Charlie Parker

I was 222 miles from my destination. I really hope Charlie will make it somehow but can't help but think something may have gotten him already. I get choked up everytime I think of him. Oliver has lost all his flock except for me. My partner and I of 17 yrs, Creech who we've had for 2 years and charlie... all within a couple days. I feel pretty horrible for each of our losses. I just need time.

Hi all, sad news here, my timneh african grey flew away the 3rd week of May while moving to Pennsylvania. He slipped out my door of my car and looked at me and flew away. I miss him as does his pal Oliver.

My Oliver has done many of the things you have mentioned, ie.... biting the back of my neck or head while sitting on the couch. Attacking my feet as I sit on the couch, he comes running to do that. He always bites my hands, I just learned to deal with the pain but if I tell him "be nice" he'll usually calm down, not always though. He's a little stinker!

My Oliver likes shoe string ends, potatoes chip bags and plain ole paper to shred. Of course I don't let him have the potato chip bags he just gets a bite in before I'm like hey! stop. Creech likes to dismantle my home, base boards, floor, doors .... Charlie just chews on the vertical blinds so he has a nook chewed out when the blinds are closed. Oh how the apartment people are gonna be pissed when I leave lol.

Well hopefully your doing well, sometimes our closest buddies can pick up on our emotions and just want to be near us when they sense somethings off. My guys know when I'm not happy and they do get restless at night. Just a thought.

He looks interested but I bet if you try and place him on that new floor he'll want nothing to do with it at first. All my guys are pretty hesitant when it comes to showing them new things, They cling to me, except of course when they see jewlery, then they just want it all to themselves.

Hey all, My timneh Charlie likes to copy my Congo Oliver. Oliver picks up on the strangest noises lol. His latest noise he absolutely loves is the opening of one of my screeching doors, how adorable! My old guy who's name is Creech.... go figure, has picked up on saying Oliver! They all appreciate a good whistle session about twice a day.

Hey guys, long time since i posted, sorry. So i never did find out what creech's band numbers and letters meant, guess it doesn't matter right. He is doing pretty good from what i can tell. His beak is it's normal color now, he's growing in new feathers, looks really good. He loves bananas and peanuts and peanut butter, his favorites, in small quanities. His eyes are clear but he is still a bit blind, you can just tell by the way he moves around and his pupils are not round. There are edges around his pupils, weird! Hopefully creech will be flying by summer, he really wants to fly. For an old guy he's doing amazingly well.

Hey everyone, I bought myself a third african grey about a month ago, he's a rescue. More about him later... I'm wondering if anyone knows what the leg band PME-106 might mean? I've been trying to get information on the band number with no luck at all! It was an unclosed rounded band, not the typical square shaped ones and it was stainless steel. All i know is that he was bought from a pet store who said the grey was on auction in texas. I live in denver Colorado. Thanks for any help

Hello, I too have a 2 yr old male timneh named charlie that i got at 3 months old from florida, i live in washington as well. Bought him from a bird farm from the owner dave, wonder if its the same place you got your girl? Anyway, charlie just loves my husband andy, always wants to be on or near him. Andy gives charlie a lot of time during the day but when enough is enough he puts charlie in his cage for awhile. I also have a male and a female congo. Charlie loves to dive bomb them and knock them off their perches, he likes to make sure they know he is boss in the house. The congos prefer not to fly, they like walking on the floor. Wing clipping did nothing good for charlie the one and only time i did it. He became depressed and cried a lot. He even just threw himself off his cage sometimes knowing he couldn't fly. I decided wing clipping was not for my greys. The cage thing..... i found that if you place the travel cage in a place they can check it out, in time they will explore it and get comfortable with it to where you won't have a problem putting her in it. It may take a week or longer maybe, just set tbe travel cage out for her to explore so shes not afraid of it. I'm in oak harbor btw.

