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Congrats on the breakthrough!

Did I read that right? Alfie was offered some dinner and was not interested? Are you SURE you have an African Grey? A parrot even? I have never known a parrot to not be interested in dinner

Alfie has known my current housemate for several years now. My housemate was never particularly keen on Alfie and gave him a wide berth. However over time they have slowly built up a relationship. My housemate would give him the odd treat and Alfie would watch and listen and has picked up a couple of sounds and sayings from my housemate. After a long while, Alfie started putting his head down for scratches through the cage bars. My housemate started obliging... with the end of a teaspoon at first... then eventually he was brave enough to use his fingers. This has been going on for some time. I keep joking that they have a 'secret bromance' going on. When Alfie was out of his cage my housemate would stay clear. I said he was welcome to come into or walk through the room to the kitchen but for the longest time he didn't. More recently my housemate has been 'brave' enough to walk through when Alfie is out of his cage (I have to keep the door to the upstairs of the house shut due to the cats). He even changed a lightbulb for me in the room when Alfie was out. Yesterday we had a major breakthrough. Alfie was out and my housemate came home. He came through the front door and the noise spooked Alfie. He flew off his shelf, around the room and landed on the floor. Alfie doesn't normally stay on the floor- he normally flies straight up to a higher spot. My housemate wandered in to say hello and watched Alfie for a while. Alfie wandered across the room on the floor and was checking everything out on the way, exploring and poking at things. My housemate then crouched on the floor and waited for Alfie to come over. Alfie slowly made his way over (checking out everything else on the way) and poked at my housemates shoe and knee. Well I thought that was a major breakthrough in itself... Later on- dinner was ready and Alfie was still out. My housemate would normally opt to stay upstairs with his dinner than join me and Alfie. Yesterday he decided to be even braver than earlier and came and sat in the room with us. He sat in the armchair and ate his dinner. Alfie wandered over to take a look and sat on the table next to the armchair then he worked his way on to the arm of the chair. My housemate was very patient and calm and offered him some food, which Alfie wasn't interested in. After some time, Alfie started dozing on the arm of the chair. This went on for about half an hour before Alfie decided to go and sit on my housemates knee. This is the first time they have ever had actual contact with each other without cage bars being in the way. Alfie dozed for another half an hour or so and every so often edged towards my housemates hands. I instructed my housemate to wait until Alfie asked for head scratches- which he normally does by nudging my hands or arm. I could see that Alfie wanted to ask for scratches but might have been a little out of his own comfort zone at that point. I watched and waited (as did my housemate) and Alfie kept dozing off for a little while before thinking about asking for scratches. After a while he suddenly lunged forward and half tapped/half scratched at my housemate's hand with his beak. He then immediately backed off and puffed up. My housemate did try to gently scratch his head but Alfie slicked his feathers back. At this point I decided to intervene and removed Alfie from my housemates lap as I felt Alfie was changing his mind about whether or not he wanted scratches and might have ended up nipping my housemate- something I didn't want to happen. All in all, this was a massive breakthrough for both Alfie and my housemate. Alfie isn't really used to being in close contact with anyone other than me because everyone we've lived with has been too wary of being bitten so would keep out of his way when he was out of the cage. My housemate has needed as much 'grey time' as Alfie has to get to this point and I'm really happy that yesterday played out as it did.

It some times it takes time , but when it happens it`s like a dam breaking and the flood waters come flowing in. It has to be nice to watch a relationship develop into something good and it`s all in grey time.

Well, it's Nov. the 27th, which means it's my boy's hatchday. I'm so grateful that he came with his hatch day certificate so that I can keep track of his years accurately. So far he's had a wander around on the floor, made some more toothpicks out of my wooden filing cabinet, then retired to his cage for 1/2 a walnut in it's shell. Other than that, we're working hard on some sound extinguishing, so I'm not able to lavish attention on him today, as he's making the objectionable sound about every 5 seconds! Grrrrrr Anyway, wish my boy a happy hatchday if you'd like. He says hi to all of you.

