loviechick

Oh that is just awesome!!!! Congrats! It's all about baby steps!

Personally I wouldn't send your bird to another house for a couple weeks as that could send mixed signals to your bird, and also upset them as to why they were dumped off then returned a few weeks later. My birds all whistle, they have these high pitched calls that can sometimes be ear piercing, but I've noticed that 90% of the time if I just talk to them or say hi, they stop as they're just contact calling to their flock leader(me). The ONLY thing that will encourage "human" noises is "human" talk. Talk to your bird constantly. These birds have wild chirps in nature so naturally they're going to have them in captivity. My 13 year old CAG can say hmmm at least 100 words but she has maybe 30 different sounds not including at least a dozen type of whistles. Now here's an interesting tidbit, her prior owners that had her for 10 years, refused to whistle to her, they would talk to her like a person, which might explain her seasoned vocab. However she still has TONS of whistles and noises she makes that she learned anyway. I would sugest just keep talking to your bird, but don't bounce him around, that's only gonna confuse him.

Clipping the wings is going to be the best way to control your bird from flying into anything really.

Mine all flake, but when they go to have a beak trim they file it all down and make it smooth!

Oh no Joe! How incredibly sad, I'm praying that you find him!!!!!

My greys feet are light Greyish, the younger one her feet are a bit darker, I'm sure it's an age thing!

Ya know I just use a dog/cat carrier. This way they can walk around, I just throw some toys in the bottom and let them have at it. The only bummer is sometimes they will step in their poop, but nothing a quick walk in the tub won't fix when I get home! I couldn't justify paying loads of money for a carrier I use maybe once a month!

All of mine grumbled too when I first got them, it took all of mine about 2 months to stop grumbling, even when I would just walk by them not trying to pick them up or anything! It's just her getting used to you is all! Whatever you do don't back down from the grumbling, and more than likely you will get bit, it's a reality, I'm yet to meet a bird owner that hasn't been nailed LOL If so I wanna know their secret! Just keep letting her know YOU'RE in command and when you need her to step up, she needs to do it!

Yeah there isn't a real way to age a bird physically, HOWEVER I can look at my Greys, and there's a 10 year age difference, and I can most definitely look at them and tell which one is older, and younger, even if they weren't mine! Here are pics (younger one) (older one)

Yeah its just a molt is all! Mine all look ragged a couple times a year LOL

Hey what about room for the SR birds huh...my birds only 13, and she's my big time blabber mouth!

This is just adding to what Tycos mom said.... When I first went to go and have my meetings with Red, who had been cage bound for 10 years hr first time out of that cage was to be with me. We were believe it or not, in the woman's bathroom. Well problem is, when she got spooked she took off flying hit the mirror, bounced off the sink, knocked over several bottles of lotion, and then for the finale, hit the floor. I would not suggest a bathroom as it is a very closed in space typically, and theres a lot of things she can run into, which will make her think ok pain in the bathroom with this new owner, new owner bad. You don't want her doing anything but associating good things with you. Now granted maybe Tycos mom has a huge bathroom with not very much stuff in it, but this particular woman had a lot of stuff in hers as I do mine, I'm not trying to step on any toes or anything:( However a trick that is along these lines that I have personally used with Greys, along with other birds and it does work, is take them into another room, one that is s close to empty as you can get it. Turn down the lights, not dark, but maybe like at sunset kinda dark to where she can see, just not well lit. Take in plenty of treats, don't try to pet her or touch her or do anything to "cross the line" just let her wander around on the floor, or sit in your lap. Just make sure that whereever this is, she cannot see her cage aka her afety zone. You want her to learn that you are one of her safety zones! I would suggest doing it alone, as your whole family sitting around her trying to play and pet her, she probly thinks you want her for dinner LOL get her used to you and get her trusting SOMEONE before you go and get her warmed up to the rest of the family.... However this is just my opinion. I have tried this, and it does work. I've tried it with lovebirds, Greys, and my Senegal, and all of them turned out wonderfully after some time. Like I said you are still in the honeymoon phase to where everything is super new to her, don't worry that WILL subside. Building trust is like the foundation of a house, it needs to be solid in order to progress.

How cool congrats and welcome!!!!

None of mine liked Harrisons, my vet also told me to use it, but if they didn't like it to go with Pretty Bird. So I went with Pretty Bird, and they both love it!

That's what I said Dan!! I couldn't believe the "samples"!!!! Heck I would have been happy with even half of that!

Well if you think about it, if the Grey seEs you holding an object then all the sudden you hold it up and magically an African Grey appears, naturally they would be freaked out! I would do mirrors from a distance and see if he warms up to it!

I haven't heard that whistling is bad or not. I feel that communication is important whether or not its words. I whistle songs to mine all the time and they will whistle the tune back, they get a kick out of it.

