Quirky

Finally I made it and have caught up on the tale of Miss Gilbert! Oh Dee I cannot properly express how happy I am for you and Gilbert that she finally realized and brought to fruition your dream of her reclaiming her flight ability. Inara had it nailed down when she compared the tale of Miss G to stringing a strand of pearls. This was such a wonderful and lovely glimpse showing that patience and love can conquer over long seated fears. I cannot wait for the next installment of life with Gilbert

Darn that pesky squirrel! Clearly it framed poor HRH Inara!

Congrats on Peck's progress! Hopefully he will be more and more encouraged by Megan's lead to try out this "flying" fad all the fids are raving about

How wonderful! My heart soared for both of you with this latest experience that you have shared with us. I'm cheering Inara on with all her flight training, I'm sure it will inevitably lead to more special moments together for both of you!

Love seeing videos of other greys enjoying the outdoors so much. It makes me more and more interested in harness training. Thank you for sharing.

I wondered the same thing when we first got our grey Jake. Even coming to us with relatively little to no issues I didn't want to damage what trust we had started building. The first time Jake tried to bathe himself in his water dish was about 3-4 weeks after coming to us. We tried a spray bottle then however after him freaking out after the first couple of sprays we stopped. Instead we changed his water dish repeatedly until he was done. The second time he tried bathing himself we filled a large ceramic bowl with water and placed it in the bottom of his cage. He tried it out a little but seemed to prefer his water dish. By the third time he tried we had built a shower perch, so once he started again we put him on the perch and once we started the shower he took off freaking out again. For a couple of months after this I let him bathe in the water dish, recently though I thought I would try again with the spray bottle as we are 6 months in now and I know he will forgive me after a bit. So out came the distilled water and he was thoroughly soaked... He was mad at me for two days... So yesterday he started bathing himself again I proceeded to spray him and this time he was much less frantic. As he was a bit calmer I decided to immediately follow up his soaking with an spraying of Aloe Vera juice under his wings an on his legs. This time he was only mad for half a day... I'm convinced the aloe made all the difference in how he felt afterwards. All of this is to say we really experimented with how receptive he was at the time and pushed a little harder when it felt like the right time for us. Of course this is only my experience and I'm still very new at being a parront to a grey. I'm sure others will be along with their experience and advice

. This is how we are spending our pre Memorial Day afternoon A little sun, a little snack, a little shower, and now we are relaxing in the shade. Listening to nature and watching the dogs. It was cool watching a couple of thrashers check out Jake from a few feet away. Jake didn't seem to know what to make of it though.

He talks so well! I love the "pound it" does he do a beak bump instead of bumping fists?

I awwwwed out loud when I read this, she is such a smart cookie!

I have to second the toys that clang suggestion, I keep toys that make a lot of noise, toys to chew on, and toys to shred. The shredding toys make a huge mess but my little guy can keep himself occupied for hours shredding away. As for getting her to like you more... It just takes time; when me and the hubs brought home our CAG 6 months ago he did not like me at all. He would puff up at me, make warning clicks, and of course nip/bite me. On the other hand he seemed to instantly take with the husband. After a week he would let the hubs scratch his head and hold him. It was about a month of me talking softly, singing, and offering tasty treats before he decided I was okay. Now the favorites have switched and my little guy adores me and not so much the hubs (not sure how much of this might be because of competition for my attention haha). We still work with him and although he only tolerates the husband he really has started opening up with our son. It just takes time, go slow if you think you're pushing too much too soon you probably are.

Thanks everyone! This little bundle of feathers keeps me cracking up with his antics, he definitely has down pat shaking his head no when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to. Interestingly enough although he doesn't say many newer phrases he has started to "talk" in a elderly male voice. It isn't anything I can understand, it sounds kind of like when someone is calling out to you from another room... almost like a name or single word but warbled. He also loves to burp and wooooo!!!! I do have to say I feel so bad for the hubs, he suffers getting bitten almost every day (many times breaking the skin) and yet he still tries to talk and spend time with Jake. He does take great pleasure in getting Jake riled up by playing with his toys on the cage play top. So he might be "asking" for a correction from Jake on occasion

Omg I laughed so hard at this, I'm sure it's exactly how the hubs feels at times!

What a great haul! I don't think I would have thought twice about the perches at those prices either. I went to my first bird fair last month and although I did find a few jewels at great prices I was surprised at how much was the same as retail. The big bird fair is coming here in 3 weeks I've been told it's much better so I'm planning on attending it.

Jake has really started to open up and form a deeper bond with his flock. The other morning my own vanity was put into check. I stayed home Friday to have dental work done and so I slept in, when time for my son to go to school he uncovered Jake like he does every morning. Immediately Jake starts whistling and saying hello. Silly me assumed that he understood my schedule was off and that i should go play with him. Instead I stayed in the bed... and was amazed that once my son closed the door on his way out to school that Jake immediately stopped all sounds. It was like a switch had been flipped, and I was put in my place. I'm so happy that Jake accepts my loud, rambunctious, and impulsive child as a member of the flock. What's more Jake has started letting my son pick him up when he decides to go on a flight around the house. Then the other night he was crawling all over my shoulders and across my chest when he lost his grip and started to fall. Instead of taking off in a panicked flight as he has done on other occasions; he flipped down into the crook of my arm without biting obviously trusting that I would catch him. And as if that isn't enough tonight Jake was on his swing chattering after some enthusiastic self propelled swinging. I went into the kitchen to prep my coffee for the morning. Of course I hear Jake take off flying which has become a regular thing so I didn't turn around, just kept on at the counter. Imagine my surprise when he landed on my shoulder! I still have a hard time believing it, he's landed all over the place here but never on a person! Hard to believe that a little bundle of feathers can entwine himself so completely into our lives.

