Q9550

Howsit Guys/Girls Im in the market to get nonsense a new home, something bigger and more entertaining for her. Please have a look at this and let me know what you guys this: http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-pet-accessories/benoni/big-bird-cage/1001663878810910262402809 http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-pet-accessories/springs/cage-r235-for-sale-r2000/1001631995110910835673009 https://www.olx.co.za/ad/bird-cage-ID15S8u2.html#2da99fd6e6 http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-birds/roodepoort/african-grey-bird-cage/1001689823170910829621009 Those are a few options i have to choose from. Let me know what you guys think would be the best bet for her.

Hi All, I wonder if you guys can help me out. I would like to know how can i go about improving the condition of nonsense's feathers. We have never seen her plucking her feathers but we hav seen a feather or two on the cage floor every now and then which we assumed was natural. You can see in the pic that her chest feathers don't look proper as compared to other greys. Her diet consists mostly of parrot seed mix and fresh veggies which she hates. We also give her snacks when we cooking like pasta, egg, cheese, millet spray etc What can i do to promote healthy feathers?

Our grey Nonesense makes the most annoying noises you can imagine. We live in a complex so she has picked up on all the different car alarms she hears as well as the birds outside. She copies all these noises and its so annoying especially the car alarms. At first it use to really bother me but then as time went on i realized that its her being her, maybe she enjoys making all those alarm noises or maybe shes trying to communicate with the birds outside or maybe its just to annoy us and get our attention, whatever her reason is i just let her be and ignore her when she starts her rampage. Hopefully she will get bored of them and stop most of them as time goes on.

Hey Neoow, Thanks for the comments. I guess i'll stick to the target training for now, until i see she's a lot more confident to approach me. What you said about placing my arm on the cage is a good idea. For now i'll target her to get as close as possible until she wants or looks like she wants to step up. Nonesense never had an issue with target training, the credit for that has got to be the peanuts. She LOVES them and it was fairly easy to target her using them but she does get into her moods where even a peanut wont make her happy. She just throws them out the cage, then i just leave her to calm down and come back later when she's feeling a bit happier.

Howsit Guys/Girls/Birds So i haven't posted in a while, been busy with work and stuff also been busy with nonsense, trying to become her best friend lol There has been some new developments that i would like to share. Some of you might know that we recently started letting her out the cage and then she didn't want to go back in. Now days we don't seem to have this issue anymore. I usually let her out and then when i need her to go back in i place a bowl of food with a few peanuts and then disappear from her sight and she will then go inside for a nice snack. She still only stays on top of her cage and just looks around from there, she sometimes falls asleep there. She now also doesn't mind my presence when she is out the cage. She use to fluff her feathers and stare at me if i was walking past her cage now she doesn't seem to mind me much and i can walk past pretty close to her and she doesn't seem to be bothered too much. I do feel like as if she trusts me more now and i can get a lot closer to her. When she's out the cage i always spend a few minutes doing target training with her. Yesterday i tried to target her to get closer to me and to my surprise she didn't seem to have too much of an issue with it. She was a bit reluctant at first, so even if she turned her head to me i would give her a small treat, eventually she started walking closer and closer to me for her treats. I then placed my arm on the cage and tried to target her to get as close to my arm as possible, she immediately seemed hesitant but i talked to her and encouraged her to come closer and she came right up to my forearm, at this point i think i was more afraid of her then she was of me(given her past history of biting me for fun), she then put her beak on my jersey feeling it for a bit then she tasted it and was uninterested and walked away i gave her a treat and ended the session. So my question is, how do i know if its the right time to teach her how to step up? and how do i go about it the RIGHT way. I'm still a bit nervous of her biting me, its always ended in bloodshed in the past and laughter from her soon after so while it may be fun for her its not really my thing lol

Hey welcome, We all dying to see some pics of kiwi, don't hold out on us for too long lol

Hi Peter, Welcome to the forum, I'm also pretty new here and have found everyone to be extremely helpful. I hope you find all the answers you looking for. I look forward to see more of your posts on the forum and definitely more pics of jara.