Wow I didn't realize that she was cilpped, sounds like a strong flier! Mine both go straight to the floor. It's only been two weeks I would just keep doing what you're doing and building up the trust. I know you're excited to hold her, but for one they aren't really cuddly-wanna-hold-me kinda birds in the first place, and two, the honeymoon isn't even over yet. She's still getting used to her new surroundings. I know that mine adjusted fairly easily because of the fact that I'm gone during the day and I live alone, and only have the birds. You've got dogs, cats, and other people in the house, that's a BUNCH more things for her to get used to. The slower you go the better, just keep talking to her by her cage. If she wants to be on her cage, and is secure there, roll with it, that's only going to make her trust you more!

danmcq wrote: And if by Dang that hurt you mean $^&*$#^&^*(#^**&($(!!!!!!! Then yes that's what I said:lol:

I don't think it will be that bad, as all my birds come out at the same time, I just can't have them within a foot of eachother. They both have seperate trees and everything, it can be done!

I would try to give them at least 3-5 feet of space between their cages as sometimes their "turf" can be a little of the surrounding area as well as their cages....Greys especially need this extra bubble! mine are on opposite sides of the room from eachother!

That is exactly what I did when I first got Red. She was 13 years old and had been living with her current family for 10 years! I went and visited her 4 times once a week for about 2 hours until the last time I brought her home. In fact I highly recommend doing this to anyone that plans to rescue or adopt a bird! You are about to turn this whole birds world upside down, new sights, sounds, smells, foods, people, animals, etc etc. The very best thing for it would be to have a familiar face, something it had seen before. I noticed that Red did have a slight funk once I brought her home, but I associate it to her moving not for losing her prior owners. She was cage bound for 10 years, she was finally able to have 3+ hours out of her cage everyday, eat something other than sunflower seeds, and I think she was so excited about her new found freedom, he "recovery" time was very short LOL I think if your friend has the commitment to do this, he wil be fine, but I would most definitely tell him to go and visit the bird anything that will help!

I always wanted to be an ASL interpreter! I've taken about 2 years of sign, but I'm slowly forgetting it, I'm going back to school next year to pick up where I started! Anyhow, my birds do it too! Especially my greys, I figured it was cause they were cleaning the beak or it felt good!

To answer your questions, one of my Greys hates the floor, the other one loves it cause she can hide under the couch, and then loves to come running out and try to bite me toes!:laugh: I'm not sure if you're against it or not, but I would suggest trimming her wings if you can. When I let my birds' wings grow out I can see a definite change in their personality, they get testier, fiestier, and are more apt to run from me. Once I clip those wings, they come to me no problem and I don't have any issues. They know they have more control when they're flighted, and I assure you they DO TAKE FULL advantage of it! More than likely if you put her on the floor and she flies back she's going to keep doing it, at least until she gets used to you. Now keep this in mind, Greys are one of the few species of parrots that prefer to be higher up because of security, not because they are trying to dominate. That's why IMO you don't see as much dominance issues with Greys and tall cages than you do with other birds. My Sun Conure, if she's taller than me, she fully believes she is, and she's a pain to get control of! She doesn't like the floor more than likely because it makes her feel scared and insecure = her flying back to her safety zone-the cage. If you want her to spend more time around you, and around the rest of the flock(family) consider getting a swing of some sort that hangs from the ceiling. It's higher up, and she would probably feel much more secure up there, and might be less apt to flying to her cage. Then again you clipping her wings would also tone down this habit of hers. If she knew she would just go straight down to the ground, she probably wouldn't try! Good luck and keep us posted!

So I had posted a while ago a bunch of phone numbers where you could call and get samples, as I had it from another forum, but I had never actually called myself. I'm getting ready to go on vacation, and I'm getting low on food and didn't want to go shopping right before I left. So I called and inquired about these samples....I called Pretty bird and told them I wanted a sample of their African species pellets, as they're one of the best nutritionally for Greys when it comes to pellets, from what I've researched and heard from friends that are breeders. Then I called Lafeber as I'm getting low on treats and asked them for a sample of nutriberries as well and here's what I got sent! A whole bunch of mini bags of nutriberries, which is nice as the whole bag won't go stale since I give nuts and dried fruits as well as nutriberries for treats. Then Pretty bird sent me a 3LB BAG for my sample!!!!! That costs me $15 bucks, and it only lasts me 2 weeks! Both of them were to my house within 5 days I couldn't believe it! Just figured I would share that....here's the numbers if anyone wants to call! Hagen (Tropican pellets and Gourmet mix) -- 1-800-225-2700 Harrisons (pellets) -- 1-800-346-0269 Lafeber (Nutriberries and AviCakes) -- 1-800-842-6445 Pretty Bird International Inc. (pellets) -- 1-800-356-5020 Roudybush Feed (pellets) -- 1-800-326-1726 Ziegler Brothers Inc. (pellets) -- 1-800-841-6800<br><br>Post edited by: loviechick, at: 2007/11/12 06:13