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Too true! When I joined these forums I had gone through the thought process of whether I was the best caregiver for Alfie and whether he would be better off in a different home. I was living alone and working crazy hours plus studying and not giving him the attention he needed or deserved. I spoke with family and friends at great length but every time I thought about giving him.uo it reduced me to tears. Instead, I knew I had to make some big changes in order to improve things for Alfie. It wasn't his fault that I chose to study whilst working full time. It wasn't his fault that I was taking more on at work and therefore working longer hours. It wasn't his fault that his cage wasn't in the best place in the house. It's been a journey and I am still trying to do my best for Alfie. He's been with me since he was 11 weeks old and he's now 15 years old. We have many more years together and I am always trying to improve the time we have together and his environment. I am by no means perfect but I am trying. I know I would have instantly regretted giving him up and I'm pleased that I made the decision to stay. I am also glad that I found these forums around that time as it has been a massive help along the way. 😊

Hello! Welcome to the forums! There is one 'rule' you need to follow here... We need to see photos!! 😁 Haha How old is your grey? Have you got a name for him/her? How exciting!! Bet you can't wait!

Thank you. That's what I wondered, especially as he had been shredding cardboard before hand. I did wonder if he got a little confused and thought it was an egg! I will hide it away for now as I don't want him to get confused or frustrated. He 'played' with it for about ten minutes or so, holding it in his foot and beaking it/biting it. Then he dropped it off the shelf. His wings were still drooping for another minute or so then he went back to exploring and pushing everything off the shelf. Of course I don't actually know for sure that Alfie is a he at all. I've never had him DNA tested and whilst the place I bought him from told me that he was male, I don't think they ever had him tested either. It was just really unusual behaviour for Alfie and I've not witnessed it before. Like I say, he normally runs around his shelf throwing everything off it and expecting me to fetch it all!! 😂 I'll keep an eye on him and won't leave egg or ball shaped foot toys out for a little while. Hopefully I haven't encouraged any nesting behaviour (or egg laying if it turns out he is a she!).

I'd say it is nesting behavior, he is trying to get it under him to sit on it, this is the time of year that hormones are raging or he could be trying to mate with it, in any case I'd take it away for now and maybe let him have it later on this year. You don't want him getting all hot and bothered and then he might take out his frustrations on you, it is cute to watch.

Alfie is displaying some strange behaviour this evening which I haven't seen before. He was happily shredding some boxes and then noticed a ball with a bell in it on his shelf. Normally he would just fling toys off the shelf but instead he picked it up with his foot and is almost smothering it with his body and wings whilst beaking it and biting it. Anyone else seen this kind of behaviour with your birds? What could it mean?

I bought such chips for my dog. She was very pleased. My friend also advised me other small pet supplies. Now I buy all of them and my Disy looks so happy😊

This is really useful information as I have some carpets I need to clean and I was debating about hiring in a steam cleaner for it and wondered if it would be safe.

Hello Isha and welcome to our family, looking forward to hearing lots more about this new baby grey you got coming, pictures are always welcomed.

I love this! Am going to copy/paste it on another forum that's seeing an uptick in people looking to rehome their birds for absolutely ridiculous reasons.

I got a new grey yest. He is not home yet, should get ready in few weeks

Hi every one

Hello everyone - I am hoping someone here may have some insight on training older greys (17 & 20 approx.). More specifically training them to fly. JoJo the grey I'd like to train first is very needy and I'd like to teach some independence and give her the ability to get around with confidence. Any insight from you guys would be greatly beneficial to me. As always, thank you for the help everyone. Glad I came across these forums. :)

Hello all. So I went ahead and got an Aviary for my patio. Very cool...built it over the weekend and it is on its way to being a cool little haven for my...soon to be two....African Greys. I was doing my laundry this evening when a guy was telling me about a case of bird mites he got as place.....could feel them on him and see them walking on his phone screen. He had them sprayed for and such...but it raised a major concern for me. I currently have nesting doves directly over the top of my new aviary. Should I run those Doves out of there and clean like a mother? Now that I am going to try to have my birds outside to get sun....now I am worried about them getting mites. Anyone have any experience with this and can help understand what precautions I should take. I am about to make some Doves very unhappy.

