danmcq

I missed something. Picking who up today? Did you already find a rescue or a baby? Looking forward to seeing this updated with all the inside information and photos.

What a beautiful baby grey. Oscar is one cute rascal. Thanks for the update.

Oh Man, I feel your heartbreak. I also know words cannot console you. I hope you can get over this quickly and find room in our heart to rescue a Grey in need of such a loving home as yours. You will never forget the times and memories you had with Cocoa and He will never forget either. Please stay in touch with us.

Another good update and beautiful photo t match. He adjusted very quickly to the new guests. Just wait until he nibbles their ear for attention. They will become quickly shy of having him on their shoulder. I just can't figure out why that freaks out non-parrot owners so much. It's just a "Love" nibble..... Thanks for sharing this.

Sorry to hear of the accident. You may need to have a collar put on him if he will not stop picking at the injury. Please keep us updated.

Congratulations!!! My suggestion on what to do.... Find out everything you can about all of Chili's likes, dislikes, routines... what and when fed, when is normal wakeup time, go to bed time, go to bed ritual (If any) special routines, games, cage covered or not etc. Any morsel of Chilis expectations you can meet so the change is not so drastic will make things go as smooth as possibe and make Chili feel atleast somewhat "at Home" and you can slowly introduce changes you wish to make over a few weeks or months. Things you won't know unless told...Example: Our Grey Dayo has a nighttime ritual. My wife carries him to his cage, I start the Hot Water and bring his food bowl. My wife leaves me and Dayo and gets him a cup of HOT water, I say goodnight, tell him how much I love him, give him a beak rub and then back away when my wife arrives. He thens gulps down hot water she offers and when done does head scratches, good nights and I love you's with my wife. She then covers his cage. It's these types of things no one would know unless passed on. Everyone has special things they do with their greys at certain times and no one would know unless passed on. You have a valuable resource at hand to make your new arrival much more "At Home" than rescues or multiple hand me offs. Looking forward to seeing photos and hearing how the homecoming went

Great informative information as always Dave, thanks!!!

Thanks for sharing the photos of llamar. Beautiful Grey and on the breast close up I see 2 pins coming in at the neck breast merge level. As Jay said, no visible evidence of plucking from the angles you provided.

Excellent comments Capster. I have 2 Dobermans that are rescues and have had them for 5 years now. The last thing I would want to see is what would happen IF my Grey nipped one on the nose. They are "Ok" when we are relaxing in the living room or family room together and do sit or lay close to our birds. However, when one of the parrots takes flight, the both respond as many dogs do to sight and movement stimulation. I cannot count the times they have sat up and sometimes jumped half- heartedly snapped as the birds fly over. If it happens to be a long flight and sometime a few circles around and through rooms. The dogs will sometimes start running behind in pursuit very excited. I am always consistent in my reactions and commands to the dogs to stop, sit etc. But, when they are excited, they sometimes do not pay attention until I physically get up and make them stop and sit. With that said, even if you dog and parrot play, it is VERY DANGEROUS. A one pound bird can receive instant death simply through the 10 pound or 100 pound dog pinning it under any weight and force that would produce internal injuries that would either kill your bird instantly or a few hours later from internally bleeding to death as you get you bird to the vet. Never feel comfortable with you dog, cat and bird relationship. I speak with experience of an incident happening in 20 seconds that gave my grey a head injury , swelling and several tail feather pulled out. It took 4 days four my grey to return to normal. He was fortunate and I never walk out of the house for even 30 seconds now without putting the dogs up. He had flown to a room to see where I had gone trying to look out the window.....The dogs happened to be there laying down, got into a sight motivated frenzy and got him...barely but very serious to a 1 pound bird.

This is a big change for that Grey. It has lead a very sheltered life from your description and was not exposed seemingly to anything new, like surroundings, different rooms, people etc. That equals one very scared bird of anything new when it comes to grey behavior. One question on the nighttime routine. Did the previous owner cover the cage at night? IF not, do not cover it. This could be causing undo stress because it cannot see out out the cage. Another question, when you say the Grey is presently housed out on the patio, do you mean outside? If so, this is another highly stressful factor due to the environmental things the grey is not used to such as sounds of critters, cars and who knows what else. Then add on top of that the feeling of possibly being eaten by a monster at night and you have one very freaked out grey thats going to pluck. If possible, you should get all the information you can on routines that grey is used to from interacting, feeding, bathing (if ever) and any other things this grey has become used to over it's past 3 years of life. It will help immensely in providing the grey as much comfort and familiarity as possible, while you SLOWLY introduce changes which will ultimately give the greater freedom from fear of change (Relative of course) during it's life and coping skills which are presently non existent. Also, since it is still early, when you notice something that is freaking your grey out, stop doing it and if you must, please try not to become apprehensive yourself. A bath is not something the must have to address a health issue. It is obvious the water has really been a bad experience at some point. Introduce it SLOWLY. They pickup on your internal feelings and stress level instantly and react in an equal manner. It's hard, but always try to calm yourself, smile (The know a smile) and speak in calm reassuring words the grey may know like "It's OK", "Your such a good bird", "I love you" etc. It's good to hear you are going to get a scale, start monitoring weight and find a vet for a checkup. One thing on the diet. Do not just suddenly try to change it. It must be done very slowly over time. All avian vets caution on trying to change a diet and to do it slowly while monitoring the weight of you bird closely. Ask the vet about it when you have the check up. The others have all given excellent advice.

