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Frankly I believe that clipping her will add to her stress. Right now she's able to remove herself from situations that frighten her. Imagine her stress amplified once she discovers she can't take care of herself by way of flight anymore. Could result in her becoming a stress plucker. Poppy has chosen you, which is what Greys do. They simply adore their chosen one, and they do what their instincts tell them to do, which is to be with their person. My Maalik has chosen my son, but I'm his close second. Maalik won't have anything to do with 3 other family members, and the 4th he hates, simply because my son extended his negativity towards him. These Greys pick up energies big time, and do not forget that energy. In the case of my son, Maalik will dive bomb him whenever his back is turned towards him. Solution? When my son's in the room, he faces him at all times. Otherwise he goes elsewhere in the house. Bird behavior is extremely complex. In order to understand them, we must try to place ourselves into their worlds, looking out and seeing things from their point of view. I believe that Poppy senses your discomfort, which could be amping up her perceptions of things. I have 11 birds, some of which will freak out whenever a stranger passes by their cage. They can definitely identify strangers, who I think they see as scary prey.

I'm not sure if I have much useful advice to offer. I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the situation you're in as I can appreciate it's tough to know what to do for the best. Alfie is 14 years old and he will still give me a nip/bite if he's not happy about something. Over the years, I started to become scared of being bitten and worried about handling him. I think he picked up on this and it made the situation worse. It has taken us both a long time (years) to work through this together. He will still give me a nip if he's grumpy about something but I have worked on learning when and why I might receive a bite. I have also learned to approach Alfie with more confidence and this generally gets better results. That's not to say I am boisterous or try and pick him up when he doesn't want it. But I try and remain confident in my body language and my voice when handling him. It sounds stupid but it has helped. I find if I am nervous and Alfie picks up on it, he is more likely to bite because either he is nervous as well or he is pushing the boundaries (e.g trying to stay out past bed time!) Typically I know when I'm likely to receive a bite and I ride it out and talk through it. Nowadays they're not even that painful (except for the odd one) because I think he's realised he's not getting as much of a reaction. Alfie is also a 'no shoulder' bird. I do not trust him on my shoulder because he will not sit there for long before pulling at my hair or trying to get to my ears. That makes me uncomfortable because I cannot see what he is doing and I am worried that he may manage to catch my eye one day. So I persevere with the 'no shoulder' rule. When he lands to my arm he will try and make his way up it because he wants to sit on my shoulder so I put my other arm in the way. He will either step up onto that arm or he will move back to my forearm/wrist. Typically when I am sitting down he prefers to sit on my knee/leg anyway, which suits me just fine. Poppy is still very young and has a lot to learn. I'm afraid I don't have any useful suggestions for you but I hope you, the family and Poppy manage to find a way forward that works for you all.

Hi everyone, it has been awhile since I have posted or visited. I posted before about Poppy being a very fearful bird. She has been like that since I got her at 14 weeks in 2016. She came from a very good breeder and I am home mostly every day so I know what goes on around her most of the time. I don't have bratty kids and the youngest is 9 and oldest at home is 21. He and my 16-year-old (2nd oldest at home) spend 98% of their time in their rooms downstairs. Everyone is afraid of Poppy except my 21-year-old and my 10-year-old is able to get her back on her cage with a perch (she hates when we try to get her with a perch and will attack it unless she is on the floor) if needed but he doesn't handle her beyond that. Neither does my 21-year-old. I am the only one who can actually hold her. The problem is, I have become afraid to. I can hold her but it is only a matter of time before the tiniest noise spooks her and she starts getting bitey with me. The other major issue I am having is not being able to get her wings clipped because I don't know how to even get her into a carrier or towel her without her absolutely freaking out. Her not having her wings clipped has become a big issue because when she is out of her cage and I am in the main part of the house where her cage is because she is constantly flying onto me. I cannot get anything done and I am not comfortable having a fearful bird on me all the time. I have had to resort to having one of the kids let her out when I and our Quaker Parrot are upstairs because she flies onto the Quaker's cage all the time. They have always been kept separate for safety reasons. I just don't know what to do. I have begun to feel like I am a very ill-equipped person to deal with this particular bird. I feel like I got in over my head. Any suggestions for how to get her into a carrier so I can take her to a vet to get her wings clipped? All other advice and input welcome as well.

Monday is installation day! Woot! Woot!

I understand there was a spam problem. Found the offending permission issue, and I think I tagged all the forums for read only for guests, if I missed one let me know..

Thank you for the replies. Poppy is a Timneh. She came from Florida and I am in Washington state. Our other parrot is not out of Poppy’s sight. Their cages are about 10 feet from each other and are in plain sight of one another. Poppy scrambles up to my shoulder and I have not figured out how to prevent her from doing so. She will not stay where I set her. Our household is pretty calm. I can’t stand chaos and ruckus. Nobody does anything to invade Poppy’s space...they talk to her when she is in her cage but again, they do not handle her. I do. Nobody pokes at her. My kids are respectful of animals. She wants to be with me all the time but until I get these issues under control, I cannot have her out of her cage as much as she was before her wings grew back (all day). Poppy also freaks out if any man comes near her cage. Not my adult sons, other men. My stepdad approached her cage and she started screaming and flapping all over the place. A man who delivered something did the same and she had the same reaction. This is not an abused or neglected bird but you would think she was judging by her behavior.

How close is your breeder? I'm wondering if they can come over to help you get the bird in a carrier. Some people aren't as fearful of getting bit and that's what it takes with some birds (our Huey butchers my hands & arms). I'm really surprised you're having this trouble with a handfed baby with a known history.

Oh this is SO wonderful!!

This is too, too cool

I think we're having a bit too much fun with this new aviary:

It all looks so amazing. I'm so excited that I'm going to be putting an aviary out in my garden this year (when the weather gets a little warmer, that is!) I already have a cargo net and a rather large hanging bridge to put in there. I need to build up more supplies to put in there when it's done. It's going to be 12ft long by 6ft wide by 6ft tall. Have always wanted something like that for Alfie and now I'm finally going to be able to do it!

That's Huey.

Wait! You have another grey now? When did that happen? What's his/her story?

A lot of what you've said resonates loudly for me. We've committed to providing our fids with the best 'captured life' that we could possibly provide them. At least that's the way I've always looked at it. They give to us so much, and it is our responsibility to provide them with the best living environment we can possibly provide to them. If only more bird owners embraced their care the way that you have. I, too, agonize over the amount of 'in cage' time they must endure. With that being said, I'm also in the process of building an outdoor aviary that I hope will enhance their worlds. Nicely done, SR Seed Burners! Nicely done.