jenb416

Thanks for the response, something came over him and he started to eat the Harrison's like they're going out of style! I did however recently come across the Totally Organic Pellets (Top) and their ingredients actually look more "organic" than the Harrison's. From what I've read it seems to be a favorable pellet too and it's more affordable than the Harrison's. I'm thinking about maybe getting some of that and mixing it in just to see if he'll take to that too. Anyone have experience with the TOP? Do you think it's better than the Harrison's or is the Harrison's better?

Ok thanks for all the replies. I will open the door and see what happens tomorrow. I just wasn't sure if I should have him out yet or not because his wings are not clipped and honestly I'm still a little scared of him and I don't want him to get hurt or anything. When the prev owners had let him out when he first came out of the cage there he flew for a window and hit it, then he flew behind their couch and knocked a picture down and then flew to the other side of the room and ran into a wall and ended up between the wall and a chair but when I went over to him there and held my hand out he had stepped up and acted fine didn't bite or anything but now he seems like a different bird since I brought him home so I'm not sure if he'll put up a fight here or not. My confidence had grew and I thought I was ok until the big bite and now it's like starting all over again.

Yes every time it's been in his cage. I haven't taken him out of his cage yet because I've only had him for about 2 weeks and I'm scared I won't be able to get him back in at this point if I let him out I was going to try to work with him some first.

So I thought everything has been going well. I started learning his moves and got to know when he was going to whip his head around to give a little bite and I haven't gotten bit (if so just barely) for a cpl days. He seems to have calmed down a lot around be and always puts his head down to be rubbed and his chest quivers. A couple days ago I got him to step up and then back down and I give him sunflower seeds as treats to get him to do it. Normally whenever he goes to step up he just puts his beak to my arm first but doesn't really bite if so he just pecks it a little then he steps up. Just a few minutes ago I got a sunflower seed, let him see it and then I went in for him to step up and he looked like he was about to but instead he lunged for my arm and bit down hard and held it for a cpl seconds that felt like an hour. I of course out of instinct screamed oww and I of course was mad and threw the sunflower seed at him which hit his forehead area and then I closed the cage and left. I realize that wasn't the best thing to do but my arm immediately bruised and I don't know what his problem is he didn't give any warning. Now I feel like a kid that fell off a bike and I don't wanna get back on again because that sucker hurt. And hes just sitting there acting like nothing happened the little brat.

I've been trying this but the problem I have is my grey loves his head petted so much whenever my hand gets close to him he immediately puts his head down wanting petted and if I don't he just puts it further down and if I try to get under him he goes to bite. He will literally just put his head so far down it's at his feet so it's impossible for me to get to the right position.

When I was looking at which pellets to get I noticed roudybush contains salt. Currenetly I'm trying the Harrison's coarse which is so far ok he eats a couple but when I put he seeds in he goes crazy eating the seeds. If the Harrison's don't work out I was going to consider roudybush but is the amount of salt that's in roudybush ok for them or would I be better off to try the Harrison's fine? It seems a lot of other people's birds took to the roudybush better than the Harrison's so I was just wondering if it would be better to just skip to that but wasn't sure since I saw salt on the ingredient list?

I was looking at the differences between Volkman Avian Science Super Hookbill seed mix and the Vita Prima Hookbill Formula and I noticed the volkmans has cucumber seed, pumpkin seed and cracked corn, is all of this ok? I thought they couldn't have seeds from fruits or vegetables? Which of these is the better seed mix? Or is there another seed mix that's better? I've listed the ingredients for both below. Volkman: Ingredients: Safflower Seed, Whole Wheat, Oat Groats, Buckwheat, White Proso Millet, Small Yellow Corn, Banana Chips, Peanuts, Red Proso Millet, Kibbled Corn, Small Crack Corn, Carrot Dices, Cantaloupe or cucumber Seed, White Pumpkin Seed, Vitamized Oat Groats, Dehydrated Green Peas, Pineapple Dices, Papaya Dices, Peppers, Pinenuts, and Orange Oil. Vita Prima: Ingredients: Wheat, Safflower Seed, Peanuts, Buckwheat, Oat Groats, White Millet, Flaked Corn, Red Millet, Ground Corn, Pumpkin Seed, Corn Gluten Meal, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Ground Wheat, Calcium Carbonate, Wheat Middlings, Dried Egg Product, Dehydrated Sweet Potato, Ground Oat Groats, Dehydrated Pineapple, Dicalcium Phosphate, Dehydrated Papaya, Dehydrated Banana, Dehydrated Coconut, Orange Extract, Raisins, Vegetable Oil, Salt, L-Lysine, Dehydrated Carrot, Dehydrated Apple, Potassium Chloride, Spirulina, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Magnesium Oxide, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K Activity), Thiamine Supplement, Biotin, Manganese Sulfate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Copper Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Manganous Oxide, Torula Dried Yeast, Cobalt Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Yucca schidigera Extract, Ascorbic Acid, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium bifidum Fermentation Product, and Dried Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Product. Color added.

I'm converting my grey over to pellets from all seeds. I got Harrison's high potency course. First two days he didn't touch them, I have some in a separate dish, some I cut into smaller pieces and I left some big, then I also crushed some and mixed them with his seed dish and added a little water so they'd stick. Today he just ate like 4 pellets so I think he's gonna take to them. Just wondering how many pellets (course size) do most African grey's eat per day? Or if your bird is on Harrison's Course how many pellets does yours eat per day?