Hey fellow greys, Nonesense here.. Well recently my owner has adopted a new pet, she calls him "boyfriend" and he lives with us now. I didn't like him at first so i made him think i wanted a head scratch and then i bit him, it was quite fun but he doesn't fall for it now. I think he might be growing on me though but i wont let him know it. He buys me new toys and i destroy them before the next day, he should know i'm high maintenance. When he gives me water i throw it out the bowl i do this twice so he knows whose boss, they cant refuse us water now can they, i also like making a mess with my food i throw out the stuff i don't like and make him clean it up, serves him right for giving me healthy stuff doesn't he know i only want peanuts. He tries to teach me new words but i don't care i will say what i want to. He wants to try training me to step up soon, i say bring it on i haven't bit him in a while. Will let you grey's know how it turns out.

Thanks for the welcome birdhouse, Yes i think the clipping is a bad idea, thanks to everyone here for all the information regarding this, i agree that a bird should be able to fly and my reasoning for clipping is that i thought it would be a good idea for her safty but i see now that there is more cons vs pros. I feel as if i was being selfish trying to clip her as it would mostly only help me and not her. I'm just glad that i joined this forum before actually getting her clipped. Funny you should mention her cage, i was actually just looking into getting her a new cage. The problem with that is we are not really allowed to keep any pets at the complex we live in and as much as i would love to get her a huge cage with all sorts of fun things and perches for her, its not really on the cards at the moment. My goal for her is when we finally get our own house i would really like to build her a nice play house outside for her to enjoy and get a nice cage for her to go to bed to. She seems pretty happy in her medium sized space and our relationship is still a bit rocky so i don't want to make any drastic changes as yet. As for toys, I cant walk past a pet store without buying her a toy lol i recently bought her this mixed seed toy kind of thing, it was just bigger then the length of my palm, i showed it to her and she freaked so i left it on the tv stand where she could see it, the next day i approached her with it and she was a bit reserved but eventually started pecking on it so then i hung it up inside her cage for her i went out the flat for not even half an hour and when i got back it was gone, she had completely destroyed it and was sitting next to it like "Dude i have no idea what happened to it i was just sitting here promise" hahahaha she kills me really. Nonsense is a whiss she is afraid of anything new even food, when i first tried target training i read that greys LOVE millet spray so i went out and got some. Tried to feed it to her and she freaked out so i pretended to eat it and offered her again she took it but immediately through it out the cage, she does eat it now though but prefers peanuts. Sorry im just going on and on lol but she just amazes me and its never boring interacting with her. I have downloaded the pdf's and will read them later. Thank you all for the awesome advice nonsense and i really appreciate all the advice we can get.

Thanks for all the replies guys, I have decided against clipping her wings. I feel the comments made on the subject was pretty valid and since she doesn't really know how to fly just yet i rather not clip her. I usually always take precautions before letting her out her cage, remove any dangerous items, close all windows and doors and cover up anything that looks like it might give her a scare. I really want to start training her to step up but going to take things slow and at her pace.

Hey Tatinana, Our CAG Nonsense is 10 years old, Her vocal ability is amazing. However i feel as though i cannot teach her new words or phrases, its more like she will learn them if SHE wants, for example i have tried teaching her my name but she refuses to repeat it but she will repeat other things i say to her. She even knows her alphabets, completely by mistake, our niece comes to our home after creche so my girlfriend enjoys teaching her to count and her alphabets and stuff like that. Nonesense has picked this up, A for, B for, C for. Her favorite is C for, she uses it to get our attention and if we don't respond she repeats it over and over quickly. I have also tried to teach her "Nonsense wants a peanut" but instead she says "Nonsense Peanut". She is truly amazing and really has a mind of her own. I would say just keep repeating what you want want him to say. I usually sit with nonsense next to her cage and repeat what i want her to say a few times then give her some treats and leave he be. I repeat this every time i walk past her cage and eventually she gets it if she refuses after about a week then i move on to something else.