Our 20 month old grandson is apparently Gilbert's number one nemesis. He was getting out of the bath and getting dressed on my bed when he pointed at the bird cage and said "The bird". Gil responded with "Shut up you idiot!"(That little piece of baggage has been long kept in storage... LOL) The baby gave her a little finger wagging hand gesture admonishment and said "No BIRD No!" I thought it was delightful. Miss Gilbert found no humor in it whatsoever. She grumbled for a half hour. My son-in-law has a great relationship with Gil. He can reach his hand into he cage and she will step up and let him carry her around the house. I have a fantasy of handing over the parrot along with the Ducati when the time comes for me to part with them. LOL Seriously though, my goal is for my grandson to become friends with Gilbert. The good news is I have had no seizures in weeks but I still fall. I have been relegated to staying inside and will get a treadmill with a tether so I can exercise a little at a time every day. My surgical repair of my AC joint went well, but now my ball and socket joint have an issue the doctor called a "frozen shoulder". I am in the "hot" phase of pain which will decrease ROM until the frozen stage and then a thaw. Each part of the process will take months. I am doing all my stretches every day and hope the duration is limited. The surgeon says six months minimum to two years is expected but with the shoulder trauma, I can expect to have surgery to unlock scar tissue and then start all over again with physical therapy. It just doesn't seem real and I am fighting it every inch of the way. I just seem to have hit a snowball rolling downhill for a short time and then I will be back on my feet. Gil is the recipient of my extra time being "fragile". She is much happier in my room where I am spending most of the day. She has had some feather barbering with changes and extra people in the house... I kind of feel the same. I am going to move her cage right up close to where I spend the most time and maybe she will start coming out of her cage for me again. She gets really interested in Java being out and she is very interested in my touch on her head, but still through the bars.

Alfie isn't overly food motivated. He likes his food but will mostly just eat out of his bowls. He doesn't tend to steal anything I'm eating. He might have a look and a quick poke at it but generally he's not interested and will just throw it to one side. It means I can't really use food as a motivator or a reward because he's not really interested... even when it's a favourite food. Generally he prefers praise and head scratches over food as a reward/motivator.

We say "JOE"! in a curt voice, Joe replys "What"? "SALSA STOP" and clap hands.. Salsa looks at you like your dumb... '!

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Happy hatch day Dorian, and may this day be the best one and that each hatch from now on be better than the last.

it is recommended that you replace that bulb once a year as they lose their UV capability as the bulb gets older.

Haha I can see you're putting them to good use!!!

I'm not sure I have a nickname for Alfie when he's getting into mischief. I can't recall any... normally it's just his name followed by 'no' or 'no biting' (when he's about to chew on something he shouldn't). He knows what both mean... and usually just waits for me to stop paying attention before trying again.

We all love our little angels with red tails. We speak kindly of them and love them with all our hearts, but when they are bad we come up with new names for them to vent our frustration. So what do you call your red tailed darling when they are less than perfect ?? Well around here when Corky falls of her pedestal It`s Corky Monster.!!!! So when your sweet thing is less than stellar what kind of name do you call them OH, don`t tell me that your red tailed sweetie is never bad because I won`t believe you so come on, fill us in.

Greys in general are not over eaters as they will eat to fill their needs. They eat to live. Now Amazons are another story as they live to eat and if you are not carful they can end up obese.

I usually put "like" or "thanks" on posts I have read. I was readying the unread content today and after a point, when I hit "like" a message popped saying "you can't put any more reactions today." That isn't the exact wording, but something like that. Is there are limit on likes or thanks or is that a bug?

Thanks so much!

Happy Hatchday Dorian!

Happy Hatchday Dorian. How old?

I call GreycieMae "Bratass" mostly when she's being a turd. There are benefits to having a bird that won't talk.

I call Dorian DohDoh, as is "DohDoh stop that" Right now Mr. 'won't chew a wooden toy' is determined to turn my wooden filing cabinet into so many toothpicks. Why is it that he won't ever chew one of the many toys I've tried to put in his cage, wood of all soft and hard textures, all thicknesses, all colours, but he's only interested in chewing the filing cabinet and the desk?! Sigh

i can add that sometimes when a Grey plucks the replacement feather will sometimes grow in red. Kind of like when a Grey dog has an area that was injured the hair may come back in black Brown on a white dogs. Also the more you let him know you are worried the more worried and stressed he will be so try and stay positive. The Beak and feather disease test is not always correct sometimes gives a false positive or a false negative one of the reasons this disease is so challenging. What ever the outcome just love that Grebie. I think "king grey" is a sales tool not a real subspecies.

I found it, you should have unlimited reactions now.

There might be, ill have to find it. I dont think its a bug. This software has very few to no issues, you just have to find the back end setting.

