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That's the exact same cage I have (I have two of them), and as you've observed A LOT of people have that cage. It's plenty big enough, you'll just need to fill it with toys!

Thank you for the feedback! We really get mixed messages from him. He talks alot and sways, and interacts with us alot, giving us a sense that he is fairly comfortable. But, his demeanor can change quickly when we are close. I think the biggest challenge is that we doubt he has ever been taught to step up. So we are trying to find the best way to move him from his cage to his playstand. (Previous owner left him out of cage all day on stand, Mocha never left it while unattended). We are not comfortable with that, but we also do not want to keep him in cage all day due to his history. Long story short, it has only been a week, so we will keep encouraging him to interact with us at a distance he feels comfortable. We can work on step up in a couple of weeks when he is more used to us. Hopefully the feather chewing subsides as well. Thanks!

Welcome Drekkyek and Mocha. Great photo. Looking forward to learning more about y'all.

Hello everyone! We decided to join the ranks of those that are owned by parrots. We brought home Mocha last Monday, and he appears to be doing ok. We do have one issue to work through, but first let me give a little history. Mocha is 15 years old. From what we have been told is that he was kept in a cage for the first 10 years of his life. Then an older woman picked him up, and worked tirelessly with him for the next 4 years. Her health deteriorated and the parrot ended up with the previous owner. The previous owner had Mocha for about 6 months, but her McCaw picked on him and she decided to get rid of him. Mocha is missing his toes on his right foot, and all but one or two on his left foot. Mocha does not step-up, and whenever he was held by the previous owners, it was against their breast under their neck. Our household includes me, my wife, 11-year-old daughter, and a Yorkie and Akita. Since we picked up Mocha on Monday, we have noticed he started chewing his feathers. This is where I would like advice, but here is how we are currently addressing it: · His diet was mostly all seed. We have introduced pellets, fruit, and are working on the veggies (which he doesn’t seem to want.) · The cage we purchased is rather large, and tall, with a play area on top. I think this may have been stressing him out a bit, especially since he doesn’t have the ability to hang on to the dowel tightly. We moved the playset to a lower location, and are replacing all the dowels with smaller diameter to try and improve his grip and confidence. · We have been keeping him up too late. We are going to get him to bed earlier. · We haven’t misted him yet, we are going to try that today. · We are going to be more conscious of washing our hands before handling him. · He was at the vet last June and we have the results, so I don’t think a vet visit is in order yet. I’m hopeful his chewing is a result of the stress of moving, and that with time, along with the above-mentioned steps, it will subside. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions! We really do not handle him much yet. We only move him when we have to until we build more trust with him. For now, we hand him toys which he takes, feed him grapes and blueberries, etc. He likes to look at our rings on our fingers and we let him touch our hands, but he does like to bait us into petting him. If we try he nips lightly, which we just ignore and redirect with our rings. Basically, just trying to get him used to our presence. My wife is home all day for the next 6 months, so she has plenty of time to invest in training. We want to get him to step-up first. I’m sure more questions will pop-up, but we read a lot and are committed to becoming good flock mates! Thanks everyone!

I’m getting a timneh African grey in a few weeks and already have this cage but want to double check that the cage will be fine. It’s 30x30x43 without seedskirt and without counting stand and play top etc. Total dimensions are 38x38x63. 1/2 inch bar spacing. I know that can be a bit small but from what I can see the bars are pretty thick and I don’t think the bird will be able to bend them. I’ve seen a bunch of people using this cage and they have said it works well for them but I want to make sure. Link : https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/bird/cages-for-birds/you-and-me-standing-parrot-cage Thanks

So we rough-n-tumble this morning like we always do, GreycieMae loves a good wrestle. Later on I was just laying there with her on my knee and noticed she was missing something... So just like when I lose my keys, or my marbles, I go back to the last place I saw them....the wrestling blankey. Oh, looky at what I found! So I break out the needle and thread, super glues and some duck tape and she's good as new!

Exactly the right attitude- work at his pace. If he's showing signs of fear or aggression when you're up close then take a few steps back until he relaxes and is comfortable. Get him used to you and your family being in the room with him and moving around him. Get him used to your voices as well- so just have a chat with him and let him know what you're up to and why. If he's not used to being handled much then this is going to be quite new and probably scary for him - so always watch closely to see how he's reacting and back off if needs be. Slowly build on it bit by bit, getting closer- hands closer etc. Maybe offer him a tasty treat and see if he comes towards you to take it/investigate. The feather chewing can be caused by a number of reasons - it may well be a habit that is going to be difficult to break or he may settle in with you and stop doing it as it may just be a stress response. Others here may have some extra advice on this. There are lots of threads about plucking/feather chewing available on this site so it might be worth searching through those to see what others have suggested previously. Don't forget- he's probably trying to figure you out as much as you're trying to figure him out!

Hello and welcome to the forum!

The cage looks awesome! Your new grey is going to love it in there! I echo what others have said, pellets are great for a daily go to but it's also worth supplementing with lots of fresh veggies and fruit etc. It's better for them to have lots of different options for food so they don't get stuck on one brand/food type.

