danmcq

Thats because you are a loving parront and fret over your feathered child. The good news is, normally when they lean like that, they are focused on where they are going to go. Believe me, we all fret over everything about our greys.

Wally is doing great and good work on your part for finding things to keep him entertained and expanding his world outside the cage. When he opens those wings slightly and bends forward, he is seriously thinking about flying to where he is looking. Thanks for sharing this video.

Greys learn what a mirror or window is very quickly if you introduce them to them. If you pick them up and show them the mirrors and windows. Interact with them in the mirror for example and tell them it's and him, let him tap the mirror etc. Same thing with windows. Take them up to them and talk about what you see outside, let them tap on them etc. I will say on large glass area's like sliding glass doors, I put little semi clear stick on's on them to sure our birds knew it was in the way. After about six months, I took them off and they know it is there and will not try to fly through it. Rather than clip, why not "Teach" what mirrors and windows are?

Nice photo and look at those beautiful wings. Thanks for sharing this.

Cute photo. Our birds sit on our shoulders or a T Stand. Dayo is death to keyboards and the monitor edges would be missing chunks along with poop going down the monitor.

Wow! I truly enjoyed watching that. Wish I would have thought of doing a slide show like that of Dayo when he was growing up.

Jay and Dave both gave good comments for thought. There are pro's and con's to bowl or bottle. Now that we are both home all the time and I work from my home. Keeping a clean water bowl is easy because we check them every time one of us walk by the cages. They do become dirty from being pooped in, food dropped in them and bathing. They get the water changed through out the day. However, if no one is home for hours on end, you certainly do not want your birds drinking from a contaminated water bowl all day while your gone. Now enters the time to use Water Bottles. The big con with them, are the people that use them! If they do not check mechanical function, clean and add fresh water at least 2x daily. They will have issues as noted in that post Jay shared from another forum. The problem with many people, is they wrongly believe all you need to do is look at the water bottle and if it is still over a quarter full, it is good! Many people don't realize that water bottle may not be low for days depending on how much water their parrots drink. Back wash as jay described happens. Also,the owners may not realize it has not gone down because the ball valve is stuck etc. Then you just have a disaster waiting to happen. The other great use for water bottles, is when you take your birds out in various types of carriers. A water bowl certainly will not work. The bottles are the perfect solution for this and we use them all the time.

It's wonderful that he did a step up for you and also got in some good wing flapping exercise. What? Of course he is studying you and using his Empathic and "Remote Viewing" abilities to track you every thought and move. I suppose last night he thought you deserved a little carrot of things to come if you stay on the straight and narrow.

Greywings gave a good list. You can also do a search using the Association of Avian Veterinarians site itself: http://www.aav.org/search/index.php

Oh that's wonderful!!! Some do begin talking earlier than the average age which is ~ 12 months. You happen to have one that is an early bloomer. Thanks for sharing this.

LOL Dee, I knew you would get a good laugh. Gilbert sounds amazing connected to you and the entire household to me. But, I'll bet if you asked what he was doing peering under the door. He would deny any curiosity whatsoever about others in the household, and would say he had just plucked a nasty termite he saw down there to safe guard HIS home. Because the inferior human morons just don't pay attention to the "Small Stuff".

Thanks for the update. I am sorry to hear of his somewhat crippling and limiting deformities in his pelvis, legs and joints. Did your avain vet mention perhaps keeping all perches lower and the bottom padded etc. to ensure he does not have any possible injuries or broken bones due to the deformities? If so, could you share what the avian vet advised? One thing about a disabled grey, is it does not mean in anyway that they are not bright and a great companion to share your life with.

It is safe, he is just chewing and dropping the pieces. Dayo chews up plastic like that if he can get his talons on it. We must watch him constantly if we have any tupperware or the like sitting out. He can punch a hole in the lid before you can say NO!

That is a cool car. Thanks for sharing this and looking forward to hearing about ziggy.

Awww, GreYt interaction outside the cage. Congrats!! Oh and watch those lips.

You are doing great! When you know he is starting to bend down to nip your wrist or fingers, just wobble your arm enough to throw him off balance. He will automatically right himself. This takes a little practice, but you will get the hang of it. He will also come to know after several iterations of this and he will slow greatly or maybe even stop trying. The key is to always be alert to what he is doing. You will get to where you feel his weight shift and will automatically wobble your hand/arm. Most of us do cage our birds to alleviate issues with them trying to get involved, bother us and maybe even try to get things that could be hazardous to them that we are using. It is better for them and us in the long run and they get used to it quickly. If you are in eye or ear shot of his cage, just tell him what you are doing. At only 10 months old, he is very much a baby and is learning lessons he will use the rest of his entire life. You are at this moment in time determining how he will respond to any given situation based upon what he learns. Don't worry about the terrible twos... some greys breeze right through it with not much change, others become hell on wheels as a rebellious child trying to get their way. Just focus on the "Now".

