danmcq

Congratulations on having Sylvia home now!!! It sounds like htings are going well and she is adjusting much like any new grey would. Thanks for sharing this with us and hope to hear and see much more.

It's to hear you know that training a dog versus training a parrot are completely different. A Dog will look towards the leader of the Pack for queues and if a subordinate gets out of line, it is quickly reprimanded and put in its place. Birds are not like that at all. They hang together as a flock and all are equal and treated a such. The only time a minor fight may occur, is if one gets into the others space, tries to take it's tree hole etc. Thus training a parrot is a mutual understanding of him and you understanding each other and working together as a team. Not a commander and private role. If anything, the parrot thinks it is superior to you.

Welcome Vabr and Jack!! It's GreYt having you here and looking forward to hearing tons more about your flock and seeing photos and videos.

Happy Hatchday Tobie! Wow, how time goes by. I remember when you were a just baby . I know you are going to be spoiled rotten today!!!

Great news!

Perhaps a little more clarification on my statements in the other thread. Yes, all birds should be trained to step-up. I was addressing the extreme view of the bird would do it "everytime" without question, no resistance or choice whatsoever. Both my birds were trained from day one as babies to step-up. It the first and most important thing to teach any parrot. My birds will step-up normally when taking them out of the cage or just wanting to move them somewhere. But, there are times my Grey will not lift his foot, which is the first and primary indication he does not want to be "Taken" out by me. I must pay attention to the body language or I will receive a nip either as he steps up or just a lunge bite. However, I am not the "Favorite" of my Grey, but with my wife being so, he will have his foot up before she ever opens the door most times. So I "respect" my Greys desire to come out on his own, when he indicates it is what he wishes to do. As parrots age, they start realizing they have their own desires and choices to make and will start showing through body language and perhaps speech of them. This is no different than a human growing up. Once they reach an older age, "because I said so" no longer works. They will either ask why or tell you what they desire to do. This is where the eyes pinning, feathers ruffling and finally if ignored, the biting will occur or if your birds are flighted, they just take off. In my case, both birds are fully flighted. This also leads to another point. A clipped bird is basically a disabled bird and reliant on the parront for everything. Most clipped birds will just step-up every time because they know if they don't, they will be left stranded wherever they may be. Now the exception to this, is a T-Stand or the cage. If a bird becomes possessive of them, they will most likely give you a good bite when you try to remove them. Most books are a good general overview and advise what should be taught, fed etc. They are right, but they do not address all the other items and situations a parrot owner will encounter that they will need to make adjusts for. Books are simply the authors opinion on several topics. Each one gives the reader a different perspective and way to handle things. The good thing, is if you read many of them, you have a large mental repository of possibilities to explore in working with your "Individual" bird. Each are different and so are the dynamics of the home and flock. In regards toweling, I do not use that except for situations like nail trimming or at the vets if I must. My birds view towels as a soft thing we play with, roll up in and play peek-a-boo with. Also, a perch coming at them means FLY!! I hope this clarifies my views on this.

Thanks for bringing us up to date on Charlie. I hope you to and fit time in to tell us his progress. He is one smart grey!

I will put this on Mickaboos alert system. We have people covering that area. Thanks for posting this!

Good video of a hawk attack while a parrot is with the owner. There are several reports and videos of this type of attack. I do not take Dayo out for walks on the harness for that reason as well. Here in California there are many species of hawks that fly over all day long. I cannot count the times I have seen them grab a pigeon, crow or any other bird while in flight and drive them straight to the ground with their Talons deeply piercing the back sides sides of the bird. We do take him for visits to other homes and public places, but even then, we always have an eye to the sky during the time it takes us to walk from the car to the entrance of a building. When they are outside in their cages getting baths and sun for 3 to 4 hours. The hawks do fly over, but have never shown any interest in the caged birds. Thanks for sharing this!

Not good news Jay. How is Spock doing now? Has he eaten since and held it down? I believe he was holding around 440-450 grams. If so, a 10 to 20 gram loss is not huge, but certainly to take notice of. I know I fret if dayo goes down 10 grams. But, normally the next day he is back up to 480. One other thought reflecting back on Dayos first 18 months. His weight would go up and down month to month from 430 to 450 to 428 to 470 etc. I am uncertain why young birds weight varies more than a more mature birds. But it does, probably due to the way they eat differently as tastes change and muscle mass builds in those pectorals as they fly. Praying for Spock and hoping this is just an oddity today.

