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Meet Muńeca! She's a 21y.o. hawk-headed (red fan) parrot. DNA female hatched and raised at Kookaburra bird shop right here in Dallas. Some of you all may remember a member here that hasn't posted in a long while, Murfchck. She recently just asked if we'd be interested in giving this girl a new home where she can get out of her cage more. I didn't really need or want another bird but my wife said years ago that if a bird like this ever became available to us, we'd take her. Well, here she is. Going to take good care of this girl. We're not sure what to make of her yet. I've read that these birds don't make good pets, are territorial, can be very mean. I'm trying to go slow with her and back off when she warns me to. But that feather crest is too much to resist. I keep trying to give her scritches and she keeps snapping at me. She'll come around I'm sure, persistence always pays off 🤣

When I go and visit my parents I regularly take Alfie with me in his travel cage. My dad is largely indifferent about Alfie (he hasn't forgiven Alfie for biting him on the finger once when he was a baby bird). My mum has been trying really hard for months and months to get on Alfie's good side... and it's been working. Whenever she visits me Alfie gets all excited to see her and will whistle and make lots of noise until she comes over and says hello. When I visit them Alfie normally stays in his travel cage but my mum has been quite brave recently and has said he can come out. She sits on the other end of the sofa from me (and dad stays on the other sofa out of the way) and Alfie typically wanders around the sofa and goes to see her. Recently they have both been super brave and Alfie has allowed my mum to give him head scritches... and mum has been brave enough to do it. Alfie has been enjoying it so much that he makes a beeline straight for my mum and will sit there for the rest of the evening enjoying his head scritches. He even started closing his eyes last time! I'm super happy that they've managed to build on their relationship. Mum was always interested in Alfie and helped me wean him when I first got him. Unfortunately he did bite her a few times so she backed off a bit and got scared (fair enough) and then me and Alfie moved out. She's still wary of being bitten but Alfie has been really good. He will very gently grab her hand/fingers if she dares to stop scratching his head. 😂 I'm still not on this level of head scritches with Alfie. I can give a quick scritch but then he tends to wander off or move his head. He tolerates me, at best! Slight jealousy aside, I'm super happy that him and mum have gotten this far. 😄

Hey all. I know we have a birthday room, but I don't think it's getting much traffic, so I just thought I'd announce here that Dorian will be turning 21 on Saturday! That means I've had him almost exactly 18 years. I'm making a new version of his favourite toy for the big day. Happy Birthday baby bird.

I know I am way late to the party, but this just made my day! YAY Dorian !!

I did something a little different for Alfie's Christmas present this year. I normally get him a couple of new toys to hang in his cage. This year I decided to add a new toy to his shelves that he likes to play on in the living room... mainly to try and stop him chewing on the wall! I found an untreated wooden box and stuffed it full of crinkly paper, wood chips and foot toys. It's been a big hit and after a bit of side-eye Alfie hopped up and started exploring. He has great fun rustling through the box and finding toys to fling out of it... most of them usually land on the sofa below... or on my head if I'm sitting there. 😂

Yay!! (alcohol free) Pina Coladas for Corky!!! Ray, what a comfort Corky is. I often tell Inara what a good friend she is to me. What would our lives be without our fids! xoxox

Wow! 21..how is that possible? Happy Birthday Corky! Hope you were spoiled with lots of toys and treats!

You can’t potty train a parrot with any success. I do have one of my parrots that won’t go potty in her sleep cage, I take her out and she will go in her potty basket we call it, but that’s it, after that it’s a free for all! Trying to potty train a parrot with wild instincts will be successful at stressing them out and you may end up with a frustrated plucker. Having a parrot means cleaning up their potty everywhere. It comes with the territory. I have 3 and they get to spend all day out when I’m not at work. Before I go to bed at night, my nighttime chore is to go to all the favorite places and clean it up. They are like a dog, they will go where they want. You will get so you know when they are going to do it, but as far as training, that’s not feasible , in my opinion, or good for them.