You've done the right thing by taking him to the vet. I'm afraid I am not a vet and I have no experience of this type of problem so can only say that I feel for you and please keep us updated on any progress.

Best of luck. when you say sunflower seeds are treats, presume he is on a good diet generally. He looks like a trooper too. :-) surely you doing the the right thing, as we here are more fans than vets!

Clove oil is another toothache remedy.

Turmeric root is an excellent pain killer for a painful tooth, just apply a little bit to the tooth. May help if this ever happens again.

Western medicine is mainly pill pushing from big pharma. It took me a while but I found an internal medicine physician that I use as my main doctor that is NOT a pill pusher. Example: I had an abscess above a failed root canal several years ago that required some serious antibiotics to kill what was going on above that tooth when the dentist pulled it out. Several weeks post tooth-extraction I was curled up in bed with the worst pain I've had in a long time. My internal med doc said she has seen this with those types of antibiotics and put me on a month of probiotics to get my gut flora back in order. She's good.

Yes, so much for western medicine!!! And so much for doctors paying attention to patients!!! What do "they" propose to do about it, anything? Oh, if you just didn't hurt so much and if you could get off the drugs! I am so very sorry. Hopefully you feel good enough to enjoy Thanksgiving and hopefully Miss G will do well also.

Wow, it's taken 15 years for someone to figure that out? Sure shakes your faith in our medical system! Timber gets annoyed when I stay up later than he wants too. If I dawdle too long, he starts picking up food with his foot and flinging it. It took me awhile to figure out what that meant, being the super-slow humanoid I am, but I finally got it!

Wouldn't you just know he would be a stinker when you have someone else in the house? Actually it sounds like he has released some old baggage and is settling in just fine with you after all these years together. I love that he is becoming more confident although it is more challenging for you. On Murphchick's post I saw that you struggle with bipolar and I for one am so grateful for that 5 percent that keeps you going when things are dark. I will never forget the comfort of hearing your voice as you sang the words "just breathe" after I lost Juno. It may seem sometimes that you are alone, but the fact is you send ripples of encouragement and gentle spirit of goodness out and it makes a difference in the lives of others. I do understand about being alone, being in pain and its a hard road, with no easy answers. I would love for a new development to allow you to be carefree, full of the best life has to offer and with no pain. I have no doubt Dorian loves you just the way you are. I feel that way about my friends too.

Funny! Glad you noticed before he got to his destination...

Alfie has claimed the two shelves in the living room as his, so when he's out of the cage all the ornaments come down and his cardboard boxes and toys go up. He then spends loads of time making it rain cardboard onto the sofa below. It's his favourite place to be!

The bandage idea is great. I'll dig out a tensor before the morning! Dorian has come a long way. I had a repair man here last week to look at my wifi. I had Dorians cage door open and the guy asked me "he won't bite me will he" and I assured him that he'd stay in his cage. After all this is the bird that, when I got him, would sit frozen and shaking whenever anyone strange came near him. Well, I turn my back on the cage and before I know it the little bugger has climbed down from his cage and is halfway across the room headed right for the repair man's toes! He didn't want to step up for me either. He's turned into a self assured, confident, almost fearless little guy, and I guess I'll have to suffer the consequences. lol

Miss Gilbert is a tough study and has taken as long as Dorian to get settled, let go of some baggage and start making mischief with just a little more confidence. For Dorian on this issue I would go get elbow pads like the kids use for rollerblading. Or maybe even use an elastic bandage for sprained joints. Put that under your shirt and see if it protects your elbow and discourages his interest. I have more luck making Gil's objectives less fruitful rather than trying to redirect, distract or move her. She is a tough case. Dorian has really come around in his due time.

Oh it's definitely his shelf. I clear the shelves of all my things and put his boxes up there before he comes out. Otherwise my stuff gets thrown across the room! I have thought about hanging some toys around the shelves too - haven't gotten round to it yet because he's pretty content with just shredding boxes up there. He has a tree and toys the other side of the room on my desk so he flies over to that when he wants to beat the living snot out of something!

My greys like either my cabinet doors, my lamp shades, boings or me. Come to think it they perch wherever they choose! Who's the boss around here anyway!!!

I already see a climbing rope, a plastic chain with a bell to beat on...so many things I see in that picture!

By all means, that should be his full time !! Very cute pics!!

Well, if that's the case, I'd make those spots his permanently. And an endless supply of cardboard shredding material. Love a busy Grey!