nickraph

This was my thought as well as that’s about when it began and yes, we’re up in MN. Thanks for the input.

I am sure we've all noticed the smell of our greys but I have a few questions I cannot seem to find the answers to. 1. My male grey presently smells like he is a flower in bloom, super aromatic. My females have not changed in scent and do not have this smell. He has been like this for weeks now and this is the first time after several years that he has smelt like this. Any ideas why? He is about 13 years old now. 2. What exactly causes parrots to smell so good after being outside even if only for a short time. I used to think it may be the UV but I notice it even if I just have the windows open on a nice day for the fresh air. What exactly is it that causes this? Thanks in advance for any info! -Nic

Funny! That’s the issue I have as well, except I can’t get them through standard size door frames so I have to do all the cleaning in their room which is super annoying. I want to be able to power wash them again haha. Plus my greys all really seem to love my Quaker’s cage that’s only about 1/4 the size of their large ones. Tbh I believe one of my greys and my Quaker would love to trade places. Yoshi loves when he gets to hang out in the greys enclosures while they’re not in them. Explores every single nook and cranny.

following up on this. I went too big lmao. Now we're looking to downsize indoors and add outdoor enclosures for them to go in for large portions of the day.

I never use boxes or anything they can crawl into to avoid hormonal responses. Is this only for the girls? Is it safe to give to males?

Update: Morgan is doing great. We did discover that he is very much aggressive towards people wearing hats for some reason. My two girls do not care at all but Morgan's whole demeanor changes. It is so bad that he actually flew at me and bit my face/lip pretty badly. He actually punctured it. However, once the hat is gone he goes back to being just as sweet as you could ever hope for. We now have a sign on the room warning about wearing hats into there or around him. I also learned that he is a skilled and consistent flyer. He is not one to wait for you to come to him, he flies right to wherever he is wanting to go. This has presented some challenges as he is also a very destructive grey (at least compared to my girls). He is always looking to get into something and loves the top of the fridge for some reason. Primarily I think Sio he can try to get at the woodwork and chew on plastic parts of the fridge. That had to stop immediately, a cute stuffed owl curtailed it. So, we have had some bumps so far but nothing detrimental. He is definitely a boy, when comparing him to my two girls, He is big, clumsy, and always in trouble. Hahaha. Here is a fun pic I got of him.

I’ve had her about 3 years now.

Hey all - everything is settling down nicely. I’m still a bit concerned my girls are so okay with it tbh. They literally do not even acknowledge his presence. It’s nuts. I thought they’d be riled up and loud but nothing. I’m talking, it almost looks like they are ignoring him deliberately. It’s odd but no displays of aggression so I’m fine with it. I’d love to tell you guys more about my flock. I’ll post about them as I have time. I can tell you about Maxi first, since she was my first grey. When I adopted her from a private household, I was told she was 21 and that she was purchased at a petco. The previous owner was bitten early on in maxi’s life and it got her locked up for the next 20 years. The owner was terrified of her, so she never let her out again. She escaped from her cage one time over the years during a cage cleaning at which point I was told she lived under the couch for a week before finally coming out to be caught and put back in her cage. During my first visit to meet Maxi it took the owner 15 mins to find the keys to open her cage. Maxi was terrified, feathers ruffled, loud growling, she was not friendly or happy whatsoever, but can ya blame her? I didn’t and when I saw her in this state I told the lady I’d be taking her, paid her 700 bucks for a “rehoming fee” and brought her home. It was a very very rough few months. She screeched nonstop with shrill high pitched alarm sounds for most of the day for weeks on end. She started plucking her ankles and underwings. It honestly creates a tremendous amount of tension in my marriage. But in the end we came out on her good terms. Maxi gets better and better each day. It took almost a year to get her to step up. She does now regularly and eagerly. She’s also teaching herself how to fly. She will literally spend time during the day to work on flying and when she nails a spot she meant to get you can see the excitement in her face and body language. When she fails, she honestly still looks kinda happy lol. But she gets better and better ever day. She’s not a talker at all and prefers whistles and coos. When she does talk it’s in a whisper voice. Think someone saying “whatcha doin?” In a whisper. That’s about all she says. She’s my girl, I love her bunches and feel so happy to be able to give her such a good home and happy life. OH!! I forgot to mention the biggest shock of owning Maxi. She’s actually 43! Not 21 as I was told. The vet was able to teach her band back to a specific breeder and time. So there’s a whole 22 years not accounted for. Who knows what this girl has in store for me in the coming years. Can’t wait to find out. I’ll tell you guys about JoJo sometime soon.

