying there/playing with toys instead of chewing the doors.

Hi Joea, If she's clipped, then you could look into getting her an adjacent perch that she could climb onto from her cage. If she climbs off her cage and onto the floor, you might want to also look into getting a surrounding gate for her. If she's flighted, then perhaps you could rearrange those things close to the door jams, etc where she could possibly land and get into chewing. You could also look into getting her some wood blocks she could tear apart. Even blank strips of cardboard pieces are a joy for greys to shred. Hope these few ideas are helpful!

There's nothing quite like the solid purposeful bite from a grey.

I'm one of the lucky ones; Toby hadn't bitten me hard in so long, I couldn't remember the last time he gave me a really hard nip. But yesterday, he was comfortably riding along on my shoulder, when I came to a stop, and he just fell off...... I guess he was distracted by something, because he usually has no problem hanging onto the sweatshirt material; saving himself, by biting hard into my forearm, and hanging there until he could find his way to get his feet on my wrist. No stitches, but nice puncture wounds. I'll be wearing a bandage for a few days now, and have to monitor it closely for any signs of infection.

She's a little cutie! And look at her diving into her birdie bread!

Thanks for the photo tip. You might be able to tell that Corey's spine is curved. It took the right avian vet to point out to us what was going on. [We were originally told it was a problem with her hip structure.] Apparently this was due to a lack of calcium when she was very young. I can tell that this issue has gotten worse over the years [we do supplement her diet with calcium]. I hope that it doesn't cause her too many more problems as the years go by but clearly it throws off her posture and her foot position.