Olla

His wing feathers are growing now. I have a little hope that when he can fly again, something will change. Because now, he knows he can not escape and it makes it worse.

Hi again! So, 6 months have passed and we are still in the same situation.:blink: He still is afraid of me and now other people, too. He almost doesnt scream, but doesnt let us touch him. He can take food from my hand, 2 times he let me scratch his head, but it was after I came back from 1 week holiday and then everything became as usual.(Maybe he missed me). I really dont know, what to do...Just to wait more?...

Wow! Dave, thank you for such useful information!:woohoo: You are so right about kissing the beak. I started doing it after that thing happened. I know it is dangerous for me and for our relation, but I was so happy that at least he allows me to do that. I will not do it from now on. I never let him sit on my shoulder either. He tried to do it in the beginning, but understood that it is a forbidden zone. About falling in the cage... He fell many times before while playing or while flapping wings. But that time he just jumped off the perch and hit against the wall of the cage several times and in the end he fell on the bottom. He was afraid of my hands so much that it seemed that he thought i was going to eat him... I try to stay with him as much as possible when he is outside the cage. I just do something and dont pay attention to him. Sometimes he climbs closer to see what I am doing, but if I look at him he just runs away. And when i talk to my lovebirds, he tries to attract my attention by making noise, but when I come to him, he steps back. And he always calls me when I leave the room and "stays in contact" by whistling all the time and I answer to him. And there are many other things that show he is interested in me, but still not sure if he should let me come closer. Post edited by: Olla, at: 2008/06/09 10:29<br><br>Post edited by: Olla, at: 2008/06/09 10:38

Thaks a lot for your replies! Actually, the night before it happened i came late and my boyfriend had already turned off the light for the birds ( i also have lovebirds ) and he didnt cover them, as i usually do. I decided not to disturb them and left it like that, because they had slept uncovered many times before. First thought that came to my mind in the morning was that Ruby (my grey) got scared at night, but who knows... I also thought that it is because of the spring. There was a lot of birds outside, they sang and flew. Ruby was looking out of the window all the time and getting ready to fly. Then I thought that it was because of maturing, I know that this age is difficult for African greys and their owners, but I dont think it changes them so suddenly. He has always tried to break the rules, but not this way! He could bite, complain or anything else but nothing like screaming and falling in panic... Some of my friends who have birds supposed that something has changed in me or in the room, but everything was the same...just his behaviour. You can never know what to expect from our feathered friends... Once I went for a 6-day holiday and when I came back I found him thin and very sad. he lost 15% of his weight just in 6 days! Even though he stayed with my friend who took care of him. When I came he started eating and he did it every 10 minutes... Anyway, thank you again for giving me hope that he will get like he was before!<br><br>Post edited by: Olla, at: 2008/06/08 23:22

Hi everybody! I have a Congo grey, he is approximately 2 years old and I have had him for 1 year. I bought him from the people who kept him in a small cage without toys and he was afraid of them. When I took him home, he let me touch his neck and took nuts from my hand. Step by step he started trusting me and stopped biting, whenever I touched him. He is a wonderful bird, very talkative and never screamed, learned several commands and in several months he trusted me almost 100%. I used to take him to a vet to shorten claws and to do other procedures. But then I decided to do it myself. He was angry with me for 1 day, didnt let me approach him and didnt talk. Then everything became as usually. But suddenly, in 1 week or so, something happened... In the evening we were playing, skratching and so on, but in the morining... I uncovered his cage and tried to take him to hand and he started screaming and falling to the bottom of the cage. There was fear in his eyes. Whenever I made a move he screamed horribly and jumped away. He broke several feathers and was bleeding. I decided to leave him alone. I was so scared. The same happened the next day, and the next. I decided to treat him as if he was a wild parrot...I talked to him from the distance, i didnt make fast moves, I tried to clean his cage as quickly as possible... It has been almost 3 months since then. He doesnt scream anymore when i approach him, but still doesnt step up to my hand. The only things he allows me to do are: to touch his beak with my finger or to kiss his beak. And it is not the same every day, sometimes he escapes from me, sometimes he takes nuts from me... During this time, I was getting desperate and I cried because of this. But now I see, that slowly the situation changes. I really hope that in some time, he will become as tame as before, and that he will trust me again. This is my sad story... It is very painful to loose your birds trust. just like that, over one night. I have heard that it is not recommended to do anything that scears the bird yourself, it is better if somebody else will do it for you. And you should not be seen by the bird. But I made a big mistake and this is what happened. if anybody can advice something about what to do in my case, I will be very thankful! P.S. I am sorry if I made grammatical mistakes, I am from Denmark:)<br><br>Post edited by: Olla, at: 2008/06/08 18:47