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That sounds similar to what Alfie does with some of his toys- grabs them and lets go so they swing and then sticks his head under them for a scratch. 😂

Sydney is big on making telephone call sounds, and Maalik is big on answering them. So now I have phones ringing and birds answering them all day long!

That's one way to get a pet. I'll have to try it myself 🤣

Thank you for your recommendations! I discovered him doing something adorable this evening. He was holding onto the side of his cage and would lean back to grab his toy and make it swing. The swinging motion made the toy glide back and forth across his back, and Sydney was completely still while the toy was massaging his back. Once the toy had stopped swing, he'd do it again. He needs to be touched; to feel touch, and this is how he's accomplishing it at this point in time. Tomorrow I shall add another toy for him to explore.

Helping... inspecting... official taste tester...!! Lovely photo!

That’s what I did! I bought the 40x30x75 dome top Macaw Mansion. It is surprisingly well built and way bigger than I pictured. JoJo is loving it, while Maxi is having a bit of a hard time with it. If you read in one of my other threads, Maxi was locked in her cage for around 20 years and never allowed out, in that cage she had one wobbly branch her whole life so getting her to use other perches has been quite the struggle. She will adjust though, she’s pretty strong. Here she is helping with food prep.

What do you guys think? To big? Seems kind of out of control.

Hi. I am a new member and a new Dad to an adopted older CAG. Have only had him for almost a month. My necessary visits to the adoption center went very well. He doesn't like females so I (male) had no problem handling him. First 24 hours at home went well, but the second day he was stepping up to me and for no reason he chomped on my hand and drew blood. My unfortunate reaction was to pull away and this had him fall to the ground. Not sure if something spooked him? So, now, we are in the process of building trust again. Have been doing target training and lots of treats. His diet from his previous owner was all seed so have been slowly trying to change him to a better diet. Will be a long process.

Maalik has that business-like 'Hello' thing going on, too. Speaking of Maalik, one of the many things I absolutely love about him is that he'll 'ring the doorbell' as someone is walking up to the front door! His cage is positioned by the front window, so he as a great view of our front yard. We know when packages are arriving, the water is being delivered, and he also helps us screen solicitors!!

We're convinced our Huey worked in a call center prior to coming to live here. He has the most business sounding polite "Hello?" I've ever heard. And he only does it when the phone rings.

I think after all this bird has been through he must be pretty resilient and have a strong immune system. I don't think it will hurt to wait on the nail trim he needs to get his body weight back up but he may noit even be phased by the trim it is truly up to you as you should know him best. Love the phone story Greytness sounds so very Grey.

Alfie is exceptionally picky and always has been. He has a seed, nut and dried fruit mix which is his daily go to. I am trying him on harrisons pellets and tops pellets at the moment but he is not impressed. I have never managed to fully convert him away from his seed/fruit/nut mix. He is a nightmare with vegetables and usually ignores them completely. He will eat mashed potato and will occasionally entertain the idea of peas and cooked carrots. He has tried some sweet potato mash as well recently but the verdict is still out on that one. He gets whatever he can have from my dinner plate in his bowl but isn't normally interested in trying it. He normally just flings it out of the bowl in disgust. He likes banana, especially dried banana chips. He always digs those out first. I have tried chop but he's never been interested. I've tried putting things on a skewer in his cage but it mostly gets ignored. Unless it's a grape. He likes grapes. I keep persevering but he's very contrary. He might give something a go one day and then the next he's chucking that same thing across the cage in disgust. 😂 I'm debating about getting a dehydrator and adding some dried veggies into his daily mix... see if he picks anything out that he likes from that.

Thank you! I appreciate your kind words. We are learning and experiencing together. I'm as much an open book as he.

May I say, I have watched you grow...your insight and wisdom is really gathering strength. Bless you!

