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Good to hear from you and Alfie again. Been really quiet around here. I'm guilty of that as I only come around when I want something, kind of like my Greys 😆

If you haven't seen my original post about Odie: https://greyforums.org/topic/26222-my-long-lost-odie-podie/#comment-282822 Odie has finally come home after 30+ years. When I went to see Odie in 2019, my aunt told me she wants Odie to come back to me. She actually put that in her will. So when she passed away a in April, I asked my mother who lives in the area to go get Odie. Four weeks later I hit the road to New Mexico. Unlike last time when I met Odie, Odie knew who I was right off the bat. There was no shyness, or acting like he was unsure if he wanted to be on this 'new' person. In 2019 he didn't know who I was until I started talking to him the way I used to and you could see the light come on. He looks like he's in terrible shape from all the feather plucking. My aunt told me this started when TIgger died who was his buddy bird that was also another bird I had way back when. Odie is full of personality. We believe he's male although I've never tested him. Has huge feet! He reminds me so much of Huey that I accidentally call him Huey all the time. He loves to work on cardboard, just like Huey. Odie is a talker. He talks in my aunt's voice. He was not a talker when I had him years ago. He loves to tell my mom's bird, Kiwi, to 'shut up' and 'stop it' all the time when Kiwi gets into his squawk mode. After a while we were all telling Kiwi to shut up and stop it with Odie leading the chorus. He will ask 'want to go outside, hmmmm?' in my aunt's voice. He has rattled off some other sentences in her voice that I just can't make out. She always talked in a frail little voice so that's what he does. Odie loves to give kisses and loves a good head scritch, but if I do it too long or try to cuddle him to much, he will tell me to 'stop it'. 🤣 He's been fed a junk diet of bird store seed and peanuts his whole life. He transitioned well to the sprouts/cook that I feed. He acts like I feel, an old bird, seems to sleep more during the day. Loves to watch TV, I guess that's what he did with my aunt in the later years when she retired. He also spent a lot of time outside in the garden because he asks to go out a lot. He's not much for my wife, still shy around her and really doesn't want to be touched by her. I suspect that will change over time. With me, he seeks me out wherever I am. He can't fly so he gets on the floor and hikes it. GreycieMae is being a brat about it all. The second day I had them all in the living room, she did one of her fake screams and a hot lap around the living room from the kitchen and got Huey and Odie launched. Odie ended up hanging from my pant leg and Huey was doing circles around the living room. Greycie did this when we introduced Toby for the first time. She is such a spoiled diva. Odie seems to have busted airsacs. Whenever he whistles/talks and has his wings lifted I can see an air bubble under the skin that blows up and pulls back in. THat really bothers me. No idea how long that has been going on. Going to head to the vet about it and a general checkup although I'm not sure I want to hear any bad news. We'll see. Hopefully I can give Odie a happy life from here forward. I feel really bad the condition he is in but all I can do is give him the best from here on. He seems to be a happy bird so I'll take that. Odie with sleepy eyes at 2:30am sitting in the truck about to head for Texas: Odie cute as a button working on his cardboard. e8d7442a-91c8-4f95-90f6-0073874d510b.mp4

Odie had a vet appointment a few days ago. Still awaiting blood work results. The vet agreed with the ruptured air sacs. She said it doesn't seem to be affecting his breathing at all so she's just going to leave it be. He got his photo taken with the vet. He has settled in really well. He's about as naughty as can be. Loves to secretly get into stuff and seems to love getting caught. I used to feel bad for him that he would always say "Odie you're a bad bird" but after watching him he seems to relish getting caught being naughty. He ripped up some carpet next to my wood stove. He also snuck onto a table where I was doing a puzzle and dismantled 3/4 of the puzzle. When he got caught doing that he let out a human giggle and ran back to his cage top. Hard to be mad at this little guy, so he gets away with murder. Now we strategically place things on the table that he can get into and we will ignore him for a while and then pretend to make a huge deal when he gets 'caught'. He loves it. He really excels at talking. A couple examples: - Greycie was being her usual bratty self and throwing stuff around on the countertop in the kitchen as she does when she's had it with waiting on breakfast. I started talking to her and saying "...you hungry Greycie? Are you hungry baby?". Odie then said "you got some food Daddy?". I nearly fell on the floor. I've never witnessed a bird speak in such context. First he interpreted what I was telling Greycie. Then he strung that sentence together. And I assume he used to call my aunt's husband 'Daddy'. He's not a bird that sits around talking constantly. He just blurts out words and statements and most of the time they are in perfect context to what we are saying. He's a very smart birdy. - I put him in his travel cage and I pull him around on top of a wagon. He works with me in the garden and mostly under the carport working on truck/side-by-side/whatever I got going at the time. I am always playing my Soundboks listening to classic rock or classic country. Odie love to sing in a deep voice and also he uses a high pitched baby-talk voice that I'm sure he stole from my wife. One day it was getting a little hot and I said to Odie "it's getting hot Odie" and he immediately countered with "I Know!". Another fall over moment. Some recent pics of the little nut

