danmcq

Caging Dayo for a timeout never worked either. The most torturous thing that can happen in Dayo's mind, is to hear a NO BITE! and then be ignored as if he is not even in the house. We ignore him for at least 5 minutes and sometimes even just walk out of the room. Sometimes he will even be heard saying he is sorry off in the distance. This of course melts our hearts and we go back and he's all lovey dovey wanting scratches and even rolling on hs back for my wife as if nothing happened which sounds like Timber is as well. I know many people here has seen that photo of Dayo laying on his back cuddled in my wifes arm. Like you said, it does seem most the time we only hear of the sweet moments. I guess I need to start getting more of the "Wild Side" shots to share. Come on out all you lurkers as if you do not have a Jekyll and Hyde grey that goes all "Freddy" on you!!! We know you are here.

Well it's good to hear it is calming down somewhat. The more contacy calls he learns, the wider variety he will use. of course when the feel desperate, they will make the loudest and most obnoxious one they know and it will hurt you eardrums and brain.

Your welcome. Alfie is a GreYt grey and you are doing well as you can to deal with these rebellious moments. he is not a devil bird and with his personality type I can guarantee that he will keep you highly entertained by thrashing toys and doing acrobats on them, flying through the air doing the grey pterodactyl screams and all. I truly enjoy seeing a grey that exhibits a strong will with a true gusto for the wild side, which they still have just a generation away from their wild African Grey Congo roots. Put on Lion king theme song and watch him proudly soar in these activities. I am glad the sun is shining inside even though there's snow outside.

Thats a tough decision. The question is, do you really think Timmy would fair better in another home or still be happy in the home that he knows and loves? Each of our lives has those busy periods sometimes for months and yes we feel like we are somehow neglecting our Greys. The real question I believe is, do you really believe Timmy would be happier somewhere other than in the home with the flock he has known and loved all these years? If you truly believe this and do not think a year or two after this busy period may end that you will not look back and think you and Timmy would have been better off to have kept him and your family feels the same way. Then yes, make certain you find him a home and loving person that knows how to live with a grey that will hopefully give him his forever home.

I understand your frustration with Alfie. Dayo became very headstrong at around the same age as Alfie. He could be gentle as a lamb until something was not going HIS WAY. Years later now and guess what? He is still very strong willed at times and a bugger when he is hell bent on having his way. Just so you are not alone in your frustration during those times, I will give just an example Dayo's determination when he decides it's his way or someone is going to get hurt....... He decides it seems like a good idea to grab an ear ring my wife just took off and placed on the table. Being flighted he can do this before she realizes he just flew from his perch, swooped in like an eagle and took off with it. Then she's jumping up and calling me while trying to get Dayo to drop it. I come in as the white knight and the football game begins. I try for a step up, of course thats not an option so he ducks, weaves, takes the ear ring out of his beak so he can try to deliver a skin gashing bite, misses and I come back in with my other hand he forgot about. Then he fly's somewhere else and the same duck and weave session happens. After a few boxing rounds he accidentally drops the ear ring, I get it and all hell breaks loose in a flying kung fu furry of trying to deliver back of neck bites, front on facial attack attempts etc. When he is pissed off, he lets you know it immediately. We have learned over the years to anticipate this and duck, weave swoosh arms around etc. until he stops the attacks and just gives up. How do we feel when this type of incident occurs? Well let see, anger, hurt feelings, asking ourselves why he does this etc. The bottom line is, we decided to get a grey that everyone knows is one of the most highly intelligent, moody and high anxiety creatures on the planet! So it is our responsibility to just "Deal with it" as best we can. Using our limited human intellect to try and figure out how to keep the root cause of that incident from happening again, like not leaving something out even for a split second, that he values so highly he would fight to the death to obtain and keep it. The other thing we do during an incident he has become agitated and flying or just sitting and trying to bite us, is to react quickly by observing his body language or flight direction with cat like perception and quick movements. When he comes flying, he is not given the opportunity to land anywhere on us which means head or shoulder. We know he cannot be trusted there when he is in a mood and thus swooshed away if he tries sometimes time and again before he stops. So do not become upset over this. It is not you and Alfie does not harbor grudges or feelings like we humans do sometimes for our entire lives towards some one that just may have slighted us once. Alfie is just living in the moment during those fly at your head and shoulder. So when he does it, just keep doing what you are and get quicker and better at it by seeing it coming to give you the time to react and block the landing attempt. He will get the message after several attempts and slowly stop trying so often. Some people here talk about how their greys have never bitten. Believe me, it is not due to something the grey owner did that resulted in that. It is the greys personality. Greys, like humans, each have a personality of their own. We must respect that and learn how best to interact with that personalty. We are all here for you buddy, so when your feeling frustrated and at wits end, post and we will respond to help you through the moments your feeling overwhelmed.

