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Hi guys, I hope this thread belongs here. I adopted an African grey last night. He's 10 years old and his name is Diego. I was looking on craigslist for a bird cage, planned on getting a Quaker soon, and there in the ads was an African grey for $550. Call me crazy but that was my dream bird and I took the chance and emailed the seller. She said he was being bullied by the family dog and he needed a new home. Me and my husband knew that we were taking a chance but we went and met him. She brought him in a tiny cat carrier, he had to bend over in it. He smelled so bad of cigarette smoke and his cage was so dirty. I couldn't leave him. She handed me his food, which was a Tupperware container containing a mix of seed, what looked like cat food, and salted peanuts. We took him home and bleached and scrubbed his cage. We threw away all his toys that could have held cigarette residue and went and bought him new ones. Also bought him new food. After setting all this up we put him in his cage and talked to him. He whistled and made all kinds of noises and danced. I went to do some work in the office and my husband went to take a shower. My kids start laughing and upon checking, Diego is off his cage wandering around the living room calling out in a microwave beep. So I go in the bathroom and tell my husband that I think Diego is looking for him. My husband calls him and Diego goes in to the bathroom and waits for my husband until he is done in the shower. Anytime he leaves the room Diego beeps at him like a microwave. This morning Diego was talking to me, but so softly I couldn't make out what he was saying. But that's my story of finding Diego. Any advice? I'm scared of his beak and have been using a small dowel rod my husband cut to have him step up with to put him back in his cage. He doesn't like it at all. I do plan on getting him to the avian vet soon to make sure he is ok from all the smoke and salt. The closest one in in St. Louis though, we are in the country. That's a few hours away. Can I take him to the regular vet? His claws are so long they are curling back. Thank you all for any and all advice or how to's or anything you've got for me.

Newbie here! I just adopted a new grey last night.

I say some.... I made quite a lot...! But I'm freezing it and taking it out when it's needed so it should last a while. I went shopping and bought an assortment of fruit/veg to throw into it. I basically grabbed anything that was available from the shelves. I got: sweet red pepper peas (I shelled these) sweetcorn (removed from the cob) sugar snap peas (left whole) kale butternut squash (only half used) apples mango beetroot carrots brocoli sweet potato blueberries The nuts are to sprinkle on top of his food or to use as a treat. These weren't mixed into the chop. It took roughly 2 hours... or thereabouts... but that was with various distractions. It's the hottest day of the year so far today and the kitchen is the hottest room in the house, so I did have to keep stepping away to have a drink and cool down from time to time. I got 19 bags (plus whatever I chucked in his bowl already) out of it! Alfie hasn't tried it yet so I'm not sure if I have the beak of approval yet. I've dabbled with chop on and off before but this is the first time I've made a biiig batch of it like this. Most of it normally ends up on the walls and floors. I'm hoping that Alfie takes to it I can sneak more veggies into his diet. (he's very picky!)

Hello! Welcome! Congratulations on your new addition!

Alfie is currently picking through his bowl trying to pick out the nuts from the chop. 😂 I think he is accidentally eating some chop in the process though.

Our Huey does the microwave beep too when he wants one of us (mostly my wife). I would get used to using your hand to get him to step up. Use a treat to distract him onto your hand so he's not contemplating a bite. He may not be a biter. It's sounds like both of you scored a great deal! I would love to see pics of Diego.

Thank you for taking in and rescuing this poor bird from such an awful environment. Sit back, relax and get ready for many wonderful years of learning about your new addition and enjoying his company. I'm going to steal something I wrote on another introductory post as I think it may be helpful here: "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 everything is still very new. Your bird is trying to adjust to a new home, new humans, 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." Allow your bird time to settle in and get used to the comings and goings of his new home. Talk to him often, tell him what you're doing, tell him why you're doing it. Maybe read some books to him or ask your children to read to him. This helps him get used to you being around him and gets him used to all of your voices. He probably doesn't like the dowel rod because he's never seen it before and it's coming straight at him. He will probably bite it in protest of it coming near him. Again, it's going to take 'grey time' for him to get used to it. There is a massive amount of information on these forums available to you so please feel free to look around and use the search tool. If you don't find an answer to your questions then ask - someone will be able to help out. In regards to vets- ALWAYS take your bird to an avian vet. Never take them to a 'regular' vet who isn't qualified or trained in avian care. They won't necessarily know how to handle your bird or treat him and this can lead to unnecessary stress for the bird or incorrect advice being given. I recommend looking into what foods are/aren't safe for your bird. Start giving him some different choices of foods. It may take a little while to wean him off a purely seed based diet but do persevere. He'll find something he likes eventually! Lastly, we like photos. As and when you're able to, we would love to see some photos of your new feathered friend.

Glad to hear things seem to be moving in the right direction! Fingers crossed that they get along or at the very least, that they can tolerate sharing the same space! I know you'll give them both the time, love and attention they both need.

Things are going really well. I had some doves nesting near my aviary so I have been waiting for them to leave so I can clean out the area and prevent returns. The doves outside now have chicks and I am sure that given the day I saw em, they should fledge and all leave in about 10 days. Then I get the use of my outdoor aviary\sun cage and that will also help me balance time with the boys. As soon as Isaac can fly again, I'll really have to balance the air space for a while. For now, I am keeping everyone happy and I really feel good about that. It's pretty much what I do on my off hours. I got all organized with vegetable bins I pull out of the fridge in the morn, all my veggie pre-cut and ready to go. My bags of chop all rolled up for the week. Containers for all the dry feed. Ordered bulk newspaper from ULine...600 sheets...I highly recommend...made cage changes so sweet. Isaac is still being Isaac...cute...sometimes cuddly, and funny. I think he might even be looking at the other bird and saying "Hi lil boyeee", I am optimistic. He is less startled now by Caspers flying..as Casper is really taking a liking to figuring out where I am going at all times. Super cute to have a little love sponge following me around again. So it's either Isaac is calm and preening so that I can have Casper out as well...or one of them is in for a little bit and the other is out. Have to go this way until Casper gets passed the early baby days. He is soo damned cute. On another note, I peeked in the house with my cloud camera today and got a feeling of harmony when I saw them both playing with toys. That was the first moment that I thought maybe I have done something right in this.

For us, with 12 birds, it's all about structure. They know when they're going to be fed, what time of day they'll be let out of their cages, in what order they'll be coming out, and when I'll be interacting with them one-on-one. It's incredible how they've learned to expect what's up next. Since they're all flighted, and not all of them get along, they're let out in 'get along' groups. They even know when, and in what order I'll be returning them to their cages, and will usually head back inside on their own when they see the order. Birds truly are intelligent little beings!