neoow

This is too funny haha. So long as they can't place their own orders, hopefully you'll be ok!!

Try not to be rushed into a decision by others. A few years back I was trying to decide whether or not to rehome Alfie because I didn't feel I was providing the best environment for him. It took me months to come to my final decision. I know if I had rushed into a decision I would have made the wrong one and regretted it. I appreciate you have more to contend with than I did though, as other members of your household are also a factor in the decision making process. I didn't have that. At worst I only had to deal with a housemate who (thankfully) kept out of it, even though he doesn't necessarily like the idea of birds (or Alfie) asv a pet. When I made my decision I was able to say "Alfie is staying put regardless of your opinion" as it was my house. Very different scenario when you aren't the sole owner of the house! (As an added bonus, my housemate and Alfie have built up a little bit of mutual tolerance/respect over the last couple of years!)

I'm glad everything worked out ok for your family and that everyone is healthy and (mostly) happy! However, I'm with birdhouse, I did have to chuckle as Miss Gilbert's attitude! Apologies for not being more sympathetic as I'm sure it's a stressful position for all involved!

Apologies, I totally forgot to come back and watch the video yesterday. I just watched it, but without sound as I'm at work on lunch at the moment. I don't think this is a fear reaction. From body language alone, Alex looks fairly relaxed. His foot is lifted and tucked up a couple of times, he has a good stretch. If he was angry/scared then he would be as puffed up to make himself as big and scary as possible. Every feather would be sticking up away from the body. Similar to the first picture on this page: https://www.beautyofbirds.com/understandingparrots.html Greys (and other parrots) will learn loud noises. Obviously some of these sounds will be undesirable to us (such as the screams). But once a bird learns (and likes) these sounds, it can be difficult to encourage them not to keep doing it. Similarly, once a bird learns to bite out of fear/aggression then it is going to be very difficult to prevent that behaviour. Alex has several years of experience outside of your home. He has only been with you a year. He is probably still adapting to the change of coming to your home, getting used to new people, learning routines etc. With a rescue bird there is so much additional baggage that comes with them and so much you don't know about the bird. How were they treated, what behaviours have been learned or enforced in their previous home(s). It can take years to unpick the behaviours, find out the triggers and eventually start to encourage the bird to adapt/change to their new life. Look up Miss Gilbert's thread by Katana on this forum and you'll see what I mean. I think an important decision needs to be made- but in order to keep Alex everyone needs to be on board. If you want to keep Alex and keep working with him and give him the best home he will ever have, then you need agreement from everyone in the house. It will be a long hard road and it will probably test every last bit of patience that all of you possess. But there needs to be an understanding here. Alex will not willingly step up. Not now, not next week, not next month... heck, maybe not even next year. Alex will bite. It is obviously his go to reaction when someone is in his space. Clearly that behaviour has come from his previous home(s). Again, this behaviour will difficult to change. Alex will scream. He will make lots of loud obnoxious noises. These are the sounds he has learned so he will use them. So- the question here is- are you AND your family willing to accept him into your home and into your lives, as is, with no expectations that these behaviours will change any time soon? Are you ALL willing to pitch in and try and encourage Alex to adapt and learn at HIS PACE, not yours? I can tell from your previous posts that you are very keen to get on with Alex and to care for him and help him- which is great. But unless your whole household is going to try and do the same, then you're going to have issues. They won't be happy, you won't be happy and more importantly, Alex won't be happy. It is a very big ask and it will be a monumental task to try and get Alex to adapt and change to fit in with the household. I don't think leaving him outside for long periods of time will help. Especially if you won't be there to bring him in if the weather changes. Or protect him from predators or other things that may scare him. He is not going to learn to be social if he is outside on his own. He's not going to learn anything out there. Similarly- a smaller cage is a no. Changing his cage at all is a no. Alex is unsettled. He's had a lot of upheaval in his life and the most important thing he needs is stability and routine. If he's being left in his cage whilst you're not there then a smaller cage is not an option. He needs his own space and space for fun toys to amuse himself with whilst you're not there. You mention he screams when you leave the room. Well this could actually be him contact calling. You're a member of his flock. You're out of sight- he will call to you to find out where you are. If this is the case, maybe you can use this to your advantage. Whenever he makes a sound that is acceptable- answer back. Call him name, whistle... whatever. Do the same when you're in the room and also when you're away from the room. When he screams. Don't respond, don't react. Only respond when a desirable noise is made. It might not work straight away and it may take some time, but gradually Alex may learn what noises get a reaction and what noises don't. Any attention (positive or negative) is still attention in a grey's noise. So by not reacting, Alex doesn't get attention and therefore he learns that those noises aren't really worth making any more. (Well, unless he happens to like them regardless... then you're stuck) Your family/household need to do exactly the same. Just remember- Alex is a wild animal. He is not domesticated like a dog or a cat are. He's not going to be that trainable. He's going to need time to adjust, adapt and learn. Nobody can say for sure how long this will take. But a year in a grey's life is not a long time. This whole process of Alex coming into your life and learning to socialise, step up, fit in to the household routine etc could take several years. It is important to embrace that and go at Alex's own pace, without trying to rush him into adapting to his new life before he is ready. Again, the Miss Gilbert rehoming thread is an exceptional example of this. Apologies if some of this post comes across as harsh or rude, that is not my intention at all. I would much rather that you were able to come to an agreement with your family to keep Alex and work with him- but obviously this is not always possible, particularly if someone isn't an animal/bird person and doesn't want to understand the complex needs and requirements of a parrot. IF this is the case, and it pains me to say it, then perhaps the best thing for all would be for Alex to move to a different home.

