joea

Found this article in today's NY Times. Wondered if anyone else has heard of this and/or would be interested in setting up something similar? I'm more and more unable to interact with Azimuth as much as she needs, and deserves, and needs more. I've even considered re-homing her but have found no interest locally. Please let me know what you think.

16 YO female, seems to be "shedding" a lot of small feathers lately. She is not "plucking" as far as I can tell and does not appear to have developed any "bald patches". Should I be concerned?

I thought I posed this earlier, but, here goes again: I presume the references to "no sugar" mean "cane" or "refined" sugar and not "natural sugars" as might be found in honey, rice syrup, etc? All the commercial "treats" such as cookies, contain one or both.

I see your point. Not criticizing you. Still searching for a recipe she will eat. Every one I have tried, she takes a taste, the gives me the stink eye. Like "What are you trying to pull here?". They taste fine to me, not very sweet, but not horrible either. The stores are still out of stock so, no taste comparisons are possible. One of the last ingredients listed is "other natural flavors", which may be the key. Are cane sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, known to be toxic to birds?

I decided to use "our friend the Internet" and came up with several articles that claim "chocolate" is definitely bad for birds. Most of them are similar to this one: https://www.sonomabirding.com/can-birds-eat-chocolate/ So, I won't be feeding Azimuth any chocolate. Sad.

Isn't chocolate bad for birds? I do make my own oatmeal raisin cookies that contain cinnamon and nutmeg, which I let her have a very small taste of. Loves them, but I worry that it is too much sugar. I also notice she no longer is avid about the Harrisons Bird Bread she used to devour in a moment. Now she does eat it, but is not excited about it at all. Spoiled by the sweets, I guess.

Can you provide them? DM/PM if you like? Would provide me with a starting point. Might save me some trial and error, not being a "native baker/chemist".

My Grey loves the All Living Things almond flavor cookie treats. But they have been out of stock recently and she is quite disappointed to not get her accustomed treat. Any known recipes available? I'd actually rather bake them at home.

Thanks for your comments. I have tried toys, hanging things that claim to be parrot toys, a bell, all of which she seems to ignore. The bell she has "played with" a few times, but generally when angry or just trying hard to get my attention. When I saw her going after pencils on my desk, after climbing down from her human perch, I tried some similar sized wooden dowels. Only occasionally interesting to her. I have considered a mirror, but have doubts about that. The corrugated cardboard box, and the occasional brown paper bag, seem to be her favorite things, which were suggested to divert from the woodwork attacks. That worked marvelously so I bought 4x4 boxes from a supply house which seemed better than trying to reclaim used packaging. Shortly after she began acting a bit differently and the egg laying began. She also finds any corrugated boxes external to her cage playtop to be objects of extreme interest. Also of note, it may be she has found a new game, that consists of finding some mischief and expecting me to find her, scoop her up and return her to her cage. Last few times, when she hears me coming, pauses and looks. If I don't have a towel, waddles back to what she was doing until I come back with a towel, and seems to wait for it. Then begins biting the towel, but, if I happen to leave my fingers too near her head and she notices resistance, she "eases up" momentarily. Or so it seems. I've had conflicting views on "daylight" triggering egg laying. Most agree that parrots, generally, react to increased daylight as a signal, while some claim Greys and some others react to shortening daylight as a trigger.

Thanks. I certainly regret removing the egg, but was acting on advice I thought competent at the time. I have a set of dummy eggs arriving tomorrow. Now I have to determine if it is appropriate to chance confusing her by placing them, or just wait for another egg and then place a few. Normally I can handle her freely and interact quite well. She is actually a very pleasant creature. It is only when "going walkabout" and chewing on this or that, that she gets feisty and oppositional when I attempt to intervene. Thus, the towel for those occasions. I only started that after getting hard bites one such occasion. Today I let my guard down and paid. I'd never place an ad, for the reasons you stated. There are a couple of rescue and sanctuary places within an hour or so, if it comes to that.

Thanks, but the egg laying is just something that adds to my feeling she needs someone that can give her more attention than I can right now. That and her tendency to want to explore the entire house and chew on wood trim and other things, causing significant damage. I cannot, in the short term anyway, provide her with a dedicated space to let her do her thing so have resorted to nabbing her in the act and returning her to her cage. While that provides me with the freedom to attend to my tasks around the house and yard, it seems rather unfair to her. It seems ineffective as well, in altering her behavior, but has not, it seems impacted her desire to interact with me. If anything, it may have increased it. Having said that, I just found her wandering the halls and once again made the mistake of picking her up without toweling her. My hand now is somewhat the worse for that error. It is difficult to keep your cool when a Grey is attacking your hand.

Unfortunately, I have already removed the egg, at the urging of the person I adopted her from, who seemed to have a lot of bird experience. She was acting as an "adoption agent" for the elderly owner that gave her up. I have learned since that I should have left it until Azimuth lost interest on her own. Since then she did apparently lay another, incompletely formed egg, which I found one morning in the bottom of the cage. I have some "false eggs" on order and may utilize those should her behavior warrant. Sadly, I'm thinking of giving her up to someone that may be able to be more of a "flock/family" for her than I can manage at this point.

Couple days ago, she produced and egg. This was on her cage "playtop". Egg appears fully formed. Had added avian calcium to her diet after she produced, over a period of a few weeks, tow apparently malformed eggs. The calcium was added based on that. Did not expect a 3rd egg, but here it is. Been advised to let her be for a few days, then remove it. Obviously, it will not hatch and will spoil at some point. She is being very "maternal" an attentive to it, but not "possessive" in the sense that her behavior toward me has changed. More that willing to accept hand held food, but seems to be favoring "treats" much more than her normal diet. Question is, how long should I wait to remove it and how should I go about it? Overtly, or covertly? Distract her with a treat while removing the egg, or just attempt to do it in "plain sight"? Or remove it when she leaves it to feed or something, if able to catch the moment?

No, there is not a specific area dedicated to her. Crossed my mind, but, so far, nothing I have provided for her amusement, except the corrugated boxes, has held her interest for more than a moment or two. Some of them are quite complex, with varied shapes, colors, textures. A pleasant sounding bell, a rubbery chew thing, with nooks for treats, all ignored. Even the treats nestled in them. It seemed she would just make a "bird line" for her latest chosen destruction area and go at it. Per the advice of the person I adopted from, I am keeping her in her cage, except when I specifically make play time, or cage clean time. Sometimes just to hang out. While she has adjusted to this, I don't like it and do not think it is a good long term solution. So, I hesitate to spend any effort to create such a spot as her history indicated she will ignore it. Short of dedicating a room, or area, or building an addition that could double as an aviary, and essentially preventing access to the rest of the house, I don't see a good solution.

I certainly do not want to re-home her, for lots of reasons. Basically how I feel right now. I cannot allow the house to be destroyed. I continue to be astounded at her bratty stubborness in immediately returning to the activity I most recently interrupted. I am considering adding a 4 season "sun room" to my home to ease the winter season. Thought about moving her in there, if I ever get it built. Is there any accounting for this change in behavior? Keeping her caged most of the day will probably depress her eventually.