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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 😆

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!

Look at that handsome boy! Very nice aviary for your spoiled boy to enjoy!

I read the whole thread, but only advice I could give is time. I can now have Sukei on my lap and absolutely no more biting. He comes up and snuggles now with me and Kasey, my German shepherd. i have no reason why but time. It seems to me greys do what they want to when they’re good and ready. i hope your issue is resolved, mine seems to be. I really hope that people reading these things understand a grey is not a toy, but a life commitment.

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.

So I think I have managed to create a bit of a 'problem' with Alfie and stepping up. It's not major- but am just looking to see if anyone has any advice. Over the years Alfie has been known to lunge and bite if he didn't want to step up. We went through a time when our trust broke down a bit and I had to re-evaluate if I was the best owner/home for Alfie. Long story short, I was able to make some changes to my life and living arrangements to improve things for us both. I am still sometimes a bit wary of Alfie lunging/biting. Although he doesn't normally break the skin it still hurts and I feel it sets us back. So I always try and read his cues and avoid the possibility of a bite. It's been working well. One of the things I did during this time when we were rebuilding our trust was use a wooden dowel perch for him to step up on if I needed to transfer him somewhere else or get him back in his cage. That meant if I read it wrong and he decided to lunge, it would be the stick that would get the damage and not me. When I was more confident about things I would use my arm (he doesn't step up for a hand, only my wrist - always has). This was generally fine. Alfie gradually learned that he didn't need to lunge to tell me "no" - he could just turn away and I would respect that and back off. I've now noticed though that more often than not, he will refuse to step up on my arm but will willingly step up for the perch. So I'll offer an arm and say 'step up' and he'll back off/turn away. I back off (because otherwise I know I'll get bitten). I go and fetch the wooden dowel and he hops straight on it before I've even said "step up" Very occasionally he will step up on my arm and I will heavily praise this and offer a treat. When he steps up on the wooden dowel he gets a treat and a 'good boy'. It's not a major problem - but I would like to try and swing it back so he's more reliably stepping up on my arm- as this helps if we're visiting my parents or elsewhere where I don't have a wooden dowel handy. However, I know that if he refuses the arm and I go back and ask a second time, he's probably going to lunge... especially if I'm not confident in my movements and ask. (He seems to be able to read me SO well!) Any advice for trying to improve this?

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 have two Bengal cats, Widget and Pixel who are both indoor cats. They will be 14 years old later this year but are still quite energetic when they want to be. They co-exist with Alfie quite well and both learned from a young age to leave him well alone. They pay Alfie no mind and don't harass him whilst he is in his cage and I separate them when I let him out- they typically get the upstairs and Alfie gets the downstairs. My living room door handle had to be taken off and put back on upside down to help with this, as otherwise Widget could open the door and let himself in. Anyway, this works well as the cats have everything they need upstairs and it gives Alfie enough room to fly around, get some exercise and generally cause all sorts of mischief. The other day, Widget was asleep on the sofa in the living room and I needed to let Alfie out so I woke Widget up, gave him some fuss and then shooed him out of the room. I let Alfie out as usual and he flew over to his tree on the dinner table. Then he immediately flew over to his standing tree at the other side of the room. He then flew back to the original tree. That was a bit unusual as he usually stops somewhere to stretch and preen first. All of a sudden, Pixel scurries across the room, looking a bit worried. Last time I'd seen her, she was upstairs and I obviously hadn't noticed her wander in to the living room at some point. Alfie was still flying around because he knew it wasn't right that she was there. Thankfully, I was able to get Pixel to stop running around and picked her up to remove her from the room. Phew! Alfie then settled ok and we carried on with our evening. I think Pixel was too scared of all the flapping to know what to do but I'm just so glad she didn't try and chase Alfie - or spot him before he spotted her. The stupid thing is, I normally do check around the rest of the room to make sure I got both of them out. That one moment of complacency could have ended very badly... although I'm honestly not sure who would have come off worse with that one... either way, I felt very guilty for a good while after! Have you ever slipped up/made a mistake and had a near miss as a result?

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!

Summer in the UK so far has been a bit of a washout. Most of the hot and sunny days have been when I'm stuck at work. But this weekend we finally got some lovely sunny weather! Today I did a bit of gardening, scrubbed down the aviary and then put Alfie out there to enjoy the sunshine. This is only the second time he's been out there this year. He absolutely loves it out there... so much so that he's a right pain to get back inside. 🤣 But all that sunbathing, climbing, preening and watching/listening to everything going on around him obviously tired him out! 20240728_135615.mp4

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.

Alfie looks like he has some Huey'tude. He has that grumpy old man look just like Huey.

