danmcq

Thanks birdhouse! Zupreme had a recall as well on some pellets. http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-news/2012/10/01/zupreem-fruitblend-recall.aspx

It's great if he is not plucking any longer. Tatter feathers will molt out as you describe. Just make certain you keep him bathed and use 100 percent aloe juice and mist the breast area with it. Those pin feathers are very irritating to them when a ton are coming in as you describe. We have a great thread on aloe in our health room: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189967-100-natural-aloe-vera-juice

Seeing them in flight, is a beautiful thing. It is great hear hear the harness is being received by him well. Many of us had to go through a long period of time to get the harness on and accepted. It is still a fight with dayo, but well worth it.

Sometimes, cement or sand paper perches can cause talon sores. That happens rarely and most the time with perfectly round perches that apply pressure to the same spot constantly. If you have the varying shape cement perches, those are fine. It is good to have at least one cement perch to keep the needle points knocked off. I only have one cement perch in his cage. All the rest are wood.

Dayo started rolling on his back himself. In that photo he had grasped the blanket with his talons and just rolled in to that position. Many times when kim gives him scratches, he will at some point twist his head around and slowly start rolling over inch by inch until his talons are straight up and he just chills like that for a while. He still does this, but he rarely wants cuddles as in the photo anymore.

I agree with others. Wait and and let the homecoming be as little stressful as possible on your new baby grey.

Welcome raviraj and Isak! The cage is not the best place to work on a step up. It is a birds sanctuary of safety and their home. It is th elast place a step up will normally be accepted. Work on it outside the cage when interacting with him. Once the trust and understanding increases outside the cage, it will be more likely for the request to be accepted inside the cage.

Good comments. Building those flight muscles and enabling your bird to fly with assistance will help him immensley. You will find he will be able to go further and further even with clipped wings as those muscles, confidence and skills increase.

LOL Steve!!! No, your a Tool!!!

Welcome shatter points! Your work schedule is fine, as long as you spend quality out of cage time with the grey when your home after work. Some people do use teflon in terms of believing they will never have an accident with it over heating. With that said, it only takes one time in a moment of forgetfulness say when a phone of door bell rings and while that pan is over heating. Then you return your attention to the pan to find a dead bird. If I may, I would suggest reversing your priority order. Replace the teflon cookware first, then get a grey.

Gracie is intelligent on so many levels. How very industrious of her to use that toy as a scratching assistant! Many grey will, as Steve said, use tools such as a molted out feather. They will grasp it in a talon and use it to itch those scratchy places.

Jellybean is sweet checking on your status. My wife naps sometimes during the day if not feeling well. Dayo is out most the time. When he is, he can be found most the time sitting on her chest, one foot up and just staring down at her. Sometimes he is caged when she naps though. When I walk through the room he would make some type of loud noise when seeing me for my attention. So I started walking up to his cage, getting my face very close time and saying in a whisper :Ssssshhh, mommies sleeping, her eyes are closed. In only a few days, he wold say that in a whisper when I entered the room of she was napping.

How true Dave. How many times have we heard that just on this forum alone? Tons of times. But, there are exceptions to this like Talon (Penny), Luvparrots (Janet) and some other greys. I will say Dayo was my wifes cuddle muffin consistently from 6 weeks to about 2 yeas old. I believe many old time members here remember Dayo's terrible 2's. It started lessening in occurrences over the years and now it still happens, but rarely. He likes scratches fairly often but not for long sessions. Of course as everyone here knows I have ALWAYS been the bite king in regards Dayo until the last year or so. He has really changed in terms of allowing me to give him short scratch sessions as well. Most the time, Dayo likes to just sit on or next to one of us and chill out or go over to his T-Stand and eat some seeds while watching TV or a Movie in the evenings. He has definitely become very independent. But, I will always cherish this photo of our "baby" 1 year old Dayo:

LOL, that would do the job. My grey dayo does not like hats and will stay aloof until he thinks he sees an opening to do a fly by and attack that evil hat. You do not want to scare your grey away with something associated with or on you. You need to be their rock and trusted companion, not the boogie man.

Welcome Gillian and bless you for trying to find this lost TAG's previous owners. I suspect while he was out in the wild and scary outdoors, he probably encountered some horrifying events like a cat, possum or other creature trying to make him dinner and of course scary noises. The dark is obviously a very scary place for him right now. Since you have a CAG of your own, you know how temperamental and paranoid a grey becomes when experiencing a change. This is a huge change and unfortunately you cannot possibly know how his previous home interacted with him at night and maybe even not caging him at night, which a few owners do. Turning that night source on for him and not covering the cage at night, is at least giving him a little reassurance by being able to see his surroundings. Only time, patience and love from you will overcome this and help mend his mental wounds from the outdoor experiences he encountered.

