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Good morning, forum family! Just got back from Ireland, and *this* year, HRH and Joe (or Joes as she calls him) survived even better than last year. I love that after all this time, she and Joe have bonded so closely. My big trip last year as well as having been followed with a lot of out of town trips in order to help care for an aging relative put them both in the position to have to just deal. Best thing ever. She now loves dividing her time between the two of us. She was always friendly toward Joe, but now has a very true bond with him. She can't wait for him to come home from work each night, and will start flock calling for him at about 5:15-ish PM. ("If I Only Had A Brain" is her flock call for him 😆). Once he is home, she likes to sit with him while he has supper then she goes with him downstairs and perches on the exercise bike for an hour while he does his workout. After that, she's ready for lights out. In the mornings, she has breakfast with me, then enjoys one of her perches while I have cofffee. She then demands that we do "Exwork!" (aka exercise --- dancing to Walk Like An Egyptian) and refuses to allow me to slack off. Some days she walks back over to her cage and just hangs out there all day, others she wants to be wherever I am during the day. Whenever she decides to use a new word, she uses it incessantly for a week or two and this past week it has been "great," and/or "great-great" for emphasis! Examples: "I need a great cookie." "That's great." "That is a great tree out there." "Oh great." "You are a great great girl." "Get the birdy a great great cookie, with cheese!" (It cracks me up when she refers to herself as The Birdy.) She has such a "great great" grasp of language, but more importantly she has such a great great understanding of her place in our flock of the three of us, and how loved, respected, and safe she is. It just makes me well up with tender emotions when I see her excitement when Joe walks in the door, or when he and I are in another room and we hear the whir of her wings or the tap tap of her little feet as she comes to find us. My heart melts when I am busy and her little munchkin voice pipes up with, "Hey Sweetie? I sure love you." I think of how fortunate we are to have found one another, and all of the great great things I have learned from her over the years: 1) Always make sure that whomever is giving you food takes a bite first, just to be on the safe side. 2) Always make sure that everyone has plenty to eat by taking a few bites, then waiting until they take a few bites. Sharing is good. 3) Sleep and rest when things are quiet so that you have energy to be busy later. 4) Take time to call out to those you love and let them know you love them. 5) Keep one eye on the weather. 6) Greet each day for the brand new day it is -- with a cheery "Good morning." 7) Mischief makes life interesting. 8 ) A good shower never hurt anyone. 9) Spend time daily with each member of your flock. 10) Always ask for cheese, you never know when someone might just give it to you. Have a greyt greyt day, friends and fam! xoxox Jane and HRH Inara

Folks, I'm going to give you a quick synopsis of where things stand with the board, some of it you will understand, and some of you wont depending on who you are and what your technical level is for these kind of things. These are the objective facts. I will give subjective later. 1. And foremost the name greyforums.net is not owned by ANYONE here. 2. The owner of the .net name is a really nice guy that has nothing to do with this place anymore beyond being the owner of the .net name. 3. I cleaned up the whole mess and made the database and forums work again without spyware and viruses because you guys helped me save Sukei. (And Im not looking for a thank you, just putting out facts for a determination after) 4. The database contains YEARS of experience and knowledge of members past and present, those here now and those that have passed on before us. 5. Participation has slowed to a crawl. This has everyone dealing with the site considering closing it. 6. The data on this site is INVALUABLE for our grey friends. Now with these facts in hand I can offer every tech deal there is , video posting, song boards, anything you have on your favorite sites, I can duplicate, and make it work better. Video, audio streaming anything to bring the level of participation back up here. The real question is ......and not so much for me, but for Talon, do you want to keep it going.. how important is it to you your Greys and Talon that has kept it going for all these years. Its time to consider what you have, and what you stand to loose, talk to her, let her know how you feel.

What a lovely post. I'm glad HRH Inara is still keeping you both on your toes. Her vocabulary has always amazed me.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw Dave 007. I certainly miss his incredible posts. For those of you who are new here, he left this world a few years back, but his noteworthy teachings live on right here on Grey Forums.

BOY THAT`S THE TRUTH. At one point I went from 2 too 25. And I loved it.

What's yours is theirs. What's theirs is theirs (and not yours). Basically, everything belongs to the birds. 😂

Sorry about the language on this one but it's too good: And of course the videos people make are even better: TielForce.mp4

Definitely love Bird Memes. That's one facebook group I don't usually get into it with anyone. So many good memes come across that one... Who did it better? (in case it's unreadable, the pull tab reads 'now I have')

That's a zon for you!