Hey all, well it's been a while since I've written about Oliver who is now 9 years old in this thread. Boy oh boy has he come around the past couple of weeks. He looks forward to me giving him some one on one time and some very light petting. He takes showers with me every night and has to have some yogurt with spirilina mixed in with it. I can't leave the room for a second or he just has a breakdown lol. It's been very slow going with me and him but the trust is building every day. Of course Charlie, my 2 year old baby, is still jealous of him and jafar, the 23 year old girl i just rescued a few months back, more time needed i suppose. Anyhow i just wanted to share with you all that it's taken over a year for oliver to build up enough trust for me to touch him and I'm really loving it.

Yes that is what I've been doing, just leaving her be. I ordered her an actual african grey nest box that I'm going to mount in her huge cage. Over time I'll get her used to it then maybe she'll use that. If i see she is stressing I'll back off.

Hello everybody, So i cheerfully accepted my third grey about 4 months ago, her name is .... well it's jafar but thats because everyone who has had her company thought she was a he...... for 23 year's! Once she came into my life, had her vet visit and is eating things other than sunflower seeds she has been laying eggs in a drawer pretty much since I've been caring for her. Her vet visit was definitely needed! Had ber blood drawn a poop sample done an xray and she was put on antibiotics for a week. Poor girl was egg bound which is why the vet visit was a week or so from getting her. She had a bacterial infection, ecoli so the antibiotics took care of that. But the vet visit was when he turned to she. She recieved a shot of calcium and layed her first egg 30 minuets later, she has been able to lay her own eggs ever since. Jafar was in a cage for her past 10 years of her life after her first owner past away, because of the lack of human contact or toys to play with, she plucked her chest and neck bald but things are getting better. I know it's a behavioral problem now and not anything else. She's getting new feathers but sometimes plucks a few out still but she is getting better with leaving them alone to grow in. She has like two red feathers on her neck. So anyway she basically lives in one of my kitchen island drawers and lays on her eggs. I put fake eggs in there to replace SOME of the real ones. I feel as though i should leave her alone, she seems so content. She does come out a few times a day, i place her on her cage to go poop and eat, then she says come here to me asking me to place her back on the kitchen island to tend ber eggs. How long should i allow her to do this?

Hi guys Has anyone else noticed that having parrot food on a counter or tabletop makes them want to eat more? My greys love to have a pile of food waiting for them on a flat surface, they love it! I always have there bowls full of fresh food but they really enjoy being able to move there food around. I suppose my guys love to forage. Anyone else notice this?

Here's charlie and oliver, just seeing if my pictures post and sharing.

Hello, im having a problem with oliver wanting to get at me just about all the time. What I mean about me saying getting me is that anytime he is on the couch and I am in my chair right next to him he goes to the arm or back of the couch as far as he can and just stares and shakes his wings while he is crouching like he wants to jump on me. I have issues with him because he is a biter to me. My partner can handle oliver any way he wants without any problems. Me on the other hand........... I can't get within a foot of him without him lunging at me. So why does oliver consistently want to be right by me? It almost looks as if he wants me to give him a scratch but I am still to nervous to be that close to him, ahhhuggg! I know I need to calm down and not show fear, extremely hard for me to do because of previous attacks. The last attack was just vicious, he would not let go of my hand! He just bit me and bit me until I shook him off me to the floor. I did not want to do that at all but after flipping my hand back and forth to try and make him stop which didn't phase his attack at all, the floor was the next option. I wish I knew Oliver's first 8 years of his life. All I know is that an older lady owned him and gave him up for health reasons. Charlie Parker does not like oliver either right now. So weird though that Oliver just goes out of his way to get at me.

Nancy, yes oliver does crawl down his cage to come to me to attack me lol. He is hell bent on letting me know he wants to rule over me. I've noticed he does not like shoes..... at all! Oliver will be alright eventually I hope. For now I am just leaving him alone on his cage which is in the same room I am, he seems content with this right now.