Hi all! Apologies for being a bit radio silent recently. I do check in every so often but haven't responded to posts for a while and haven't started any new discussions recently. So I thought I'd just check in, say hello and see how everyone and their flocks are doing? Alfie and I are doing good. Work is crazy busy at the moment for me but life with Alfie is good. He had a routine vet appointment last week to have his beak burred (it grows out wonky so he has to have some help every so often to keep it in check). He was the best boy, as usual. Pretty sure he gave the vet a bit of a run around first off but they all seem to love him there, so I don't think he was TOO boisterous!! He also got to go in my new car, which he wasn't too happy about at first as it's a different size, shape and colour to my previous one. So that warranted a short adjustment period for him. I'm very thankful that Alfie is not change adverse and takes a lot of things in his stride. I've got a ticket to go to the 'Think Parrot' show again this year in June and this year I decided to book a hotel to break up the driving. So I'm heading down on the Saturday, going to the show on the Sunday and returning home on Monday. Alfie is coming with me for the whole trip so that'll be an experience for him. I double checked with the hotel that they're ok for a parrot to stay - I paid extra for a 'pet' but they probably normally expect dogs so I figured I'd better check to make sure we didn't get turned away! Alfie also turned 22 years old on April 16th. I didn't get him any goodies for his birthday- I'm saving up for the parrot show to buy him lots of toys/treats and various other bits and pieces. So he'll get some belated birthday presents then! Hope those of you that are still hanging around and checking in to the forums are all well and good? Hope your flocks are all good too, of course! Aaand of course, got to remember the photo-tax! 😁

HI ! I check in but when I dont see any new posts, I dont log in. I appreciate everyone checking in here! My Nilah turned 16 last week. No special presents for her. She is celebrated and spoiled every day..so.I did sing happy birthday to her, but she didnt care! My flock is good, of course with springtime, my amazon is yelling her head off, but this too shall pass. Here is a few updated pics! I rarely get the 3 together in 1 pic, so I am happy with that one!

Aww, handsome Alfie! Not much to report bird-wise from my world. Am looking into options to help dampen the noise in our home. We don't have any carpets, so I'm hoping to find some sort of sound paneling that I can move across the bird area as needed. With 10 birds, no one can hear what the other is saying when they all decide to have a little birdie conference!

Huey and Greycie both copied an annoying high-pitched shriek from my caique. Now they have shriek battles to see who can do it the most and the loudest. The only solace I have is the new guy, Odie, tells them to 'stop it' and 'shut up'. I'm wondering if they would go good with tiki masala sauce.

This makes me thankful that I only have one grey to worry about. He loves anything loud and obnoxious. He has this ear piercing squeak that he saves for when I'm walking next to his cage and it's so painful when he does it. I try so hard not to react so as to not enforce it... but he knows full well that he's got me every time. I can't imagine three of them making the same noise! As least you don't have this problem: Swearing parrots moved enclosures to help stop their bad language - BBC Newsround

