LNCAG

I feel ya. I wish this poor fellow could go to a sanctuary and be with other greys or be adopted by someone with the time and patience to tame him. I fully respect OP making the best decision they can. But still... this tyke needs so much. I want ALL parrots to be wanted, loved, and given the best home possible whether indoors or outdoors. This type of story... depressing. You see the ad and think "is there anything I can do from half-way round the world?" :(

Late to discussion but mine are also flighted. I turn off ceiling fan when they are out and am careful with exterior doors. I will put my bird up to answer the door.

Agreed with above comments. If you cannot tame this one and give it lots of time of out cage --- then definitely a large aviary is needed so the tyke at least has some room. But, that also sounds very lonesome. I admit, with untamed birds, sometimes I believe they do best at a sanctuary/refuge where they can form bonds with other greys. Sounds like the current owner really wants to make a sale though, not surrender to a sanctuary. I doubt anyone here will judge you whether you pass on this one or attempt to give it a home -- and who knows -- it may bond with you and tame up if you work really hard.

I stock up at grocery store during the holidays. In fact, sometimes I see them discounted after the holidays and buy out the grocery store. But I don't chance them running out and stock up at full price since one year, there were no after-holiday nuts for sale. lol Anyway, when those run out, I purchase from Amazon.

"Butcher one wing" (shudder) It is amazing so many did survive. I had zebra finches in the 80s but no parrots -- got my first parrot in 1996 and life certainly hasn't been boring!

@Ray P -- enjoyed reading your post!!! @birdhouse -- I remember well those dark days. My Bibles back then were Guide To A Well Behaved Parrot By Mattie Sue Athan and anything written by Sally Blanchard. Plus, who can forget Bird Talk magazine. I was lucky I was a sysop in the (John Benn) Pets Forum on Compuserve when I got my first parrot back in the mid-nineties I know at one point Compuserve did open a Birds forum but there was as much misinformation as helpful stuff shared. And those forums eventually vanished with the coming of the incredible world wide web. And sometimes that web feels too big, too impersonal. So, it was such a delight to stumble across this forum!!! Such wonderful people sharing love for our feathered grey companions.

True! There is definitely off-gassing! I prepped the room before we moved in. It was the same for painting and having Orkin do a good spray prior to moving in -- everything needed to air out first. Plus, I am asthmatic (which isn't a great combo with birds) but really, if something isn't good for parrots, it probably isn't that good for us either. I also lined the hard-wood floors with shower curtains duct-taped together before putting a rug over them. Those floors looked good when I removed the rug/shower curtains (well, floor was a bit dusty) but undamaged.

My CAG isn't overly fond of nuts. I have to shell anything offered or it's simply thrown. And even shelled, I may still find them when I clean out the papers on bottom. I found the unsalted dry roasted more of a hit. Maybe he just hates raw nuts. Dunno. But my macaw and amazon are huge nut fans. I always figured it must be a grey thing. :confused:

I find my grey is much more chatty if I am out of the room (out of view) from him. The one thing he does say when I am in room with him (I moved him to my living room) is "Whatcha doing?" (and this can be annoying!) And I feel compelled to answer -- as if he really wants to know. :rolleyes: Surely he can see what I'm doing -- usually reading a book or online. If he wants to be held, he simply says "step up?" to request out of cage time. Oh, and he will whistle sometimes when I am in the room. But mostly, he does his best chatting when I step out of the room a few minutes.

Snickers was clumsy when I first got him (1997) and he would hang by one toe from the top of his cage and I would say "Be careful!" And if he did slip and flutter to bottom of cage, I'd say "Are you okay?" when I checked on him. Well, even though he hasn't been clumsy in nearly 20 years, he still remembers how to use those phrases. A few years ago I was up on the stepladder and he called out "Be careful!" And if I get up in the night, he has started asking "Hello?" as a question (ala 'is anyone there?' sort of usage). Well, I would ignore him because I didn't want to wake up the household by answering; so Snickers does a few 'hellos?" before finally demanding "Are you okay?" I usually get tickled and say "I'm okay -- go back to sleep." He has actually done the "are you okay" thing a few times in the middle of the night -- I guess he considers it concerning for me to get up in the middle of the night. Greys amaze me with their ability to use phrases so appropriately.

11 years ago, I thumbtacked shower curtains around my bird room. It kept parrot splatters from touching the walls, but when I moved (recently) I took them down and discovered that's where the seed moths were laying larvae. The seed moth mess mostly brushed off walls easily, but still, disgusting. Kept me from having to paint though. Current solution: Since my CAG expects to be covered at night, I just leave the cover on (basically a black flat bed sheet held onto back/top of cage with clothespins). I just roll the sheet back 85% or so to uncover each morning. I find that sheet on the back of his cage really keeps down a lot of splatters. Plus, the sheet is easily laundered. Guess this trick only works if your cage is against a wall anyway.