This is exactly why i love this forum, you always learn something new. I honestly did not know that wing clipping was such a hot topic. I only want to do whats best for nonsense and i assumed getting her wings clipped was a good idea to protect her. I will definitely think long and hard before getting her clipped and if i decide to do it it will be done by a professional and just a small trim. @neoow lol im sure alfie loves you to bits and may even be happy he doesn't have to share you with anyone, my girlfriend and i sometimes fight for nonsense's attention. We will be sitting and watching tv and then nonsense will talk so we both will want to talk to her so then we both will get a turn to say something and whoever nonsense replies to wins lol It sounds silly i know but its fun for all three of us. I like to think nonsense likes me a bit more, the girlfriend will disagree lol, because we have this whistling game that we play and she will only do this with me and we don't know why. We tried to get her to do this with others but she refuses not even with my girlfriend, i like to think she knows its our special game hahaha. So basically nonsense will whistle and i need to copy that and if she feels i got it right she will try a different whistle and so on and so on until she does one that i cannot copy then she wins, but what i find amazing is that she starts off easy then the whistles get progressively harder. She is so intelligent. There is never a dull moment when she is near. I know she doesn't know how to fly or when we tried to put her in the cage she would of. What she does is flaps her wings and uses it to kind of like jump up the cage instead of flying, hard to explain exactly what she does but its definitely not flying.

Hi timbersmom, Thanks for the advise i will definitely try that in future. I want her to keep coming out and explore her world but at the same time i dont want her going back in to be a traumatic experience, and now my girlfriend is worried about her coming out because her wings are not clipped. Sometimes my girlfriend is harder to work with than nonesense lol I am going to try and get someone from vet to clip her wings this weekend at least then i can start letting her out again. I think nonesense isn't that upset anymore about being forced back in, she stills talks to me and still accepts treats from me so i think we fine for now.

Hi all, So great news and not so great news. On Saturday morning i decided to open up the cage for her and see if she will come out. I opened the front flap and fed her a few nuts while i was there, also spoke to her for a bit then left her with the door open and went to watch tv. To our surprise in about 5 minutes she was out climbing up her cage i was super excited but i tried not to show it, we just talked to her from the lounge while she was perched on top of her cage. I eventually got closer and was able to feed her some nuts i could see she was shaking and that she was a bit afraid so i just left her. She spent about half an hour on top of her cage looking around and walking about on her cage. We needed to leave to get some shopping done so we managed to get her back in by leaving a few nuts on the cage floor. I was super excited that she was comfortable enough to come out ans say hello. So on Sunday morning we did the same. Opened the door fed her a few nuts spoke to her and again she was out even sooner this time. Left her to chill for a bit then i approached her with some treats. I eventually managed to do some target training with her out the cage. I think we bout had a good time and i could see she wasn't as scared. She was out for about 2 hours just sitting and looking talking occasionally. I then needed to go get my hair cut so i tried the same method to get her back in but she refused to get in she was out for another half hour and i just had to leave her out her cage and go for my hair cut. When i got back i found her in the exact spot perched on top of the cage. She refused to go back in, i think she got a taste of freedom and loved it. Shes now out the cage for about 5 hours with no sign of going back in. We had dinner plans with some friends so i knew i couldn't leave her out the cage for that long. My girlfriend managed to "scare" her back into the cage using a broom that nonesense hates. I know this was not the best method for getting her back in but it was the only option we had at the time. We tried to towel her but she threatened us back by attempting to fly, i think she doesn't realize that she can fly yet so we didn't want her to figure out she can otherwise that was going to be major drama. So now i'm not sure if this whole ordeal has traumatized her and now she will not want to come out, on the other hand i don't want to have the same issue of getting her back in if she still decided to come out. Thats her on her cage:

I think in all the forums i have ever registered in this has got to be the most welcoming and most informative one yet. Its overwhelming the replies and information i received and you guys are all just awesome. I am going to leave this thread as a welcome thread so all replies will be posted in my other thread linked above as to keep all the information in one thread. @Greywings - according to my girlfriend, as a baby nonesense would always climb up her cage and swing on her perch and make noise. She would also throw any food she didnt like out her cage and generally make alot of nonesense. So my girlfriend just called her that lol. @judygram - Here are a few pics

