Kya

Kya loves tv. He gets very excited if he hears a siren, and you may need a set of ear plugs once he gets started "helping" the sirens be heard. We used to leave the tv on for him on cartoons all day while we were at work, until Gracie came along and we decided they could keep each other company. But, now that you've mentioned it, Gracie does not talk when the tv is on, or if she does, she does it quietly and we don't notice. She does not talk anywhere near as much as Kya, period, but most of her words come when we are doing something around her cage. She never talks when she is out of the cage at all. (Kya didn't either for months after we got him, now he does all the time.) Both seem to enjoy watching tv - I honestly think they would watch Rio 24/7. Kya is very interactive vocally with shows that he likes, while Gracie just watches and head bobs frequently, as if she's in agreement with whatever is going on.

So adorable... I, too, have a bat problem, only my bat does it for attention, and the second he flips upside down, he yells "SCARY" in his best Sponge Bob voice. It is always impromptu, and I can never catch it with my camera. Kya is slightly on the chunky side, and looks much like your "bat" when he does it.

Kya has started repeatedly saying "I'm going to the courthouse". We have no clue where it came from, he must have heard it on tv and liked the sound of it. And, he's now convinced Gracie Lou of what a good boy he is (bless her heart, she hears it all day), so she is now saying "Kya is a good boy. Noooooooooo!" (That Noooooo still follows everything she says, but in this case, she is right by adding the disclaimer.)

Both of mine love to drink from mugs. They demand juice at least once a day. Their favorite is cranberry grape. And, yes, I know they love it, but I also think they do it for attention. They like to sit on their huge mugs and make a big ordeal out of it.

And that should be soooooooooooooo easy with a grey!

Gracie will allow me to take her into other rooms, but you can tell that it makes her anxious. She is most comfortable near her cage. Kya doesn't fly a lot, just to get from point a to point b. I don't think he has the stamina. His previous owner exposed him to all sort of aerosols / cleaning supplies - she even set off flea bombs in her house once with him in it. When we first got him, he was completely out of breath if he flew 2 feet. Now, he can go from one room to the other without getting out of breath, but our house is not large.

Last night, I sat the two particular owls that she always targets up on top of her cage, which has a play top with a railing, so I knew she wouldn't be able to push them off. She tried to mate with her favorite blue one, but only after trying to push him to his imminent death for a good 10 minutes.

Kya is pretty low maintenance, too. He basically just wants to be near my husband getting scritches, and occasionally stalking me. But he never tears anything that isn't his up, and never tries to chew on wood. He's also a manipulative little guy. When Gracie gets in trouble, he will repeat over and over what a good boy he is. I dare say if he weren't so smitten with my husband, he would get in a lot more trouble. Gracie Lou is his polar opposite. Now that she has made herself at home here, she's become quite the handful! Her main goal in life is to crash and break my extensive owl and chicken collection - my son says it is not possible to count all of the ceramic and wood owls and chickens that I have sitting around. She's also very focused on a beautiful antique oak buffet that I have, she is uninterested in her wood toys or any other wood in the house, just that buffet. And, as soon as I see her into something and start towards her, she says "Nooooooooo" in my voice and heads right back to her cage. I no more than turn my back and she's right back at it again. So she knows she shouldn't, she just doesn't care! I am online right now trying to find a ceramic heavy bowl that will fit in her food door - she dumps her food constantly and I worry about her going hungry during the day when we are at work. She watches me when she dumps it, and I honestly think she just does it for a reaction, and doesn't think the consequences through. She reminds me a lot of my daughter when she was about 2 years old! I had to get a sitter to get my house clean! I try hard not to overreact or scold her too much, I just remove things from her reach if she remains persistent. She's coming out of her shell, and I wouldn't trade that for anything, even my sanity.