Yes, just use tweezers to pluck a couple of small chest feathers. Any bleeding would be pretty much nothing from this. You may need to towel you grey to do this. If you do not wish a perhaps scary event to be associated with you, you could take your grey to an avian vet and get it done and a check up if one has not been done yet.

Yes, just use tweezers to pluck a couple of small chest feathers. Any bleeding would be pretty much nothing from this. You may need to towel you grey to do this. If you do not wish a perhaps scary event to be associated with you, you could take your grey to an avian vet and get it done and a check up if one has not been done yet.

Jay gave great bonding advice for you and Alfie. "first he was on my shoulder when trying to get him to step up he kept bitting" - Of course he did. You have no control over him when your offering your hand for a step up. Thus he thinks to himself "No, I don't wish to".. then firmly grabs your hand indicating he has no desire to leave your shoulder. What I would suggest doing, is one of two things. 1) swoosh him off your shoulder with your hand in a safe direction which will force him to fly. 2) Just lean forward quick enough in a safe direction that he will need to fly due to not being able to maintain balance. Then, do not let him fly back to your shoulder. "once I did manage to get him on to kitchen work top he had no interest in veg just the knife and bit me when I prevented him from having this!" - Of course he did, that shiny interesting knife looked like a great item to check out. He already knows what the veggies and fruits are. He wants to imitate you, his flock mate and learn to use the knife. Again, you need to use a gentle swooshing action with your arm to keep him away and tell him "No Knife, be careful" as you do so. Do not offer your hand, he will clamp down as you are learning. "If he lands on TV I always get him to step up as don't want him on TV again I get bitten" - Yes, you are again offering an unprotected hand that is easily clamped down on letting you know he is not ready to get down. If you are going to persist in using your hand. Ball it up in a fist and tuck your thumb under (fist of iron) then offer the back of your tightly drawn hand for a step up as you push it gently under him. He cannot bite or clamp down on the hard and tight skin of the back of your hand. Then move him to where you wish. I know I sound like a broken record, but if you or I for that matter offer a soft finger or hand that is easily bitten/clamped down on when they have something or are some place they wish to be, it will happen 90 percent of time. The other 10 percent, they may just wish to do so because they are done there anyway.

Oh Dee, You and I both know you would welcome a little going rogue. When, not if, he is fully flighted! I look forward to the day I can spit coffee on my screen as I read your posts of getting eye watering neck pinches from a rear "Drive By"as you have had many chances to read of mine. Speaking of which, I just received one Sunday when I was bent down vacuuming behind Dayo's Cage and he decided to jet over, bite the hell out of my neck and then jet back to his T Stand!! Damn that hurt!!! But, no blood, just a good sized welt now. So get your laugh now and I have no doubt I will have the same at you in the not to distant future....

Hello and welcome. If you wish to leave Icarus in a "Room" as described, you should make it a dedicated bird room and remove anything you do not want chewed up. Chewing and ripping things up is what a parrot does. If you cannot turn that room in to a parrot room, then you will need to cage him when gone, as most of us do. We just make certain their cage is filled with plenty of toys to shred and chew on. In regards holes in shirts, all us parrot owners have shirts with those and have resigned ourselves to wearing "Parrot shirts" that we do not care if they get chewed on.

If you don't mind a little feedback on this 6 year old adult greys experience so far. If you read what I condensed down by snipping of his experience in your home since arriving. He has been through hell based on his perspective of the horrifying experiences encountered to this point. A rehome is a drastic change in and of itself. Then add all the above interactions he has had and it equals one highly stressed out and terrified grey. My personal perspective at this point, is to just leave him alone, unless some type of emergency occurs that you must address. No more toweling and extracting from the cage etc. He needs to know he is safe and the only way that is going to happen, is for him to experience weeks of peace rather than what he perceives as life threatening horrific events day after day in his minds eye. I know you are doing your best and obviously fret over him and only want the best. I appreciate your taking him in and trying your best. But, sometimes it is better to just step back and get to know each other in a calm environment and yes plucking will continue, but let him do so in peace. The plucking will not stop until he is no longer fearful and stressed out. Right now you are both stressed and they are feeding on each others and increasing it, believe it or not. Again, I commend you for you loving efforts to help, but sometimes we just need to step back and give each other some well deserved space and rest.

Please go here. I would suggest using the feather method. Just pluck a couple of breast feathers as per their instructions: http://www.avianbiotech.com/Feathers.htm

Very cute, they grow so fast.

Gracie is not too young at all. She is madly in love with you. You did the best thing by not encouraging it in my opinion. My wife has to basically ignore Dayo as well, otherwise he would just keep on keeping on until empty.