TinyTimneh

I agree with everyone and what they've said. however, that being said, i don't use no, but a short, sharp clipped word like 'don't!' because greys like long o sounds and might like the oo part of no. also, after your grey is done misbehaving, ladder him a few times (like a total of four steps ups with praise for each one) to set him back on track and put your connection back on positive terms.

Growling is a high fear indicator. Your grey feels threatened and very afraid of you. IF he was aggressive he would just stare you down and lower his beak towards your finger etc. Toughing it out isn't going to help you right now. In fact, not only are you establishing a pattern of unsuccessful interaction and biting as the norm, by being so forward you are increasing his fear and intensifying the bite. A frightened animal always bites harder than an angry one. Right now you need to earn trust and desensitize him to you and your hands. Just hang out, play peek-a-boo, blink a lot, offer to play a whistling game by whistling or responding to his whistles and offer lots of treats. Once he doesn't growl at you or your hands, then you can work on the step-ups.

I have tried it, and actually continue to use it. It's worked extremely well for me. Personally, I find it a very concise way to praise, I click as soon as the parrot behaves in a way i want. It's easy for the parrot to understand (no conflict/delay with the good bird etc.) just one click noise and they know right away when they've done it right and they know a treat is coming. It might also be beneficial for shy birds, they can still receive feedback on whether or not they're correctly behaving without becoming intimidated by the pitch/volume of verbal praise. siobha9, i think maybe you might not be getting a lot of clarity iwth just handing out treats. the clicker isn't a reward, but a noise that serves to instantly tell the bird they've done it correctly, and will get a treat for it.

yeesh.. hmm... looks like a toughie. he definetly isn't pure strain. good be a she actually. my vote is normal split to something... either pied or pearl. if he's completed first moult then he is a she if pearl (only females keep pearling) and if not could be just pied (those random white/yellow feathers are characteristic). however ,there are books upon books of complicated 'tiel genetics and most birds around sure don't have pure-blood pedigree, there could be all kinds of colours in his ancestry.

The aggresskveness of your CAG could be a stage or a response to her fear, and the scneario will likely keep happening regardless of species. if she's not a confident, calm handler she'll get bitten. forget a too. these are some expensive, demanding birds (as are all parrots), but toos are by far the most extreme (and if she's afraid of bites these birds are some of the worst, their beak shape makes it worse than other birds). you both need to really read up and educate yourselves on handling parrots etc. personally, i think small bird bites are worse in some regards, a because the birds are smaller, thus more frightened of you and more apt to bite and bite harder and b because their tiny little beaks really dig in and chew and shred flesh compared to a larger bird where it may be more of a clamp and squeeze because your finger fits in their mouth. lastly, two baby parrots would be exhausting, both need a tremendous amount of care, guidance and training at this stage, and Bobo would not get all your attention with another bird. and two parrots and kids? forget about it... you'll all end up going crazy and in the end the birds will probably lose out, just stick to the CAG so your time won't be completely consumed when you decided to start a family.

i'll second what's been said so far, if your worried about the corrosion from vinegar, hot water and soap works well. i'd also recommend one of those tiny hand held vaccuums and a floor/fabric steamer mop thing so you can clean and disinfect the floor and stuff around the room without using chemicals.

congrats on your amazon... funny though how this is your prep bird for a grey... amazons are a lot feister than greys... particularly the males. do lots of reading and remember... you're just in the honeymoon stage now, his docility could change (and most definetly will as he reaches maturity).

You can do both on/off... with a few exceptions being amazons and cockatoos (and probably macaws just due to size factor) because of unpredicatability etc. the important thing is, you first have to get him to be totally reliable with the step-ups and build trust between both of you (if you're worried about him biting, you might tense up and he'll pick up on that, becoming nervous in turn) and keep in mind that your shoulder is a very wide and slippery perch so it could make him fall, or nervous and he might bite down to steady himself. in terms of controlling dominance, you do not really have to ban the bird from your shoulder, just control the situation. don't let him scramble up on his own, ever, he must respect your body and space as you respect his. however, if you want him up there or he wants to go, tell him up, get him on your hand and then tell him 'off' and place him there. he'll learn you give him permission to go there, and if he ever refuses to step up from up there, temporarily disallow it. if he starts becoming unpredictable through his 'terrible two's' stage or once sexually mature, just don't let him up there, but greys are known to be pretty mellow.

i think i might disagree on the laddering being negative she, now yes i think people who sit there and ladder the poor bird as punishment for hours on end isn't right, but used sensitively it can be a good thing. obviously it has no place in day-to-day step up training but can be used as positive reinforcement. When my birds misbehave (threatening to bite when asked to step up for example) I give them the 'evil eye' and possibly a firm low, 'don't!' (i've heard parrots like loong cooing noises like oooo so No can actually be pleasant whereas short clipped consonants mimick the noise birds use when yelling at each other when they're upset). I then get the bird to step up, offer praise, and the ladder him a total of maybe four times (so four step-ups) each time praising so i'm ending the incident with positive reiforcement. it also cements the pattern of good behaviour and step-ups and gets the bird back into a cooperative, positive state of mind. just my two cents.