Well... I made a total rookie mistake. I was operating on autopilot clearly. JoJo has a habit of asking for kisses in many different way while I am holding her, and she typically gets them from me. Well, I was carrying Morgan from one place to the other and he said "Kiss" and without thinking I went in for the kiss. Well, that was definitely a shock and got a nice bite to the upper lip that led to some slight bleeding and a fat lip. That'll teach me to be more attentive. I've not been bitten like that by either of my girls before so it was a shock. I just have to remind myself how slow I went with them in the beginning. I think I just feel so much more comfortable now with handling them and understanding how to read them I just welcomed Morgan right into the family and started including him in the routine, which clearly was clearly too fast. Oh well, live, learn, laugh?

1st JoJo and Maxi preening next to each other. This is the closest they have ever gotten and it has not happened since. 2nd is Morgan playing with a toy 3rd is Maxi with her daily Messy Beak 4th is JoJo

I think it is the possibility of instant gratification for most. Personally for me, I prefer forums like these but was disappointed to find out that they were falling by the wayside because of social media. FB, Insta, and others are so full of drama. I prefer sites like this but have been using social media because there seems to be more action there. Just logged back in to make an effort to post more on here.

Alright ladies and gents - I am not sure what has gotten into me but I adopted another grey. Pray for me 😂 Anyone have 3 or more grays? Please drop your most valuable tip or piece of advice below! So now we have Maxi, 43; Jojo, 21; and the newest addition as of today, Morgan, 12. Morgan is the first male parrot I've had. While I feel I am fairly experienced and knowledgeable on greys, I ALWAYS welcome tips, tricks, and advice from others. While I said this before, this will certainly be the last parrot entering my home as they now outnumber me and my partner.

One of my greys loves ice and prefers really cold water if she is getting a bath or shower.

Hey Everyone - This is JoJo and I patiently awaiting our vet appointment in the car.

SO strange. Sounds like brooding behavior BUT are they physically carrying the ice to a spot on the towel or just tossing it out of the bowl and then wandering down to go sit on it. I am thinking brooding behavior of they are tossing it on the floor and then noticing and 'egg like' shape down there to sit on. If they are carrying it to the bottom of the cage, I have no clue.

I've noticed the same as most. Facebook is IMO the cause of the decline in Forums. I was a moderator on another forum for years and as FB groups became more prevalent, participation dropped significantly. I, like most, signed up for this forum and really honestly hoped it would be a busy community of people full of knowledge and participation but it seemed like the "Facebook effect" had already taken hold. However I would hate to see this site and all of it's valuable information be archived. I'd like to offer my assistance if it is needed. I have time I can dedicate if needed and am very technically minded.

Thanks Greywings! I was a hit nervous did to the chewed ends. I’m still keeping a close eye but I’ve not seen and significant feather loss since I posted this.

Most of the shafts of the feathers that I’ve seen are fine, there were two that looked a bit rough on the ends almost as if they’d been chewed off or chewed on but I’m just not sure. I guess only time will tell.

I’m up in Minnesota. Seems to be plenty of humidity right now. I’ve always been a bit worried about her in particular as she was cage bound for almost twenty years. She made very quick progress when she moved in with me but had a slight setback when JoJo was adopted but overall she is still making progress and then I see these feathers down on the bottom of the cage. It’s just freaking me out. Thank you for the help guys.

Hello all - I’m the paranoid parrot owner like I’m sure a lot of you are. Just looking to see if this amount of feather loss is normal in just a few days. I’ve just in the last year adopted two 17-20 year old greys and have constantly been concerned about the possibility of plucking. Sorry about the messy photo, she just got done tearing some Romain and corn apart.

Today’s fresh dish. Grapes, jalapeños, whole grain noodles, grapes, kales, squash flowers, high quality seed mix, carrots, broccoli, and I’m sure some other stuff I’ve forgotten since this morning. Working really hard to get my picky eater on some better foods.

So glad I posted this, I would have never thought to use my bed. I think she’ll (JoJo) be a decent flyer and may already know how but just doesn’t. When she is startled she will hop into flight but only to flutter to the ground. She has a pretty smooth landing. Just doesn’t seem to be able to take off. My 20yo Maxi however is a different story and crashes anytime she is startled and always lands breast bone first. I’ll try this with her after JoJo gets the hang of it. It may help her come out of her she’ll more. She was not treated well by the previous owner.

Thank you. She is a skilled lander and can avoid obsticles. I’ve also noticed If I ask her to fly while she is on my arm she flaps her wings for a bit and I can feel it pulling my arm up, so hopefully it is not hard to teach. I didn’t think about the bed, I’ll Toss an old painting sheet on there so I don’t get any poop on there and try it out. Can I ask how old the Grey was at the time you took in?

Hello everyone - I am hoping someone here may have some insight on training older greys (17 & 20 approx.). More specifically training them to fly. JoJo the grey I'd like to train first is very needy and I'd like to teach some independence and give her the ability to get around with confidence. Any insight from you guys would be greatly beneficial to me. As always, thank you for the help everyone. Glad I came across these forums. :)

Cute. I wish my Greys would get along. But my older girl (Maxi) for some reason can’t stand my other female JoJo. Life would be som much easier.