Gracie Lou continues to do well. She is becoming more brave every day, adventuring and getting in trouble now and then because she firmly believes my owl collection belongs on the floor, so she is constantly trying to push them off the tables, shelves, etc. She understands when I tell her "No", but she is sneaky, and persistent. When we got her 3 months ago, she would have never approached an inanimate object. She was terrified of everything, so, as frustrating as it can be (my son says it is impossible to count the number of owl and chicken "trinkets" I have sitting around), it's progress. She's also decided she's part termite, so we have to keep an eye on her constantly. She's determined to destroy an antique oak buffet that belonged to my grandmother. Kya has never done this, so Gracie is keeping me on my toes. (Kya chews on wooden toys, Gracie still remains suspicious of them, although she wants to tear up everything that doesn't belong to her.) She loves boxes, and I have to keep her in stock. Initially, she likes to go inside them and talk, but eventually she cannot resist shredding them. I am a nurse and bring home boxes that were originally holding gynecological speculums, those are her favorite for some reason, maybe because the box is white rather than brown. But, it's always nice to have people ask why you have speculum boxes all over the place, with a picture on the outside of the box for extra emphasis. She's pretty much fully feathered now, with no signs of plucking or barbering, and I watch her closely. She still does not fly, although you can tell that she is thinking about it at times. I am starting to wonder if she was clipped before fledging. Gracie is allowing my husband to handle her more now, which is a pleasant surprise with Kya being such a one man bird. She loves being on my shoulder while I am doing anything, but I have to be really careful. She has some arthritis in her feet and her grip isn't what it should be. The other night she was on my shoulder while I was paying bills on line and writing out checks, and every time I leaned over the tiniest amount she would gently beak my ear to hang on, or pull me back. She will not get off of you and wander around the table like Kya will. I guess it is because of her fears and phobias. I am hoping that resolves eventually, as she seems to be doing so much better with everything in the room where her cage is. Her insecurity sets in when you take her out of that room. Baby steps...

You know, this thread really made me realize how lucky we are. Our two greys are not loud at all, they talk a LOT, but as far as loudness goes, it only happens when Kya gets angry at a toy in his cage. Are your greys loud in general? I'm thinking our household is pretty quiet, just my husband and myself most of the time. When the greys say something, we respond, just like we would to a human / child. I kinda thought this was the norm for greys, maybe not?

I have seen these collars that people are making and selling on line. They are made of cloth, and are a larger circle with several varying layers on top of the larger piece, to distract the bird from the chest area. I've heard mixed reviews, but most of them good. The good reviews say that the birds preen the smaller bits of cloth rather than over preen themselves. I will try to snap a screenshot the next time I see one. They remind me of the old court jester collars in the movies. (Did I just give away my age???) Think circular bib with layers...No plastic involved. Regardless, they might be worth a try, and if you sew, you could easily make one. (I don't.) I have no doubt that if they distracted and worked for your Olive, they would be a lot more comfortable for long term use.

Oh, no! I hope this phase passes quickly, although with greys, everything seems to take on a new time dimension unlike any other. I'm with you, that is not something I could handle on a regular basis. There aren't enough ear plugs in the world. My sun is not too bad, and now that I have read this, I find it strange that the greys have never mimicked her. (Or maybe they find it irritating???) She does her morning call thing, and her greeting call when someone comes in the door, and then usually again at sunset, but it never lasts very long. She is in my dining room which is attached to the kitchen, and everyone uses the carport door into the kitchen. If they stop in her area, I have to usher them past her into the den to stop the alarm. Once they are past her cage, she stops. She won't do it when they come back through to leave, or if they come back to hang out with me in the kitchen. It's just an alert that we have company, or a greeting. I do see the company wince now and then until we deactivate the alarm, so maybe she is worse than I realize, living with her.

And, he's still saying it, and we still have no idea where it came from! He must have heard it on tv. He's such a mess. If no one is paying attention to him, he loudly announces his departure for the court house. He knows it makes us laugh, and we always respond in an effort to try to figure out where that particular phrase came from, but when we do, he responds in this deep voice gibberish of his. It sounds very much the same every time, which makes us believe even more so that it is something he heard on tv, and just didn't get the rest of what was said so he's winging it.