Do let us know what the vet says. Sending you and Ollie very best wishes

Alfie will hang off his toys upside down, but not on me. Sounds hilarious! I look forward to the video if you manage to get one! They do like to get us wrapped round their talons, don't they?!

Alfie will quite happily tell me "night night!" whilst he's sitting at the top of the cat tree.. or on the very top of his cage where I can't reach him to ask him to step up!

Funnily enough, I was wondering how things were going with yourself and Alex the other day. I'm sorry to hear it's sad news. I can't watch the video as I'm not at home at the moment- but I'll watch it later (out of earshot of Alfie!!). I'm not sure what to suggest at this stage. It's very difficult when other family/house members aren't on board and put pressure on you. What are your thoughts? Given the choice (with no peer pressure) would you continue to work with Alex? Or are you at the end of your tether too?

Hello and welcome to you and Rio! What a lovely photo! How old is Rio? How is he/she settling in with you?

He's definitely not too old to be learning new words. My grey, Alfie, is nearly 13 and he is picking up new things all the time. Admittedly, he picks up more noises than words though. Some grey's are not big talkers. Alfie isn't a big talker. He also prefers male voices over female voices. He'll pick up words/phrases from my dad and my housemate more than he will me. He loves whistles, beeps and other similar noises (the louder the better!). All you can do is keep talking to him- if he picks it up and starts using words/phrases, then just encourage him to do it more. However, don't be too upset if he seems to favour certain words/phrases over others and seems to "forget" other words phrases. I don't think they ever really forget, they just prefer some words/phrases/sounds over others and use them. Alfie has, on more than one occasion, suddenly piped up with a word/phrase that I thought he had long forgotten.

I still have the ocassional battle of wills with Alfie when it comes to bed time. He knows that if he stands on the very top of his cage in the middle, I can't get him. Similarly, if he flies to the top part of the cat tree, I can't reach him there either. So it turns into a bit of a game of him trying to avoid me, or one of the perches I ask him to step up on. Similarly to you, I don't get mad, I don't shout, I just persevere. The lights get turned down lower so he knows it definitely is bed time and I just wait until he decides that this game of chase is getting boring and that it is actually time for bed. I love that Dorian has a whole bedtime routine. It sounds adorable!

Hahah that's brilliant!

I only have the one bird- Alfie- but I do understand where you're coming from. If I had more space then I would question whether it would be a good idea to introduce another bird to the household- so that Alfie has someone else to talk to/interact with whilst I'm at work (other than the cats, who I'm pretty sure just sleep all day!) If I DID have the space and the funds available for a second bird then I'd spend a bit of time thinking about all the possible outcomes and how to manage them. For example- what happens if the two birds don't get on- how would I manage that? How would I balance their time out of the cage and interacting with me if they couldn't bear to be in the same space together? So long as you have a rough plan to answer all the "what ifs" then I don't see a second bird as being a problem.

Excuse my ignorance but what is Amazon Smile? I'm not sure that it's made it's way over to the UK yet as I can't find anything about it on amazon.co.uk.

Alfie will beat the snot of it, then stick his head down and wait for it to brush over his feathers. It's safe to say he has a love/hate relationship with quite a few of his toys!! Haha

Welcome to you and Jara! Thank you for the photos, she's a lovely looking bird. Feel free to start making new threads to ask your questions! I have found everyone here to be extremely helpful.

Lovely thank you Dave, great advice, as always!

