Dave007

A grey will always start making all types of noises and he doesn't have to be mimicing you to do this and by 7 mts, he should be well on his way to doing all types of those noises. Think of all the birds outside making sounds that don't sound like human words.

http://www.youtube.com:80/user/MsMollybean1

So, you have a situation in reverse. Many people would wanna trade places with you. I don't know how old your bird is and how long you've actually had the bird ( days ---weeks) but any habits that a bird has from a previous place will stay with a bird. Talking is one of those things that's basically ingrained into the bird. They're known for their talking ability. A bird who's a good talker will talk even more as he/she gets more comfortable but many times, that routine lessens as the *****thrill is gone****. You can try putting her away from the area that you socialize in. In many situation, a TV or radio or music will start the bird off. Many people who leave the house to go to work all day are told to put on the TV or radio or music that runs in a loop so that the bird doesn't feel alone. I don't know what type of chew toys you're using but if they're the type that can be destroyed quickly, that won't work. Greys are well known to be extreme chewers and their favorite thing is wood so if you can get or cut a 2 inch by 4 inch block ( 1 inch thick) of hard wood, drill a hole in the middle, put a chain in the middle and hang it in the cage, that'll keep a grey very busy and satisfy him for long periods of time. The wood doesn't have to be colored. It doesn't have to be purchased in a pet store. Also, you can purchase a cow bell ( about 2 to 3 inch diameter) from a pet store and hang it in the cage. It's heavy duty. It usually comes with a chain. A grey likes to have mock fights with it for hours and keeps them busy. Some will say to put a cover over the cage but in your situation I really don't think that'll work but that's my opinion. I've used blocks of wood for years even though there's never been any problems. I gave them wood because it was satisfing to them. Long term chewing is good for them.

Well good, that's a beginning. Also, you can always ask your father in law to come here for specific info concernng things. Maybe that'll help too.

If you're referring to me, yes I do.

Make sure your problem concerning your grey is completely solved before taking on another parrot.

********our problem is not that he attacks everyone else, it's that he learns bad behaviors like screaming (whistling really loud and making obnoxious noises) and plucking when his favorite person is around.******** First off, these aren't learned behaviors. Many birds do the exact same thing and no one has to teach the birds to perform like that. What;s obnoxious to a person is simply that the person finding it irritating. Almost all grey whistle loudly and have variety of loud whistles and some have low whistles or both. There's no other bird in the parrot world that whistles better than a grey. They're very known for that. Another thing is the favorite person thing. Hundreds of people run into this problem which makes them unhappy so there's many suggestions about stopping this behavior but the main thing concerning those suggestions is that all parties in the family be involved. Without that, nothing changes. There's been cases of people who do all the cleaning, feeding, and they still get bitten or shunned by the bird. So, we usually tell the person who is the favorite to take over the job and many times that calms down a bird. Habits and steady routines are extremely bad for greys in a family setting. Greys pick up on that very quickly and pick out what makes them happy. In your situation, the answer is very simple. All of what's going on is your father in law"s fault. You're the one who's suffering and he's not cooperating to ease the problem. If he won't cooperate, then things will remain the same. Why should they change** your bird's has found it's playmate. About the only thing you're doing wrong is classifing what your bird's doing is learned behavior. It isn't And concerning routines, that also applies to any other animals in a house. If it's a family situation, everyone has to pitch in.

Rarely. If a grey is fully feathered and in good health with no skin problems mites don't show up. They will occur on parrots who have exposed skin disease. The parrot who's most open to mites are budgies and it occurs on their ceres if that area is damaged or have breathing problems.

Yes, greys are clumbsy but in your situation a vet visit is needed. He needs to check the vision and other possible problems. Many people will say that they have minor problems once in a while but not on a regular basis. Vets have tools to check for things like that. Since there no vets here, a professional opinion is needed. As far as falling on the floor when flying, that has to do with the clip. Bad clips happen all the time and loads of people will tell you about hard landings when their birds were improperly clipped.

