danmcq

The others have given good advice. So we can better help you, could you tell us more about him, his background, age etc. if known? How does he interact with you presently? Does he come out of his cage yet? Does he fluff up or scream when you approach? We have a ton of posts on this forum in the restive rooms addressing food, health, training etc. you can browse at your convenience as well. The first you would find good advice in would be the rescue room: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?27-Rescue-Bird-Haven I am looking forward to hearing more.

What if he doesn't like the cage you swap for? Just a thought that is a possibility. I would suggest following Dave's advice. One thing I would add, is if possible move the "Old" cage a little further away. Sometimes just a little more distance will calm down a Grey that does not like or is afraid of something. We do this all the time with new things we bring in the house including furniture etc. Then we slowly close the distance or after a few days to a week they are used to seeing it and do not care how close you move it in proximity to them.

Great job on having everything low for your new baby to learn perching safely. He's a daredevil! Thanks for sharing this.

LOL, I almost spit my coffee all over the screen reading this! Thanks for the morning laugh.

Welcome our forum and thanks for the introduction of your new baby grey. Being a baby and learning from her parronts namely you. She does not have any clue in regards the dangers of the real world yet. Since you have allowed the games she plays with you dogs to continue and she obviously enjoys it. You will have a very hard time stopping this activity with out removing the dogs from her area. Your right, it is very dangerous and one day (depending on your dogs) one will get excited enough to possibly jump up unexpectedly and try to snatch her out of the air. The cats are another animal that could inflict deathly harm at any moment, even with the claws that if they pierced the skin could pass on a deathly infection that will kill her. You have many things to consider here for the safety of your grey, but only you are actually there seeing the dynamics of all this and can make the judgement call on what you may need to do to stop them if you feel they are indeed a threat. I would love to photos and a video of the color selections when you get a chance.

That's wonderful! I suspect she used that request thinking you may just get since her aerial acrobatics for you didn't work.

Hi Nancy - It is balling your hand in to a tight fist so the skin on the back of your hand is drawn tight, keep your thumb tucked down, then when you move forward with your hand, you have the back of it turned up as you glide in low asking for a step up. They cannot bite the back of your hand when the skin is drawn tight. You just need to watch for them coming over your hand to bite any portion of a finger or flesh underneath. Thus the need to perhaps roll your hand back and forth gently to keep them off balance and get them to where you are going. Most times. as you probably know, once you start movement they are paying attention to where your going rather than your hand they are perched on.

Awww, bless Josey's heart. She is such a sweetheart. Wish we heard more of those wonderful stories I am sure you have kept guarded close to your heart.

Judy has given great advice. From the description of at only 9 months old (which is still very much a baby) he had already gone from breeder to first owner, then to a rescue and now to your home. I suspect the first owner was one of those people that just that owning a parrot that could one day talk would be cool and expected it to behave as a domesticated puppy dog. When that did not happen, the baby grey probably under went some horrible treatment and experiences until it went to the rescue. This is all baggage and memories this young baby grey has of how the human world works and the huge walking monsters have treated him so far. Thus the distrust you are experiencing. he does not know that you are or will be any different and is being very cautious. It will take time, patience, a kind loving voice, smiley face and uncoditional love to overcome these fears and have those replace with trust and closeness to you and family. The worst thing you can do is try and push him into letting you do something as personal as touch him. There is no secret direction to come from the sneak a touch in and you do not want to do this. It would alarm him and build greater distrust and fear of when the next sneaky action might occur. In other words, he needs to decide when he wants to come close to you and touch/explore you, your shirt, your hand, fingers etc. Just let him come to a true feeling of trust and expectation that nothing bad or hurtful is going to occur. He is a baby in need of nurturing and gentle guidance and direction from an adult. Be that loving adult that guides him to being a self confident grey as he matures and learns from you. The touching can occur at the natural pace and level it will reach based upon his personality. You are going to go through many maturing stages with this baby cag. The terrible twos will happen just as they do similar to that of a human child when they try to figure their place in this world and throw tantrums. But, you have a long ways to go before those come a long. The most important thing you can do is read all the great stickies in each room here to gain knowledge and wisdom in how your grey will act and what you should do. Of course ask questions as often as you need. That's what we are here for.

"Should I be using the iron fist every time I pick him up then? He's just so darn smart that when ever I do give him the iron fist he's learned that he can get a grasp on my fingers from the bottom and from the sides of my hand. Not to mention above my wrist." It's great to hear you already know the Iron Fist. The second part is to ensure that when you see he is going to lean forward/down to bite, wobble your arm/hand so he Slightly loses balance and stops bring his head down as his must correct himself to keep from falling. I have to do this with my grey as well when he does not want to at times that it is a must do. "Maybe I should position my hand for him to step up a distance away from him and see if he'll willingly come and step up on his own? He does this sometimes for me when I'm offering to take him out of the cage." Absolutely! It never hurts to ask first to see if they are willing to step up on their own first. After a while over time, you'll start seeing that foot go way in the air, sometimes on their own when they are communicating they wish to be picked up to be closer to you. "I'll try taking video footage next time in case I'm not seeing something." That is a great way of actually seeing and studying feedback, if you are able to capture some of those precise interactions.

"So, does it do any good to try to communicate to our greys that it's not nice to bite" Yes, it is always good to let them know in a stern voice "NO Bite", when they do bite aggressively. Also if it is a hard beaking, let them know in a nice voice it's too hard. When they soften their next beaking tell them "That's Better" good boy or whatever you wish to say to indicate this. They learn by feedback positive and negative. Of course this will be a work in progress over time. "is it better to just read their body language and avoid the bite?" Yes! We need to learn every nuance of our individual grey's body language. Believe me, they have ours. "As I said, Gracie doesn't really bite, but as Dan said, she is young (just turned 9 months). Will she be more likely to bite when she gets older." Maybe, maybe not. Each grey is different. But I can tell you, as they get older, when they do mean to bite, it is much harder and sometimes aggressive because they are outraged over whatever it is happened. These can be blood spurting bites. But, not all Greys do this. Some people here for example have greys that from what I understand have never bitten. But, that is not the norm.

