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Bonjour. This is my first post on the forum. We have an African Grey of eighteen years. He recently broke the lower mandible of his beak while antagonizing the dog. Our bird likes to climb down to the bottom of his cage, call the dog's name and bang on the bars with his beak, all to get the dog riled up! It seems that by doing this, he fractured his beak, and one day while sliding down his cage, my little buddy caught his beak on one of the bars, and it broke off! The poor little guy spent a couple nights in the hospital as a prosthetic beak was fashioned for him. The prognosis was for his beak to take a full year to heal. Now just a few months later, he's feeling better and is back to fu... er, messing with the dog! What can be done? I try to explain to him that he's going to hurt himself again. I'm sure my feathered friend understands me to an extent, but I think he just doesn't care! How can I keep him from reinjuring his beak?

I love the term mostly won. I mostly win to until my back is turned !!! Than bammmmmm !!!!!

That can become an escalating challenge. Hubby and our U2 had a back and forth for about a year before hubby mostly won.

Sorry I thought I might mention that when a grey has a bad landing they usually split their Breast bone some times hard to check.. Put pillows around his cage if you wish....Thanks

Hi , new to forum. I have a 26yr. old African grey. She has laid 2 eggs in last 2 weeks. I've read a few things online but was looking for advice thru experience. Thanks

Yes, thank you so much... It appears that there is Flight feather damage from what i can see to the right wing, it appears secondary feathers have been clipped...It could be cage damage. Keep a check on flying. If he ever spreads his wings you can tell more, they should be symmetrical and of same length. Thank you...

Oh our Greys are just like people. They love to antagonize. With our grey Corky she will call Socks our cat and when Socks comes over to the cage she will come down to the bottom of her cage and scream at the cat and watch the cat jump two feet into the air and laugh at the cat as it runs away. The dumb cat keeps coming back when she calls it.

Welcome, wow poor baby's, this is a sad one, the only remedy I can see is keep them in separate rooms for a while, this will give time to heal and if your baby is away he might forget to bug your dog... Thanks

Hello Roger and welcome to our family. I would advise leaving the eggs with her, if you take them away she may only lay more to replace them and that could deplete her calcium stores. She may be interested in them and sit on them but that is fine, you can remove them after several weeks when she shows disinterest in them. Personally my grey has never laid an egg though she is a dna'd female but my sun conure has and I leave them with her until she tires of them then I remove one at a time.

Are these the pictures you wanted from the back ? Jayd

Welcome and thanks for re-homing. Sounds like you have a bird like my Dorian who was never allowed to fledge and therefore doesn't really know what his wings are for. I think the hanging on and flapping is adorable and a good indictator that he may fly one day. As for the stepping up, it took Dorian over two years to step up onto my hand. He came out of a pet store where many children, and frankly some adults, used to poke cat toys and fingers through the bars of his cage, so he came to me very afraid of hands. He would also step up from the floor but never from his cage. My first success was very much controlled by him. He decided that one of the outside perches on his cage was his step up perch, and that when he went to that perch he was ready to be picked up. I don't remember how long it took me to realize this, but the dumb Hooman finally clued in. Just continue to offer your hand as an option to him, and if he doesn't choose to step up that time just tell him that's ok and walk away until the next time. Your wife took an absolutely gorgeous picture of Smokey. I mean, yours were good, but . . . Of course, you both had a good subject. Smokey is beautiful. Keep browsing around the forums, asking questions, and tuning into grey time. Again, welcome.

The more you describe Smokey, the more I think you have our Huey's identical twin, brother from another mother haahaa... Regarding the flying issue: that's exactly what Huey did. Low, flap, then leap and crash land. It took him about two months and he started actually flying. We coaxed him A LOT to come in the kitchen from the living room. He also saw our other Grey, GreycieMae, fly into the kitchen constantly and he couldn't stand being left so he practiced a lot. I spent about two months bolting from my current position to try and catch Huey so he didn't hurt himself. He had way too many crash landings for my liking and we're lucky he never broke a wing or something else. He's well past that point now and can fly and land pretty good. He's not graceful and sometimes will screw up a landing but I don't have to chase around and give him a safe arm to land on anymore.

Here's a pic of the aviary that I took while I was decorating it with birdie toys. The far property line is where the neighbor lives. Directly above where the back of the chair is, lies the 'chute' where I put the birds through from the house. It now has a door.

It's so very frustrating indeed. We both are planning on living in our homes for a very long time, so I need to adjust in order to keep the peace. Here's a picture of my troublemaker, Dexter. Isn't he cute?

I'm not a vet... http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15+1829&aid=2384 http://theworldofafricangreys.weebly.com/disease--illness.html

Miserable bureaucracy for certain, so sorry you are having to fight so hard just trying to get the help required. Golad you are both so tough and mostly positive thinking people it does help. Hugs to you both and positive thoughts headed your way.