Thanks for the update. It sounds like you and Oscar have established a good relational foundation and communicate with each other quite well. As you have noted, Oscar does communicate volumes through his body language and sounds. Yes, some greys have large human word vocabularies, but even they display their feelings, moods, emotions, wants and other desires through body language and sounds as well much better than through human words. You can see what they are thinking instantaneously through their body language. I look forward to seeing that video of Oscars "I'm a little teapot"/ hula hoop dance".

They will slowly start coming in as they molt out in pairs i.e. one from one wing and the corresponding feather on the other wing. It can take up to 2 years for them all to molt and come back in.

Welcome Saad! As the others have said, please don't clip his wings. Use fans like the on Steve posted or one that has enclosed fan blades and oscillates back and forth. I know those are not as pretty as a ceiling fan, but they are safe to use in rooms your grey will be in when out of the cage.

"but then when we return to the lounge he is back to biting if I need to remove him from somewhere" Alfie is fine in a nuetral and small confined area I suspect, because he is not busily focused on what HE WANTS TO DO. Thus the nice interaction and step-ups. But, get him back to HIS ROOM and HIS PLAY AREA and try to go stop him? We have a problem NASA! That is the difference. He does not wish to be moved from where he is and stop doing what he is happily and gleefully focused on. So he bites because you assume you have some god given right to interfer by trying to get a step-up and since you so limited in your human abilities of seeing GLARING body language of a grey clearly giving the body language for "Back off, but your feeling lucky punk, go ahead make my day". At one year old he is just learning he has rights and how to protect them. I still get bites from Dayo when I must get a step-up and he is busy doing something, but I use the "Fist of Iron" and rotate my hand as he tries to get a good bite in.

Pretty flowers.

Hahahaha, she has no clue what turn is, but sure is interested in getting that hand waiving around in front of her.

Cute video of her playing, talking "Hello!" and sounds/whistles. I love seeing them get in to rough play and getting their "Pterodactyl" screams on.

Looks like a fun place for her to hang out now.

Most greys like containers such as jars, plastic containers, empty pill bottles (rinsed and cleaned with cap on)coffee cans etc. You can even put raw rice, dried beans etc. in them so they make noise as well. They can have a ton-o-fun biting them, tossing them and chasing them around. I enjoyed watching this video.

Once a bird dislikes the harness, it may be close to impossible to ever get it back on them. It is going to take a lot of time and patience as others have already so tightly stated. In very SMALL steps as the dvd shows. Of course first you just need to get the harness close enough to him to even think about touching him with it. In regards going outside and them being afraid of the outdoors. The harness is NOT what you should use to get them used to it. You would just end up with a bird flapping and dangling on the harness freaking out which would make both the harness and the outdoor adventure scary. Outside they see things not just in visible light like humans and also as they see them indoors devoid of UV (Unless you have a UV A and B outputting light). Just the sight of you and all things are shocking to them at first seeing in that fourth vision ability and as you know, changes in perception of objects suddenly scare them. The initial our door ventures should be short if they are afraid and in a carrier cage of some type. Just go out SLOWLY as you open the door and they start seeing all the odd and strange sights. Sit down with him and relax talking soothingly to your grey and tell them about what the can see like trees, flowers, grass and birds flying over for example. If they freak out take your grey in. That way he will know that you will respond to any frightful incident while he is outside with you by taking him in.

LOL, you should put this on youtube ad's and make some money off of it. Well, a video of this if your still there.

GreYt Photo!

Well I am glad Tango finds the more pleasant contact calls by Dayo are helping with the smoke detector sounds. As I said, this video is of his milder contact calls. When I catch a video of dayo on a day he is more demanding with ear piercing calls I'll post it. But you may want to ban Tango from ever hearing it.

Welcome Moni and Kaylee. Thanks for the photos. It sounds like you are providing her with a lot of love and a GreYt living environment. Thanks for the photos, she is a pretty girl regardless of some feather damage. As greywings said, that may just improve with the care and bathing you are now providing. She certainly seems to be a happy and loving grey.

