neoow

Yes - last summer we had ridiculously hot weather for long periods of time (never known a summer like it) and when Aflie was moving about a lot he started panting. So I covered part of it to keep it a bit cooler. It creates shade but does let a little sunlight through as well. Originally I was using whatever I had to hand - towels/sheets/blankets etc but they kept falling off. So I bought two sheets of the material in the photo instead and made it a bit more permanent. It has eyelets and I just cable tied it to the aviary bars. Makes it easy enough to remove too. It's like a plastic woven screen... not really sure how to describe it! There are still some areas which get full sunlight throughout the day as I didn't want to block it all out.

Here's another one for you! I think this is a little easier than the first one?

Managed to convince Alfie to get in his travel cage so I could let him play in the aviary today. It's glorious weather outside and the first opportunity that he's had to go out there this year. Can you spot him in his aviary? (he's definitely in there, honest!)

Hmm. I'm now peering at Alfie wondering whether he is in fact an african grey or just a pigeon with a painted tail... he is totally indifferent about cheese. Flings it across the cage if I dare to give him any. The only treat he will do (nearly) anything for is cedar nuts.

That's great news!

What a wonderful update.

It could be that my housemate is the new favourite. My housemate has very little to do with Alfie but Alfie likes to follow him around and see what he's up to. So it may well be that he just wants attention from my housemate and not me. I'm just the live-in servant who keeps the food and water bowls full and the cage clean!

It has lessened but Alfie isn't overly keen on socialising with me. He will make contact calls and will make noises back and forth but he not allowing me to give him his usual morning or evening scritches as readily and he mostly seems to want to amuse himself whilst he is out. He will fly to me to see what I'm up to if I'm out of sight for any amount of time but then will quickly fly elsewhere. Not sure if he's just going through a phase or what. He is active and eating, drinking etc. No other changes in behaviour or body language. Very peculiar!

Thanks for the update. Hopefully the vets can help and Jambit will be back with you and causing mischief very soon! I personally wouldn't recommend adding any supplements unless it is mentioned by an avian specialist. I also wouldn't add anything unless it is designed/made for birds. (e.g I wouldn't add human supplements to Alfie's diet). Speaking of teas... I have started Alfie on an avian tea (from here: https://www.northernparrots.com/pollys-natural-deptpollys_natural/ ) and he seems to enjoy it. I brew it in a cup and let it cool then just let him have it straight from the cup. He seems to like it so far, but he's only had it three times. I went for the 'golden blossom' variety because the others were out of stock.

I hope the meds help and that Jambit is back to good health very soon. Do keep us updated. I definitely would have done the same thing and taken Alfie to the vet like you did. So I don't think it's over-reacting at all!

Great news, thanks for the update!

Thanks both. There has been a lot of changes because I had to move the cats litter trays and food into the room and the cats spent some time sleeping and living out of the downstairs of the house whilst I redecorated the upstairs. This went on for a few weeks. Then I had the flooring done upstairs and in the hall. Alfie wouldn't have seen these changes as such, as he remains downstairs even when out. But all the noise and commotion plus sharing space with the cats was obviously a lot of upheaval. He seemed fine throughout, though I did worry about the reduce time out of the cage. He was still allowed out -but I had to be very mindful of when the cats wanted food or the litter trays so his out of the cage time was reduced. Everything in Alfie's 'space' is now back to normal and no changes were made to the areas that he sees and plays in. But it could still have have an effect. I think you might be right Inara- it could well be a territorial thing with his shelves. I have been sitting in the armchair (which is still near the shelves but not directly under them like the sofa is) and and also at my computer desk at the other end of the room and it's happening less. In fact every time it happens I think I am sitting on the sofa under the shelves. So you could be right in that it's a mix of hormones, upset from the recent changes and being a bit territorial? I'll continue to test things out and see if I can confirm the trigger. I'd rather not be banished from my own sofa but I also don't want to cause Alfie any stress/upset. Hopefully it's a passing phase and I won't have to worry about it for much longer. I'm not sure if it is a mating behaviour? Alfie tends to go very lovey and will droop his wings and make baby/clucky noises when he's 'in the mood'. He's never really beaked or bitten me when like that. This seems to be more aggressive, as he strikes out at my head two or three times. He will allow me to remove him (and sometimes gives my arm a bit of a chomp for good measure before stepping up). he then goes back to exploring or playing or will sit on my knee for a while. I've had a crazy week and I haven't really been settling down on the sofa whilst he's been out since I posted this. He's been playing and flying around and amusing himself then coming to me when he wants to check in or get some scritches. So it hasn't happened in a little while. It'll be interesting to see if it happens again if I settle down on the sofa for a while when he's out.

Welcome back! Lovely to see you back here posting. I misread 14 chickens as 14 children at first...had to do a double take!