I went back to the Think Parrots Show again this year! This year I decided to break the driving up and stayed in a hotel for two nights, as it meant less stressing about timings and traffic etc. So I drove down on the Saturday and came back the Monday. The hotel was about 2 mins away from the venue and the show was on the Sunday. This meant I could enjoy the show and not have to worry about driving back or leaving early etc. It took about 2.5 hours to get there and about 4.5 hours to get home (traffic on the M25 was atrocious!) I took Alfie with me and this is the first time he's stayed in a hotel. I wasn't sure how he would react but as usual, he took everything in his stride and had a lovely time! I stocked up on all sorts of toys and treats for him which should hopefully last a while. Here's some photos of our adventure! Hotel with Alfie in his travel cage/wagon: Alfie exploring the hotel: Waiting to get in Inside! We saw lots of other parrots and watched all three masterclasses on various topics. There were loads of vendors there selling all sorts of parrot related goodies. It was a great day. Alfie wasn't too worried and enjoyed all the fuss and attention he got- except when people tried to poke their fingers in his cage (why do people do that?!). I warned them but then he gave them an extra stern warning by lunging at them if they didn't get out of the way quick enough! There was also a free flight display - which wasn't quite as well organised last year. Last year there was one guy with lots of different parrots and he intoduced them all, talked about them for a while and demonstrated them free flying. This year it was a group of people with lots of macaws who let the bird free fly but didn't really talk much. It was impressive to watch them all flocking together but then it went a bit wrong when some seagulls took an interest. One landed on top of a large sign and refused to come back, one got chased into a tree and hunkered down to get away from the seagulls, one ended up on the venue roof and wandered off. All of the goodies! Back at the hotel. Alfie was really tired after his busy day so didn't get into too much mischief in the room on the Sunday evening. He just chilled out and had a nice snooze! All packed up and ready for home The haul! One tired birdy, back home and safe

Wow, Alfie really had a nice haul there. I hope someone turned down his bed while he was staying in such nice accommodations. Something about dragging them around in their wagons that really appeals to me.

What a cool thing to do bringing Alfie along with you! Thank you for sharing all your pics with us. Alfie is one spoiled birdie!

He is top naughty. After my last post he got another spot in our carpet so he's now on no out-of-cage time unless he's being closely watched. Greycie's not this destructive. She just likes to toss stuff off the counters, run around on the floor and ankle bite for fun and take an occasional chomp out of the top of a door or cabinet. So she gets watched closely too. Huey is indifferent, doesn't really care. Odie however would love to start a fight, he thinks he's a brawler. Btw...we still play the same games on top of the fridge with Greycie, she loves it.

What a story and what a blessing that you have him back! I can imagine Gracie's reaction. Hope the vet visit goes well.

What an amazing story! I'm so happy he's now back in your care. He will have a chance to eat well and to be loved again by his very first human. Love everything about this! And that GreycieMae...So like her to make such a grand statement! I sincerely hope the air sack issue will not be of concern.

We are all good here at Timber's house! Alfie takes a beautiful picture. You are blessed that he isn't change averse. Timber gets a mad-on when I change the color of my nail polish, ha. Good to hear from everyone!

I am so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine how you feel, though I remember how I felt when I rushed Timber to the avian vet and didn't expect him to survive the night. People who do not own a parrot don't understand the special connection we develop with them. I've had and loved many pets over my many years, but until Timber I didn't understand the special connection I developed with him that I hadn't experienced before. I'm sure you will grieve, just as we do when we lose a close family member. There will probably be harder days and easier days, and hopefully at some point you can begin remember the joy your bond brought Brutus and you more often than the crushing weight of loss. God bless, my prayers are with you.

I'm late too but Happy New Year! GreycieMae actually tanked up on eggnog news years day. What a piggy.

Love the pics! He's adorable!

Sorry to hear about the recall. Found it humorous that your birds have you feeding them frozen waffles and only a certain brand. Who's running that show anyway?!? My birds have me trained on Honey Grahams. And we call them 'cookies' around here. They go wild when I ask 'who wants a cookie?'. GreycieMae will hang from the cabinet door where the cookies are stored.

Found the FDA SKU list: https://www.fda.gov/media/182860/download?attachment

Are you able to research the SKUs being recalled and compare those to what you have? Hopefully all will be okay. Fingers crossed.

Darn. But I'm not surprised, seeing that greys usually perceive new things as evil.

Quick update on the Corey stroller experience. Corey does NOT like the moving stroller. Apparently, moving the stroller makes the stroller evil. She even flies out of the stroller [and lands OK on the ground] in the house and she is very reluctant flyer. Hopefully, we can get her through the "the stroller is evil" phase. P.S. I will post a picture of the finished stroller when we get there.

