Dave007

You may have to simply train him to step up or he may need retraining to step up with you if he was stepping up with others. Your method may be different and unfamilar to the bird. I say this because of all the other good things that're going on. Training or retraining is best done in a quiet enclosed area with no other animals or distractions around.

460 gms is the average weight of a grey. All of the things you're feeding will mainly make your bird very healthy but the amount of weight gain will be small. All grey's weight constantly vary. ***I give her 1/3-1/2 teaspoon a day of egg, yogurt, or cheese.** That'll increase calcium intake which is more important than gaining more weight especially when the bird is already at that generaly correct weight. If the bird was a breeder, more than likely, that was the cause of some weight loss. Breeders' diet requirements are different than pet birds. Without the proper diet they will lose weight. Their bodies need constant bolstering. Their bodies do much more work than the average pet grey. As I said, the vet is on the mark as far as what to feed. If your bird is eating most of the things you just named, you should feel fortunate. Many birds who've been on a fixed diet for a long period of time won't accept drastic changes in the food they're being fed.

Good. Read lots, make loads of notes, ask all the questions you want and you'll be satisfyed and happy with your bird. Also, good luck with what the hubby and you are both doing concerning things in your home which your friends' consider weird. Weird is only in the eyes of other onlookers.

No, the band won't tell you whether he was born in captivity or in the wild. No, there is no international format for reading bands. Breeders usually put the bands on when the bird is about 10 days old or even younger and birds that are bought from pet stores also have bands which are put on when the babies are about 10 days old. Different private breeders can put on any information they want concerning chicks. As far as what happened in the house, no type of construction be it small or large should ever be done anywhere near a parrot. The parrot shouldn't be able to see what's going on and ideally, the noise should be minimum. Moving any large item, mattress, box, large appliances, around the parrot will cause the parrot to thrash, scream, growl and squawk. Afterward the parrot will be extremely nervous and may bite and that nervousness may remain for a few days. A bird, when doing all of this may also seriously hurt itself. """When we brought the corrugated sheeting into the house and walked past Cocoa on her perch she squawked, screamed and shrilled, it was so primal I felt in my bones, even thinking about it makes the hair on my neck rise. On another occasion we had a ton of boys sleeping over and I walked past her with sponge mattresses and I got the same. """" That's totally normal and it has nothing to do with where it was bred. It's best not to do those things near the bird. It may cause serious problems in the future.

I agree with Judy. Your bird has to eventually learn that his cage will also be a place that he needs to live in in the future. You really shouldn't give into his desire to stay out because it'll only get worse as he ages. And if he should happen to get a night fright, he may fall off the cage and no one can predict what'll happen to cause that fright. It could be something or nothing. If he has to fall, it's better to fall a short distance as opposed to the floor.

You said the most applicable thing here---"""""Maybe it's because my grey is only a baby"""" Almost all of the things that you've heard about apply to older( 8 mts to 1 yr) greys. That number can vary though. A baby grey has yet to show what it's natural personality will be like in the future. Many of the things he accepts now may not remain that way in the future simply because a grey's natural personality doesn't come out quickly. As an example, right now, he may not mind that cardboard boxes are around him but one day he may become terrified of them and you'll never know why it happened. That's simply a parrot's mental development kicking in. A grey may accept kids right now but that may change in the future. Never can tell about all these things until the time comes. There's certain things that can be done with a baby grey which will make it easier to do the same things in the future--example, using a harness. I can't begin to tell you about how many people have wrote in feeling either sad or bewildered because their grey has grown up a bit and is acting differently. So, basically you'll need to see what direction your bird takes as it gets older.

You may be right in that it's a hard task to do. Many birds won't accept a harness when they're older than very young birds. If he really doesn't like being touched, he may nip when you try to put it on. The best time to start using a harness is when they're young. They'll accept them more easily when young. What you have is actually a flight suit. It's not made for flying though. It's made for exactly what you describe. Many people have flight suits and harnesses in the closet because many birds didn't accept them. Practical? well that's for the owner to decide. Some people like them and others don't. It's a personal choice. Up there on the shoulder, they can get startled even though it may not have happened yet. Can't ever predict that. So, if he jumps or tries to fly off, that short leash may hurt him. It's not stretchable.