Crick was the worlds biggest clown.

WHERE DID I LEAVE THAT DUST PAN ?

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT ?? ?

GreycieMae: into ever damn thing when no one is looking Huey: Constructionings foreman (he loves to "build" things in his special drawer)

GreycieMae is actually a nickname that has evolved into her name. She gets called Greycie mainly when she's being ornery. GreycieMissesMacie GreybieGrey I call her GurFren (girl friend) a lot too

Alfie is his actual name but he gets called Alfred and Alf quite a lot too. Other slightly more sporadic names: Alfie-doodles (which he used to be able to say himself... well, his version was more like "Alfie-Doooo!") Mischief Monster Little Man Bubbah (all the animals get called that at times) I'm sure there are more!

I call mine 'love' a lot (as in "what do you need, my love?), and sometimes "Snick" (okay, Snick, why'd you do that?); but he also knows his name is Snickers and will often say his own name. I use his full name pretty often.

I tell my two to stop being dicks al the time, when they being silly but cute he is my mischief and she’s my monkey... when they are being extra needy and loud and annoying I call them both Assholes 🤣😊😂😜 but I love them a lot hahahahaha

Can you hear me now. You might not hear me but you can read my post. As members we are here to share and tell storied. Don`t forget we are still the best around.

Nickraph, he/she literally carries the cube to a spot and sits on it. I knew he/she was a real weirdo... He will have bloodwork at his next annual checkup, I think I'll bite the bullet and have the gender check. I'll also ask the vet about it and see what he says. The vacuum really annoys him. He follows me around on his cage trying to attack the vacuum (got me once instead).

Incidentally, when I asked earlier if this forum had a FB page -- I meant a FB page to direct folks here. I have no interest in a grey FB page for posting. I like THIS forum. FB can draw out a bit of everything -- sometimes TOO much diversity there.

Hmm. Hoovering doesn't set Alfie off either. He just watches. Do I have an imposter? My family always said Alfie was a pigeon with a painted tail... perhaps I don't have a grey at all? 😂

The vacuuming is another thing that will start them doing the bath thing.

A lot of practical and helpful responses. I realize no one has the power to force a forum to become busy and active -- it just has to happen on its own; and it has to feel effortless and be enjoyable for everyone. And yeah, life does get in the way sometimes of being active in a forum. A woman can dream though: maybe one day I will come online here and there will be too many active threads for me to even read them all!

Tried the ice cube in water bowl trick -- it made crackling noises. Snickers peered into his water bowl but then climbed away, unimpressed. It's mostly melted so I went ahead and removed last fragment. Maybe males just don't have the same interest? He did take a sip of water after ice cube remnant was removed (probably because me removing ice remnant gave the water some attention). What guarantees mine will bathe in his water dish is me hoovering/vacuuming. It must send some message to him of "we're cleaning up now" -- works a lot as your ice cube does! Can't imagine how cold it would be to sit on an ice cube!!!!

How peculiar! I'm afraid I can't offer much advice. I did spot some similar behaviours with Alfie though- certain toys will set him off and he treats them like eggs and sits on them. He is totally indifferent about ice cubes. I have no idea whether Alfie is male or female either. I just assume male.

One of my greys loves ice and prefers really cold water if she is getting a bath or shower.

Greys have this thing with ice cubes. Put a ice cube in Corkys bath water she will jump in nd take a bath, put a ice cube in her drinking water and she will take a bath in her water dish. I have read that they have this thing with cold water and ice. Get a large bowl of water and put in some ice and watch what they will do.

I've noticed the same as most. Facebook is IMO the cause of the decline in Forums. I was a moderator on another forum for years and as FB groups became more prevalent, participation dropped significantly. I, like most, signed up for this forum and really honestly hoped it would be a busy community of people full of knowledge and participation but it seemed like the "Facebook effect" had already taken hold. However I would hate to see this site and all of it's valuable information be archived. I'd like to offer my assistance if it is needed. I have time I can dedicate if needed and am very technically minded.

I'd say just keep being active. Some posts get ignored and others will spark an interest. I've posted both kinds, just don't let it get under your skin if no one responds. There is no facebook arm of this forum. I've tried letting people know on the facebook grey groups about this forum but no one ever shifts this way. I used to post a lot of pics and videos of my GreycieMae, I need to get back to that.