Priceless...And, Sully got just what he wanted. I just love the way they turn the tables on us.

Congratulations on the weight loss! That is tremendous, and you are right, Weight Watchers really works. And it's so easy now that you can download the app to your phone and track everything! It's really all about the little things, isn't it? I have yet to see Gracie Lou play with a toy, and I have spent a small fortune trying to find something that might intrigue her. She has slowly adjusted to the few I have put in her cage - i.e. she doesn't climb all the way to the bottom and back up again to her bowl on the other side in order to avoid them! It would make me equally happy to see her playing! I can just imagine how you must feel!

For me, it depends on the bird. Sookie, our sun conure pretty much stays on my shoulder or inside my shirt when she's out. She's less likely to slice a carotid artery, and although she has nipped me trying to remove my reading glasses, she has never been a problem. Gracie is so insecure that I have allowed her on my shoulder, even against my better judgement. She has some arthritis in her little feet, and I think it's easier for her to grip cloth, I rarely wear long sleeves, so the shoulder it is. I may regret it, I know I may regret it, but I can tell how secure she feels in that particular spot, kinda resting her body against the side of my face, and I can't deny her. Kya will occasionally fly and land on my shoulder, but I remove him quickly. He's nailed me pretty good before and he thinks I am trying to interfere with his love affair with my husband, so 9 times out of 10, he's flown to me to bite me, anyway. I am a threat that is only tolerated because I am a good cook. But this week, his new saying is "I am going to the court house". We have no idea where that came from, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to file for our divorce.

Happy birthday, Penny! Thanks for all that you do! I hope you had an amazing day.

I've always had birds, budgies as a child, and then a snow white cockatiel named Lilly during my first marriage. She lived to be about 15 years old, and I took her in her cage outside with me one day, and she had some sort of neurological episode and died right in front of me. Fast forward to husband # 2, and he kept talking about wanting a bird, so we went to a local aviary and purchased two gorgeous cockatiels. We had them for 10 years and then when we immigrated from Canada to the US, we turned them over to some very good friends to keep from putting them through possible quarantine and the travel. They still have them both, 7 years later. So, once we got settled in here, we started talking about getting a larger parrot. Initially, a cockatoo was what I wanted, but their personality was just too much, and we worried about dividing our time between our dogs and birds. As soon as word got out that we were looking, I started getting all kinds of calls with requests to take birds in - I do small scale dog rescue so everyone around decided I would be perfect for finding good homes for their birds they no longer wanted. I think we wound up with 11 budgies, 3 conures, and 2 cockatiels, but none of them were what I was looking for. A lady contacted me about Sookie, our sun conure. She had her and an old grouchy Patagonian in a sun room / aviary, her husband didn't like the birds and wouldn't allow them in the main house. A tree had fallen on the roof of the sun room, and they were going to have to start some major reconstruction. She asked me to take Sookie, and I quickly fell in love with her little bull dog personality, so she is still here, but she still didn't quite fill the bill on a larger parrot. I was very intrigued by the greys, but never considered a macaw. I initially thought I wanted a baby, to finish hand raising, but I didn't want to have one shipped, and could not find any near by. I was at work one day and the lady at the front desk called me to the window, and introduced me to one of our patients. She started telling me of her health problems and said she was looking for a good home for her parrot, since he was contributing to her health problems with his dust. But, she had to warn me, he was a plucker. It was Kya, we picked him up that evening, before she could change her mind. And that is when a CAG became the only parrot for my husband and myself. There is just something about them, I think it's more like everything about them. A year later, we adopted Gracie Lou from a rescue. She was a pretty naked little thing, very timid and shy, and the owners of the rescue paired her up with me immediately because of all our success with Kya and plucking. The rest is history. I love their intelligence and their silliness, and both of them found us when we were looking for them, so it was as if it was meant to be. Honestly, I would take in 2 more if I had the space for more large cages.