Dave as always is spot on. My Grey Dayo is of the "darker" colored variety. His feathers lighten up a little over time as they age until molted out or from the white dander that coats them in between baths. I will say also, unlike wild Greys that stick together in there respective areas i.e. the "Cameroon" region are by genetics the "Lighter" and larger Greys. He where breeding pairs in captivity are from generally ALL regions pair off and produce chicks with the genes mixed, unless a breeder has specifically selected and mated only "Cameroon" region greys to keep that genetic line intact. Some breeders even try at times the "Cameroon Greys for sale" to get more money as if they are a different breed, which they are not. It is similar to humans from different "Regions" that stay and do not venture out in the gene pool and thus all descendants of that area have similar skin tone, eye shapes and height. WE are all still Humans, just from different gene pools. IN a nutshell, your grey will stay with the same coloring it was born with, barring the beautiful solid red tail that emerges when those baby tail feathers molt out.

Great news on the screaming issue!! It would be beneficial to others presently experiencing this same issue if you posted the methods you used to reduce it. IN regards the missing portion of the primary, it could have been from the clipping, but I suspect your grey may have chewed it when it came out. Many birds will beak and chew on a feather that has molted out. The good news on the flying is, he will get better at it! It does not sound like any type of barbering behavior at this time.

Dave007 is spot on as always, as our resident decades long breeder par excellent. I will say, we had the joy of being able to visit 2 clutches of greys that were only days apart on hatchdays. We spent 2 hours each visit twice weekly from 6 weeks old onwards. At about week 8 one started coming to us more than the others. At week 12 a second had started coming as well each visit and drifting between me and my wife the entire time. There were 8 greys between these 2 clutches. The rest would entertain themselves and watch cautiously as Dayo and the other grey would visit each time from there on out. One Grey at 12 weeks old, flew for no reason about 6 feet across the floor and attacked my hand inflicting a pretty severe bite. This took myself and the breeder completely by surprise. That one grey also got to where it did not like the husband breeder and would growl when he went near the cage. The wife had to take on all feeding activities from that week forward and it barely let her do so. My point in writing so much on this, is because I feel strongly that if a grey chooses you. The chances of having a good relationship from day one are 100 percent. When we brought Dayo and Leah (The second Grey) home at 16 weeks, they were both completely comfortable and desired only to be with me or my wife at all times. We did end up taking Leah back the 2nd day due to rapid weight loss and it was very obvious she was not yet weaned. There was no "Getting acquainted time" required nor any doubt my wife was Dayo's love muffin and it remains that way to this day. So if you do have the chance to visit a local breeder, do so!

I agree with Judy regarding LAMBERTS POST. With a whole 1 year of experience with the 7 birds basically all purchased at once does not make much of an expert or one to pay attention to advice from.... With that said and to keep this thread on-track.... The issue here is not so much the bite, but the behavior that needs to be addressed and how to either stop or prepare for a facial flying attack that can do serious damage to an eye. This thread was not started for sympathy, even though we are a VERY SUPPORTIVE forum and will give out sympathy and understanding any time we wish to do so. I am attacked by Dayo as well at times. However, I know what causes it and am perpared to simply duck and move my arm up to deflect him up and over my head. It is always when I go to remove him from a wall mounted sensor that is about a foot long and 4 inches wide at about 7 feet high. Idon't know what it is about that sensor, but Dayo and Jake at some point everyday, will fly over to it and start trying to chew the vented cover off. Dayo will fly right at my face when I go to shoe him off. Only a flighted bird can do this type of attack of course and they do. WE all just need to be preapred for it and know that one day it will come when they get pissed off. It is simialr to a child throwing a temper tantrum. They blow up, calm down and it's all over in 10 seconds. WE humans are the ones that get upset and stay that way tripping out about "How Could they have done that to me?". With our loved birds, that warning display is over the second after it happened and they will step up and love you almost instantly. The exception to this, is if you took a No-No item from them and they know you have it. They just might continue fly byes until they see or know you have put that item up. Then it will all be over and forgotten. This is how they live with each other in the wild as a flock. We are their flock and get treated as such. This is never personal, for the majority of cases. The exception to this of course, is someone that has abused a bird and it has become that persons mortal enemy and the bird will never forget that. This is NOT the cause in this situation, but I thought I would mention it, because it does happen and stays as baggage with a re-homed bird. It could be that if a woman abused that bird, it just may hate all women. You just never know.

It is inconceivable to me a grey 4 years old has been rehomed 7 times. What a confusing 4 years for Ruby. Thank God this has a stopping point with a happy ending at our home. I am looking forward to seeing those photos and reading the updates as Ruby learns what it is l ike to have a flock of humans that love her.

I agree with the others. Barbara is a well respected behavior professional in the parrot community. If you have the bandwidth to go, you will not be disappointed.

If you don't want her to go to your shoulder. Block the path up the arm she is on with your other arm. You will need to be consistent in doing this and she will learn you do not want her there.

Love these photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks for posting this Jay. I am certain it will peak the interest of the many new grey owners we have here. N'kisi became very famous in the bbc news coverage, but then just disappeared from the radar after 2004. It is amazing to me that no further research, articles or updates by Aimee Morgana or Sheldrake have appeared anywhere. I wish there was more videos and tapes of N'Kisi, along with follow-up blogs by Aimee, but nothing.

GreYt photos of Hawkins. Thanks for sharing these.

Welcome Flynn and Nala!!! It's GreYt having you here. Looking forward to hearing more and seeing photos when you get a chance.

LOL, it's Bat bird! GreYt photo.

Great photo and those words are certainly coming right along. Thanks for sharing this.

It is completely normal Grey play. They really get into it at times and just thrash those toys. It is very entertaining to watch. You should video it.

Very cute. Watching Tigerlilly is always a joy. Thanks for sharing this and don't be such a stranger.