I've done similar in the past- it was quite a few years ago and I was cleaning out Alfie's cage. He was in the cage as the cats were about. I took the bottom tray out and started cleaning that, then for some unknown reason I then took the grill out of the bottom as well and took that outside to wash it off. I heard some commotion because Alfie was jumping around his cage and knocking toys around, walked back in and saw Widget in the bottom of his cage having a good sniff around. I think it was a similar thing to your Wilson - he wasn't phased by or interested in Alfie, he was more interested in this space that he normally can't get to. So I quickly ushered Widget out from the bottom of the cage and put the grill back in place before apologising profusely to Alfie! 😬

I've had more near misses than I like to think about. In this case, all's well that ends well, and I suspect it won't happen again. Things like this will happen, but when it does I think it makes us even more vigilant. I have two maine coon cats. For the most part, they seem more curious about Timber than predatory, but that can change in a heartbeat. Timber on the other hand, is frighteningly fearless when it comes to the cats. I remember once when Timber was in his very large cage (about six feet tall, about 6 inches off the ground. Timber was out as usual and I had went in the bathroom, which is only feet from his cage. I thought the cats were confined to another area as usual. I came out of the bathroom and there was Wilson (one of the cats) inside the bottom of Timber's cage. He was not looking for Timber, just curious about what was in that "forbidden" area it seemed. Timber was rapidly making his way from the outside of the cage (he was on the playtop) to confront the trespasser. I grabbed Wilson and returned him to the other room. I think I was more terrorized than either of them!

I'll take the smoke alarm sound any day over having 3 parrots making long, sustained belching sounds, one after the other, as if they'd just downed a tall frothy mug of beer!

Haha! Oh, that's so funny! Would love to have a match off with your two. The worst sound mine have picked up is my son's prolonged burping noise following with back and forth shrieking matches. I need me an Odie to help referee!

Oh, I am so jealous! That looks super cool! Alfie seemed to enjoy it. I am someone who can't stand to see parrots outside loose like that. I don't care if they have Clipped wings ( which I am very much against) IT scares me to see..Thanks for sharing, I loved the pictures! Looks like so much fun!

Wow, wish there was something like that in my area! There isn't to my knowledge. It looks like you got a nice haul of stuff too. We used to have a "bird fair" about 1.5 hours away I went to ever year. Not as large, but I could pick up all kinds of goodies. It has disappeared though. Glad Alfie did OK in the hotel. I've always thought Timber would be OK as long as we were there with him. He's pretty adaptable if he can see his "people." To locations anyway, toys not so much He still takes take warming up to any new toy or cage addition. Glad you had a good time and enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Aw that's amazing news! I was waiting for the update! Hopefully Gracie settles down with the change soon enough. Can't blame her for being a bit grumpy about some added competition!

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Brutus. I think all of us here understand how special it is to get to spend our time with parrots. If you feel up to sharing, maybe it would help to tell us a bit more about Brutus, about his personality, his favourite toys/treats etc etc. Maybe sharing some of the better times with him will help. However it is totally understandable if you are not ready for that yet. Grief is different for everyone and you need to allow yourself time to grieve properly, in whatever way you need to. I'm afraid I don't have much else that can help with what you're going through but please know there are people here who sympathise and understand how tough it must be for you right now.

I am so sorry to read this -- my heart goes out to you. I have no words to help -- it's a huge loss. Again, I am so sorry this happened.

I’m so sorry for the loss of Brutus. I know what you mean by his being your soulmate, and that the bond you shared was incredibly special. It’s okay to feel this pain—take all the time you need to grieve. Everyone here understands how African Greys create deep emotional connections with their person, and I feel deeply saddened by your loss. Please tell us a little bit about Brutus. How did you meet him? What cute quirks did he have? What were his favorite vocalizations to make? How did he enrich your life?

I'd definitely look at an alternative. I used to have one of the Pervue steel carriers and it was so damn heavy I scrapped it for steel when I found these aluminum carriers. Got any ideas?

Happy New Year to all our family & our feathers, & fur families! We put our Xmas tree between the bird rom & living room where we have 2 French doors, It is amazing how my parrots squeeze thru to fly to their cages at night!

I'm a bit late to the party but happy new year everyone!

Yes! Look at him standing proud on there. Timber won't step up on anything but my arm (and only in the hoodie). Good for you!

Hmm. I wonder if it's because I did it on my phone... can you see them now?

Just a slight update on this one. I found and purchased a smaller handheld perch as I figured that would be much easier to carry around to different places with me. It came with a plastic 'guard' that I don't think I can detach (although haven't tried to yet in case I break it). I've had it for a good few weeks and have been slowly introducing it to Alfie. He wasn't keen at first because it was something different. So I took it slow and just got him used to touching it with his beak and rewarding him with treats when he did. He hasn't stepped up on it and usually runs away if I ask him to step up on it. I haven't forced the issue. But tonight, he decided now was the time that he would step up and let me walk him round the room. Lots of praise ensued so he knew it was a good thing. So here he is, on his new portable perch! (I just noticed I had it the wrong way round with the plastic guard pointing in the wrong direction haha)

Cooking does kill listeria, also they were not all listeria positive, it was just a chance..so I am feeling better today that they should be ok. It's listeria mono that is the problem, not listeria species as much

Yes, I have already done that. Part of my job at work is being Certified Food Safety, so I get all the latest recalls from the FDA as soon as they come out. I did check the Lot codes & Many boxes I have in my freezer are on the recall list. My parrots were not happy to not have waffles today. I may have to try the Eggo's, they are made from a different company and not part of the recall. although they don't prefer those for some reason...