I was inspired to try this out, I thought that birdy bread in a wafer come sounded like a great treat. After much research I found a banana nut inspired recipe that I wanted to give a go. Last night Jake assisted me with the prep, the wafer cone met his standards when it came to dismantling and once he was finished with it he decided to bestow the scraps to the dogs. While chopping the sweet potato Jake tested the crunchiness and decided it was to his liking; after steaming the pieces he gave his thorough approval in its use. Once the cornmeal came out he forgot his royal manners and sat on the side of the mixing bowl like a little piggy at a trough. Halfway through it was dinner time, as it was past his highness bedtime he let me know that as his lowly waif I should put him to bed straight away (he has a fantastically annoying way of clanging on the bars at the top of his cage from his sleeping perch when he ready to be covered for bed). After dinner I proceeded to bake the cones and the loaf, boy did it smell good even the hubs commented as much. The cones were slightly soft but still firm. So I left them out in a freezer bag overnight. This morning they are very soft...oh well it's what's inside that counts right? So I served up his majesty a cone... The result you might ask? Clearly I am trying to take his place on the throne by way of poisoning! He won't try it at all despite my best efforts to convince him otherwise (btw it is pretty good). Oh well hopefully he will change his mind in the near future....

Lmao thank you Dave... I suspected that there was some paranoia going on there, and here I was secretly hoping we would one day be on the Dating Game show together

I kind of have a question... Over the last few weeks as the bond Jake and I share grows I've finally starting seeing the parrot blush that I have read about. I of course read up about it online and here and I know it has to do with being excited or perhaps lovestruck even? More recently I've been under a great deal of stress, easily the worst of my life. At night I talk to him, make sure he gets time out of his cage, and he's always in the room with me... but I have not been physically handling him as much... Despite all of this since our confrontation a couple of weeks ago he has been nicely stepping up (even when chewing the carpet in the hall) and everytime I do handle him whether on my arm or shoulder I start feeling his little feet heating and an of course he has the blush going on. I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid as I thought he did a little head bob a few weeks ago while on my lap (which I have not seen since) I just want to find out if the frequency of the blush is any kind of indicator of if Jake is seeing me more as a potential mate than a companion. Or is he blushing everytime I handle him because I have not been holding him as much as before? :confused: If it is a desire for me to be his mate I want to make sure I redirect his attention in a constructive way that re-establishes our teacher/ student relationship. Thoughts?

I second the travel cage idea, Jake came with a pet carrier which we plan to replace with a parrot friendly travel cage. We drove 12 hrs one way to get him and 12 hrs back. We did lots of talking and whistling with him. I also grabbed some straws along the way for him to chew on so that he had something else to help keep his stress down. I would recommend a couple of small and simple chew toys that your new grey may already be familiar with. Though a new large toy most likely will scare the bejeezus out of the little guy more.

Happy birthday Sterling Gris!

Keeping Zoey and your family in my thoughts.

I don't know which picture I laughed harder at... the caught in the act photo with lil' Toby in the bowl face first or the "Who me?" look on both of their faces once they realized they were busted.

I sometimes wondered the same thing, I go to bed around 10:00 -10:30 and get up around 6:00 sometimes earlier. Every morning without fail I hear Jake rustling, chirping, or walking around in his cage (I leave him covered as he gets uncovered by my son before he goes to school). It stays fairly quiet at home during the day until my son comes home at 4:30 in the afternoon. By the time I come home a couple of hours later Jake is always excited to see me. I was at least hoping he naps during the day since I know he is not getting 12 hours of sleep at night.

I tried searching and did not see an answer to this. I found a used Manzanita play stand online for a great price. Before I contact the seller I really wanted to find out the general opinon on if it can be sanitized/ disinfected to make it safe for Jake, and if so what method would you recommend. If it can be sanitized properly I would definentely go through the process twice. All the same if it is too risky then it's not worth it.

Thanks for the advice. After talking with the hubs last night I think there was something else going on causing him to stand his ground. Jake is still afraid of the shower we are slowly aclimating him to the idea of sitting on the shower perch but to ask him to sit on it with the shower on is just too much. As a result we have to spray him with the spray bottle which he also is not fond of. Ususally we wait until he is trying to bathe himself before dragging it out. Apparently while I was at work the hubs had given him a thorough spraying, I almost wonder if Jake had decided since he was forced into a bath that he was going to have a say in something yesterday and he chose the hallway carpet last night? Of course this is pure speculation on my part. This morning we are still not quite back to being buddies. I was not greeted with my rise and shine whistle and after opening the cage door the first place he flew to immediately.... the end of the hallway... of course. After him threatening to bite me some more, then trying to trick me to get to me, and me trying to coax him to come with, the hubs brought the towel out which sent Jake running my way and stepping up in a hurry. Since then we have shared some ice water and he stepped up and down off his swing for me quite nicely so I don't feel like all is lost... but like you said Dee I may have to find a deterrent. He doesn't seem to like large boxes so maybe I'll put an empty one back there for now. I also wonder if maybe now is the time to look at constructing him a playstand. I wonder if by giving him a new area that is okay for him to play in would help. On a side note when I say I used the towel I should have said I had to show him the towel. I've never had to towel him so far, but I know from his previous owner that he hates them. Dee I picked this one up from your thread. It's taking me a while to get through reading you and Gilberts journey together I think I'm only on page 85 of the thread at the moment

I showed this to the hubs this morning just so I could laugh again over it.