Then you are doing a perfect job! That is exactly what you should have done and continue to do. Sorry, I assumed he was fully flighted. The clipped wings will limit any flights of course and he will learn to compensate for that as he learns over time. They do become obsessed with places to perch, such as your shoulder and head. But that will become a place he will slowly stop trying to access once he realizes no matter how many times he tries, he is not allowed there.

He is happy and frolicking like a child wanting his way and will try over and over and over until he learns it is futile. One thing you may want to do at this point since he is playing with your hair, glasses and then trying to get up on your head. Is to stop allowing him on your shoulder by blocking the path up your arm by using your other arm/hand to stop him from continuing up to your shoulder. Yes, he will try a gazillion times to get up top your shoulder. But you must remain persistent in stopping him at this point. You cannot control a bird well at all once they are on your shoulder. Shoulder privileges are earned through trust, not demanded by the bird. The next important thing you should do is remain calm and correct his actions that you do not wish to take place.

LOL! Loki has no idea what he is doing either having only been with you for around 5 days. He is a baby with wings and does not know any boundaries. He also does not know how to fly well enough yet, not realize that objects cannot be thrown through or landed on. There are a gazillion synapses on his brain that must be built over the coming months on how to navigate, slow down, judge distance, turn and hover. In regards your head, well it is only natural instinct for any bird to keep going to the highest point, your head. Your taking the right actions by not allowing that and yes they will try for countless times until they learn no matter what, it is not going to be a correct perching spot. Yes, it is exasperating to continually stop the same behavior over and over. But, getting upset will be detected by Loki and he will respond in like manner becoming more irritated as well. I know it is hard, but you must control your emotions and remain calm. It is very rare for a baby CAG to just be calm and chill. They normally are exploring and in to everything until they tire and then they will be content to sit on you and nap ro get scratches etc. My suggestion to you, would be to make him the focus of your attention and not worry about your enjoyment when he is out. He needs to be the focus of your attention to interact with him and let him know whats ok and whats not. It is your responsibility to keep him entertained with things he enjoys playing with like foot toys,, T-Stands with food cups and maybe a hanging toy or two etc. If you want to relax and enjoy time in the evening with out interruption, the only way to do that is give him his 3 or 4 hours of personal time with you, then place him in his cage and you enjoy your time then.

Mine is huge, I got it at the bird mart for $125. It is not sandblasted and neither my grey or conure have any slippage issues on it. Here is a video of it:

Really, you need to be consistent in your interactions with a grey at all times. Just as they are. Yes, they watch and listen to everything you do or vocalize. Oscar is training you well.

Of course he tossed it, you slow human. You failed the IQ test he was giving you. Greys are more observant than we are, of every detail down to the small twitch of an eyelid. They miss absolutely nothing. They are a living breathing lie detector without need of wired electronics to monitor your every intent, emotion and intelligence.

That is good news. Now it would be great to hear more about him and see some photos and videos.

I am sorry to hear of the illness in your family Dee. I certainly appreciate your taking the time to post an update and it lets us know your ok and were not kidnapped by aliens, terrestrial or non-terrestrial. It sounds like Gilbert is having a blast and coming out. I hope this aides him in being more interactive and friendly with you as well when you get back home.

No doubt he needs a vet check up to get a baseline and get their summation of his health status. No one can say for certain what caused the blind eye, except the person that owned him when it happened. Oscar could have received it from the owner, another bird, a toy or item he hit and damaged that eye on etc. I have seen trust built in parrots that had suffered tremendously under some humans hands. Yet, over time strong and trusting relationships are built with them. I have no doubt oscar is enjoying the loving attention, new perch and toys in his cage. It is going from a barren jail cell, to a fully furnished apartment that he can enjoy and amuse himself in.

Ok, I understand you worry and you should be. First, If he does happen to land on your head, immediately bend forward and fast so it throws him off, rather than putting your hand or arm up there. He will soon learn the head is no longer a stable landing spot. I would also suggest keeping your hands away from him when he fly's over and lands on your knee for example. In other words, you do not let the bite to take place by not having your hands in a strike zone. Just talk to him and compliment him in a calm and friendly voice like "Good Flying!" when he lands on your knee. Secondly, when a bite occurs, return him immediately the the cage and tell him in a stern voice "No Bite!". Leave him in there for a 5 minute time out, then let him back out again. What you need to do, with help from this forum , is get this under control by lessenly the bites he is inflicting. If it just keeps escalating, it means he is not getting the feedback necessary to let him know it is not a game and is not acceptable behavior. Another thing you can do to keep him and his beak happy, is keep a foot toy he likes with you when you sit down and you know he is going to come. Lay it on your lap when he lands or have it already sitting there so he can get it.