Alfie spent some more time in his aviary yesterday after his routine vet visit to have his beak filed back. He has crossbeak and needs an appointment with the vet every so often to help keep it in check.

Super nice! Love the pics!

That is so cool! He looks like he's enjoying it

Well, it seems he has decided what he likes & what makes him feel most comfortable. Maybe just continue to let him dictate his step up comfort level & don't try & do anything different. In time you most likely will find that he decided to change things up once he feels totally secure & trusting that you will always do the same thing each time. It can be frustrating for you, but he is probably frustrated that he never knows how your gonna try & get him to step up. when he is ready, he will let you know by doing something different. I think patience is the key...:)

Totally 100% agree with you! If they aren't fully trusting you, that is an issue for sure. They need to feel secure when they are perched.

I think there is a lot to the "unsteadiness" of an arm. Timber has a hand thing so hands are out. It has to be my forearm. I've noticed when he's on my arm he's adjusting to keep balance and fight slipping. I usually grab the bottom of my sleeve and make sure the surface he steps on is tight, which really helps. I can see that being at least a part of it.

I totally get this! He has communicated to you he doesn't like things from behind & it is great you underatnd that & respect it. There is no nail polish or a ring he might not like on your hand or wrist? When you ask him to step up onto your hand, what part of your hand are you using & where do you place your hand? Also, he will feel your hesitation, so always be confident & if you do get bit, don't react, they love to get emotion out of you & that will quickly reinforce his biting behavior when stepping up. Sometimes when I expect a bite, I will lay my hand flat & strong, palm down. I always place it at the belly just above their feet, placement can be everything. Let us know

Have you tried offering him a favorite treat while positioning your arm or hand behind him so he'll be distracted while stepping back onto you? Whenever my greys put out a spicy mood vibe, I'll grab a snow pea pod, offer it and while they're taking a bite they'll automatically step back onto my waiting wrist.

Gosh, I dont know what to advise. If he likes the dowel, I would just use that until he is so comfortable with that & time goes on that he forgets about stepping up on you & biting. can you take the dowel with you to your parents? Als, my 2 greys & my 1 amazon will step up onto my arm, but really don't prefer it as there is nothing to really grab onto, and your skin can slide..grap your arm tight with your hand & twist it, your skin isn't firm & it's easier for them to lose balance & fall. they prefer something they can dig their claws into if need be. He might like the dowel because he can wrap his claws & hold on tight making him feel more secure. I offer my hand in moments of being unsure about getting bit, but ALWAYS make a fist, if you have a tight fist, there really isn't much to bite or latch onto. I would contiune with the high praise & reward when he does what you like, but replace your arm with a sturdier item. keep us posted & Good luck. remember be patient as we live in their time which passes slowly vs our hurry up world!

I know this probably gets old, but I’m trying to give examples. He was in a bad mood tonight, and maybe you can use this. When your Grey is in a bad mood, they will let you know , and you can avoid flesh loss. Sukie won’t bow his head and makes a click noise when you try to scratch them. You should avoid being bitten. A lot of people post in the Parrot bit me thread. You can avoid being bitten by recognizing your Grey’s mood. I know Sukie That’s all I have. Have a good weekend.

She misses you. And something changed with your environment. I’ll bet misses you is top of mind.

This is a picture of Corey playing with my husband. John wraps her up in a t-shirt and bounces her above the bed in a birdie sling. She loves it: makes chicken sounds. It's only taken us 20+ year for her to be willing to be on her back. When we first got her [as an adult] she would NOT step up to our hand. It "only" took about 6 months before she was willing to come out of her cage onto our hand. Like you guys say: it's "grey time".

What great pictures! Thanks. Wish I could find something like that where I live.

Wow, Alfie went shopping! I would love to go to that and take my GreycieMae.

Very cool!

I LOVE this! Looks like you both had a blast! So happy Alfie went with you, looks like he enjoyed all the loot! Thanks, for sharing!

So bizarre when something like that happens. I don't think we'll ever truly understand what makes our parrots tick. Has Talon got a food or treat that she absolutely loves and will do anything for? I wonder if you can use that and only ever give it to her when she goes into her cage without being towelled. Or maybe you can break it down into steps. If she steps up nicely, treat, take a few steps towards the cage and pause, treat. Put her back down where she was. Then try again but get a bit closer to the cage, pause and treat. Assuming all goes well and she doesn't spook/fly off then eventually work your way up to getting her in the cage and she gets a big reward/treat and lots of praise.