Today ruby has had the worst smelling poop and diarrhea it smells terrible she hasn’t eaten anything unusual a few peanuts a small carrot stick and her bird food she has chewed up some cardboard although i don’t think she ate any of it I need help any ideas on why this is happening? The only avian vet anywhere near is out of town for a couple weeks

We had a grey arrive some years back and she was not able to fly due to wing trims. I started just moving my arm up and down while she was perched on my arm slowly to start with to encourage flapping and build some strength. The next step was to gently toss her off my arm and onto the bed from about a foot away. We then gradually increased the distance over a number of weeks to about 4-5 feet. It gave her some experience and confidence as she slowly realized she could take off and learn to land herself. Now years later she is a capable flier when she wishes to do so. That is our experience. Glad you found us Nickraph.

Hello and welcome Isha!

Greetings, Here is a reply from Stanley Steemer about the ingredients used in their steam cleaning....they do not state the ingredients. Suggestion, remove all pets during the process and do not return pets until it is 100% dry. The safest carpet cleaning is to rent a steam cleaner and use vinegar water (no soaps). This will also remove mold. Please be aware that Carpet Fresh and Arm and Hammer Pet Fresh dry carpet cleaner can be DEADLY to your parrots. I am sure someone will post a reply on their experience. Thank you, Jayd

Wow, I,love following the updates. He’s one lucky bird, and you are such an angel for rescuing him

Beautiful baby! He's sure making fast progress. He's probably thrilled to have finally landed in a good home.

This suggestion will not hurt anything... Wash and rinse the food and water bowls etc with ACV (apple cider vinegar) and let air-dry. Has your fid eaten broccoli in the last 24 hrs? if your fid IS NOT eating, HUMAN GRADE Roasted no sodium peanuts, STOP feeding. You need to get your fid to the vet ASAP. Put a few drops of ACV in the water bowl (won't hurt anybody or anything)

Today is the only stinky poops day but all her poops today have smelt horrible but the last one or two haven’t smelt as strong not really bubbly either just mostly green liquid with a couple of solid pieces and nothing other than ordinary food and peanuts and one carrot stick the past few days

Was it a one time occurrence, or is every poop as you describe? Is the poop bubbly? If it's continuous or bubbly, then you absolutely need to take him in for evaluation and most likely medication. Did Ruby have any eggs, beans or sulfured fruit prior to the stinky poop? A friend of mine's grey had horrible smelling poop from having eaten those particular foods.

Sounds sensible!

I talked to a pro bird-keeper and he suggests limiting the time out there or just waiting until the Doves fledge to really go for it, then take measures to make sure no nesting can continue there. They fledge in a couple weeks or so I'll play things real safe and take care. Thanks for all the responses. Cheers guys!

I believe he does. It's difficult for him to trust us yet, but I'm thrilled at how quickly he's becoming acclimated to everything. Five days!

Ah, yes, the dreaded spider webs. It's amazing how they can create webbing over every single corner imaginable. Broom them all down on one day? They're all back again the following day.

I have an outdoor aviary now and the biggest problem that I have is that the spiders love it and keep building webs everywhere! 🙄 I also have birds landing on it and pooping everywhere as I haven't got the top covered. So before Alfie goes out I spray it down with the hose and then scrub it down with some f10 bird safe disinfectant, diluted at the highest level to kill as much bacteria as possible, then rinse it off with the hose. I'm mostly worried about possible diseases carried by the local birds/wildlife being passed on to Alfie. The hose clears most of the cobwebs... the scrubbing brush gets the rest! It might be over the top but I'd rather make sure I've done everything I can to prevent it.

He's doing so well. Thank you for the photo updates. Maybe he knows he has hit the jackpot so is making the most of it!

He was. Crash landed into a pile of my son's laundry, making it the one time I was appreciative of the messiness in his room!