No, parrots don't get fleas. usually fleas hit on other types of animals outside of the house and bring them in a house.. They land and quickly hop off but if you do know that you have fleas outside, you should use a pesticide in those general areas not so much for birds but to keep them off your dogs and cats or other 4 legged animals you may own.

There's no need to teach him whistling. Greys are one of the best whistlers in the parrot kingdom and that'll have no effect of whether he'll talk in the future. Greys who are the greatest tqlkers whitle and greys who don't talk at all whitle. Constant talking is always a good idea but immediate results probably not happen. Make believe you're having a one way chat. The bird will intently listen. Don't put your face into his. Just talk about any or everything like what's just happened in Libya or how you just designed new square shaped pancakes etc.

No, it can't be taught. It's a inbred trait that some wild birds do. It can happen with younger or older birds.

This is th4e Welcome Room and now that you've given specific info in this room, the next thing to do is to go to the GREY LOUNGE ROOM and have general discussions and if you have other specific subjects you'd like to discuss, simply go to the other rooms that pertain to what you wanna discuss. This is the reason that we have so many sections here. We find it easier to do this so that information can be talked about.

Your bird is mutilating feathers because he's not only chewing them but he's also stripping them. There may be infections in a few areas. On the other hand there might not be a serious problem. I can you that **Is it the time of the year?----no ***** Is this normal?---no You should see a vet. He needs a skin examination.

Greys always start off with lots of mumbling and other sounds before they actually mimic words. Talking to a brd is always a good idea but it should be done to communicate, not to just start off the bird to mimic words because lots of greys won't mimic human language. There is no set amount of time before they mimic human words

not good 63 and below. 69/71 best

All greys at that age have slender claws and the tips can pinch. The claws are fragile and they need to exercize and learn about their gripping power. ***should I go to a vet or so to clip his nails?*** Yes since you have no experience at doing it but there are other things you can do in between trims 1---purchase 1 or 2 sand or concrete perches--6 inches long. 3/4 diameter. They can keep your bird's nails blunted and possibly help avoid any nail clipping in the future. 2--Take out any smooth straight perches and put in some irregular sized, bent, knarled perches in the cage. Basically, they're branches. They help to strenghten a bird's foot and gripping power. Now as far as those sand/concrete are concerned, many people say that the perchjes are too cold or too hard or too sandy and in general, they're bad for the bird's feet. Welll, I can tell you that if a bird experienced an uncomfortable ( too cold or too hard or too sandy) perch, he wouild definitly leave it if there's other types of perches in the cage to choose from. If not, then the bird feels quite comfortable. All three of my greys sleep on their concrete perches and they're the ones that made the choice. None have bad feet. 2 never need nail clipping. Bruises--well, this is the time when you're gonna have to get used to a few different things concerning your bird besides claws. Your bird doesnt know it's caoabilities yet and you're gonna be the first one he's gonna *tell* when he learns them. Basically, it's called **Welcome to the Parrot World*

It is normal. In the back of thier throat they do have moisture. ...sometimes they just have more then others, and that is when you would notice.. The reason that its seen more often than other times comes from certain things they eat--like peppers and other things. The moisture is in the back of the throat and a person has to go out of their way to spot it. If you wanna go to a vet, do it but I doubt that he'll tell you anything different. PS---especially if he's acting perfectly normal.

There are no bad palm nuts. The closest thing concerning a bad nut is raw peanuts in or out of it's shell (they may have fungus). Those peanuts should be human grade fresh roasted which are sold in supermarkets. plus---avoid people who are nuts.