Their favourite person can change over time. I have always been Alfie's main/sole caregiver but I'm not always his favourite person. He took a shine to one of my previous housemates and he absolutely loves my mum, despite the fact we don't live with her. He is fine with me because I'm the only person he lives with now, so I think he just puts up with and tolerates me. I can't give him head scritches like my mum does. He absolutely melts when we go and visit her. It's sickening. 😂 We went through a period of time when Alfie wouldn't step up for me and would bite instead. There had been a lot of changes and upheaval in the house around that time and I'd also decided to cut my hair short around the same time, so I think that irked him somewhat. A couple of times he flew to the back of my head just to bite me too. It put a real dent in our trust of each other so I had to take a big step back and go back to basics with him. I started target training and if I needed him to step up I'd use a perch, as I didn't have the confidence to present my hand/arm to him in case I got a bite. I found he has a love of pine nuts so they are reserved for training only- he doesn't get them in his food. We're doing so much better now. I can't remember the last time I got bitten because we have learned to trust each other again. If I ask him to step up he will now turn or step away if he's not ready instead of biting me. He knows I will respect his space and I will give him an option to say no to my request. I still can't give him head scritches very often... but I'll take it over being bitten any day! If your family are still keen to work with Lulu then they probably need to take a step back and stop putting themselves in a position where a bite may occur. If you know which treats she will do anything for then get your family to offer those instead of you- so that they become a bit more desirable. Lulu will probably always have a favourite person but with patience, training and tasty treats, she might come to realise that the rest of your family are ok too and stop biting. It might be best to get Lulu stepping up on a perch for family instead of hands/arms for a while. And they can use target training so they can interact with her and reward her- but from a safer distance where a bite is less likely to occur. It's really important that each of your family members are confident and calm when interacting with Lulu. If they are nervous or scared then she'll pick up on that. So like others have said, they might just need to take a bit more of a hands off approach for now and slowly start to work with Lulu to regain trust and build a relationship with her.

In my experience, their relationships with other members of the household (other than the favored one) evolve and change as time passes. Greytness gave you good suggestions for the others in the family to build a relationship with LuLu.

Not necessarily. What I will recommend is having each family member spend time near her speaking softly to her, even singing sweet nothing tunes and hand feeding treats. If she pins or ruffles her feathers, that's her queue she's uncomfortable with their proximity. Taking a step or two back will oftentimes resolve the discomfort. It's all about patience and learning to read their queues as to what makes them uncomfortable and then respecting it. If we push our agenda onto a grey, be prepared to have it declined.

I find their different responses and interactions with people fascinating. Timber acts totally different with my son than with my grandson, though he likes them both.

Alfie still loves his granny. He will waddle over to her and sit and preen himself for ages (hence all the fluff and dander!) then will gently grab my mum's fingers and ask for scritches. If mum gets distracted by the TV and stops scratching his head he'll remind her that he's still there and that she has a job to do! 😂

He just is just buying a new suit. Even Humans do it. Donate the old, and in with the new

Here it is... photographic proof of Alfie willingly eating a piece of carrot. It might have been the smallest beak sized piece in the world... but he actually willingly bit into a piece of carrot that I offered him and ate it, instead of immediately flinging it back at me. He then went on to eat a few more teeny tiny pieces. AND he was willing to try and pea and a couple of pieces of broccoli too... although he wasn't so keen on either of those. It is a constant battle to try and get this guy to eat healthier foods. I'll hold my hands up and admit that I wasn't very good at trying him with different foods when he was young so that's probably why he's so picky. There was a lot less information around on keeping parrots back then and not as much information available online as there is now, so he is a bit of a seed junkie. I make sure he doesn't get sunflower seeds or peanuts and I mix dried fruit and veggies and occasionally some nuts into his main food mix. Then I offer up fresh veggies cooked or prepared in various ways. He liked mashed potato and I managed to get him on mashed sweet potato with some veggies finely chopped and mixed in for a while but then he started rejecting that too. I've tried every pellet available over the years too... although he has just started to try his tops and roudy bush pellets recently... after having them served up for months on end. 😂 One thing that's helped is that he's recently become interested in what I do in the kitchen when I'm preparing dinner. So I set a chair nearby so he can perch on the back of it and see what I'm up to. Then I offer him what I'm preparing- anything that's safe for him to have I'll offer to him. He mostly ignored me for the longest time but I noticed he's getting more and more curious. Sometimes he would poke what was offered and sometimes he'd pick it up and immediately drop it. More recently he has taken a couple of bites... he ate a bit of chilli pepper the other month and seemed to like it. Most veggies were pretty much immediately rejected though- especially things like carrot and broccoli. Yesterday though he was in his cage and so I offered him some carrot, a pea and some broccoli and to my surprise he took all three, gave them a good poking with his tongue and then actually ate some. He seemed to like the carrot and although the pieces he bit off were very small, he did eat them and come back for more. He did chew up some broccoli but I'm not convinced he ate any and he dropped the next piece I offered. And he ate a bit of the pea but rejected the next one offered. I praised him loads for just trying the foods though, as this is a big step forward. So... for anyone with a picky eater... keep trying! I'm fairly certain that if I offer him carrot again today it'll probably get flung straight back at me again... but I shall persevere as always!

