Greytness

Sometimes it's out of our hands as to which favorite person your grey will select. I brought my grey home as a baby, hoping that he and I will be the best of friends. We are bonded, but my youngest son is his absolute favorite. But that's okay. I still have a great bond with Maalik, but respect that his first pick is my son. Just like us, we have people that we deeply connect with, while others: not so much.

I think he wants to come over to you. My eclectus will point and flutter towards me if he wants to be picked up. He's a rehome who was never allowed to fledge, poor thing. Even though his flight feathers have grown out over 2 years ago, he still hasn't idea what wings are for. So he points and flutters.

Welcome to the Grey club! Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

Only 2 of my 9 regularly eat pellets. The rest get it daily in their birdie bread. I grind up the Harrison's pellets into 'flour' and use it with around 21 other ingredients. They love it! I need to rethink the seeds, as I have seed available for 5 of them all day long. The others get it as a treat. My caique, who is a rehome, only eats a high quality seed mixture and grapes. He won't touch anything else.

Ziggy hates all my other birds, but has grown to tolerate Maalik's affections to a point. When he's through with Maalik, he'll give him a chomp of his candy corn beak. He actually accepts Maalik's regurg.

Haha! He's all perv when it comes to Ziggy.

Thank you! Notice how Maalik's wings are held low. He absolutely loves Ziggy (don't tell him that he's a boy! ;-) and will actually regurg and try to feed him. It's pretty hilarious.

Here are a couple pics of Maalik, and one of Ziggy. That's Maalik's new digs in the background.

Ditto! A perfect phrase for our little stinkpots!

Maalik does the same thing. He harasses certain male family members, dive bombing them whenever they enter a room where I'm present. As with your grey, one moment Maalik can be the sweetest little love bug ever one minute, but then become a Mr. Hyde if he's not on the same page as I'm on. I never take it personally though. It's part of grey ownership. :-) Greys are complicated birds; very intricate on so many levels. But I love that about them!

What a great shot of Echo hiding underneath. Perhaps he'd like alphabet soup as a substitute for the keys???

We have a treasure cabinet! My son collects the feathers. And with 9 fids, a chest wasn't big enough. :-)

Maalik, my CAG, was 470 grams the last time I checked.

Thanks Nancy! The cage bar width is 1 3/8 inches. Some of the bars go horizontally, and the rest go vertically.

Okay. thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated.

One of our fellow forum participants is selling her macaw cage, which has 1 inch bar spacing. I've been thinking about upgrading Maalik's cage, but would like to know from everyone if you think the spacing could present a problem. Maalik does enjoy poking his beak through the bars of cage to receive beak kisses and scritches. Do you think he could potentially get his head stuck? Do any of you have your CAGs in a cage with 1 inch bar spacing? Thanks for your feedback!

She's also entering into the terrible twos. Dave has a great sticky somewhere on this forum which discusses what to expect from our grey babies from birth onward. My Maalik likes to harass me by pinching the back of my neck and making a loud clacking sound. Occasionally he chomps down with a bit of force. Like you, I tell him 'no biting. I don't like that' while sending him the stink eye look. If he's especially bratty, I sing to him, which settles him back down into a fluffy ball of cuddliness.

Sterling, how long does it take to weather? Could it be built and left to weather after that? We're in the beginning planning phase for our sunroom/outdoor aviary. Will be moving forward with the design piece by next month.

What type of wire can we safely use again?

The sound coming from a grey's wings during flight is such a powerful sound. Love that sound!

What about adding red bell peppers, carrots, leafy greens (not spinach), pomegranate seeds, broccoli, and most definitely sweet potatoes. Some greys like partial steamed carrots and broccoli, while others like them raw.

Putting new toys into Maalik's cage until he's determined that they won't turn around and kill him.

My birds like warm water sprayed on them. If it's room temperature or cold, they'll back away from the spray.

My son uses Maalik like a telephone, too! He loves it!

There isn't complete nutrition in plain oatmeal. Can you get hold of some weaning formula while you continue to offer her the oatmeal/baby food/real food? I'd offer he 2-3 feedings per day, depending upon how independent a feeder she is. I'd also advise you to get a scale and weigh her daily There are some great articles on the internet regarding abundance feeding that I would like to encourage you to read.