Thank you for your encouragement, I really appreciate it. I know it's going to take awhile for Oliver to get used to literally everything around him. Andy is very good with him, Andy got a good bite today on his arm as well. Andy was trying to hang a new toy in his cage but Oliver seemed very impatient and bit him as to say look out I wanna see my new toy man. I honestly think that Oliver needs some time to adjust to all these new things around him, I can't blame the poor guy. Charlie does his best to make contact with oliver but I am not letting that happen at all, one bite from oliver and Charlie could be gone forever, no way do I want that to happen. Oliver is a good boy, he plays and for the most part pretty well behaved.

Well, the newest member of our flock, Oliver, has started to relentlessly attack me. He is really good with andy and Andy can do pretty much anything with oliver. I on the other hand... I used to be able to get him to step up and down on my finger but now I am really nervous about him biting me. Today I was changing his food and water and he literally flew on me and bit my neck and my arm before I had to make him go to the floor because he was so intent on not letting me go. All day today he has pursued me when he was on the floor to bite me. I made him step up on a wood dowl and he started to climb that to get to my hand. I know this is a behavior problem but genes! Oliver is 8 yoand I know nothing about his past, neither does the person from the pet store. Time and effort will be needed I know. Oh, he has a new cage as of 2 days ago so maybe that has something to do with it.

Hey there, welcome to the best forum you'll ever know. I pretty much just joined as well, I have a charlie also lol. My charlie is working on being 11 months old. I just added another addition to our flock last Saturday, an 8 yo congo his name is oliver, Charlie is a timneh btw. Awesome to hear that you saved this little guy, your kindness will go forever with your charlie, he will NEVER forget you. Look forward to reading more of your posts. Toys, toys, and more toys may help with feather issue. Keep him busy, as busy as you can anyway.

Hi all, I do believe that he shakes his wings because he wants attention or wants to be with us. However, he has done this about 30 minutes prior to bedtime since we brought him home. It almost seems like he is not in control of this action and looks at us like he's saying I don't know why I am doing this but here I am doing this. He stops immediately after I turn the lights way down low and I leave the room. I peek in on him and he is still and sleeping on his perch. Now a new thing is happening, he likes to be on the floor for some reason in his sleep room and chews on the furniture in there, go figure right. I really don't mind about that but if it continues I may have to start putting him in this smallish cage just to sleep at night. Oh I do notice that he gets cranky in the evening as well, kinda snaps pistachios out of my hand instead of just gently taking them from me like he normally does. I know it will take a long while to get him comfortable around here, he is a good boy, just nervous as to be expected. Thanks guys for your thoughts, I do appreciate it very much.

Hi everyone, Just need some advice here. Charlie Parker has a new friend as of this past weekend. I rescued an 8 year old congo named Oliver, he is sweet. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has experienced a grey sitting in one spot with wings out slightly just shaking them like he wants to go somewhere but stays put. I have him in his own room with a radio on, he hangs out on his rope perch and makes all kinds of whistlestuff but when I come in the room he makes this little quiet peep sound and does the wing shaking thing, I'm not in the room now and he is doing that peep sound. Does he want attention? I am just sad that I can't read him, I don't know what he wants or desires. I try all I can with getting him and having him hang out with me but he just shakes his wings and seems extremely nervous but when I put him in his room he starts "crying " again for a short time. His previous owner was an older lady who whistled at him more than talked to him, don't know anything more about this person. So any thoughts? Thank you

Charlie really likes to chew apart those grapevine balls or willow balls. Something about them he really likes. Anything that has twigs that are formed into a shape he loves to tear apart. He also enjoys those hollow gourds because I can hide a treat in them and he has to fish it out of there. Be patient and let your new addition do what he wants for the first day or two. I tried way too hard way too fast and got bitten a few times until I just left him alone to get used to his surroundings. He warmed up to us pretty fast afterwards.