Oliver

Hello All, That is my bird playing/fighting with Tui. I have to admit that I am very excited about the oppertunity to have Olly be around Tui. Thanks to this site, I have found a very cool bird to play with and teach Olly how to behave. Andrew did not mention that after awhile they did calm down. They did not get overly friendly but tolerated each other.

Thanks for all of the great advice. I guess if I had him longer I would not be worried. I have only had him for a little over three weeks and he came from a bad living situation. He is 8 years old and has had three different homes, mind included. When I got him the person selling had only had him 2 weeks because he was selling him for the original owner. He said the Olly was mean and would bite everyone. He came to me immediatly and let me pet and scratch him. I of course bought him right away. He was very sweet to me for the first three weeks but not to my daughter. Now he will not come to anyone. I am concerned because I do not want to let him controll the situation and just stay in his cage like he is use to doing. He came from a place that had many birds and did not treat anyone of them like a family member, just birds in cages. And he does bite really hard. He has not bit me yet but my daughter has had a bruse for over a week from one of his bites. It would be really hard to ignore that.

Not sure what has happened, but Olly has decided that he does not want anyone to hold him. He came to me from the moment we met with no trouble. He has been gentle and lets me pet his back and scratch his neck. Last Saturday, he just decided that he did not want to come to me or anyone. If he is out on top of his cage and someone comes into the room he quickly gets down and back into his cage and will not let anyone get him. He would bite me if I got close enough. I have no idea what happened, nothing changed that day. I am still going into see him all of the time. I am sweet talking to him and letting him know that I want to hold him by trying to get him to step up all of the time Don't know what to do. should I just keep trying and leave him to his fussiness, or do I get a bit more persistent. I could make him get on my arm by bringing my arm from behind and getting him to step backwards. I am just afraid that he will really be pissed then.

Welcome to the forum. There are lots of great people here with very good information.

Man, I wish my grey would say more. It hasn't been long enough yet but he seems like he will be a closet talker. He now says a few things but never when anyone is in the room. My daughter is working to teach him to say "you have bad breath" when ever she makes kissing noises at him. She thinks it will be hilarious because everyone that meets him, goes up and talks right to his face and makes kissing sounds. Her hope is that he will one day just blurt out "you have bad breath" to someone.

opps originally posted in the "New Member" Forum, thought moving over here would be more appropriate. Ok, I really need advice from long term Grey owners. I have now had Olly for about three weeks. He is settling in really well and seems to love all of us. Of course there are concerns due to his living situation before etc. I am worried that I may do something that will set him back in his progress. This is the reason for my question I am going out of town for three days in two weeks. I have two options. I can have someone come over and feed the birds while I am gone. The problem with this is that Olly may not be comfortable with a stranger while I am not there. my second option is to take him with me. This is what I really want to do but need to know if this is ok. Not sure if the travel will scare him or staying in a strange hotel room etc. I cannot reschedule this trip so need to know which is the lesser of the two evils Basically it comes down to leaving him alone for three days with little human interaction in a place he is comfortable, or taking him with me to a place he is Uncomfortable. Please let me know your thoughts or any issues you come up with that I have not anticipated.

yes it definitely looks like regurgitating, but why this action? Does it mean the Olly wants to take care of him? Is it just a form of affection?

Thanks for the advice... I woundered if this was some sort of mating dance. I have to emphasize that it is my ex-husband. Not because I care but only because of the limited contact olly has had with him. He has only been over twice to see olly and both times olly has gotten right on his had and started acting silly. trying to het his attention, rubbing his beak all over his face and dancing. It is so funny. He will not go to strangers without alot of prompting but went to the ex first time.

Hello all, just a quick update of Olly. He is now saying Hello, pretty bird, Olly, Whoa, and making all sorts of sounds. The other day he was talking to himself in his low garbled voice (sounds like someone with a voice box) and then all of a sudden he said "hello" in a sweet womans voice. He put diffenret emphasis on the word that usual. It took me awhile to figure out that he was talking in my voice. Pretty cool!!! Anyway I have two questions. 1. he is doing this really wierd dance like thing where he puts his head down really low and moves his neak around. He pops his neck from side to side. he only doea this to my ex- husband whom he adores, 2. Anyone have any good ways to remove dried birdy poop from wood floors. His is like glue, comes up with some scrubbing, but there has got to be an easier way.

Just a quick update on my grey, he said two new words this morning. He said "Hello" when I woke him up, and then he said "olly olly olly" about 10 minutes later. I am so excited, he is beginning to show some personality and I believe he is settling in well. I got olly from a bird fair, when I first saw him I went up and asked if I could hold him. The guy told me ollys story and warned me that he had bitten everyone that had even gotten close to him that day. He also said that he had olly for two weeks after rescuing him and he had been bitten every day. I went up to olly and he got right on my hand he let me pet him and scratch his neak. It was over, I fell in love and became a new mommy. It is like he picked me. I still will watch out for any issues that may arrise due to re-homing, but I think all will work out just fine.

My sun conure just started screaming when I brought my grey home. I need to give her extra attention because she will not scream if I am holding her. It is so loud that my ears are ringing. I have got to stop her because I do NOT want olly to pick that up. Just my luck, he won't talk but will start screaming like Percy. God help me

Thanks Judygram and Monique, great advice I will keep that in mind. I never really knew just how smart greys are. I can already see that he thinks he is the boss. He has been biting quite a bit but not hard at all, kinda a warning. We never pull away. He is saying one word, every time I am holding him and he gets off balance, I will say Whao!! He is now saying it alot. I was singing to him the other day and he looked me up and down and just said Whoa. Kinda put me in my place:blush:

just a quick update as I start my work day, I really appriciate the advice. One thing that Olly has going for him is that I do not have any pre-concieved expectations of him. I will let him do his own thing, I will let him teach me. He seems to be settling in very well, I have to be carful not to push too hard. He lets me know if he wants to be held by lifting his leg up and then he lets me know if he does not want to be held by putting his head down and blocking my hand. If I push too hard he will bite. OUCH!! I sing to him when he is getting fussy and it seems to calm him down. He is very different than my other birds. I rehomed a Alexandrine and I had to push myself on him in order for him to get used to being held, I can already see that with Olly, this will not work. Everything has to be his idea. I was cooking last night and I got out some tomatos, he got really excited and got off his perch and went for the tomatos. I went over to help him and he acted like he did not want the tomatos anymore. Once I walked away he began trying to get them again. He just wanted to do it himself. Anyway. Thanks again for the great advice. I will update on his progress. I expect some set backs along the way. Oh he is starting to make some workd like sounds, not sure what they are but he is at least trying.

I do not know if he talked before. The individual that I got him from rescued him, but only had him 2 weeks. He said that he had not heard him talk. I know he has been through alot. Two different environments in a three week span. It will take time I know. I talk to him alot, he acts like he is interested and even nudges my mouth with his head when I stop talking to him. I am actually surprised that he is not fussier due to the huge changes in his life

thanks all, I feel very fortunate to be olivers new owner. He has began to get more comfortable after only 4 days. He likes to be held and spend time with the family in the livingroom. All of my birds get alot of attention and are out of their cages whenever I am home. I really hope he talks, he does make some great sounds though.