Thanks for the reply katana600 I try as much as possible to give her a varied diet. When i come home from work i usually chop up a few fruits and veggies for her like carrots, lettuce, peppers, chilli, pears *loves them* (not avocado), apples, bananas and whatever else i can find in there thats good for her. My girlfriend complains to me that i pay more attention to nonsense then her lol Nonesense does allow me to change her water and her food and she is totally unaffected by my presence while doing this i think that she knows i come bearing gifts. I have read a lot of information regarding african greys and have really put in the time and effort to understand how the think and behave, which is why i never force interaction with her when its not wanted. After her supper i usually sit next to the cage and do some targeting training with her, she loves peanuts like you wont believe, and she enjoys the training. Funny enough she will not bite me when i offer her peanuts. I hold it between my thumb and index finger and offer it to her through the bars i can hold it there and all she's interested in is getting the peanut she never tries to go for my finger. If she doesn't want me near her she puffs up her neck and head feathers and i just walk away she seems to calm down after that then i will just talk to her from a distance. She never use to talk in my presence before but now she is a lot more talkative. I take it as a good sign. She loves tearing up the paper on her cage floor so now i replaced it with grit paper, she does tear that up sometimes and she bangs her beak on the floor too. She has two hanging toys in her cage which she loves and PROTECTS, you only have to look at her toy and shes jumps on it like "get your own this is mine" hahah With regards with letting her out the cage, we have tried leaving the cage open for her but she refuses to come out even if we are in another room, but my biggest fear is that once shes out she might not want to go back in and since her wings are not clipped it could cause a problem trying to get her back in and potentially damage our relationship even more. Nonsense is quite a clever bird and she knows when we getting ready to leave the house, if she hears us changing in the room she says "goodbye" and once we approach the front door "Goodbye i love you" at night when we watching TV if she is not covered she will say "Goodnight" and i take it as a cue to cover her up. I really hope i can get her to stop biting and get out of her cage. I know its not going to be easy but with the help and support of you guys i know we will get there eventually.

Hi guys thanks for the welcome. @Acappella She is not really my bird she belongs to my girlfriend but ever since we moved in together i have grown very attached to nonesense. She is 10 years old this week, which i found out from my girlfriend yesterday, unfortunately she does not know the exact date. You can read the full story here: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?202919-Help-required-with-partially-aggressive-bird Thanks

Hi There, My girlfriend has a 10 year old African Grey named Nonsense, because this bird loves to make nonsense all the time. We have been dating for 4 years, my girlfriend and i not the bird lol, so basically i know this bird for 4 years. To be quite honest i never really paid much attention to it and was never really interested in it much, just the occasional hello and giving it treats now and then when i visited my girlfriend. About 2 years ago my girlfriend moved to a different city along with nonesense. So i did not see my girlfriend or the bird that often. I have now recently moved in with my girlfriend and have more time to spend with the bird. Now i really enjoy talking to nonesense and feeding her treats. This is the reason for this post. Let me provide you with some history about Nonesense. As a baby she was never subjected to any form of training and she was never socialized. My girlfriend always looked after her played with her and talked to her. She was allowed out of cage time and would walk out herself and when she had enough she would go back in herself. She was also tormented a lot by my girlfriend's brother. When he was younger he would bang her cage and throw water at her and all sorts of idiotic childish things but that has stopped for a long time. She hasn't been out her cage for a very long time and even if you leave the door open she wouldn't walk out. So now i need your help, I really fell in love with this bird and i want her to be the best she can be. It saddens me that she is stuck in her cage all day and her past life is my motivation to build her a new and better one. She is not afraid of my girlfriend, if my girlfriend presents the back of her hand to the cage the bird would touch it with her beak but given the opportunity she would definitely bite her finger. I can get near the cage and sit down and talk to her give her treats(her favorite is peanuts) she approaches me and doesn't seem to mind me much unless i get near the door then she starts biting the bars. I really want to change this birds life around and i want her to be able to come out her cage and enjoy herself. At this stage i'm fine with her never doing tricks or never talking on cue etc i just really want her to enjoy life rather then being stuck in her cage eating peanuts all day. I have read a few guides on clicker training and target training and i have tried to implement these. Since i started living with my girlfriend, about 3 weeks now, i have managed to do the following: She is clicker conditioned. She is target trained in her cage only. She will not come out the cage so i cannot move on to step up training and if i reach into the cage she is ever ready to draw blood, has been done in the past. What can i do to get her out her cage. P.S her wings are not clipped. I really do hope you can help me and her. Kind Regards.

Hi Guys/Girls, Greetings from South Africa johannesburg. Its nice to be apart of the forum and hopefully i will learn a lot. We (my girlfriend and i) have a CAG. Her name is nonesense. Im not really sure of her age if i had to guess i would say > 10. Will try to upload a pic as soon as i can. Regards