Christina

Finnigan's favorite treats that she doesn't get very much are butter and cheese. She is a monster if she sees these come out of the fridge. It's a site to see a grey stuck to the yellow butter tub refusing to let go of the lid. I can shake it (not too hard) and she holds tight, refusing to let go! My butter lid is pocked marked with holes and I have taken to putting something heavy on the tub of butter as soon as it comes out of the fridge because demon bird needs her butter fix and will come running as soon as she sees it. I do use small bits of cheese for training, as she won't work for anything else. She loves sesame oat sticks with a preference to ones that have been dipped and baked in honey, so its got a sweet glaze. She also has a passion for hot dogs. She eats all the other stuff...apples, carrots and such, but those are regular meal items and her opinion not worthy of her "treat" list.

I'm sorry you are having such a difficult time. I don't think that she is punishing you, I don't think parrots think like that. She probably associates you with the disruption to her routine, her flock, and her life. She could also be trying to protect her territory with the bf, if she has chosen him to be her one and only. If you have a permanent place to go and take her to soon, I would just keep visiting her, leave her in her cage if she is uncomfortable and just talk to her. Take her with you and start from scratch with her, as if she is a brand new bird to you. I think you will have to re-earn her trust. Don't give up, it will all work out with love and patience.

I have to say that I don't think people post here to be scolded ...sorry, but Dhorje shared an experience, that each of us can learn from. I understand that we all love our greys, but if we continually preach to people who post something that happened that wasn't positive, we will not have a healthy exchange of experiences and ideas of what to do if something bad does happen. We can learn from experiences as a group and I believe that people will be less inclined to share if we try to tell them how to behave, what their responsabilities are, and what they should and should not do (unless it's an obviously abusive situation). Just my two cents. And I'm glad that everything worked out Dhoje, and I have now thought about some of the things that might scare Finnigan, that I would not have thought of if you had not shared your story. Thanks.

Sorry, Tyco's Mom, I'd rather Finnigan not talk than sing Barney songs. Anyway, Finnigan is going on two years old and like you, I repeated the same darn sayings over and over again to no avail. Sometimes she would pop out with things and I just knew she would start talking, but again, nope, she stuck with her sounds like your bird, and said her lone word now and again. Just recently, she has decided to talk. She has a bunch of sayings now, which, do not include any of the things I have said to her over and over. She just picks up on what we say to each other and says them. Here are a few things she says, and it came up all of a sudden. She just decided to talk and away she went. So, be patient...it will happen. Hello Hello Loki (our other bird) Be Quiet Loki Come over here Where you going? Are you hungry? You wanna Eat? What?(said very forefully, like you are yelling it across the house) Finnigan Loki Be Careful You're gonna fall Oatmeal Erik (my son, again, yelled) Gone to school Step up

Barbara Heindrich is a good resource. Her website is www.goodbirdinc.com Congrats on the new baby.

What a conincedence that I saw this thread today. My husband travels a lot for work. Everyday that we get up, if I get his bird, Loki, up, Loki automatically looks out the door to see where his dad is (sometimes he is home and sometimes not, which Loki figures out in time). I got Loki up yesterday after his dad left for travel, and Loki never once looked out the door or tried to go to the office to see his dad. It's like he knew he was gone. I asked my husband if he told Loki he wasn't going to be there...he said he had a long chat with him before he put him to bed the night before he left about where he was going and how long he was going to be gone and when to expect him back. It was the strangest thing, like Loki actually knew what to expect. Just amaazing how much we hold back from these animals, when they apparently can and will keep up with us. Fantastic thread.

Kristin - I have had a pet sitter come into the house to take of my birds and I have boarded them as suggested above with a healthy bird boarding place. I would try both and just do short excursions first, see what fits best for you and your family. We prefer to take our birds to be boarded. Many people prefer to have someone come in. This is if you don't have someone you can leave your bird with. I have no bird people in my family (except myself) so I would rather pay than hope they do a good job. Good luck. OH, and I do work full time have since I got my AG. I will say, the more time I spend with her, say if I have a few days off and a long weekend....the worse she is having to have my attention...it was mentioned above as well...I think its often best to get them a schedule and keep them there than it is to try to change it. Good luck.

I think Jane08 brings up a great point about not worrying as much. If they are scared of something they leave the area, you don't worry about them falling, if I leave the room, they can follow, or if they are tired or want to be alone, they go to their room. I think it especially helps with a nervous bird, giving them confidence.