None of mine are clipped. I have no way of knowing if they ever were before they came to live with us. Kya is NOT the best flyer, but he is better at it than he was when we first took him in. He can fly further distances and at least land on the spot he intended with a bit of dignity, although if it is your shoulder he is aiming for and you have short hair, he may grab your ear for balance. Gracie Lou was so heavily plucked when we first got her. All that was left were her flight feathers, head and tail feathers. Her back and tummy were bare. She once startled and flew around the corner of the room she was in, but I have yet to see her fly again, and she's fully feathered now. She crouches and acts as if she is going to take off, but changes her mind. I think she may have crashed a time or two when she wasn't feathered, and now she is afraid to fly. You can tell that she wants to. Sookie is our sun conure, and she is a fully flighted missile of mass destruction. She loves to be as close to the ceiling as possible when flying, and the blades to all my ceiling fans are proof of that. They are never on when cages are open, but all of them have beak marks on the edges. Windows have never been an issue, blinds are down but open to let in light. Doors are always closed and locked when they are out. I am not opposed to clipping if it is for the birds safety, I just don't have a need with this crew.

You know, I really wish I could talk to Gracie's previous owners, and find out what her life was like. Before she was surrendered to the rescue back in the winter, she lived with a man for 4 years. We don't know anything about him, other than that he didn't want her anymore. She was in good physical shape when she came to the rescue, the plucking started AFTER she got there, and she had a very healthy diet, so I think he must have taken decent care of her. But I sure wish I knew about those other 15 years, how many homes she has been through, and were they good homes with good people who just underestimated life with a parrot. In reality, I probably don't really want to know, but I think about it a lot.

I have two of these, and they are really good quality. We use them to take the greys outside with us while we are working in the yard, until the aviary is completed. Then, when it is, we can use these to take them straight into the aviary. If I traveled a lot and had to use a sitter, this cage would not be large enough, but it's perfect for traveling and for an emergency situation. A larger dog kennel would be a great idea to use when they are staying somewhere and they won't be let out as much. They are collapsible, too.

He is beautiful and perfect! I wish I could have had one of mine at that age, to experience raising them.

Quakers are illegal in our state, but their little ferocious quirky personality certainly intrigues me. I have yet to hear anyone say "Oh, my Quaker is just a little sweetheart." But I sure have read some funny stories!

Inside my home, I can easily tell my two apart. Kya has a blockier head, while Gracie Lou's neck and head are more rounded. Their coloring is completely different, Kya is a very dark charcoal grey, while Gracie Lou is lighter shades. He's also larger than she is. Honestly, appearance wise outside my home, it would be difficult, other than the fact that Kya does seem darker to me in person than most greys I see - but then again, he looks lighter in pics so I may be comparing him to greys that look lighter in pics, too. If we were to go to identify Kya in a "line up" or to reclaim, I have no doubt that he would react to my husband under almost any circumstances. The first day we met him when my husband walked to his cage he started spinning in circles yelling "Woo hoo". I believe he would still do the same, their bond is pretty special. He doesn't talk in front of strangers unless he gets excited about something. But I think if he was frightened and he saw my husband, he would react. Gracie Lou would be a different story. She is banded, so of course I could use that, but with her feathers filling in she looks like almost every other grey that is recovering from plucking. She was so shy and timid when we got her, and she has really come out of her shell here with us, but I truly believe that if she were frightened, it would be very difficult to identify her without the band. I think that if the unthinkable were to happen, and someone were to find one of ours, I would ask to be left alone in a room with Gracie Lou for a minute. I know her mannerisms well enough to figure it out from there. She would freeze in front of strangers. I would like to get them both microchipped at the next vet check up. Far too many missing greys are being posted lately!

That is great! My two are almond addicts, but I've never tried them on walnuts in the shell. That might peak some interest.