Maybe a little more time. Sukei seemed to enjoy her week of boarding. Made some new friends. :)

UPDATE FROM TODAY!! After almost 2 weeks of toweling her & her screeching while I take her downstairs to her new cage which she seems to LOVE! I let her out from her sleep cage upstairs & kept our morning routine just as it always has been. I work from home today, so I thought worst case scenario, she goes in my office with me, but then I thought she would LOVE that & try to do that every day...I had a small box on the counter which she loves, she went in while I was making their breakfast & chewed away..peeking out at me every so often to see what I was up to....After I was totally doen & ready to go to work. I debated...do I throw a towel over the box & put her in her cage??? Or do I make a normal attempt at her stepping up & walking her to her cage.....Tough choice cause I hate chasing her around the house..I tried the latter...She was GOOD AS GOLD! She stepped up & said her usual " be back soon okay?" and I set her in her cage ..SUCCESS! It made my whole day, I was so excited I had to call my husband and tell him at work LOL So lets hope tomorrow goes as well also. But for today, I am thrilled!! :)

Had anything been changed, moved or added to Talon's cage before she escaped?

Been through 2 (minor) earthquakes and one sonic boom -- my parrots took it in stride. I had to see the news to even know what had happened each time (east coaster here). But each time when I felt the whole house shake and could see my chandelier swinging -- I was a little freaked out. My dog started panting and pacing (as she did during thunderstorms) - wanting my comfort yet unable to settle herself enough to accept my comfort.... But parrots? Ya just never know how parrots will react. I think my parrots always found some joy through a little drama. lol Would NOT want to know what a serious earthquake would do. (shudder).

Yes, very weird. The worst earthquake I ever experienced was the big one in Silmar, located in So. Cal. It was over 7.1 in magnitude, and the earthquake sounds along with the shaking, rattling and rolling were frightening. My dog dived under my bed, and my brother went outside to watch the ground ripple and roll. My goldfish also swished out of its aquarium and unfortunately died. We usually have smaller quakes, thank goodness. Many of the epicenters are to the north of us and in the desert regions.

When I was stationed in California I rode through a quake. You always imagine what they are like and then when you are in one it's totally different. I remember the rise and fall of the building we were in and some back and forth in different directions. When it was over all the trees and street lights were swaying. Very weird experience.

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?

I think this is a great idea and I have seen a few people do this. Some modify it and attach a dog crate onto the frame. Others do what you have suggested have have a mesh screen over the top. I have a couple of options for Alfie when I take him out. I have a small metal cage for him when I take him in the car- e.g to take him to the vets. I use that if we're going to be out for a long time, as it has food and water dishes he can't remove. I often take him with me when I visit my parents, as he absolutely adores my mum and it means he's not left alone. I also have a little camping trolly/cart that the cage fits in, so if I'm taking him somewhere where we'll be moving around (e.g a couple of parrots shows I've visited in the last couple of years) then I can pull the cage around in that. If I'm just taking him out for a walk then I have a backpack carrier for him which has a single perch in it. It did come with food/water bowls but they are just attached via velcro, so the first thing he does is rip them off and drop them... which means I end up with water running down my back! 🤣 Alfie has the same attitude about harnesses. I do have a harness for him and I did try and start harness training a few times... but he hates his back/wings being touched and the loop to go over his head is so small we never progressed that far with it. I never forced the issue because I'd quite like to retain all my fingers! 😁

My tag does this. she lures you in with her sweetness, then BAM, she takes a nip! She has always been a jokester & lives for outsmarting me. I never fall for her tricks, cause I will get a bite! They have such different personalities.

Advice needed: I have Talon who has a sleep cage in my bedroom, she comes out in the am, has breakfast with me & I put her in her downstairs cage when I go to work about an hour later. My other 2 parrots sleep downstairs, dont come out in the am because my amazon never goes back in her cage unless its nite. It has been this way for 19 years...2 weeks ago, Talon escaped her cage while I was at the store ( which has happened several times over the years) & just hung out in the kitchen with no issues...Ever since then ( 2 weeks later) I can not get her to go in her cage no matter what tricks I try...I have to catch her in a towel and put her in...she mostly sits on a top shelf in her cage & for some reason wont go around her cage even to eat of drink that I can tell ( I have cameras)...She seems scared of something, so little by little I ended up taking all her toys out one by one to see if that was the issue. I have tried EVERYTHING, she is perfectly fine when she is out of her cage, and she will willingly go to her sleep cage at nite. Just desperate now as I need her to go in her cage willingly & not having to chase her & corner her to catch her every day...Before this, she willingly stepped up & went in her cage whenever I asked...thinking of buying her a new cage, since I am at my wits end..all my tricks she remembers & wont fall for more than once! Appreciate any help if anyone has any suggestions..Thank you, desperate for answers!

I have never experienced an earthquake before as I live in the UK and I am thankful for that. Every time I read about them, they sound terrifying!