Char, I have two fully flighted birds, Finnigan, a TAG and Loki a B&G. Loki was two when he first grew in his flight feathers and as we "taught" him how to fly, we also learned what we should and shouldn't do. We did not have enough places for him to land. We now have boings and perches from the ceiling in several places throughout our house. This keeps the birds off the curtains and thay have "landing zones" so to speak. These places are where they will usually go potty, so they don't go all over the house, but we do paper under the perches they like to hang out on for easy and quick clean up in the event we have unexpected guests or something. We learned about the windows and doors. We always have them covered with something when the birds are out. The curtains we have are sheer and I tie them in a knot so they don't cover the entire door, but they make a visual barrier for the birds. It doesn't mean they won't make mistakes...they do, just today, I opened the curtain at lunch to open the sliding glass door so Loki could go outside and as soon as the curtain was pulled back, he went to go outside, I didn't have time to open the door yet...so he hit the door, thankfully, he wasn't going very fast. I have no idea why he did this as, we have done this routine a thousand times...guess he was impatient. Anyway, flighted birds are a pain in the butt....they go where they want when they want. I put Finn on her stand, she goes to the counter, I put Loki on his cage, he leaves the room. I dont' want them on me, and here are they are landing on my head. You have to make sure that if your stove is hot, that a lidded pan is on the hot portion,so they can not land on it. Make sure the water in the pan is not hot. Vigilence for their safety becomes an every minute thing. That being said, they are a joy to watch, they zip around the house and sqwauk and play and have a grand time. They fly and land on their perches huffing and puffing and just as happy as little clams. They don't have that energy overload some unflighted birds have as they get it out. They are both very confident well adjusted birds. The vet has commented on the breast muscles in both birds and how well developed they are rather than atrophied as most unflighted birds are (ones that been unflighted for many years). If you have the dedication to do it, I say go for it. It's a pain but, they make me laugh more now than ever. Hope this helps, sorry so long.

I tell Finnigan to give me a kiss and she puts her beak up against my lips and makes a big smooch sound. It's hysterical and sooo cute. If I cover my eyes and uncover them, she yells Peek A Boo! I know probably all greys do that, but its really cute when its your bird.

I have the video, but did not build a foraging tree. I did take the advice and make most food that our birds get in their cages a foraging opportunity. I use small dixie cups, plain paper and the corn husks (the ones you buy in the grocery store to make some mexican foods). I do put some food in their bowls, but the rest go into these containers and are put all over the cage. Both of my birds find almost every piece of hidden food and Finnigan usually doesn't touch what is in the bowl, even if its the same thing as the hidden food. It's a great idea and they seem to enjoy the "hunt".

Are those Florida palm nuts that you are talking about Dan? I have some trees in my yard and give them to my birds whenever I cut the big seed pods off my trees. But, I thought that the ones Rob Harvey sold were different.

She will be fine. When my B&G was first learning to fly, he went into the pool more often than I care to think about (he hates water, so this was a huge insult to injury). We rinsed him in the shower, just as you did, and he was no worse for the wear. Now he is such a good flyer, he skims the surface of the pool. I think he does it as a ha, now I can't just fall in.

Very cute.

I thought it would be nice to post about my first experience travelling with my grey. This is a long post, sorry. We decided to go away for a weekend and take the birds with us (Finnigan - TAG and our B&G, Loki). They have small travel cages for going to the vets and in event of evacuation (we live in Florida). They are both familiar with the small cages, but they are not suitable for staying in overnight. We went out and purchased a large cage that easily fits the macaw but had a center divider, so both birds could use it. It's not as good as their cages at home, but for the hours we would be gone during the day, it would suffice. We put this cage up in our living room for three weeks prior to our weekend excursion, Loki loved it and Finnigan hated it. In the three weeks it was up, she got no more than a foot away from it without flying away (both of our birds are fully flighted). She never set foot on that cage. :ohmy: I started to feel as if this trip would really stress her out and not be good for her. But, we perservered and packed up our stuff, which to be honest wasn't much of "our" stuff, but mostly bird stuff! We decided to drive at night and cover their cages. This went great, both birds got into their travel cages with no problem and seemed curious about what was happening, but not overly excited. I did feel bad for Finnigan as she holds on much looser than Loki and she fell off her perch several times during the night, thankfully, she only had a couple of inches to the bottom of her travel cage, so no harm done other than her sleep interrupted. The drive was without incident, until the morning when we got into the mountains, then poor Loki got car sick and started throwing up. At first we thought he was happy and regurging showing his enthusiasm for the trip, but after about twenty minutes of this, it became obvious that wasn't the case.:pinch: We had to stop and slow down quite a bit so he could recover. Finnigan did fine (I was the proud mama of course my grey did great!:laugh: )We let them out when we got to the cabin, introduced them to the house, showing them where the windows were (we brought painters tape to put a strip on any window that did not have a blind on it, so they had a visual that the window was closed). I was very surprised to see that both birds, were very relaxed and immediatley began preening. They ate and drank and acted as if they had been there a dozen times before. We put their larger cage up and had an appointment to get to so they had to go into their cage. Now, this is the cage that Finnigan wouldn't touch before, but she went into with little fuss (not NO fuss, but just a little)for which I was eternnally grateful. The birds seemed to have as much fun as we did for the weekend. I was very surprised how quickly they relaxed into the new environment and went with the flow. Finnigan even put her harness on and went for a walk with us in the mountains, she seemed to genuinly love it. The only seemingly stressful part for them was packing to leave. Finnigan was obvioulsy worried about being left behind as she set up her post by the front door. I ended up putting her in her travel cage and putting her in the car even though we were still packing...believe it or not, this settled her down and she seemed happy and comforted to be in the car. She did not fall off her perch on the way home (we did travel at night again). Both birds were very happy to be home, Finnigan had no problem getting in her cage and though she wasn't reluctant to leave it, she was in no hurry to abandon her beloved space. With all the fuss about birds, and especially greys, not being able to handle changes or new things, I really expected them to be more stressed out and uncomfortable, but both birds travelled with no fuss and adapted well to a new environment and didn't stress about being left alone in the new place. I only post this in the event that anyone is thinking of a long weekend and not sure whether to bring your parrot or not, I think as long as you are confident and take the time to introduce them to their travel cages and such, they will be happy to be with you. I will definelty take my birds with me again.

