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I know this is a bit of a long shot but here goes: we have a 20 year old, sweet Congo African Grey and we need to find care for her when we travel. I’ve called the offices of the avian vets around us and no luck. We live in a house on the outskirts of Davis, California [approximately 20 minutes from Sacramento]. Davis is a university town [and UCD even has a Raptor Center/which I also contacted]. We would be willing to trade bird sitting responsibilities with someone somewhat close to Davis or we would be willing to negotiate what it would cost to have someone sit for Corey. We would really like someone who has at least some experience with parrots. We really don’t want to board her with a lot of other birds because of the disease risk. Corey has briefly met other parrots [e.g. we have had a friend with a Lorikeet] but she hasn’t spent substantial time with any other parrots]. We do not clip Corey’s wings but she came to us clipped. She will not fly voluntarily but WILL fly if startled. Since Corey was apparently not allowed to learn to fly [she came to us when she was probably a couple of years old] she is really not a good flyer and we want to minimize how often she takes flight in fear. Like probably most Greys, Corey really likes social interactions. She likes to be in her playbox and she is not a very loud parrot but she has a relatively large vocabulary. So, we are hoping to travel for a couple of weeks starting on August 9, 2021. Any chance that someone might be interested in either swapping bird sitting responsibilities OR being paid to sit for Corey? Fingers crossed, Terry

Thanks, again, everybody for the well wishes. We could take Corey to our friend with the Lorikeet but the problem with that is that this is a very chaotic household. Their Lorikeet probably likes all the action, our Grey would not. Since we just moved to Davis, we don't really know anybody that would be willing to step in and live at our house.

Kept her interested most of the day and into a second. Now into a second box She has not ventured to the woodwork at all. In fact, seems almost obsessed with the box, occasionally venturing out for food and water. I put the semi destroyed box in an open space under her cage, where I have a towel to catch any water spilled from bathing (rarely done now), in hopes to catch her attention just in case she decides to go for a walk. Sometimes she will stop and sit on the edge of the cage, looking expectantly, but when she sees me and has "made eye contact", turns and begins to attack the box anew. Occasionally turning her head, perhaps just to see "if I noticed"? She does notice when I do cage maintenance and will utter her "sigh" sound, as she would before, only pausing in the box killing activity if I happen to jostle the cage or bang a door too loudly. Normal?

I live even further away- over the pond in the UK- so I'm useless to you! Are there any friends or family members that you could potentially train to care for Corey? If you're not going away until August then perhaps you could use this time to introduce them to Corey and get them used to his routine?

Too bad you don't live closer to me (San Diego), as my adult children would have been perfect caregivers for your baby. And yes, this state is beyond expensive to live in!

SRSeedBurners: Do like all the other Californians - move to Texas. I'll sit a birdy! That's very sweet. And, can't say we haven't thought about moving from CA: it's expensive!

Do like all the other Californians - move to Texas. I'll sit a birdy! Actually our house in Allen is for sale and has a complete aviary built onto the house. I miss that place already.

SRSeedBurners: Thanks for the laugh. Corey LOVES sugar cookies and can spot it when my husband or I try to sneak one. Most of the time, we just don't have them in the house. Neoow and Timbersmom totally described our experience with trying to get Corey to eat veggies! Totally!! At least now, I don't feel all alone in this bird diet "adventure". Greys are such amazing human trainers.

It is interesting to me that a LOT of parrots seem to be totally attracted to junk food. Like Timbersmom wrote: if it isn't good for them they are going to love it. Always seems like an uphill battle to get good food into them!