Beautiful cage & set-up!! About once a month, I make a big mix of Veggies, rice, pasta, quinoa, and freeze it in containers to feed out daily before I go to work.

My main go to is a combination of 'Volkman Seed Featherglow Fancy Soak & Simmer' and 'Volkman Birdeez Buffet / 15 Minute Soak & Serve'. I cook a 3 day supply of those two and I also add sprouts to the mix. Then I add whatever is around: banana, jalapenos, leafy lettuce. They go wild over it every morning.

Thanks. I’ll be sure to order more of the fine sized. Out of curiosity what cookables do you serve? I know of bird bread by Harrison’s but wasn’t sure about using it as a main part of their diet. I do Harrison’s pellets and frozen veggies and dried fruits for my parrotlet.

Cage looks awesome. I feed a mix of Harrison's lifetime or high potency (my birds are very active in aviaries all day), Zupreme Naturals and Tropican Lifetime pellets - all mixed together. I buy all the pellets in the same size as the Harrison's 'fine' size. We found that with the larger pellets, when they crack them, the pellets go flying in all directions and there was a ton of waste. In addition to limit waste I also use a Seed Corral which really helps. They're not as prone to carry a pellet out of the feeder when they are nibble sized too. Also, keep your pellets in the freezer, they last a long time that way. Pellets are a very small portion of our birds diet though. We mainly feed cookables which I supplement with whatever fresh/frozen chopped up veggies daily.

Awesome. It’s already filled with toys and perches. I plan on feeding Harrison’s. I read the coarse sized pellets are good for greys but I’d think it might be a bit big for a timneh. Would fine sized be ok or do you think the course size should be used. I’m currently feeding my parrotlet superfine and have purchased coarse for my grey in preparation for arrival but i haven’t opened the package to see the size of the coarse because I don’t want it to go bad. What would you recommend?

Thank you for taking in a rescue bird and welcome to the forums! Poor little guy seems to have been through a lot! Grey's are particularly sensitive animals and can be a bit change adverse. He has been through a number of major changes over the last few years and it's probably taking him a little while to get used to this. This latest change is a total change in environment and humans so there is a lot for him to get used to. It sounds to me like you're doing all the right things. The important thing is patience. It might take days, weeks or months before your new addition trusts you enough to step up. He might not find this the easiest thing to accomplish due to the damage on his toes so he's probably happiest with a nice stable perch rather than a hand right now. But patience is key. Don't give up on the little guy and you will be amazed how much he can offer as time goes on. He will start to come out of his shell and show you more and more of his personality and traits- but it will just take time for him to have the confidence to do this.

I bought an aloe vera plant recently (mainly because they are supposedly easy to look after and I'm not normally very good with plants!). I've had it several weeks now and it hasn't died yet...!! I have read about the qualities of aloe vera and know you can use 100% aloe vera juice/gel with birds. Can I use the plant itself for Alfie in any way? I've seen mixed comments about birds eating the whole stalk so I'm not likely to try that. But I'm assuming there is a way I can safely extract the... sap(?)... from inside the stalks? Can I then mix that in Alfie's water occasionally? Or mix it with water and spray him with it? ...Or am I better off sticking to buying gel and juice and keeping the plant as a decorative feature? 😁

Do any of you have a social media account for your birds (or other pets)? I usually post regular photos of my cats and Alfie to my own social media accounts. It might seem a bit daft but I recently decided to start a twitter account for Alfie - which is written as if he is posting the content. I have actually found it to be quite fun and I have connected with several other pet accounts (and regular human accounts!). It allows me to share some of Alfie's antics and see what other people's pets (mostly birds) are getting up to. I just wondered if anyone else here does similar?

I don't have one, but I do participate in a couple - mostly Felix on Facebook. I feel like I'm actually talking to that silly birdy. I also participate in Einstein the Texas Talking parrot's page.

Hahaha! I love the relationship you have with your birds- especially with greycie.

Thanks everyone. I’ll post pictures of him when he arrives next week.

I don't see a problem with you doing that. That's what many people do to use on themselves. It's a great idea in my opinion!

GreycieMae does weird requests! Second photo came out a little blurry... Huey looks nearly identical to her.

God be with you, Howardine. I wish only the best for you and yours.

Thanks Greywings! I was a hit nervous did to the chewed ends. I’m still keeping a close eye but I’ve not seen and significant feather loss since I posted this.

Looks like a molt to me as well. Daylight length changes and they respond, some of our flock are in molt.

Prayer for Howardine 🕊️().

His name may yet be Ziggy he seems to prefer that, it is becoming a challenge to find the right name. His appetite is great will eat anything I present. Sprouts, the pellets he came with, fruit and veggies are all enjoyed. He is a head rub kind of Too will work up very slowly to step ups he id not a fan of hands other than for head rubs and food gifts.

Most of the shafts of the feathers that I’ve seen are fine, there were two that looked a bit rough on the ends almost as if they’d been chewed off or chewed on but I’m just not sure. I guess only time will tell.