I'll bet he was pretty clumsy! Huey crash-landed into everything for a couple months before he got his muscles and skills built up. He can now turn around in the hallway like GreycieMae. He's not as talented as her but he gets around.

I have an outdoor aviary, too. We installed a paneled roof onto it to keep wild bird poop from getting inside the aviary. Took @SRSeedburners panel recommendations, purchased from Home Depot.

Thank you! Still lots of trust work left to work towards, but I am utterly amazed by how quickly this happened! He's extremely cage protective, and understandably so. But once he's away from his cage, he was so much better. Sydney was able to take a maiden voyage flight around the room, too. First flight for him in over 8 years!

Yeah, I am not planning full time outdoors either so I think it is a reasonable risk to take to give them outside time. I'll take some precautions though.

Great pictures. Love seeing the progress, and so fast too. He knows he bought a winning ticket.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that! What a sweetheart! He is forever yours....such a resilient precious gift.

I have an outdoor aviary & never felt the reason to worry about bird mites. I do not leave them out there full time,but in the last 4 years, the only thing I watch if the wasps that may make it inside which I am right there to make sure they are gone asap.

HEhehe

Good suggestions...

After 3 days here, our little guy has emerged from his cage and stepped up for my son!!! He always knows how to communicate with birds and animals. My heart is full!

Yeah, I am hoping this is a bit more rare than it seems. However, soooooo protective of my babies. Any possibilities get me worrying like crazy. I am not taking any chances though....going to lay down some plastic over the top of the cage where the dove nest is. When they fledge and vacate, I'll take measures to see they nest somewhere other than above the aviary just to be sure. From what I read, mites do not really want to leave the host bird, so it takes direct contact and some luck anyway. There are some scary links though.

I have around 40 pigeons, high-flyer and homing, plus around 60 chickens. Have no idea what a bird mite is. Maybe one of those mythical bs fake news critters. with my pigeons, canker is the problem. my chickens, coccidiossis (sp?). no mites whatsoever.

Greetings.. Here's 2 sites that should be able to answer your concerns... https://www.birdmites.org/forum.html https://pets.thenest.com/pet-birds-carry-mites-lice-affect-humans-12972.html

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.

Hello everyone, being a new member I thought I would introduce myself, and give a brief word about milly and electronic pest control. In my house I am lucky enough to have two africangrey friends, one is named milly who has been with me for eight years, she was born in nov1999 hence milly-millennium,the other is mr jingles who has been my mate for two years,he is just comming up to five years old now. Milly has always had beautifull feathers and a sensitive nature,Mr Jingles on the other hand is a typical male, butch and doesnt seem to give a damn about anything.Both birds are cuddly and friendly, both love to be out and have tickles. Now to the electronic pest control, after installing it for five weeks I noticed Milly was losing a lot of feathers until she had a bald patch down her breast bone and no tail feathers, there was no change in Mr Jingles. The only change in their environment was the electronic pest control. Six weeks after unplugging the device Millys feathers have started to grow back nicely. My conclusion is that the pest control will not upset a species but individual birds. Hope this helps.

Welcome Ora, Milly and Mr Jimgles!!! Thanks for the information on your experience regarding sonic pest control devices. They can indeed affect our feathered friends. Birds have hearing in frequency ranges we do not. As you described, it may drive one bonkers, while another just endures it with no symptomatic effects such as plucking or other odd behaviour. Looking forward to hearing more from you and seeing some photos when you get a chance. :-)

Hi, Ora! Hope you come back!B)

Hello and welcome to the family, so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and your grey. I have one of those electronic bug devices and I have had no problem with either of my two parrots as it has been in use the whole time I have had them, guess it is an individual thing. Read thru the many threads for lots of useful information and please do ask any and all questions you may have and we will endeavor to get you some answers and help you in any way we can. Be sure to share some pictures of your greys if you have any as we love to admire each other’s birds.

Hi ora & Welcome to the forum.Pleased you joined us.Milly & mr jingles sound great well adjusted greys We look forward to hearing more from you,perhaps some pictures when you have time