It is amazing how our bird manage to continually surprise us, even after many years together! Good to hear from you Maggie. I hope you are looking after yourself as well as Jay.

I have seen a change in behaviour with Alfie recently and can't quite figure it out. He comes out to play and will happily fly to 'his' shelves in the living room, where I leave out boxes and toys for him. He also has a boing hanging there so he can climb between shelves and relax/play on the boing. Normally he'll entertain himself for a while and may check in on me to see what I'm up to if I'm at the computer. He'll also fly round the room, go and play on his tree etc etc. Sometimes he'll come and sit with me on the sofa and either explore or sit on my knee and have some scratches. Recently though he's taken to flying and landing on my head or back when I'm on the sofa and he will peck and bite at the my head aggressively. I can't figure out what the trigger is. I'm not sure if he's annoyed because he wants attention or maybe it's because I had a biiig hair cut a few weeks ago and now have very short hair instead of my usual long hair. It doesn't really hurt that much because he can't really get a hold of anything but I do worry for my eyes and ears so make sure I turn my head then put my arm behind my head for him to step up... I usually get a chomp or two before he does step up. He's a no shoulder bird anyway because he always seeks out ears to nibble/bite so I don't encourage him to go on my shoulder and usually direct him back to my lower arm or knee if he does try to creep up there. But it seems he is deliberately flying to my back just to give the back of my head some abuse. When it happens I just remove him from my back or head and put him on the sofa, my knee or back on his shelf. I may say 'no biting' or have a little chat with him to ask why he decided to bite or what brought that on but I don't shout at him or put him in time out or anything like that. I'll let him decide what he wants to do- whether he wants to fly back to his shelf, sit on my knee, have head scritches or explore. My hair was done about a month ago and he's not normally THAT change adverse. I did have my hair cut short about 5 years ago but in a different style and I don't remember that triggering this kind of aggression. It's strange that he's also waited about a month before starting this behaviour this well. Maybe he was trying to decide whether or not he liked it? 😂 Is it just the time of the year? He has been particularly hormonal this season- I can't give him any kind of toy that resembles a small ball or egg because he tries to treat it like an egg and will droop his wings over it and tuck it under himself. He's fine when he first comes out and I tend to do a bit of harness training with him which he does fine with no aggression or biting. I think in the first instance I'm going to try moving to a different chair. If I sit on the sofa under his shelves he sometimes lunges for me from his boing when I move around or get up. I might try sitting in the armchair instead, which is a little distance away and see if he repeats the aggressive behaviour. It will be easier for him to fly to me there so if he is just seeking attention it will be easier to get it. Any suggestions or advice is welcome. If I could work out the trigger then at least I can try to avoid it or figure out a way to break the pattern. But I'm a bit stumped on this one. I can take the bites and don't take offense to them but I'm worried that this behaviour might also happen to my housemate and I don't want it to damage the relationship they have ever so slowly built up over the years. They don't spend an awful lot of time together as my housemate mostly stays out of the way but I'd hate for Alfie to fly to him when he does enter the room or decides to join us when Alfie is out.

Aww happy hatchday Flynn! He's still a little baby really! Hope he is causing lots of mischief!

To be fair, that's probably much more likely than him letting me progress to touching his wings! 😂

Here's an update on the harness training so far... Training has been a bit limited recently because I was in the process of redecorating half of the house (all three bedrooms and hall/stairs/landing). This meant the cats had to have their litter trays and food moved downstairs to where Alfie is. As a result I had to limit Alfie's out of cage time to make sure the cats weren't bursting to use the tray or missing out on food. I didn't focus on the training too much during his out of cage time, just let him fly around and get as much exercise as possible before the cats woke up and wanted to come downstairs. However, I did make sure to get the harness out pretty much every day and ask him to put his beak through the bars and through a hoop to get a treat. This was pretty easy for him as it was only ever his beak coming through the bars, but it allowed me to familiarise the words 'head through' and the action of putting his beak towards the hoop to get the treat. Things are (almost) back to normal in the house now and the cat stuff has all moved back upstairs. The last few days I allowed Alfie just to play and fly around as much as he liked to get used to having the extra time out of the cage again. I carried on asking him to put his head through when he was in his cage and now I'm starting to work with him out of the cage too. Yesterday I asked him to put his head through the large loop three times - then he wandered off to play so I stopped the training. Today I let him out, let him fly to his shelves and settle down then grabbed the harness and 5 cedar nuts. I managed to get him to repeat the behaviour 5 times (giving him a nut each time) AND I was able to make the loop a little smaller each time. Now that he's training out of the cage I am asking him to put slightly more of his head through. He was a little hesitant a couple of times but I didn't force it, just kept the loop and the treat in place until he was ready to lean forwards. I'm letting him come to the treat each time. A couple of times I managed to move the harness back ever so slightly so more of his head was going through. He also brushed the harness with his head a couple of times. Again, not a major update but I am being very cautious and not forcing the issue at all.