Personally, I let my birds choose if they want to step-up to come out or not. Sometimes they will and lift their foot the minute their respective cage doors are opened. Other times, the foot stays down, I know they want to come out on their own and respect that. If I go ahead and force a step up, the chances are 80 percent that I am going to get a hard bite. Returning to the Cage is another story. My conure goes to his cage everynight around 7 and will start squawking if one of us do not notice soon enough. He expects us to come and close his cage, say good night and cover him. My Grey would stay out of his cage 24-7, if he could. Thus, the return to the cage is somes a little bit of a struggle, but we never stop demanding it until he is in the cage. Most times, he enjoys an evening chilling with my wife and is already half a sleep when she gentley picks him up from her lap and carries him to the cage cup between both hands. Some birds will become cage aggressive as they age and not welcome your hands in the cage while they are in it. I guarantee you, if a bird is like that, the lessons of "you come out on my hand or stay", will not work without taking severe after a while. In my book, respect is a 2 way street and when allowed, both come to a more harmonious life with each other. In regards a fire, everyone in the house would be freaking out! Us, the dogs and the birds. In a 911 like that, I would pick the birds up quickly in my hands and just suffer any resulting bites as I take them out to safety. There would be no looking for towels or asking first.

Jay is spot on, as always. Just keep on feeding them formula until they stop. Very cute photos of the two.

I hope and pray jasper is found soon. It seems with the onset of summer, the doors opening more as people go out to enjoy the sun and clipped birds that have grown enough feathers to fly are flying away to their owners horror.

Totally enjoyed this video! Thanks for posting it.

I just want to say one thing about the thought of Greys being different in comparison to other parrots and flying away. It does not matter what species it is. If they get out, they will fly off. My conure jake once flew around 40 miles away over a 2 week period. The night he flew off there was a thunder storm and I suspect he just kept flying in terror. I got him back through a post I had made on craigslist. He had landed at a bird feeder in their back yard and one of their children walked up to the pretty bird and to their shock, stepped up for them. Greys and each species of parrot have differences. But, one commonality they have with all birds, is they will fly away.

They have an air sack on the back of the neck around the bottom of the cervical area. Is this where you are talking about? Is it possible it has fluid in it? Other than it possibly being that, I can not imagine what else it may be. If you can see it, does it appear inflamed at all? You know it is hard to diagnose something when your not a vet. Thats about all I have to offer unfortunately.

Welcome Rick and Jack! It's GreYt having you here. I don't normally find very good toys at pet stores in our city due to them caterin gprimarily to budgie and cockatiel sized birds. I buy all my toys online or parts and make them myself. My grey really loves acrylic balls with bells in them. They work well as foot toys and when hung from a chain say 1 ft long, he will climb down bat the heck out of it and then fly up to a perch while holding on to it acting as a swing to the top. I also puchase medium sized wooden toy assemblies that he chews on through the day when we're gone. They need plenty of things to keep them busy when caged like foraging toys as well. Your bird not being able to fly sounds strange to me. Even without tail feathers they can fly, just not with as much control as previously. When you say he can't fly, how so? Does he flap his wings or just not try at all? Does he seem to have pain if he does fly? If you suspect he could have fractured a wing, you should get him to a vet for an xray. Again, welcome and looking forward to hearing more from you. In regards a bigger bowl for baths, you can normally find a huge stainless water bowl for dogs that should work for your grey. Talking in front of people is a challenge, unless you have him engaged in conversations with you first. If he woon't talk to you, he certainly won't to strangers. Does he ask you for food items, water, treat etc.?

Welcome Ian and Abbey! Thanks for wrting such a GreYt introduction. Does your mother still breed greys or kept any for herself over the years? I'll bet you will have a lot to share.

Wonderful news!!! The lady at the bank just watched him out there or did she try to make contact? What a story!

Those baby weeks are always so cute. My favorite 2 were of Oscar "Getting his Wings". Fledging is such a strong drive in all birds and you can see the internal need bursting out as they hang on and flap with all their might. Oscars second certainly proved he can fly with the minimal clip given. That is wonderful. As he exercises those Pectorals, he WILL be able to fly actually fairly well and build the all important flight skills and coordination as those synapses all start bursting forth and making connections. I can't wait for the next update.

