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.

Earlier I had posted about a 14 year old female Congo I had adopted, that was exhibiting destructive behavior, leaving cage area and tearing up woodwork trim. At this point, I was never closing the cage doors, ever. Her roaming destructiveness was alleviated completely by placing brown corrugated boxes on her cage playtop, which she immediately took to in joyous fashion. Initially I used whatever medium size boxes I had, but this seemed to trigger, to my astonishment, a hormonal or breeding response and she ended up laying a couple of "soft shell" eggs. I'd been reassured this would pass, and it did seem to, to the point I ordered some small 4x4 boxes from a supply house and would assemble one or two a week, replacing them as they became destroyed. She seemed overjoyed when I put a fresh one in play. She had previously and even now, almost completely ignores any commercial "toys" I hang in her cage, only occasionally attacking some wooden dowel rods i put in there, despite her great willingness to attack pencils she may encounter. Now, however, she has lessened interest in her playtop boxes and has take to leaving her cage area and attacking any storage box or the like that may happen to be around. I tried many times to catch her in the act, admonish her and return her to her cage. When that failed, I began putting her in the cage and latching the door, at first for brief periods and latter for longer. But, that has only seemed to reinforce her tendency to leave the cage and begin tearing up. I see now, this may have developed into a game as she never displays aggression when I return her to the cage, but does show reluctance to leave my hand. She does "beak" my fingers or hand at those times, but does not "bite". So far. She seems to desire more attention as well lately and more often now tugs at my fingers with her head up and body lowered, which I gather is a "food sharing" or requesting behavior. I'm beginning to doubt I am the right person or home for her, despite the apparent bond. The only thing that has really changed is that I introduced Harrison Bird Bread (original mix) a few weeks back, She loves it, and would eat it to the exclusion of anything else. I am almost out of the first batch and reordered. I can hold off for a week or so, to see it seems to be related. Once again, unsure how to proceed to keep her happy and healthy and me sane. ish. She really is a sweet bird otherwise.

Perhaps I need to consult an Avian Vet? I'm not certain how to proceed. If I remove the box, she may react badly and/or return to destructive behavior. For all I know, removing the box may cause some problem with a partially formed egg being retained. Then again, if she does produce an egg, it will obviously not hatch and will eventually, if not immediately, have to be removed. Causing possibly other issues.

Why "unfortunately"? Should I attempt to stop it somehow? Is it something I need to research more or can someone describe what to do and expect?

Now she is spending almost all her time in the box, almost completely destroyed, but will pause and look back at me when I approach, then back to destruction, but with a brief raising and wiggle of her hind end. I'm guessing this is just more of the "hormonal" behavior?

Yeah. I did not know that at the time. I would like to reduce that behavior but I don't want her going back to destroying the wood work.

Thanks, that does seem to be the issue. I asked a few other grey people and they gave similar response or "nesting behavior". I never noticed it before I gave her cardboard boxes to "play with" as a diversion from destroying wood trim in the house. She has not left her play area, except with me, since introducing the boxes. She plays this game where she comes to the side of the cage play area, gets my attention, then immediately scurries back to the box and begins shredding or knocking, occasionally taking a discrete peek to see if I noticed. I guess.

Right now, she has calmed and is sitting on my chair, acting normally, as I type. She began by making it clear she wanted "up" and we spent some time, but she became a bit agitated and kept going for my glasses and making short "eh-eh" sounds, almost frantic. Nothing seemed to calm her and she would nibble at my finger trying to keep it above her head, as if trying to "nurse" from it. I did not encourage that and tried to put her on cage and present treats. Did not go for that. Back sitting down, she began began keeping her wings and bottom end down, as if ready for flight, while making the "eh-eh" noises again. There was a thunderstorm brewing, but there have been worse with no such behavior. I thought to ask here for advice.

After a certain level of destruction, maybe 2/3 left, she begins to wander a bit. A brand new one gets her full attention again. Keeping the residue in check seems to be my only complaint at this point. And getting enough new boxes. . . .

Don't go there any more, but might see if I can find similar items, or friends that go there. I wonder if egg cartons would be a thing? Possible salmonella, etc?

I tried that before the box. She was like "yeah, well, what else ya got?". Did not try the chains tho.