Hi everyone. Writing a post to introduce myself since I'm new to the forum. I have been reading the forums for a while and there's a lot of great info! My name's Ben, and I live in a small town in Ca. We've had a male Jenday Conure, Pippin, with our family since 2001. He's a handful. He likes to hang out on his perch and demand attention 😃 He's target trained, talks in a squeaky voice, and does a few tricks for treats. He's also pretty phobic, and that's something we've been working on. Before Pippin, we had a Sun Conure, Gabby, but she unfortunately became egg-bound in 2007, went into surgery, and did not make it through. Anyway, on Monday, and after a long wait, we brought home a baby female Congo African Grey! We named her Vim. She is about five months old and beautiful. She seems to be doing well, eating her veggy mix, drinking water, exploring. I've been watching videos and reading about Greys for a long time, but now that she's here, I'm feeling a bit discouraged (for lack of a better word). The thing is, she is very shy. Emphatically shy. I understand that Greys are naturally phobic, but when Pippin and Gabby came home, they both enjoyed my company right away. But Vim is different. When I put my hand near her, she growls a bit. Not like an angry growl, but more of a fearful one. I have been able to give her a few treats by hand. Yesterday, she was flapping her wings and glided off of her perch onto the carpet (she's clumsy as can be). I picked her up, although she didn't seem to want me to, and then she let me scratch her head. She seemed like she really liked that, and nuzzled against my shirt. Afterward, on her perch, she let me scratch her head again, and then allowed me to put her in her cage for bedtime. But this morning I offered her a piece of fruit, and I left my hand in place after she took it. She dropped the fruit and bit me. I did not react much, but I did flinch and say "Ow" because she bit me kind of hard. I want to earn this bird's trust, and I'm fine with being patient. I have been working next to her, talking to her calmly. She smiles at me with her eyes, if you know what I mean, and seems comfortable (she naps, stretches, doesn't mind me walking behind her, etc.). I have not asked her to step up because she seems scared, nor have I tried to scratch her head again. Does that seem like the right tack to take? Just be present around her and let her come to me in her own time? Thanks for reading, and for any advice!

I can't give much advice about potty training as I've never tried it. I have read that some people have had difficulties where their bird will try and hold it in until given the command to go though, which can be bad for them. However it's easy enough to clean up. You can put paper under playstands etc to catch most of it. They do tend to have their favourites and will interact with people in different ways. If she is biting your daughter then I would get her to take a step back for a while. Get her to read stories to him and interact from a distance for a short while. You could also try introducing some training and get your daughter to provide the best/favourite rewards. Target training is probably the easiest one to start with- where the bird touches the end of a stick on command and gets a reward for it. (It has to be a gentle touch, not a bite).

Hello and welcome! I have nothing to say about potty training, since my bird is about 15 years old and still goes where he wants. However, in my experience, greys usually have a "favored" person (which may change over time). As for others, they do seem to have definite preferences and dislikes. Even so, they will usually develop some sort of relationship with everyone in the household they have regular exposure to. If your daughter keeps working on it and builds trust, their relationship will probably improve with time. The short answer is, yes they do have definite preferences and likes and dislikes with individuals.

Beautiful! Glad to hear Murf is still alive and kicking too. I miss those who used to be around a lot and now aren't. Life happens though I know.