95% of the time I use oak trees. Apple trees are fine--same rules----branch should be dead, bark should be peeled off, branch should be lightly scrubbed after peeling, branch should be allowed to dry. A large long branch can be used as long as you take a saw and cut the branch down to the size and lengths you like. Different thicknesses of branches can be used and assembly is the same--nails, screws, hammer, screwdriver, electric or manual.

It's probably best to keep the guitar around your bird where he can see it all the time. Move it around the room, leave it at different places in the room but let him see it all the time and eventually, it'll become part of decor. As far as the sound, well, he simply may not be a rocker. Really don't know whether a bird can be made to llike certain audio sounds. My birds hate cardboard boxes and there's no way they'll ever accept them but I can't leave those boxes around them all the time.

It probably would be best to dry the branches inside simply because it's warmer in the house so drying will be relatively fast. You see, once the wood is stripped of the bark, the underneath wood dries quicker. Only the bark retains moisture. If you wanted to do it outside, that's all right too. I've made different stands like this and dryed the wood inside and outside the house because of the heat from the sun. Also, when bark is taken off of any branch, the underneath wood is extremely hard no matter what tree branch you take. Just make sure that the branches are dead. Usually, those branches can be found on the ground near trees. By that time, they're very hard. Just soak the branches until you can simply peel off the bark, take a brush or a sponge or a brillo pad, some dishwashing soap or other liquid soap and scrub off the wood afterward. After being stripped, very little bacteria will develop .You can use all different size branches like the ones in the picture. Birds really aren't fussy. It doesn't have to be a designer model like what's sold in stores. You asked about price before--it costs about the time you spend hammering and screwing it together and whether you need to buy some screws and nails. The design is anything you feel like making. After being stripped, the branches are very resistant to germs and bacteria. All you need to do periodically is take a damp cloth and wipe the dust off and at other times you can take a little mixture of vinegar and water to wash off any droppings that are on it and you need to clean out the tray periodically but understand that you'd have to do all of this anyway on store bought stands. Anything can be put on the tray--newspaper, wax paper etc etc. The base is easy to make if you have some scraps of flat wood laying around. If not, you can buy a 3 ft x 3 ft piece of flat wood for about $4 at any lumber yard or a store like Home Depot. Maybe, when you get better at doing it you may wanna try something like this. It's higher and bigger than the other one. It's not fancy, doesn't really look as nice as the store bought ones but my birds never complained and they love it.

If you can get your money back and if you or someone you know is handy with a hammer and screws and nails, you can make your own stand. This one consists of dead branches from my backyard. All different sized pieces of wood. I soaked the branches, took the bark off, let the wood dry and just hammered and screwed all of them together. I made the base from wood, put some edge wall siding around it, painted it white, covered it with clear polyurethene and that was it.

Lots of birds take to those stands. Lots of birds don't. Almost all birds will adjust to the size of the perches on a stand just like they do in the wild. Anyway, it'll take quite a while to find out if your bird will take to it. It wasn't the size of the branches that kept him away. The branches could have been the exact size you wanted and there's the chance he'd ignore that one too. It's the item itself that attracts or doesn't attract the bird. More than likely, it could be the general shape of the stand. This goes on with lots of other perching items no matter what the price was.

Any harness should be put on only in the house before leaving, never outside or in a car or bird carrier. Some brds put up with it in a house, some don't. Some will try to bite it off and by doing that, some feathers may also be injured and that includes skin. The use of a harness should only be associated with going out of the house. Personally, I don't believe that harnesses should be kept on in a house. It may affect flying, the bird getting stuck or possible injury and that includes skin. It's hard to hard to tell what'll happen even if the bird is used to having a harness on. Other people's successes with leaving a harness on doesn't mean that you'll have the same success. Better safe than sorry.

Hi Welcome to our perch. The tree here has plenty of leaves. So, enjoy yourself.

Yes, they can sense when a person is leery/nervous. Although a person doesn't realize it, the things that are being done to a bird who is leery of them will sometimes cause a bird to bite. A person just doesn't act the same when that person is very wary of what the bird may do, and the person doesn't realize that they're acting differently. Just about anyone here will tell you that their bird can get a bit nippy when nervous or leery or extra aware of things. A bit of advice. Simply put the bird in a cage when you have people over. The bird feels safest in that cage and experimenting with who the bird likes or dislikes doesn't do the bird any good especially when those people are not bird people.