There are many different dynamics going on in each situation. "So I think I'm beginning to understand why Solomon has been biting me a lot more recently. I think it has to do with him wanting his own space regardless of where he may be. For instance, when he's on my bed or in the bathroom with me, it seems like he'll randomly just bite me." Nothing is ever random when it comes to a bite. They serve a reason in his mind and he is communicating with you. First I want to differentiate between a real aggressive bite versus a pinch or even just strong pressure. 1. Aggressive bite = Rips skin, punches holes and you bleed. 2. Pinch - Gets a hold of a flap of skin and it's like a pinch from a person that hurts. 3. Pressure - Applies pressure in degrees from soft, medium and strong. "What I find to be weird is that he will be playing with his toys, shredding something, just being plain occupied (on my bed) on his own and I'll be sitting on the other side of the bed doing homework or something else and he'll stop doing what he was doing, sit there for like a minute and then come right over and bite the back of my arm. Is he doing this because he wants me to pay attention to him all of a sudden?<snip> When he does this specific action he does not puff up or show any visible signs of aggression. " Yes, Yes, Yes, he wants attention !! He is not being aggressive. I suspect this is a pressure and small pinch. He may be doing things like playing with a toy while you are nearby occupied with something. But I guarantee you, he is watching you as he plays and believe it or not wants you to at least be paying partial attention to him. So after a while he comes over to let you know you have dropped the ball in paying attention to him. Even just an occasional glance will stop this due to it confirming you know he is there and is putting on a display for you. "Lately he'll do this (mostly happens on my bed and not when taking him out of the cage) and indicate that he wants to go to his cage or somewhere else, but when I go to pick him up he completely changes his demeanor, gets all puffed up and bites." That is aggression when he changes his body language as you describe. It means you misread his wants or intentions. If you see him starting to puff up as you proceed in the action getting him..STOP before the bite. In this case when you say bite, is it blood drawing, a pinch or firm pressure? They have different meanings such as Back Off or You Took Too Long or testing the sturdiness of you hand as a perch etc. "However, I'm thinking about what to do when it's time to go to bed and I have to place him in his cage or when I need to leave for school or work." In these cases, he has no choice and you must retrieve him to get him in the cage. Just make sure when you go for the step up that you use the back of your hand with you fist balled up to keep that skin tight to eliminate loose skin that can be punctured easily. Believe, they learn know the difference and situation both in your tone and body language that this is not a request but a requirement. This of course does not mean they just decide in that case they will comply easily, but they know the situation is different. This is one of the times an aggressive bite will be coming or at least they will try to deliver one.

Indeed birdhouse, right on! Dave, your Right, why, why, why and how do they find us.

Congrats and enjoy Saturday!!!

That is a classic grey non-telegraphed move. They are hard if not impossible to see coming and they are FAST! Sometimes I can tell (maybe through intuition, not any noticeable body language) that I better not continue my perceived invitation to give him a scratch. Other times I do get a nip. It is so hard to tell, when 99 percent of the time they truly want scratches and enjoy them.

Cute story Jeff and a perfect example for all to learn from about body language. That is Gracie showing displaced aggression and she was letting you know "That could have been you". We all learn through examples like this over time with our greys when it is time to back off before a bite occurs. It is the time we indicate we understand their body and respect it. In the wild or even bird to bird interaction seen in our homes, clearly indicates that is how one bird communicates to the other it has entered the others "Space" and to back off. If ignored, the other bird will either get a bite or chased off. For us humans it means we are going to get bit. I can guarantee you, Gracie knows each and every nuance of your body language down to the slight twitch of and eyelid. That is how attentive birds are to it and know what each and every gesture, voice tone, smiling,frowning etc. telegraphing we give before we do it. They expect us to pay attention to the same minute detail of theirs. Gracie's display was a full blown I am going to rip you to shreds, but due to her young age, stopped and took it out on the toy. I still get a nip now and them, but believe me, I can read Dayos body language down to just how he slightly moves, pins an eye and twitches a toe indicating I better stop whatever it is I am about to do or am doing. But, I will say Greys are the Mohammed Ali of non-telegraphing and sucker punching before you know what hit you at times.

You never know who they will pick as the favorite. I play second fiddle here as well...

Ditto on the peanuts. Also, if your grey has problems cracking the almond in shells open, just snip the small end off exposing a little of the almond inside and DJ will get the idea and a good beak workout. I'll bet he goes to town on those peppers as well...ummmm ummm... good stuff!!

I would go to the rescue and try to see how any interaction goes with Him. I would not get a breeder. A true breeder would probably never or very limited interact with you. They are not Pet or friendly birds at all. That is also why breeders are so cheap comparatively speaking.

Cute Story. Have Talons, will travel.

This thread has become humorous!

It will take up to two years for all primaries to come back in. Hopefully they will all be back in sooner. Each set that molts will increase lift, so be prepared from longer fight capabilities soon.

A syringe is the easiest way to. Your Avian vet can go over and maybe even give a dose while your there to show you.

It's to good hear you have it under control and he is back to normal at this time. Did the vet say why his crop was distended?

LOL @ do they get gas from beans. Beans are very healthy for them and as you have done you can mix in other items as well. As Jay said, they will pick through what they want each day.