Just talk to him alot, the same way you would do to your daughter, label everything he sees and use interesting pitches in your voice. he is new, so even so, don't expect anything. some greys just never talk. my TAg is like that, but he does ocaissionally mumble and mutter. The more included he feels in your home and the more he hears other people talking back and forth to each other the more tempted he'll be. Try implenting a few rituals (like every day at whatever time you both sit and share an orange together while watching some tv for example) it seems to help. and yes, he'll probably learn to cry like your daughter does lol!

Personally, I would be hesitant to come in from behind with any of my birds, wouldn't want to trigger a fright/startle reflex.. figure this is how predators jump them in the wild. If your bird doesn't want to step-up don't push it at this point. There's no need to try and wrangle him into the bathroom... as for it being quiet and dark... also seems like instinctively pretty spooky for a grey. Just open the cage and let him out to climb around and come out if he wants to (Later on you will want to avoid doing this in order to maintain social dominance), offer him a treat once he's out and if he takes it, praise him (i actually like to use a clicker to click the moment he touches my hand to get a treat) and stop it there. don't reach for him. back up, continuing talking to him without making direct eye contact (stay lower than him and blink a lot, it signals to him that you are calm in his prescence and are just another bird like him becuz terrified birds will not blink... just stare at the scary thing) calmly approach again with another treat and offer it to him. praise and repeat. then, when you're done, lure him back into his cage with treats. Continue this until he is no longer hesitant to approach your hands or you. then, you can try pressing your fingers into his belly for him to step up praising if he does (I find it helpful to calmly say his name nad the command, then offer your hand), and repeat daily, for the rest of his life. good luck!

Good ideas danmcq and lovemygreys, i'll try them out with all my birds. As for greys and their sense of smell I don't think it is as powerful as say a dog's but i guess they can smell things a little. AS long as you clearly show your grey your putting their favorite treat in there he should go rigght to it, try using a large, vibrantly colored treat so he can clearly see it. It that fails you could try an 'easier' activity first, it's true that not all greys might be motivated enough to chew through all the wood bars first time thorugh, but you shoud be ok. good luck.

Yep, me too! Very good articles indeed, especially the one about the greys of course !

To answer your other question with the electus vs greys, I haven't kept an electus but have heard they might be more independant. The greys obviously aren't as colorful but seem to be better talkers. Also, they both can have a predisposition towards feather plucking, altough with electus it seems to be more diet/disease related than anything. I have also heard that both greys and the male electus are shy and retiring, slthough each bird is an individual. Oops. I forgot to add this to the first post, aside for disease risks they often recommend not keeping Greys with other birds because they often do not mix well with other species, (most african birds are like this) because in the wild you wouldn't see a flock of greys close to another flock of parrots, whereas the south american birds often mingle together in order to share ressources.

If your tiels/dove are healthy then you should be okay, but always follow a quarantine period regardless. I don't know much about doves but it would seem to me that they might be irritated by all the dust produced by the tiels and possible grey. Also, they are at grave risk for damage when living in close proximity to hookbills, because they simply don't have the right 'equipment' in terms of beaks etc. It is very important to respect the pecking order in your home, to avoid jealousy with the new bird. Always greet/feed/play/groom etc your first bird first, proceeding in the order you got them in. If you have to move furniture etc to make space for the grey's cage do so well in advance of you adding him to the room, like while he's still in quarantine so your birds do not associate him with the disruption. Begin telling them a new bird is coming and let them watch/help you set up the new bird's final cage, away from your existing cages so everyone feels like they have their own space because if you place the cages close together the pre-existing birds will feel like their space is being invaded. When it's finally time to bring the grey out of quarantine, do not let your birds see the new grey. Put them all in their carriers in the living room ro something. Take the new bird and put him in the room in his cage. Then, by order of the pecking order, take each pre-existing bird in individually to see the new addition before returning them to their cages. It is very important that when your other birds first see the grey, you are holding THEM and not the other way around. Then, as hard as it may be, go about your normal routine with the birds, and don't pay much attention to the newcomer until all your other birds have spent their usual amount of time with you.