So good to hear from you Ray very sorry for all your recent losses. How has Corky handled all the changes in his world? Always a pleasure to see Jayd and Maggie too!

Well, we’re making changes, and I think a big one is allowing read only. It was thought that by forcing signup to read that might do it, but it had the opposite affect. Folks went right back down the road they know so well, Facebook lol. So being able to read again, and the new software being html friendly, we should get a lot more google hits about grey questions. Were going to keep at it as time allows. Thanks for being here.

Afterthought: I am very active on Arachnoboards -- a very busy forum! How is it possible more people want to chat about their tarantulas (which are pet rocks, not an interactive pet, and certainly feared by most people) and yet a wonderful grey forum like this one isn't that active? It just seems that for every tarantula owner there should be thousands of grey owners, yannoe? Greys are so loving, cuddly, interactive, intelligent, independent, creative, etc. -- tarantulas just sit in their enclosure waiting for food drops. If older members are willing to commit to more content here, then I can certainly try to post/respond more (and not just lurk and read). Lurkers don't really help a forum grow. I suppose I never posted much here because there aren't always a lot of threads I feel I have something valuable to contribute to; and the threads I start tend to not get past page 1. I do remember being so excited when I first discovered this forum --C'mon -- a GREY FORUM? What's not to love?

It's always great to see you and Jayd stop by for a visit and a chat.

The GreyForums is the truth behind the care and raising if not only the African Grey parrot but also all parrots who grace these pages and enrich our lives so much. Truth is found here. We will try to post weekly.

It's great to hear from you Ray P. Sorry to hear of so much going on and the loss of your wife.

I was wondering where you've been, Ray. I'm so sorry to hear about all your tragic losses in such a short period of time no less. I look forward to reading your posts again. Welcome back!

I think it's time that I give you and the members of this great forum an explanation of my absence over the last two years or so. It started with a very ill wife who passed away on Valentines day 2018 and than her younger sister in Dec. of 2018 followed by her older sister in May this year. We lost Willie our cockatiel at age believe it or not at age 27 followed by 5 very good friends and two of our dachshund one of old age and one unexpected.. I have a 44 year old special needs child that still lives with me that we adopted when he was 14 months old. I have not had much time to post but I check in to see what's going on. And than there is Corky my awesome Grey that has kept me going who will be 19 in Dec. of this year. I will make every effort to start posting again to keep this forum alive. KevinD you are doing a great job with this forum and I will do my best to step up as a member to support this Grey Forum.

My view is that folks do come here and read just not posting. I haven't had much to say it has been a very hectic time for our family. I will make an effort to participate more often there are enough birds here to have material to share. This is a great resource and our Greys only benefit from what we can learn from each other. Thank you ILeo for all you have done.

I'll still choose Avian Avenue over the Parrot Forum. And you're right about the FB forums. Many people are cocked and loaded to ream out others over there. Still searching for the best FB ones worthy of my time. I do participate in the FB grey group that you, SRSeedBurners, are also a participant.

This forum probably saved Timber's life. I was such an "idiot" when I got him, with no clue as to how to handle him or what to do. I would sure hate to lose it. I have no idea why participation has slowed to a crawl or why new people don't stay. I know people come here when they panic, then leave when they have their answer. I don't post often because nothing has changed here at my house. However, I do check the forum almost daily to see if anyone has posted.

It would be sad, but I completely understand why it's necessary to consider making changes to this forum. New members only briefly remain which leaves me wondering why people aren't staying. Is it because it's so quiet? Is it because something needs tweaking? Marketing possibilities? I guess much will depend upon where Talon's heart and passions lie.

I would be sad to see the forums close down because there is a wealth of knowledge and years of experience in the archives. It would be a real shame to lose everything that people have put into this place over the years- especially as some of them are sadly no longer with us. However, I understand that it is a large undertaking to keep a website/forum running. I also understand that this can seem like a totally thankless task when hardly anyone shows up and posts any more. I enjoy keeping up to date with everyone's birds and I would be sad to lose that connection with the people here. Is there a way to archive the data on the forums and make it searchable? Is there some way that this can be moved to another communications platform where we can still add to it and communicate with each other (for those that are left?) I don't even know what platform would be the best to use. Yes there is facebook where you could make a page or a group. But is that the best format? Would everyone move across? Are there other platforms available which are less taxing in terms of management and maintenance?