danmcq

Hahahahahahahahahaha, I love it! Thanks for sharing this.

LOL @ Ruby's answer. It will be a long and slow process. The most important thing to remeber is time and patience. If you make it a scary fight to try and get in on, I guarantee you, you will never get it on and suffer severe bites trying to do so afterward that bad experience. It sounds like you are already on the right path.

Those are totally normal behaviors, especially for a baby.

The birds that accidently escape do want to be with their "Flock", namely you and household. The problem is, once they fly away, they do not know their way back and they are now in a very scary and strange world that holds dangerous threats everywhere they go. Thus searching for them, calling to them and leaving thier cage outside the house in the lafrgest possible view is what gets these birds back home. It has nothing to do with intelligence and most birds except pigeons do not having the auto-home button that guides them.

Daves spot on as always. Welcome to Parrothood.

What a wonderful update and it's really good to hear from you again. Please update more often, I love hearing of Hawkins advances. Very impressive!

Oh NO! I am so sorry to hear that. I have never heard of that before, but obviously it is a health issue, for your doctor to say that. This is sad for all of you.

They also pin their eyes to adjust zooming on something and also for light levels.

A change in behavior that abrupt after 20 years of chattering away sure rings alarm bells. Is the lack of speech and feeding the dogs the only things differrent that you have noticed? Does he readily accept new toys and his cage being moved? If not I would put things back as they were before this incident just to make sure insult has not been added to injury. I certainly hope he becomes himself once again soon

Awww, happy hatchday! I love the update and photos, maggie is so smart, thanks for sharing this.

Thats wonderful! Thanks for sharing this.

Marcus has a ton of knowledge/words your just finding, I love it!!!! Thanks for sharing this.

Well, thats a rather hard question to answer. The reason I think it is a tough one, is it depends on how the grey was brought up and socialized. Dayo has been around a ton of people since he was born. The breeders, their children and Friends stopping by, along with us going and visiting the grey clutches multiple times a week give them all very early socialization from 6 weeks on. The day we brought him home, several family members and friends stopped by at different timers that day and have continued to be in and out of our home constantly since then. I would say Dayo is right in the middle peronality wise for a grey having a similar upbringing. A Grey that is not socialized or that has gone from home to home as a rescue, has a much greater chance of being introverted and fearful of people, places and things. Dayo will fly straight to people when they come in if he knows them. Strangers may take him 20 minutes before he fly's over and says hi much to the newcomers surprise. Dayo is afraid of new toys and objects he has never seen before. He is also always on very high alert when we take him places, which I would think is normal for any grey. By alert, I do not mean screaming at everything, but I do notice he will draw close at times or perhaps have feathers shaking for a bit before relaxing. He will not just sit and chat away while they are here. But, he will sit on one of us or a stand and listen, then sometimes make a comment or laugh at something said or done. If someone walks by with a food he adores, he will tell them he wants xxxx and perhaps fly after them if they don't give him a little. It has irritated a few people at times.

Thanks, Dayo just turned 4 on April 28th.

Dayo chatting away early morning. He is practicing and calibrating new words and phrases. Namely, "see my shadow", "water the flowers" and "get the tiger". The tiger is a new stuffed animal I place near an alarm sensor mounted on the wall he will fly to and start chewing on. Shadow is a new concept to him and I have been working with him over the last two weeks on it. He is engrossed in it when he sees my shadow when I stand outside in the mid afternoon sun and wave to him. My wife was out in the yard watering flowers, so I took Dayo to watch her. As we watched, I explained she was watering the flowers and that they drink water like him, to keep it simple.

What a heart wrenching first 2 years of life. Thankfully, she has landed in a knowledgeable and loving home. As the primaries start coming in and lift becomes available to her, start trying to get her to hop/flap to say your arm or from your arm to couch, bed etc. so the landing s are soft and she gets the idea and most importantly starts building muscle and confidence. It's not like she will be instantly flighted in one day with all primaries in. The downfall of not having all primaries as you teach her, is she will not have full control for a while. Turning, hovering etc. will only come with lots of practice. Being 2 years old and never allowed to fledge means she will be at a little disadvantaged in learning flight skills, as those neural network paths were never built in her fledging weeks that most birds are learning those skills between 10 and 20 weeks old. You'll be ok, based on what I have gleaned from your introduction and thoughts/questions. Just take this initial time to make her feel safe, loved and in a non-confrontational environment with no stimulus from toys, foraging etc. You are going to be introducing her to things over time that will bring her 180 from this point in time. At 2 years old, you will of course be dealing with the terrible twos as she is trying to assert her will. Just learn her body language and you'll be fine.