We've been thinking of how we could take Corey outside with us for a walk. We decided that we could modify a baby stroller for Corey [which we purchased at a thrift store] and place a net enclosure around the area where Corey would be sitting so she couldn't just fly away if something spooked her. We are now in the process of getting her used to sitting in the stroller. Next we will try to get her use to being in the stroller when we move it around the house. Side note: There is no chance that a parrot leash would ever work with Corey and we could simply keep her on our hand or shoulder. Thanks for any ideas.

So here is a picture of the stroller with the perch attached to the seat base and a picture of the stroller/perch combination with a net basket around it. We purchased a light-weight laundry basket [for about $5.00] and cut out one side. Then we just put the stroller top down over it. We have to make sure to attached the basket firmly to the stroller if we ever get Corey outside in this because she might be able to knock it off if she ever hit it with her wings.

Take it slow with lots and lots of praise and her favourite treats. Hopefully she'll come round eventually!

Yes, they do see new things and change as evil, at least initially. That is the way Timber is anyway. Good luck!

Good luck with it, and please post photos when you complete it as I'd love to see what you end up with. I think it's good to have different options depending on where you're going/what you're doing. I really like the stroller idea, I'm just not handy enough to make something myself! Alfie enjoys getting out and about, as he's quite boisterous for a grey and seems to take it all in his stride. He loves going in his aviary in the garden and I have a similar problem in that I can never convince him to come back out of it in the evening! I have to remove all the toys and perches then put the travel cage over him to get him to go in it! Otherwise, he just climbs away!

Hi Katrina and Karen, Thanks for the replies. Like Alfie, Corey does not usually want anything to touch her wings or back. We have thought of a backpack carrier but thought we would try this first. We only have about $20 invested so far so if it doesn't work out, we are not out a lot of $. Unlike Timber, Corey likes to go outside. We take her to the backyard in her travel cage [as long as it's not too hot]. She really seems to like to look around and preen. It's hard to get her out of the travel cage when we bring her inside. Progress has been slow on the project to get Corey used to the stroller. Seems like there's always something else to get distracted with but if we make progress, I will post. Thanks again, Terry

After numerous attempts to convince Timber he would enjoy the great outdoors (I have the same backback neoow mentioned) I've given up. He does NOT want to go outside, is vocal in his objections, then just looks terrified until I bring him back in. Good luck! I think it probably varies from bird to bird.

I have had close calls. Having always had cats, dogs & birds. My son adopted a black shepard/cattle dog many years ago, He was taken to the shelter many states away ( near my daughter who checked him out first) because he killed all the landlords chickens..My son really wanted this dog, he was in a emotional state at that time & allowing him to get a dog I knew in my heart would help him tremendously...I actually called the shelter to ask about the chicken killing since I had 3 parrots, they really couldn't tell me anything...so we took the chance & drove to 12 hours one way to bring him home. He learned on day 1 that the parrots were off limits after one flew by him & he looked interested. He NEVER went after them, doesnt even pay attntion to them. IN fact they perch on the chair & the dogs wait for the leftover food to dropp so they can catch it. They are out always at the same time while I am home. He just knows & several times when he was asleep ( a black dog) on my black leather couch, my Amazon would fly & land on him thinking he was a couch, he jumps off the couch faster than you can blink! My greys don't pay attention to my dogs. & The dogsonly watch NIlah my amazon, cause she will bite them if she feels they are in her way...they just run away. They are more scared of her , as she's not afraid of anything. I have had 3 cats over the years, they also learned that the birds were off limit..Again they were more scared of the birds as they know NIlah can bite . Accidents can happen, but I am always vigilant watching the goings on when all are around us. We all co-exist, but I don't trust them just in case.

He definitely has a 'tude! If he's in a grump about something then stay well clear, because he will be damn sure to let you know otherwise! And he is SO quick as well.