I agree, put the dogs away when Jaco comes out. He needs you to protect him. It's not very fair that Jaco gets locked up in a room all day and the dogs get the run of the house. Although, honestly, I'm not a dog person so, my opinion is probably biased. :whistle:

Good response BMustee!

Thanks for the replys. I figure she is pretty normal and I'll just be firm in my expectations of being a good flock member for her. Which does not include flying at the flock members. I can't imagine clipping her wings now. Both of our birds enjoy flying, its a great way to exercise out that extra energy they have in the evening. I think an attitude from them and the extra effort to make them safe is well worth the effort.

Finnigan was severely clipped when I brought her home. As she has grown older and her feathers have grown out, she is much bolder. Is this due to age or flying? She was a mild mannered young lady for almost two years. Now she is a demon. She flies at everyone in the house that she decides she doesn't like at that moment in time to include our macaw. She hates going back in her cage and will fly from one thing to the next trying to not back into her cage. She has started biting to try to get to me to do something or behave a certain way. For example, if I'm touching the macaw, she will come right over and bite me, if that doesn't get her desired result, she has no problem going after poor Loki, who happens to be a very mild mannered macaw. Don't get me wrong, she isn't a demon all the time, but she definetly has come into her own. I do take the standard discipline with her, but am wondering, if anyone else has noticed this type of attitude change as they get older or when their feathers grow out.

That might work....especially if you put some live plants in there. Finnigan loves to be in our plants. But I agree, I would still keep my eye out and change it when something less expensive and worthwhile came along. Try the plants though, that will keep your grey occupied.

Finnigan follows my husband as well. Because she is flighted, she waits for him to come back and then flies to him if he doesn't come back fast enough. She is bonded with me and doesn't like him to touch her (she will tollerate it, but she is very tense) and she doesn't fly to him to be on him, but will land somewhere in the room (usually on the top of the door) so she can see him. I am almost always in the room that she leaves to go be with him. I agree, its very strange behavior. I wonder if its a grey trait. I almost get the sense that its like one of those herding dogs, she just wants everyone in the same room. Do you get that sense?

Just fyi, I just came over from macaw talk and they are in a discussion about galvanized v. ungalvanized and they seem to think galvanized is fine. Here is the web-site, http://www.birdsnway.com/boards/mt/mt.cgi . I don't post much, but I read a lot of what they talk about and most of the people on there know birds and own several breeds. I'm not saying take their word for it, but take a look if you want.

Try this website www.wingzcatalog.com and see if they have something that you might be able to use. They seem to have some wire that they sell by the roll and you can get the smaller gauge so it should make it more affordable. Hope you find something that works.

Great poll Dan! Finnigan is just really starting to become clear in her speech. She still has a lot of mumbling but you can always tell when its a question as she always ends this long mumble session with hmmm? I started paying attention to when i speak to her, and darn if don't end every question to her with a hmmm?

Great job. Have you tried offering the favorite treat on the other side of your hand, so she has to step up on your hand to get the treat? Keep her close to the perch, so she can step onto you hand, take the treat, then step back to her "safe" place. Eventually, she should just start stepping up to your hand in anticipation of the treat. It sounds like you are doing a great job and have all the right ideas. You just need something to help her over this last hurdle. Good luck.