Will this be ok? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013G1ROS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p121_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1CQ6T40W2JTNKY0DECAJ&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=577048787&pf_rd_i=desktop It says 100% but then has the following ingredients: 100% Natural aloe vera juice, antioxidant: ascorbic acid, preservative: potassium sorbate. Are any of these harmful to birds?

Love the most recent photos! Kane is so adorable, if a little bit mischievous! Haha!

So approx 6-7 months on from putting the orbit up and Alfie now goes on it regularly (and not just when he's refusing to go back in his cage either!). He's figured out it's a great way to get from his cage to his tree and back again and he's also figured out how to make it swing around. Plus it has a bell that he can beat the snot out of.

Here's a variant of what I saw- Same sort of thing as what I mentioned in my previous post just a different shape. The other one I saw had more pipes and was in a cube shape so the parrot could run along the top four edges. I can't find it now, typically!

I saw something somewhere where someone had made a stand out of plastic pipes for use in the shower. They placed it in the bottom of the bath/shower and the parrot was able to walk about on it (because it was a square/rectangle shape so they had four pipes to walk round on). I can't remember where I saw it- but that may be an idea if Sully doesn't mind being a little lower than usual? If I find it again I'll post it here.

Looks like a great place to hang out! Love the photo in flight!

What a lovely update! So glad things are working out for you and Chicken. He's a lovely looking bird and is very lucky to have found someone to take him in and give him the time and attention he needs. Everything sounds like it's going great! In terms of getting your dad on board, I have similar problems with my housemate. He doesn't really see parrots as good pets (because of the noise and the mess) but he is making very teeny tiny steps towards bonding with Alfie. Alfie is actually very interested in my housemate- he tries to mimic him a lot and picks up new words and phrases from him more than he does me (I can only assume he prefers a male voice as he used to do the same with my dad). He will often observe what my housemate is doing and will move around his cage to get a better look too. My housemate has now progressed to the stage where Alfie will put his head down and my housemate will give him a head scratch. Not for long, as he doesn't trust Alfie enough. But this is a big leap forward from when he first moved in and had nothing to do with Alfie at all. They also share a love of twiglets- a snack food with marmite/vegitmite on it. Normally I wouldn't give Alfie any kind of snack food but this is the one thing I do let slip... the odd twiglet... just one. Most of the time Alfie just enjoys chewing it to pieces and doesn't end up eating much of it. But this has allowed my housemate to offer him food and start building a bit of a bond with him, so that's why I allow it. (other healthy treats are usually flung across the cage or ignored) We're not at the stage where my housemate would want to be in the same room as Alfie when he is out of the cage, but we are making progress. I've also caught my housemate talking to Alfie on occassion, whereas originally he would just mostly ignore him. It may be that your dad doesn't ever play a major role with Chicken, but he may be able to interact with him in smaller ways. The fear of being bitten is justified, as it does hurt and Chicken has been known to bite you on occasion. So maybe your dad can still try and bond with Chicken on a hands off basis to begin with. Perhaps he can offer Chicken food or a tasty treat every so often. Perhaps get him to talk to Chicken and just get them used to each others company at a distance. Very slowly build on this until both Chicken and your dad want to progress further. There will obvious still be the risk of a bite, as Chicken will have come with some baggage. But given enough time, I'm sure they'll both adapt to each other and find a way to get along just fine.

I went through this with Alfie. He has learned lots of loud noises that aren't easy on the ear and he would use them with gusto- ESPECIALLY if he got a reaction from one of us. Any form of reaction would be enough to encourage him to keep using the sound. So it was a case of educating ourselves that whenever he made a noise we weren't too fond of, we would NOT react. It was tough, as he would usually wait until you were walking past the cage before letting out an ear piercing squeak, so it was very difficult not to flinch or say "ow". But with perseverance from ALL household members we managed to get the noises down to a minimum. They were boring if nobody reacted! We also made sure to react for the noises we did want to hear- any speech, any whistles, any other noises which didn't make you feel like your ear drums were going to burst! It's the same whenever a new loud noise is learned- reward the "good" noises and ignore the "bad" noises. Alfie soon learns which ones work and which don't. But he still tests the water at times. It's not just noises either. When I moved out of the family home, he learned that jumping across the cage at one of my housemates used to make them jump. So he would do it every time. The reaction wasn't a positive one (e.g the housemate would scream/jump and walk away) but it was a reaction nonetheless. Alfie only ever did that to that one housemate, not me or the second housemate. He's never done it since that housemate left either. It's almost like the saying with publicity- bad publicity is still publicity. A bad reaction is a still a reaction (and some form of attention).