Good post Jay. I purchase Volkmans seed that are 100% safflower and also roasted pin nuts in the shell by the bag when I can find them. Walnuts, Almonds etc, are wonderful nuts! I must say though, the roasted pine nuts I give only 3 to 4 a day. They are his "Addiction". I swear if I filled a bowl with them, he would "Hurt" himself trying to eat them all. I don't know if anyone elses greys like roasted pine nuts in the shell, but most seem to really enjoy them. Whats funny, is he does not like shelled pine nuts whatsoever!

I get it with sunflower seeds. I must say, dayo is not a sunflower seed junky like some greys. When he was a baby to around a year and a half old he would eat all the sunflower seeds first, then the other items mixed in. Now most the time he will only eat a few sunflower seeds, but eats most the safflower and other items first. Most the sunflower seeds have remained untouched. I have never worried about sunflower seeds and how my birds eat. Why? Because they are nutritious and my birds eat a well rounded diet like everyone elses here do as well. I have posted this before years ago on this forum, but here it is again: Health benefits of sunflower seeds Delicious, nutty, and crunchy sunflower seeds are widely considered healthful foods. They are high in energy, 100 g seeds consist of 584 calories. Nonetheless, they are incredible sources of health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins. Much of their calories come from fatty acids. The seeds are especially rich in poly-unsaturated fatty acid linoleic acid, which comprise more 50% fatty acids in them. They are also good in mono-unsaturated oleic acid that helps lower LDL or "bad cholesterol" and increases HDL or "good-cholesterol" in the blood. Research studies suggest that Mediterranean diet which is rich in monounsaturated fats help to prevent coronary artery disease and stroke by favoring healthy lipid profile. Like other nuts, they are also a very good source of proteins with fine quality amino acids such as tryptophan that are essential for growth, especially in children. Just 100 g of seeds provide about 21 g of protein (37% of daily-recommended values). In addition, the sunflower seeds contain health benefiting poly-phenol compounds such as chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, and caffeic acids. These are natural anti-oxidants, which help remove harmful oxidant molecules from the body. Further, chlorogenic acid helps reduce blood sugar levels by limiting glycogen breakdown in the liver. Further, the seeds are indeed a very rich source of vitamin E; contain about 35.17 g per100 g (about 234% of RDA). Vitamin E is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant, required for maintaining the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting it from harmful oxygen-free radicals. Sunflower kernels among is one of the finest sources of B-complex group of vitamins. They are very good sources of B-complex vitamins such as niacin, folic acid, thiamin (vitamin B1), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), pantothenic acid, and riboflavin. Sunflowers are incredible sources of folic acid. 100 g of kernels contains 227 µg of folic acid,which is about 37% of recommended daily intake. Folic acid is essential for DNA synthesis. When given to an expectant mother during the peri-conception period, it may prevent neural tube defects in the baby. Niacin and pyridoxine are other B-complex vitamins found abundantly in sunflower seeds. About 8.35 mg or 52% of daily-required levels of niacin is provided by just 100 g of seeds. Niacin helps reduce LDL-cholesterol levels in the blood. In addition, it enhances GABA activity inside the brain, which in turn helps reduce anxiety and neurosis. The seeds are incredibly rich sources of many essential minerals. Calcium, iron, manganese, zinc, magnesium, selenium, and copper are especially concentrated in sunflower. Many of these minerals have a vital role in bone mineralization, red blood cell production, enzyme synthesis, hormone production, as well as regulation of cardiac and skeletal muscle activities.

I buy Volkmans as well, and as Greywings says, it is an excellent product. I get mine at a local supermax petstore. You can also find it online at various websites like windy city parrot : http://www.windycityparrot.com/Volkman-Bird-Seed_bymfg_91-0-1.html

How sad. I have no doubt the thought of finding Harley a new home is a hard one that hurts. Since you say you have done this job for several years. If Harley is ok with it, why find him a new home? I am just thinking of Harley. I know you probably feel guilty, but are you home most evenings and spend time with him? If so, many people work full time and only see there greys in the evenings and weekends. I don't live in your area, but others here may and hopefully will chime in.

Nice photos. I love that outdoor aviary.

Thanks for sharing this. Tango is clear and well spoken. I would love to see more videos of her.