Don't force her. Riamfada also did not like to step up on my hand at the very beginning when she was given to my charge. Extracted from Quora How do I train a vicious older grey http://qr.ae/TUpfbv 7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 Riamfada was a wild caught. Evidenced by the open ring around her leg. Estimated to be about 6–7 years when she was given into my care when she flew and landed into a lady’s garden in Oman who decided I would be a far better person to hand over to then the former owner who clipped assymetrically on just one wing. Riamfada came to me very bitey and fearful. In a couple of days, photos of her and me A hostess trolley was bought and assembled. Riamfada’s cage was heavy and we thought placing that cage on trolley, we could more easily take her out to the living room where I spend lot of time watching the financial meltdown on the TV or next to me on laptop to Internet. This trolley not tested yet as I wanted to let the silicon sealant I added to set in addition to the screws. But it was wobbly enough for us to go buy another table this Friday morning for the living room to place Riamfada’s cage on. Just in case we cannot use that trolley and must carry the cage. I wonder if Riamfada might force me away from chess like bitchy Tinkerbell did to me, http://shanlung.livejournal.com/... Inshallah! On Thursday night I induced Riamfada to do a step up. It was a pseudo step up but I am not complaining. She had refused to step up on hand or stick. So I removed a branch from her cage and placed it on top of cage. She later got out of cage and was standing on that branch. I removed it and placed on my hand, talking gently and nicely to her while giving her headrubs that she liked from me. I took it as an ‘icebreaker’. What I did was to respect my charges with the dignity due to sentient beings and offer love and friendship as equals. You do that, and you will get the same result as I do. I was told that your charge be hungry. So presumably if you do not get results you wanted, they should be made hungrier? I felt that is not position of equality that made them come to you and like you but hunger for food. You note that Riamfada food bowl is always filled with mash. Yingshiong food bowl always had food in it. Needless to say with Tinkerbell, that was the same. What I hold back and used as treats to them were food that they liked, but they were never that hungry to begin with. And as I had written earlier, they would fly to me regardless of how my wife tried to shamelessly bribe waving favourite treats at them to fly to her. On Sunday 26 Oct, I was back home for lunch break. She did not step up on my hand yet. Sometimes, she would put one foot on my hand, but hold back from stepping up. In the step-up exercises, at times one of her feet was on my hand holding the stick. I earlier said that I would give her time to get used to me and accept of her own accord my hand to step up on. I thought perhaps she was hesitant, but should I meet her halfway and try to persuade her all the way? Was I too much in forcing that issue with her to step on my hand? There was always this uncertainty as I tried my best never to force her. I took a deep breath. I hold the stick such that my finger laid on top with a bit of stick space too small for her. At my step up cue, she placed on foot on my finger and took a step to stand with other foot on the stick to my praises and treats. I then slowly pull the balance of the stick into my hand, and she was on my hand with both feet. She trembled a bit. I kept whispering sweet nothings to her while feeding her sunflower seeds and walking about in her flight room. To reassure her that all is well. That she would not dissappear into a black hole when she stood on my hand. I then got her to step on the bar stand. I hold my hand, and at my cue, she got up on my hand. I repeated those exercises. I stood back and asked her to come. She flew off the bar and landed on my hand to lots of treats. That was done again a few times. I called my wife into the flight room. Riam would not step on her hand. But would step on the branch hold by her. I felt we gotten over that hand barrier. When I got back after work, she would not step on hand again. But I knew that the ice was broken. I used that stick as warm-up to step up and recall. Then when I gave my hand to step up, she did so. And in the recall flights to my arm as well. In one of the photo of flight, you can see clearly the clipped part of one wing. In this photo, she came up to the shoulder herselfr Riamfada on hand She came to me as a frightened ball of grey and with wings asymmetrically clipped. Her story started here October, 2008 - shanlung Then we became good friends. and she got to understand her wings better. Riamfada flying up to me on sand dune in Seifa beach in stiff cross winds. Story in shanlung: Oman won 19th Gulf Cup//Riamfada outing to Yiti/Seifa beaches // Katie's first 'present' to us Riamfada flying to me above rampart of Nakhal castle story in shanlung: 12 March Nakhal Fort/hotsprings And in a year, she was doing free flights with me in the open. Idiot kitties // Riamfada free flights at home and outside villa

Still yet to write my last visit to Tink in 2016. But here are some photos of her in 2016

He REALLY is a keeper! ☺️ I'm in love!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Welcome to the club!

