Leaderboard

I have a workout buddy too! Actually two of them. GreycieMae loves to sit on my bike mounted in the trainer, music on 'drive wife crazy' mode, and A/C blowing hard while daddy gets after it. HRH sounds like a very special 'The Birdy' indeed 😂

OH they know how to fill any void that may enter your life. One of the things I enjoy very much is just to sit and watch Corky enjoying her life as she goes through her day doing her thing. Not sure who loves who more, Me or Corky. She has kept things real in my life after I lost my wife. I do know she felt the grief as much as my son and I !! They know how to really get into your head.

So many great birdie memes out there. Which ones are your favorites?

So just a quick run down i adopted a Male Congo African grey from an adoption agency. He is 20 years old and he spent a short time at the adoption agency. His original owner passed away and i believe was an older women. I am a 34 year old male I have a good amount of experience with other birds but i am trying to get some advice from someone that has more expertise with African greys. I have had him for 2 weeks. He came with his own cage which is very spacious and has his original toys and perches. I have a large variety of zupreme food and fresh fruits and veggies i give him daily. So he is absolutely terrified of me. He shakes in fear when i put food in his bowls. Occasionally he will take a treat from me through the bars but if I move too close he falls to the bottom of the cage and does a human scream like ahh ahhh ahh ahh. I leave the door open on his cage so he can go to the top and have free range but he always stays in his cage and never comes out even when i'm not home. I have tried to very slowly and gently place my hand under him to pick him up from the bottom of the cage a couple times but he screams and has bitten me hard enough to draw blood on 2 occasions. I have him in a medium travel location near my kitchen so when i prepare food and watch tv he is near me. What I want to know is, should I just go very very slow and just feed him and give him his space or should i press the issue and hold him. I am not really afraid of the bites i just want to know the best way to help him get over his fear.

Yes he is sorely missed and maybe by me more than any other individual on this forum, he truly was a blessing to those in need of greyt advice here and a true personal friend, I'm so glad he made all those stickys that we can refer back to when needed.

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

Ray, they really do help keep us centered, don't they. I just can't imagine the depth of your loss and I am so glad that you and Corky have each other as you both learn to navigate these new skies together. HRH came to me about a year after the death of my sister. Having her to focus on helped bring me slowly back to the surface. It is so good to have you back. You were one of the first people to make me feel at home here those several years ago. <3 Neoow, thank you. HRH's language usage still blows me away too. I feel that she landed here with me during a perfect "sweet spot," neurologically age-wise for language development in addition to having the personality for it. Sometimes I have to admit that I am a bit envious of those who have snuggle birds or more physically interactive birds. She is such a busybody and while she enjoys perching upon us, is not one to be touched -- much like The Queen! :D SRS, I just adore GreycieMae! My Joe loves to watch videos of the two of you and we both are a bit wistful at times at how gregarious and interactive Greycie is with you. She is such a character and so fun loving!

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.

OH, I love that parrot math. I know the answer. 0

It's true for me. After getting my second bird the rest of my flock came rather quickly. I now have 13 and holding!

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

Congratulations on adopting your grey! I agree with the above posts. Just take a step back and let your grey adjust to his new surroundings. He has been taken away from everything he knows and is familiar with and greys can be particularly change adverse little critters. He might be staying in his cage because it is the only familiar thing he knows right now. Just keep talking softly to him, let him know what you're doing it. Read him some stories or the news or whatever else you have laying around. Get him used to hearing your voice. Do this from a distance. Get him used to you moving around the room and going near his cage. But give him space. Don't try and force the issue with him. Just feed and water him and let him know you're around if he wants you. Over time he will slowly adjust to you, your home and his new routine. Depending on the bird this could take days, weeks or months. You have to be prepared to be patient and understanding as he adjusts to and learns about his new home. He might start to show an interest in you or what you're doing. Great. Let him. Encourage his curiosity but don't force him too soon. Let him figure out when he wants to be move involved and come towards you. I agree that whistling is a great way to communicate with a grey. My grey Alfie loves to whistle back and forth with me. Again, this might take a while and you might not get a peep out of him for a while- but just keep encouraging him. He'll come round eventually.

I like the whistling idea, (or just talking to the bird) -- both are such indirect contact, not forcing bird to be touched, held or anything (until he's ready and wanting this sort of contact). And I like that the primary direct interactions suggested involve the grey receiving foods & treats (very positive contact). This feels safe and non-threatening to a new parrot, as he settles in and learns he's in a loving safe environment. At least parrot settles in, and you can figure out if this is going to be a needy cuddly parrot, a more solitary stand-off-ish parrot, or a "you're gonna get bit every time" parrot.

I'm going to add something here. This is controversial with some because they feel that too much whistling leads to no talking. However, my first interactions with Timber when I brought him home were whistles. I quickly learned when he responded to nothing else, that he would whistle back when I whistle. I think it helped us build rapport. Timber talks, whistles, and makes a variety of sounds, but he will always whistle. Sometimes I would have to whistle 3 or 4 times, but he would finally respond. Just a thought!

Two weeks is not long for a grey. It took 3 months for my rehomed TAG to decide it might be OK to interact with me (a little). Hang in there though, it's worth it. It has been 7 years now and he is bonded to me and we have a good relationship.