It can be, I would think, but due to her stress and injury and being unable to fly away she probably feels much safer up there than on the floor. I guess you could try leaving her up there, or perhaps taking her directly out of the cage if she'll let you and let her play on a low place like a coffee table or something. But floor play might be too scary for her, especially in her present condition. If you are gonna continue to allow her to play up on top, maybe you could move her cage off the tile flooring and unto something a bit softer, like carpet?

Hi! Welcome to greyforums. Lovemygreys pretty much covered most of what I would have said. Seeing as the little guy has had a rough life, poor diet and housed with multiple birds (especially tiels, who are known to be carriers of a few sicknesses) if you have one available to you I would recommend taking him to the vet for a check up as soon as possible. good luck with the little guy!

I'm sure this is probably posted somewhere in the deep dark abysses of this forum but just in case I figured I'd share it with you guys, god knows we all need ideas! http://www.companionfids.com/enrichment/activitybooks.htm

hi Julie, welcome to greyforums! Please don't, as others have said, give up on Webster, espically not after all he's been through and the fact he's already been with you for a few years. You can do this. There could be quite a few reasons why your grey started doing this and it may/may not have been your nephew, now he's doing it for your attention obviously. Buy earplugs if the noise is really bad, that way, if you can't hear him you can't get frustrated. I do that with my Tag when he plucks becuase he knows the sounds of the feathers shredding drives me crazy.And then, as others have suggested, praise him and reward him with the food he wants when he is quiet, also begin teaching him acceptable noises to use as calls between the two of you when you're away. If you consistently ingnore this behaviour and reinforce other acceptable ways for him to communicate what he wants he will drop this noise from his repetoire, I can almost guarantee you that (i've been through a similar scenario with my TAG where he'd imitate the noise of a hammer banging on a roof for hours on end). Also, try getting him to learn to trust your nephew, go slowly. There are plenty of articles online on how to do this, it would take ages for me to explain how-to. Good luck with webster!

aww.. what a cutie! welcome to the forum! feel free to post any questions about your little grey, we're all here to help.

ok, finally found the article i was talking about in my closet, the article reccomends the following. for your evacuation kit you need -pellets and/or prepackaged snack -unsalted almonds -dry pasta -dried fruit -bottled water -scissors for grooming -nail clippers -cleaning supplies of some sort to clean carriers -toys if not in carriers already -towel for restraining -newspaper for carriers -paper towels for cleaning/carrier bottoms - and a BIG backpack to put it all in i think that's all of it, just bring enough for however long you need and the article recommends sealing foods in airtight containers and re-checking your supplies periodically. personally, i would also include a first aid kit with some quik-stop for nails etc, tweezers, gatorade or equivalent for electrolytes, gauze, disnfectant for wounds, masking tape or vetwrap... the list goes on, and a list of updated contacts for places where I could stay and vet clinics and their emergency after hours counterparts. hope that helps.

Hope everything turns out ok, and hope she grows in new feathers soon for both your piece of mind, and I know you probably knew about human meds, buut just in case I wanted to save you both more heartache.

hi and welcome to this forum first off. As others have said, have patience. You and your grey will get to know each other and there will be times where you will get bitten or disobeyed-- parrots are like that, they have their stages just like kids. Your little guy is still a baby and is new, so he's probably pretty scared and unsure of himself. It would take me writing a book to explain all the things you need to know about african greys and handling them (they're different in terms of most parrots) so i suggest you get yourself some good reputable books and start reading (I would recommed 'A Guide Companion Parrot Behaviour' and 'Guide to a wellbehaved parrot' by Mattie Sue Athan and the African Grey Handbook also by her for starters) , and of course, post as many questions as you like, we're all here to help!

Yep, that's a nanday and a cutie to boot! They are illegial in some states from what I understand, much like quakers. They also can be very loud and I would watch to make sure that your other birds don't pick this up because if a grey picks up a loud little bird call, it's 10 times worse because he's bigger (I would know... ever heard female cockatiel alarm call a la TAG?-- it's very loud )! Quarantine obviously is a must, and watch for jealousy also... good luck!

What he means is because 'tiels are so massively bred and often kept in large numbers in flights, they are known to be usual carriers of certain bird diseases (also it just seems to be one of those things that hapen, kindo f like how certain dog breeds are at risk for certain ailments more than others). Gardia specifically comes to mind right now but there are a few others. But don't go panicking and quarantining the poor tiel though. If he's been to the vet regularly and has checked out fine, is happy and eating and acting normal, don't worry. If anything the only reason I would be worried about the tiel and CAG in the same room would be the tiel's welfare. Cockatiels are unsually flighty and delicate birds. They have small beaks compared to other birds their size and are usually very docile and easily bullied. Most birds, including budgies and lovebirds can do a number on them if so inclined.