Greytness

So glad that Sully's feeling better now.

Awww, look at that cute little fluffernutter. Welcome to the forum!

But never in the presence of an African Grey!

Sterling, do you ever have to trim his beak? I have to get Walter's beak trimmed biannually.

And may I ask, WHO taught him that?

Naps? What's a nap?

Ditto to the destroyed rubber liners.

HaHaHa! Nothing worse than a greyed out screen.

We give Maalik sunflower seeds for training purposes only. Otherwise he'd eat them exclusively like your baby does. Some of my fids don't like to eat pellets so I make my own version of nutriberries where I grind up the pellets and mix it in with a variety of other nutritional goodies.

I haven't ever had to trim Maalik's nails and he's now 18 months old. He uses his pedicure perch all the time, simply because it's the one set right in front of his food bowl. So he's on it countless times throughout the day. You might want to give one a try and see if it helps. I have 9 birds altogether and haven't once had to trim any of their nails, thanks to these perches.

Welcome! Trigger's a very handsome Grey.

Right back atcha! Happy New Year!

My heart goes out to you. I'm so sorry that you've lost your precious baby. Hugs to you.

Very cute! And Happy New Year to you, too, Miss Dayo!

Maalik absolutely loves to be flipped upside down and to play on his back. This is his favorite person next to me: my 16 year old son!

Just received this parrot alert that I'd like to share: Full Report Details: http://www.parrotalert.com/L17172 If you live in or near the Rancho Bernardo area, please keep your eyes open for a Timneh Grey. She escaped on Christmas Eve. :-(

Being the sensitive species that these are, I'm sure that your leaving has everything to do with his aloofness. Give him time, a lot of your attention, treats, softly spoken words, and I'm certain that he'll come around. This aloofness could also coincide with a change in his development. You just never know. Sometimes you just have to ride it out before they come around again. It's difficult not to take a behavioral change personally. It has everything to do with his time away from you, so now he has to slowly reconnect back into his lifestyle at home again with you.

Do you have any pictures we could view? Greys regularly shed their downy feathers. My guy always has a light sprinkling of them on the bottom of his cage. Then, around twice a year that sprinkling becomes a little snow flurry of fluffy feathers that like to stick to everything.

If you aren't handling him because you find his natural behaviors 'weird', then yes, I believe you aren't giving him enough attention. Try ignoring his bobbing behavior, but then follow up by giving him attention when he's not eliciting this behavior is one idea that could help. I'm not of the belief that a parrot shouldn't be allowed on your shoulder. All 9 of mine are allowed to hang there, and not one of them to date has taken a piece out of me. My parrots love being there! Greys need to be an integral member of his flock, which is you and your mom. To deny him that right could deprive him of what greys innately need to be happy in captivity: you! From what you're describing in your post, I believe that your Grey is thirsty for your affection. See what you can do to bump it up a notch or two. Hope this helps!

Oh no, not Corky!

My son is very rigid in his thinking. Once he believes strongly about something, he won't let it go. So for now I'm going to keep them segregated and will hold out hope that at some point in time my son will come around. However, I'm not holding out much hope.

It's my oldest son, the 23 year old, who Maalik attacked. My son has always made negative comments about him which I have repeatedly asked him not to do. And when he says those derogatory remarks about him, he usually says it with disdain. My son won't go into the room whenever Maalik's out now, which is the best thing he could do. Even tonight, when my son peered through the curtain to see if he was out, he said, "Oh, there's the demon bird", after which time Maalik made a swooping pass along the curtain. It's incredible how these birds can pick up on the negativity.

My oldest son has never really cared for Maalik. He's always saying things like, he's a demon bird, even though Maalik's never done anything to him or to anyone else for that matter... Until tonight. When my son entered our dining room, Maalik flew up behind him and bit the h#*! out of his ear and out of the back of his neck making them bleed. He's never attacked anyone before, so this behavior really surprised the heck out of us. I truly believe that Maalik has picked up on my son's negative energies towards him. He's an absolute sweetheart to the rest of us, especially to my youngest son and me.

I love how he enjoys saying 'Wooh' Jingle Bells sung with an English accent is the best!

Oli's one lucky Grey to now have your son to look after him. Congratulations!