slewisr1

Great thank you both for the info. I will take it very slow and give him space. I will just hand feed him treats and let him adjust at his own rate.

So just a quick run down i adopted a Male Congo African grey from an adoption agency. He is 20 years old and he spent a short time at the adoption agency. His original owner passed away and i believe was an older women. I am a 34 year old male I have a good amount of experience with other birds but i am trying to get some advice from someone that has more expertise with African greys. I have had him for 2 weeks. He came with his own cage which is very spacious and has his original toys and perches. I have a large variety of zupreme food and fresh fruits and veggies i give him daily. So he is absolutely terrified of me. He shakes in fear when i put food in his bowls. Occasionally he will take a treat from me through the bars but if I move too close he falls to the bottom of the cage and does a human scream like ahh ahhh ahh ahh. I leave the door open on his cage so he can go to the top and have free range but he always stays in his cage and never comes out even when i'm not home. I have tried to very slowly and gently place my hand under him to pick him up from the bottom of the cage a couple times but he screams and has bitten me hard enough to draw blood on 2 occasions. I have him in a medium travel location near my kitchen so when i prepare food and watch tv he is near me. What I want to know is, should I just go very very slow and just feed him and give him his space or should i press the issue and hold him. I am not really afraid of the bites i just want to know the best way to help him get over his fear.

Thanks alot for the feed back guys and Dave007 i appreciate the info for the aloe and i will pick some up next time im at the store.

Hi, my name is Seth I just adopted a 5 year old African grey Named Roux. I have had her for 7 months. She was some what neglected and completely terrified of her last owner and has a small plucking problem and she was on a full seed diet. Her poor wings where also butchered. They where cut so so short even past her flight feathers. I joined just to get more info and help making her as happy as i can. From what i can tell roux is a female and now i have her on a zupreem diet with whole nuts as treats and a mix of fresh peppers, bananas, carrots, and other assorted veggies. She really does not like the fresh food to much but in time i hope to get her eating more. I always wrap her bowl in news paper or cardboard to give her a challenge. she also has a mineral stone which she dose not care about at all and she has stone grit perches which she like to scrape her beak accros. I live in Florida so i have an indoor cage and an out door cage so she can get direct sunlight. She spends the days when im not home in the outdoor cage and when im home she lives on the top of her indoor cage. I only put her in her cage at night. I try to let her catch some rain which she seems ok with other wise she things she is being murdered at the sight of any other source of water that could contact her. Over all she is friendly to all people in the house hold and new people. She only likes to be petted at night but will gladly be held at all times of the day by anyone. She could careless about toys of any kind. She does not speak at all but she does mimic water, cat meow, and puppy barking. Over all she is super sweet and i just wanted to get some info from anyone that has adopted an african grey from a troubled background. Should i ever expect her to stop plucking? Do you think she will ever talk ( i talk to her every day saying good morning and good night and good bird)? And is there any thing else should do for her.