I would add one more thing: Even if his previous home was not a good home, and even if your home would be better; the grey logic is going to be "better the devil you know than the one you don't." A mistreated grey could still grieve for what was familiar. Change is stressful to them -- even good change, in some cases. Sad but true. Also, with rehomed parrots (even ones from bad homes)... Remember that most people, when first adopting a parrot are very kind and understanding, lavishing toys, praise, excellent diets, etc., upon the new novelty parrot. And then after the novelty wears off, neglect may follow. Homes may turn into an all seed diet, water dishes not refilled regularly (dirty water), scaring or yelling at parrot for being too loud, etc.. The parrot would then learn that in a new home, even if the new care is good and the people are kind... it's not guaranteed that won't change to neglect again. Sad fact, and may NOT be the case with yours. But greys are sensitive, and esp with a rehomed grey -- they remember the past. So, trust may take longer to build. To prove you're ALWAYS going to be kind, offer fresh foods and clean water, and not hurt or scare him. This is a major reason why so many parrots are re-homed: an owner's lack of patience and parrot knowledge -- good care can eventually turn into neglect. And parrots remember and need to recover. NOT saying this is the case with yours -- but greys are sensitive and nervous even about good changes. Best of luck!

Great thank you both for the info. I will take it very slow and give him space. I will just hand feed him treats and let him adjust at his own rate.

So much to think about. I also have a rehomed Grey (22 years now) who had some previous homes -- one of which was bad. Firstly, a new home takes a long time to adjust to -- many Greys are particularly sensitive and nervous about any changes in their life. Secondly, the parrot is still grieving for his/her previous owner. Greys are like humans this way -- they don't just get over a loss in a couple months -- it takes a long time to heal. Thirdly, you don't know parrot's history -- your grey may have a fear of men in general, or you may just resemble someone who wasn't kind or liked by the Grey in his previous home. We can't know if this is just a normal grey's reaction to all the changes going on in his life right now or if his fear is directed towards you personally. Time will tell. A good trick for getting a parrot used to you is indirect time spent around parrot. Letting the Grey watch you do things while NOT bothering him, letting him just observe you going about your life ... he might realize you don't present any danger to him -- but it going to take much more than 2 weeks, I'm afraid. Like SRSeedBurners said: patience. Best of luck -- would love to see a post later sharing a bond has developed between you and that you're both happy and adjusted to this new relationship!!!

For now just let him adjust to you and the goings on around your house. They can take months before they make any kind of headway towards you. Keep offering treats as this really can get to a bird. There is a technique used to tame wild/feral pigeons called finger feeding. Birds for whatever reason can dissociate a humans hands from the human they're attached to and remain afraid of the hand but not the face hence along came the finger feeding technique to solve this. I used it on my lil wild conure and it worked just like it works on pigeons, but I'm not so sure about if it will help speed things up with an adult african grey (they're a little smarter than the rest of the herd 😂 ) Time and patience are ultimately whats going to win him over. You have no idea what kind of baggage he's carrying either. It sounds to me like he was rough handled, with a broom or something. Lots of birds come from these situations.

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

Yep, If you have it they want it. It`s the law.

Love memes and loved these! Thanks for sharing

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')

Here's another one that we can all relate to:

That's a zon for you!

Crick was the worlds biggest clown.

WHERE DID I LEAVE THAT DUST PAN ?

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT ?? ?

Love parrot memes (well, I like all sorts of memes!)

I just checked and I got mine back in 2014 - so I've had it for quite a while now! It still looks good as new though.

I wonder if the plastic bowl thing in the King's Cage was temporary. I bought mine in 2017, and it has metal bowls...

Envy the wider cage for Corky. At the time, I had wanted the 36" wide cage, but they all had macaw wide bar spacing; and I couldn't risk my CAG getting his head stuck between the bars. But that was in 1997 -- glad they make a 36" cage now with tighter bar spacing.

Funny you should say that. Alfie has had his Liberta Enterprise cage for many years now- easily over 7 years. He Has always preferred the top half of the cage because he has always liked being higher up. He very rarely went to the bottom of the cage. Nowadays he seems more willing to go and stand on the bottom of the cage and have a look around. There's nothing down there but I may buy some additional perches and toys just to make it a bit more interesting for him. Similarly, he's never been interested in exploring the floor. If he did go on the floor he would fly up to higher ground as soon as he could. Recently he has started exploring the floor as well... which is slightly problematic because I normally 'hide' things I don't want him to chew/throw on the floor! Might have to rethink that plan! Funny how they change and open up, even after years of exhibiting the same behaviours. It's taken him 16 years to want to explore the floor! This is Alfie's cage (although he has the first edition): https://www.northernparrots.com/enterprise-large-top-opening-parrot-cage-antique-prod950025/ Height - 208cm (82") Inside Height 167cm (65.75") Width of Cage (without seed catcher) - 102cm (40") Total Depth (without seed catcher) - 76cm (31.75") I got the biggest sized cage I could at the time because he has to stay in his cage whilst I'm at work. I'm now toying with the idea of building an indoor aviary instead of a cage so he can have a floor to ceiling cage. I've got several other home improvement projects I need to complete first though, so it'll be a few years before I can think about it.

Corkys cage is 36X24X72 and she will use every inch of her cage. Some greys will stay in the top section at first but after time they will explore every inch. Weather Corky is in her cage or out of her cage she likes to walk around the floor and bite your toes.

I don't have the model number but the travel cage is exactly the same- except for the bowls. I have two black plastic bowls. I wonder if it was a temporary change? Or maybe it came with plastic bowls but had too many complaints so they switched to metal? The plastic ones clip over the top of the feeder doors- so not even sure I could change mine out. I have had the cage for some years now. I still love it. The bowls are more of an annoyance than anything- just because I know Alfie could destroy them if he really wanted to!