That's great news! Glad to hear she's settling down ok!

There is the possibility that he bonded to someone else in your family over time as well. They can sometimes change who their 'favourite' person is. Alfie favours my housemate. He's fine with me but he will actively seek my housemate out when he's in the room, he will check on what my housemate is doing, he learns words and phrases really quickly from my housemate but ignores most of what I say etc. I think you're doing the right things - just by backing off and letting him come to you is probably the best bet right now. He will get over his grump and interact with you more as time goes on. they can be a little change adverse at times so it may be the changes in routine and the fact you were gone for a while has put him in a bad mood. But he will come round- just give him time and keep doing what you're doing. If he goes to bite (or does bite) just back off and leave him be. He will soon let you know when you are worthy of giving him scritches again! 😂

Great to see you back! I love hearing about Inara's antics! It's amazing how much you continue to learn about birds, no matter how many years you have spent with them. Alfie continues to regularly surprise me and we've been living together for 16 years!

I do feel for you Peggy. It's sometimes really difficult to know what to do because there are so many conflicting opinions about how to raise birds! I am always learning about Alfie and how to improve things for him at home and I've had him for 16 years! When I got him the internet wasn't as big and accessible as it is now so I relied on books- but these were usually difficult to find and sometimes had conflicting opinions. Trying to find a knowledgeable vet was also difficult as birds aren't as widely kept as dogs/cats etc. Thankfully things have come on a long way but I have made many mistakes along the way myself. So I understand where you're coming from and I can tell it's coming from a good place. The flight feathers should grow back eventually and Dixie will soon be up to airborne mischief again.

Just take a step back and let her come to you in her own time. Keep talking to her and going about your daily business but don't try and get her to step up or offer head scritches unless she looks interested and seeks you out. Keep offering her tasty foods as a bribe - still saving the best treats as rewards for good/desirable behaviours. But again, just allow her to come to you to get the treat. If she looks like she's going to bite or if she does end up biting just quietly back away until you're at a distance where she's comfortable. Things need to progress at her pace so do be careful not to force her into anything she's not comfortable with. She's still figuring things out and finding her own way. She'll come round - but it'll be in her own time. Just keep giving her the time and space she needs to adapt and learn about her new environment and family. There are many arguments for and against wing clipping and the debate can get a little heated at times. I try not to judge too harshly either way. Alfie was clipped when he was very young but I allowed him to grow out his flight feathers because it gives him to the freedom to get around easier. I also figured if he ever did get out of the house I would want him to have the skill and confidence to fly away from threats rather than stay in harms way like a sitting duck. I made sure to show him where the windows are in the house by taking him up to them and tapping on them and letting him touch them with his beak. Some people place pillows and soft furnishings around the home to help if a bird does have an accident and bumps into something- at least then they have a soft landing. I have also seen people put stickers on or hang decorations around windows so it's obvious that it's not an open space to fly through. I have no doubt that you did what you thought was the right thing for Dixie and you were worried about her injuring herself. I'm sure she'll come round again soon - she just needs to get used to the changes. If she was already fully flighted and able to fly when you got her (which it sounds like she was) I personally would recommend letting her flight feathers grow out and letting her learn how to get around your house safely- and maybe look into having some pillows or soft things to hand for her to land on- just in case! There is the possibility that if she is kept clipped that she could get stressed about the fact she's no longer able to fly and this may potentially lead to behaviour issues such as plucking. They are sensitive little souls! When she trusts you enough to let you pick her up and hold her then it may be worth showing her other areas of the house so she can see them before trying to fly in them... obviously making sure that she is comfortable being with you and moving away from the cage. It may also be worth letting her explore smaller sections of your home by keeping some doors closed when she's out so she can get used to navigating around each area. Once she's happy and confident then let her explore the next room/area of your house (in her own time).

They are amazing animals. They know what moods we are in and can easily reflect that.

I think they can sometimes be used as a way of identifying the breeder? Alfie's leg band had some letters and numbers on it but I was never told the significance when I got him. I actually had the leg band removed a few years back because it was too difficult to read to be of any use and it kept running on his leg and it looked like it was getting sore. Alfie kept tinkering with it as well so I figured it was best to have it removed and get him microchipped. I'm not sure how easy it is to trace the bands though. I guess it depends on breeders keeping their records up to date and storing them somewhere that is searchable by others? Not sure if there is any kind of directory for that kind of thing? Anyhoo - congrats on your third grey! And of course you know the drill by now - photos and introductions when he's good and ready for it please. 😁 Edited to add- photos and updates on your other two greys would be awesome too... don't want them to feel like they're being left out! 😂