There's only one kind of queen palm nut. You don't have to buy them if you've got them around. PICTURE INCLUDED http://www.mybirdstore.com/FRESH_PALM_NUTS-QUEEN_PALM_NUTS_-_INTRODUCTORY_OFFER_PER_1_4_LB..html

*****It would seem to me that maybe some kind of mental illness might be the cause of those "few" Greys and/or other parrots who just don't ever talk like us.***** Greys are always talking. As they age, their vocabulary increases. All of this has to do with them discovering the huge amount of bird sounds that become more intense and lengthy. That is referred to as natural bird talking. Mental illness (which they don't suffer from) doesn't affect their ability to learn these things. Human talking is simply the bird learning to mimic which isn't done in their natural habitat. Too much importance is put on the ability of a bird who learns to mimic human sounds. Anyone judging a bird by this talent of mimicing human sounds simply doesn't understand that their bird is constantly talking to them in parrotese and many people never take the time to learn their bird's natural language. So many people are disappointed that their bird doesn't mimic human language. Lets face it----at least 80 % of grey owners bought those birds after they heard about their great talking abilities. *****It would seem to me that maybe some kind of mental illness might be the cause of those "few" Greys and/or other parrots who just don't ever talk like us. ****** That's already been answered above. ******Did Alex the grey have Aspergers?**** No, he had an experienced person work with him for many years and this person had the ability to teach his to bring out his talents. Alex had a limited amount of human words that he knew. Approx 100--125 words. When people discuss him, it's his other talents that are talked about. I know greys that hae a 700--800---word vocabulary but they can't tell a person whether an object is round or square. Aspergers is a mild form of autism. Birds don't suffer from any type of autism. Alex died from hardening of the artieries, not mental problems *******I've looked it up a few times on Google, but all I get in return is maintaining good "mental health" in your parrot, which is not what I'm looking for.******* That simply refers to keeping a certain type of bird active and interested in it's surroundings, people, objects, activety. Doing that with greys is important because they can get bored very quickly. Mental illness doesn't apply at all. ******I also read just today that birds can have epilepsy.****** Epilepsy in not a mental disease. It's a misfiring of nerve pulses and neurons that can affect different lobes in the brain. Hence, that's the reason that there's approx 3 to 4 different types of epilepsy in people. The misfiring of nerve endings in a bird's brain is what causes epilepsy and it's not a disease. There's many famous artists, business men, designers, scientists plus blue collar workers who do dangerous work who have epilepsy and they're doing quite well. My brother in law has epilepsy and he works as a firefighter. *****even senile things like Alzheimer's?***** Alzheimer's is not a mental disease. It's a slow wasting away of certain brain connections which causes certain defects to occur some more severe than others. Alzheimer's is called----Alzheimer's Disease, not Alzheimer's Mental Disease.

In another area of this board, you asked whether this board is only for US/UK members and you wanted to be directed to a board in your country that can help you. I'll explain-------We have members from many different countries besides US/UK. Usually, they already have greys and come here to ask/answer/discuss/compare their birds with members here. Most people from other countries look into the various places in their countries to buy any type of parrot including greys. We can't tell you about where to buy them, what the names of vets are in your country, price of a bird, type of food We have no idea about that type of information in different countries because the boards don't know about the specific information in different countries that you want. We're not familar with products, birds, vets in other countries. We don't live there. All countries do things differently. This also applies to many other countries. I'll explain it in a much simpler way----if you were a grey owner ( experienced or inexperienced )and you were a member on this board and someone from China came here and asked the same exact questions as you did, would you know what to say? Can you answer their questions accurately?

Although I have no idea what a *potty basket * is, you shouldn't put in any item in the cage. In other words, let her go in the cage and the poop will fall into the cage tray. I hope you're not bothered by cleaning a cage more often but loads of people do it that way. Use newspaper to cover the tray and that'll be the only thing that'll have to be replaced.

There really isn't much you can do. The nail is missing, can't be replaced. There's no bleeding. The rawness is usual but it'll eventually go away. The vet will check for infections and if any cauterizing needs to be done, it's a very simple easy thing to get done. Right now, if you have any, remove all sand and concrete perches. If you have irregular shaped perches in the cage, leave them alone in the cage. Don't put smooth dowel type perches in the cage. He won't be able to grip them and he'll slide and may lose his balance. If there is any bleeding that may occur betweem now anf friday, dab the area with a Q-tip that has talcom powder on it. Press against the wound for a minite and bleeding will stop. Good luck.