Yesterday afternoon, I was working in my office, Kim was home and Dayo was with her. I hear a loud crash, bang, bang, dink dink dink and of I course jump up asking Kim if she's ok. As I went down the hall and turned into the kitchen area, I see the wine rack laying on the counter beneath, chains and all toys, that Dayo claimed as HIS 4 years ago when we brought him home. Kim is fine and then my mind screams wheres Dayo? Fortunately, as it fell he flew away, so he was fine I concluded after checking him from head to talon. From the constant push-offs and landings which caused the wine rack to sway back and forth, it had obviously over the years worked enough of the ceiling sheet rock away from the HUGE eye hook and it just slid straight down and out. This wine rack was left in the home when we purchased it 6 years ago. I just assumed (shouldn't have) that it was mounted with an opening type device that when pushed through the sheet rock, the metal wings flip open and place themselves an inch and a half on each of the hole making it impossible to come lose. However it was not. It was simply screwed into the sheet rock. At any rate, I thought I would pass this along. It is always good to just take a second and check for any play what so ever of all hooks you are suspending items from in the ceiling through sheet rock. I got it back up today and Dayo wants nothing to do with it. He will fly and land on counters or stands 5 or six feet away from it and just stare up at it. I suppose this inanimate object is going to half to be on it's best behavior to gain his trust again. He would have been crushed if he was under that rack when it fell...... Photo of wine rack...

Dayo will breath heavy if he goes from zero activity to a flight to get to one of us in another room. It is normal like a person jumping up and running full speed, they become winded as the body starts kicking into a higher level of activity. Once he is "Active Mode" he can fly through house none stop for 20 minutes and not be winded. Occasional sneezing is normal as well as the occasional head shake dust/loose feather off. Checking on the items birdnut mentioned is certainly important things to check out. Looking forward to hearing an update.

Talon is right. They are not one person birds. Our grey and conure both interact with us and all guests that enter our home. They do of course have what I call their cuddle muffin, which is my wife. Both readily interact with me on a different level that includes lots of playing, flying around playing peekaboo and if they get the opportunity a good pinch/bite in if I let my reflex's slow down during all the playing. There is also at least a few times during the day that one of them will want and allow me to give a head scratch or two as well and a belly tickle sometimes. So put that concern out of your head.

Answers below your questions and welcome to the forum! My main doubts are: 1. As they are very intelligent, they need a lot of stimulation and attention. Whilst I'm not working it will be fine, but what will happen when I start working again? Do any of you have to leave the parrot alone during the day to go to work? What do you do? Do they cope fine? I know the main trick is leaving treats and foraging toys in the cage so they can keep busy. Also they take naps during the day. Any other ideas? How is your experience with it? Please share! A) Yes, they cope just fine when left while your at work. As you already have mentioned, just have plenty to keep them busy in their cage. 2. I've read AG are quieter than Amazons, for example. Do you think they are reasonably quiet or not? My Amazons were pretty loud! A) Greys are normally very quite compared to any other parrot 3. How many hours do you normally let them out and play with them every day? A) We let them out for 4 hours minimum when we are at work. I started working from home, so now I let them out at lunchtime and they are out until we go to bed. They adapted very well to varied hours. 4. And if you have to go out after work and can't play with them on that day? Do they cope with it as well? How should we deal with them on occasions like these? A) They would of course be longing for your attention the minute you walk through the door and most will even start contact calling before you ever get you hand on the door knob to enter. I would at least take the birds out and interact with them, even if for only 30 to 60 minutes before retiring so they get some actual out time with you. But, thats just how we roll. 5. Even though we are planning on moving to a house asap, we're currently living in a flat. Anyone had problems with Greys in apartments? A) They get a long just fine in apartments.

Ray's spot on. It's GeYt you have taken in this 10 year old grey. I have no doubt that you are in for many more surprizes.

GreYt photos of Issac! Love that bright red butt. Thanks for sharing this.

Very cute. Tully is going to be advancing very rapidly under your guidance. I look forward to seeing many more. Thanks for sharing this.

Looking forward to those photos. They grow so fast those first 12 weeks it' amazing.

I love this story about Crackers! Gilbert is very intelligent and knows how to work both you and the Bell. I have to admit, I am a softy too when it comes to things so cute, you can't help but give them what their asking for. How could anyone deny such an adorable request. I enjoy reading these constant updates.