If your bird is flying over to sit and get a rub or if it's on a cage looking to get a rub or it's in a cage looking to get a rub, the best way to give that rub/tickle/scritch/scratch is to use your finger and never touch the skin, just the feathers. It's harder to do this then touching the skin because a person who's rubbing but not touching the skin will think he/she is not penetrating and the person only rubs through the feathers won't even think he/she is even touching the bird. I say this because birds actually like their feathers touched but not the skin. Rub the skin and you'll never know what was touched which made the bird bite. Touching only the feathers and not the skin takes practice and even more so, it requires that a person look at where they're rubbing. Touching the skin will many times cause a bird to instantly bite and almost immediately put it's head down so that the rubbing can continue. This type of biting is even more pronounced when a bird is molting and it's rubbed the wrong way or direction--too close to the skin or wrong direction and WHAM, the bite happens.

"""Is there a registry for bird bands? """" Not really. There's no rules or laws that say a bird has to be registered anywhere. There are companies that sell blank bands to breeders or other bird outlets and they can help in telling a state or other tech. info but the best way to get any information is from your breeder whaen the bird is purchased. Most info on bands is coded.There's many breeders that refuse to band baby birds because they provide all the paperwork that's needed.

Lex As far as a band goes, one thing that designates that the bird has been bred in captivity is that the band needs to be totally enclosed with no cut marks on it. That type of a band can only be put on a bird until it's about 10 days old. After that, the feet aren't pliable and no band can be put on. As far as *captive bred bird*, all birds that are bred by anyone including breeders can own birds that were either wild caught or bred in captivity. All birds are captive bred birds in one way or another. There are no identifying items on a bird that designate where it originally came from. As far as breeder's information on a band, it could be a variety of things that won't tell a person anything about the bird other than it's age and that's only if the breeder decides to put the year on the band. Different states have different information put on those bands An open band is one that can be put on any bird at any age. It can be bent open or closed the same way. Any information can be put on that band to make it more sellable. Many people have the band cut off their baby birds by a vet because of possible injuries that a bird may have in the future.

Some people do both. They'll buy a bird, are told that this particular species is well known for talking so they immediately start repeating things over and over even though there's no connection to other things. Many people eventually see that the bird is picking up things without it being repeated over and over plus the bird seems to be reacting to different things being said or done. So they ease up on the repetition method and are happy to see what the bird's natural capabilities are. Of course, some of those birds will never talk so that causes disappointment with the owners. They usually find out afterward that many greys won't talk in the human language but will talk in their own language. Basically all birds talk. It's up to the owner to find out what sounds belong to certain things said or done.

Hi may I suggest that yo check out this link--Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 before letting the breeder clip the baby bird's wings. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190512-WingClipping-Part-1-Objective-Neutral

My opinion is to leave it alone so others will see it and not fall for the hype. Any one wishing to send donations or contributions should send the money to me and I'll mention them in my memoirs.

*Please Note: No funds raised on this site directly support Dr. Pepperberg and The Alex Foundation. They are solely and exclusively for use of the filmmakers. If you would like to donate funds to Dr. Pepperberg and The Alex Foundation you can do so here: www.alexfoundation.org Maybe you should contact the Alex Foundation for financial backing. You'll need to get the ok from them concerning the making of the movie so they may be in favor of having a movie made. Usually, producers, directors, writers and all others that are involved in making any film already have the money needed to continue. There's so many videos of her and her bird are around plus she has a long list of speaking engagements all over the country. Giving a donation to have a name in the credits? Hmmm, sounds a bit strange. By the way, who plays the role of Pepperburg and who has the role of Alex?

Your best bet would be to look up many bird breeders ( any species of bird) and ask them if they can recommend good pet places. You can also contact different avian vets and ask them the same thing. Both sources may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Well, good luck to you. More than likely, those fears and nervousness right now will disappear soon.--Little by little. If you'll be having trouble with the door in the future, there's different ways to bird proof it so that getting in and out isn't hard for you and the kids so when it's time ( when he has wings ) just fly in, land on the perch here and you'll get some chirps and opinions about what to do. Take care.