I really wanted to say please wait --several weeks, maybe months. Thank you.

I agree, wait on the nail filing. This is a critical time for him, what happens these next few weeks will determine how he acts around human touch and handling. Leave him be..

I am a new member and unfortunately am able to join this "club". My event happened exactly like the third post on page 1. I had just brought home my adopted CAG and his first day went great. The second day is when he decided to enter me into this exclusive club. I offered him my hand to step up and, as he did, he sucker punched me with a CHOMP! Neosporin and band-aids...

Welcome to the forums and thank you for taking in a rescue bird. What is his name? He is a beautiful bird! One thing you will learn quite quickly is a little thing called "grey time". This is the time it takes for a grey to adjust and accept changes. This can be changes in routine, toys, location, people etc etc. Your bird has just undertaken a very big change and at a month in everything is still very new. Your bird is trying to adjust to a new home, a new human, a new routine, new sounds, new toys... everything. This can be a bit overwhelming for a grey as they can be a little change adverse at times. It can take days, weeks or sometimes months for a grey to adapt to these kind of changes and come out of their shell. This is what we call 'grey time'. Some changes may be more readily accepted by the bird than others... so there's no telling how much 'grey time' is needed for different changes. The important thing to remember is that the grey will show you when they are ready to accept a change or a new offering. They will also show you when they are not ready. A lot of this is shown via their body language- so pay attention to what your grey is doing... especially if you receive a nip or a bite...e.g what were the eyes doing, how were the feathers being held? There may be some subtle signs that your bird gives you before he resorts to a bite. Given enough time, you will start to be able to read your birds body language and will be able to know when the bird has had enough or is happy to progress. You will have many amazing years together and it sounds like you are already off to a fantastic start. These forums are full of information so feel free to have a look around. Ask as many questions as you need to- there is always someone here who can help and advise!

What a beautiful CAG! As the others have said, they adjust slowly. Just take it easy and slow down. You are off to a great start!

Not too big! I buy macaw cages for my greys. Rabbit toys are cheap, just make sure they are bird safe.

Like the others have said the bigger the better, they need plenty of room to be able to open the wings and flap without touching the bars. I second the addition of a nice heavy duty bell, no grey should have to go without a bell, they will ring that thing and play fight with it, even take out their frustrations on it, a definite must for a grey. You can also check the baby section of stores for toys for your bird, lots of them are safe for birds but sometimes just ordinary items in a home make good toys, sometimes just a box will keep them busy for a while.

I usually buy toys to get the parts, like the one you see in the pic. Then it's simply cutting wood blocks or whatever to refill. Since my Greybie is a wood block chipper, I refill with wood. I have another one that loves to chip cardboard. As you can imagine, she's easy to make toys for out of a plain old cardboard box.

I really need to start making my own toys. I usually just buy them from the local parrot store and spend a fortune. Any ideas on where to buy parts and pieces online for toys?

Mandatory: a nice stainless bell (bird safe type). Maybe some stainless hanging spoons. My GreycieMae's favorite toy is one I use a miter saw to refill all the time. She can destroy it in a day. It's made from wood blocks and straws on a stainless skewer rod. I don't have many toys in their cages as my birds are rarely caged but here's a shot of the toy I make for her and the little nibblets she leaves behind 🤣:

Well, I guess these cages are going to cost an arm and several legs to fill with appropriate toys and perches but once done I think they’ll be sooo happy in there. Any ideas you guys have in regards to toys/decorations would be greatly appreciated.

There is no such thing as too big when it comes to a bird cage 😂 The bigger the better! Looks good- and it looks like you already have all the approval you need already! Now comes the fun part.... toy arrangement!!

Looks like you have approval there.