What seed mix do you give?

So far he's eaten carrots, green beans, peas, banana and navy beans and he loves it all so I don't think I'm dealing with a picky eater! The previous owners had him on a seed mix only, but I ordered him some Harrison's pellets to try and it is due to be here tomorrow. I plan on giving him the pellets readily available at all times, a mixture of veggies twice a day and I'm not sure if I should keep a seed mix in there with him too or not if he does take to the pellets, would he need seeds and pellets and the veggies?

Is it ok for my congo African grey to eat canned navy beans as long as I rinse them off really well?

I found a post where people posted their views on the best pellet mix, what does everyone think is the best seed mix that can be bought online or in store? Also what does anyone think of these varieties? Look any good or not? http://www.aviannaturals.com/parrotfood_af.html

Great, so when offering the veggie plate if I was giving carrots, green beans and broccoli today would you put like 5 baby carrots, 5 green beans and 3 broccolis? Or would you give more or less of each?

Hello, I'm a new owner of a 6 year old CAG. I just got him 3 days ago. The prev. owners fed him a seed mix only and occasional banana and crackers. I just ordered some Harrison's high potency course pellets that I'll introduce him to. He loves bananas and carrots. My question is how much fruit and vegetables should he get every day? Like if I'm giving him some baby carrots and broccoli, how many baby carrots and how many stalks of broccoli should he be given to eat at one time? Also if he does take to the pellets well, does he need to have pellets AND a seed mix accessible to him all day and then the fruits/vegetables a couple times a day? Do I just let him eat as much pellets and seed mix as he wants? Does he even need seed mix if he eats pellets? Thanks!

Thanks for the responses, like I said in the previous post, he looks at me and bows his head down like he wants petted, so that's why I do, I'm not trying to rush things. But then like I said when I do he's good for a couple seconds and then he bites laughs and then puts his head down to be petted again. While at his previous owners' house they said they thought he was taking a liking to me pretty quickly, how he came right up to my shoulder there and didn't bite. Now at home, when I'm not paying attention to him, he makes sounds and then when I look he bows down. So far I'm the only one he does this with, when other people try to come near his cage he freaks out. I was surprised how gently he takes food and everything from me through the bars and how he does let me pet him for a little bit even on the second day. His cage is in the busiest room of our house so he's being exposed to everything. Thanks for the tips about the cage transition, I hadn't even thought about that yet. So, he should have the pellets accessible to him all the time and a seed mix as well? And then fresh fruit/veggies a couple times a day?

Hi Everyone, About 6 months ago I did research on all the parrots and decided I really wanted a congo african grey. Well about 3 days ago I just got him, the previous owner's father had him from the time he was 8 weeks old up until a year ago (he's 6 years old now) when she got him because I guess her dad couldn't care for him anymore. Her husband took care of him because she said she was kind of afraid of him. Their grandkids fed him and rubbed his head, and while there I rubbed his head, he did kind of "smell" me and nipped at my fingers a little. He did come out of the cage, he flew and hit a window at first but then calmed down. Her husband got him to step up onto his hand, and then "Steely"(the grey) came over to my hand, walked up my arm and stood on my shoulder and played with my hair and didn't bite anymore. I got him home and of course he was scared. He's calmed down now although when my husband comes close to the cage Steely goes crazy. I however can feed him, he takes the food very gently, and does the same when my three year old feeds him banana through the cage. The problem is he bows his head down like he wants scratched/rubbed, I rub his head for a couple seconds then he bites me and then laughs! He then puts his head down again, I rub his head and same thing after a couple seconds he bites me and laughs! I tell him "no that's not nice I'm not going to rub your head anymore if you bite!" so he puts his head down again and same thing again. Sometimes he bites me as soon as I put my finger in there. They have him on Wild Harvest Advanced Nutrition For Parrots (http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Parrots-Small-Bird-Food/I/Wild-Harvest-Bird-Food-Parrot.aspx) and then they give him some banana occasionally and crackers. Through my research I know this is not good, so I ordered some Harrison's High Potency Course and I'm hoping I'll be able to get him eating that. Also he came with a cage, but I have a huge one in storage that's like 5 1/2 ft tall, 3-4 ft wide that I'll be switching him over to in a couple weeks-I wanted to wait for him to get settled in first. However, should he also be on these seeds as well even after he switches to the pellets and is eating them good? If he should I was looking at getting one of these seed/veg mixes instead: http://www.aviannaturals.com/parrotfood_af.html is this good? Should he have access to his food all the time? If he's on pellets plus a seed mix does he also need fresh fruit/vegetables every day too? Or should he not have the seed mix every day? Also what can I do to get him to not think it's funny to bite? Should I wait until the biting stops before I open his cage and attempt to get him to step up? When he bites me I try not to jerk and act nervous but sometimes I can't help it I am kind of scared of getting bit, so far his bites haven't hurt me to puncture my skin but I know it could. He did bite my husband and draw a little blood but I think it was more because he pinched the skin more than getting the meat of his finger. Also any other tips would be great. The only birds I ever had before was pigeons and doves.