What a GreYt update and lovely photos of Bear and Bean. It is wonderful ro hear how Bear is interacted with by all there si a just one of the flock. I hope you can update a little more often with photos and videos along with stories of whats happening there in they Greys homeland.

All I can say, is if you can hear him. Put on some rain clothes or even cut out a large trash bag and make three holes in it, two for your arms and one for your head. It will not be comfortable for you, but you can with out a doubt find Charlie and he would probably come flying to you in desperation of needing your help. Personally, if I could hear my bird, hell and high water would not stop me from finding him. I pray you or your husband will find the strength to battle the storm.

If there are no apparent signs of illness such as weight loss, nares clear, playing normally etc. I sounds like He is just chilling a little more. Normally a sick bird does not want as much attention, is crabbier than normal, change in appetite etc. I know how you feel. I fret the instant something changes.

OK, I want to say, I think Crossfit (Beth) was disappointed in a response here. I want to be VERY clear that I think she was "Spot on" with her great posts in this thread and I am truly disappointed those posts have now been deleted by her. I value her as a contributor here and hope we have not lost her. Beth - If you are monitoring emails from this forum, please do continue posting. I always enjoy reading your contributions.

OK, let me put some perspective on this topic of Dayo, his intelligence and numbers. But, first I want to thank Crossfit for the Human child development table. It is a great cross section of what an average human child does. Some learn advanced skills earlier than others and some are slower than the average. I also want to thank Jay for his reply. But really, I am NOT an expert and am certainly NOT going where no man or woman has gone before with Greys. Dr. Pepperberg scientifically proved what a Grey is capable of in regards speech, cognitive and math abilities. I am no where near that level and have very little documented other than my own videos and notes. I have no laboratory with other scientists confirming blind studies etc. I simply try to relate what he does or does not understand. I also try to help others if they want their Grey or any other parrot for that matter, to speak with meaning, which means they have developed a form of communicating with us at some level. I have a 4 year old grand daughter that can count into the hundreds, add and subtract. She is far advanced for a normal 4 year old, but that is due to the teaching she has received at a special day care, from her parents and grand parents. But, Dayo is not human and I do not expect him to get the numbers and counting correct for a LONG time. I am happy he just tries, which means he is starting to understand what I am try to communicate to him. I do not for one minute believe Dayo is any more intelligent than anyone's Grey either and that includes whether they ever speak or not. Their intelligence is intact at a high level and they show it all the time without ever needing to "Talk. Even my Dogs cannot talk, but I know without a doubt they understand that sounds I make in my human voice mean the same thing every time I say and they respond accordingly. As far as I am concerned, I believe my dogs are just as intelligent as Dayo, if perhaps maybe even smarter. Look at Dolphins. They cannot speak our language. But, scientists are saying their brain functions and dolphinese is rival the human language when communicating with each other. I want to make certain, that no one that owns a Grey that does not speak Human, somehow becomes disappointed in them. Their Grey is a marvelous creature and believe me, it is as smart as any grey that decides to try and speak our language by making sounds that resemble ours. Just watch those human speechless greys and you will very quickly see, they, without a doubt understand what is being said. I will say in regards any ones Grey or other Parrot speaking. That you should always be paying attention subconsciously when occupied with a PC or doing something else. We all know how smart they are and if they say something important to them and receive no response. They will after so many tries, decide they are not communicating correct with us and reduce attempts. Example: I was sitting here at my PC early this morning. Dayo says " Dog gone it, shoot! Hmmmmmmm, What are you doing?" I hear and turn my head replying back with " I'm on the Computer, what are you doing?" Dayo replies "Whaaaat!" with an intense stare. My reaction was to get up and ask him what he wanted. He picked up his "Boing" (It's what I call a rubber toy with holes in it about 4 inches long and 3 inches in diameter) and threw it at me. We then played catch for a few minutes. The reason I bothered to pass this on, is if you want your parrot to believe it is communicating with you correctly. You must respond to the tries with a correct answer or action. Note that I did not say it had to be human speech either, It could be a special sound or whistle your grey only uses for special items or actions it wants. I hope this clarifies my level of knowledge and at what stage I am. Merely a student learning as I go...