Hello all! I am new here, and so grateful for the Grey community I have found in this place! The love here is amazing! I have some questions to put to community involving rehabbing a bird that has been stuck in tiny cage. 😢 Our sweet Boomer needs some help! We have a 22 yr old CAG named Buddy, he was a rescue at 12 yrs old, and has recently declared himself an ambassador for parrot kind! 😂 He is the sweetest bird, if you come into our house afraid of birds you will leave completely enamored of them! 🥰 So we are familiar with CAGs and their absolute charm, wit, and love! 😍 About three weeks ago we rescued a 20 yr old female CAG, her name is Boomer and she is such a sweet girl! The people that surrendered her to us had inherited her, and were not able to provide the necessary care and attention she requires. Boomer has been in a travel cage for about three years now, a cat sized metal cage. I was told she came out and sat on a perch most days, however it is small and provides no room for exercise. She is a lil’ chunky, and I have vet records from about a year ago declaring she is overweight but otherwise quite healthy. When they brought her over they brought over her “big” cage, it is about 2/3rds larger than her travel cage, and has a little rust on it. Not at all large enough for her, the spacing between the bars is at about a 1/2” and her toes get stuck between them when she climbs around on it! The perch that they had for her is Macaw sized and a little too large for her sweet little feet, so I went out and got her a Manzanita perch and a rope perch at our local pet store. She indicated by day 2 that she would like the stick perch in her cage, she calmly let me put in there and within 10 mins she was making sweet noises sitting on it! This bird is fearless, it’s pretty astonishing sometimes! I attached the rope perch to the outside of her cage so she has a spot to come out and socialize, she loves this one too! Best chewing spot for sure! She definitely seems to have some muscle atrophy in her feet and legs, the first week she had a lot of inflammation in her feet and a hard time climbing vertically in her cage. After a couple days the inflammation diminished but flares up occasionally to this day. She could barely hold her weight up without the assistance of her beak, and had a pretty hard time getting around her cage as her toes were getting stuck in the bars as she tried to move her feet around. By week two she was doing much better and getting comfy coming out and socializing on her rope perch, we love to dance and sing… and tear up cardboard! She still loses her balance sometimes, and doesn’t get very restful sleep because of it unless she is on the bottom of her cage. In her travel cage she could rest her butt on the bottom while she slept so she has had a hard time adjusting back to perch sleeping. I have not seen, but heard her fall from her perches a couple of times. By week three she is much more stable on her perches, climbs all over her cage and the pvc gym next to it. We dance and she shows me her pretty wings, she is getting much more comfortable with stretching them out again and shows them off all the time! She has lost a little weight, though not too much! And we have been making leaps and bounds in the bonding department! We do target training daily where I have her move all over to exercise and she is very comfortable taking treats from my hand. She has gotten accustomed to our routine around here and enjoys her place in the house! She is much more of a talker than our Buddy, when we put her to bed she tells us “I love you, goodnight!” In my voice and it is the sweetest thing. The two parrots are in separate rooms, and get along so beautifully across the house. We have had some jealousy from Buddy, but nothing we were not already anticipating from him, he makes sure to let us all know that he likes Boomer but is jealous of the attention she’s getting. I had bought a macaw sized cage with 1” spacing between the bars for Buddy a couple years ago but surprise he hated it 🤣, I pulled it out of storage a week and a half ago with the intention of putting Boomer in there. It has been sitting in the hallway in view of her cage, she is very curious and has played on top of it. My question is do you think it’s safe to go ahead and move her into the new cage while she is still adjusting? She is still getting her toes stuck between bars, and I suspect this is the cause of the inflammation flare ups so I would like to move her as soon as possible! My fear is a fall from a higher perch, but I can always put her perches lower in there until she adjusts more fully. Also if anyone has had similar experience with rehabbing some muscles I would love to hear about the things that worked well for you! If it’s helpful I can post pics of the cages. thank you all so much! Buddy & Boomers’ Mom

Hi there and welcome! One inch spacing for medium size birds might be a tad too wide for her, but you can see how she adapts to it. The sooner she is able to have more space to move around in, the better it'll be for her. I'd keep her tiny familiar cage right next to the new one. As all of us CAG owners know, introducing new things to our red fluffy butts is oftentimes met with fear, so you might have to introduce it to her in baby steps. There are some great rope netting for birds that you might want to consider getting for her. Mine love to climb through the holes, hang upside down from it, and just chill on top. I'm SO happy she is now in your care! ❤️

Yes I think so- although he never seems to have a 'big' moult- it seems to just be a continuous process where he loses a feather here and there throughout the year. Either way- he's fine and I think I was just super stressed after the beak issues so worried over nothing. 😂