Jane08

Ours are like this as well. Our male decided no I won't go in so we said ok goodnight see you tomorrow and left him out all night. This went on for 3 night and then suddenly he decided yes I do want to go in now, lol. They are still no keen, but much better. I wait until they are tired and then I tell them it's time to go to bed and I will be here in the morning. I talk to them for awhile and then ask them to step up and they do. I then place them in and make sure I have a bedtime snack in there for them.

It is definitely the season for feather damage. Our poor female had a wing feather that broke and was hanging out and hitting her in the head whenever she did anything. She stopped flying and looked miserable all weekend. It was so bad she kept standing on it to try and pull it out. Finally today it fell out but we noticed a part of the feather was missing so a trip to the vet for her, sigh.

We have a mirror in the cage, 2 sometimes. They are a mirror on both sides and the edges are made of wood. There is a bell on the bottom. They love to sit there and grab the mirror. We have had no problems with the mirror, we just replace it when they have chewed through the wood.

I am not a fan of clipping a bird just because he has some issues that can be fixed other ways. We were given this advice when we got Rangi as he wouldn't bond with my boyfriend and would bite him. I am so glad we didn't clip. We worked on the problem instead which took a long time, but was well worth it and worked. I do feel sometimes people want a quick fix which clipping is, instead of taking months (yes months) to work on the problem. Cflanny your bird is still young and this is exactly what they do at this age, test the boundaries, this is totally normal. Both of our greys have been through stages of testing us (ours are just over 1 and 2). You are doing exactly the right thing when he bites the table take him off, if he tries to bite use a stick to move him off. Another option is to move the playstand to somewhere he can't bite the table. Always think about alternatives and moving things out of their reach is always a good option until they learn. Do not run after him when he flies off, just ignore him, this is a huge game for greys, our male was master at it until he learnt we would not play it with him. If he flies at you to bite, put your hand up for him to land on and immediately put him on a perch say don't bite and walk off/turn your back on him. Rangi also tried this one on and sometimes still does. He flies to me and lands, nips me and flies off. Now I am aware of the times he might try this so I make sure he lands on my hand and I put him back on the perch and explain to him he can only come and sit on me if he doesn't bite. This will take time and patience but if you are consistent it will work. You could even try some training which really worked for us. Just random training sessions with favourite treats. The training can be anything, step up, fetch a ball etc.

Mashed sweet potato, our 2 go bonkers for it. I just say the word and their heads shoot up and they get so excited. I also bake it with pasnip and carrot in the oven, works a treat.

I am biased here and think that you should leave him flighted. They are very capable of flying even with low ceilings. Our 2 sometimes fly so close to the ground all the way from the living room to the kitchen swerving around the furniture. It's like a joke to them to see how close they can get and close to me as they fly past. Also if he learns to fly he will cope better with the accidents you talk about which means less worry for you. Rangi always hangs upside down and then just lets go falls through the air heading for the floor, somehow rights himself just before he touches the floor and flies off. They have much better body control and confidence when they are flighted. Before long Dorian will be clearing those corners and heading up the stairs for the front door All birds have accidents learning to fly, but they soon learn. It's a pity our hearts have to get a work out in the process while we freak out.

Sounds as though you are on the right track. Also if she doesn't want to take treats from your hand and you are trainig her there is no harm in placing the treat in a bowl as soon as she does something good. You are still training her this way. She will soon learn good things come from you and over time will take it from your hand. You say she steps up and this is a key time to quickly try and give her a treat from your hand. As soon as she is up on your hand give her the treat and really praise her, make her feel like she is the best bird in the world.

Kea did that once as well and like you say the tail feather was at an angel. We just left her to it and she took care of it herself. To be honest it didn't really seem to bother her so I assumed it wasn't sore and when she had her preening session later that night she fixed the feather.

Why don't you just train her from the cage. I train our 2 from where ever they feel most comfortable. Sometimes it's in the kitchen, sometimes on the cage, on the couch you name it if they are happy and interested then I train them from there. If their attention is lacking I stop training as they are not interested and we will not get anywhere apart from me getting frustrated. You need to find times when they really want those treats. Mine is as soon as I get home from work they are hungry for the treats. Also in the morning after they have eaten breakfast they want to train which I find weird because they are full but there is always room for sunflower seeds. Sometimes the training only lasts for a couple of minutes, other times 5 min to 20min depending what mood they are in.

Our 2 are also flighted. There is no pooping all over the house they have perches in every room that they go to and poop. They do like the curtains and you can train them not to go up there with a lot of time and patience. We also have those spiral perches that you hang from the roof and they love to sit on those. I just place paper underneath them to catch the poop. I like it that they are not dependent on me to get anywhere and basically have free run of the house. I certainly don't watch them every minute, sometimes they will be in the kitchen while I am in the living room. They have areas where they know they can be. I always know when they are up to mischief no matter where they are. They have amazing body control because they are flighted and avoid a lot of accidents, so I am less worried about them hurting themselves. Last and most important is the enjoyment they get out of flying....nothing can beat that

Here is the video, not great quality though.

Sorry the video of him playing ball didn't upload, I will try and reformat it later.

We play ball , where we throw it to him and he throws it back. This is a very popular game. I have added a video hope it works. Rangi also hangs upside down on his spiral and likes me to tiggle him. We also play can you catch me. He runs along the windowsill and I run after him saying I am going to get you and when i catch him I tiggle him. He then races in the other direction all the time sayign "I am going to get you". The egg cartons are a real hit. Kea rolls on her side actually into the open egg carton and I start to close it and she loves to bite the egg carton. They get hours of fun out of the egg carton. We also play peek a boo, probably like everyone does. I stand in the hallway and pop my head around and say peek a boo and they get so excited the come flying up the hallway to catch me.

Sarah your bird is still young and you will go through a lot of stages of him trying new things to see if they work. Screaming is just one of them that some birds use. Our female who is just over one now tried the screaming as well. Judy is totally right ignore, ignore, ignore and then as soon as you hear him make a nice noise immediately praise him and give him attention. It will take a few months which it did for us, but finally she stopped screaming and found other more pleasant ways to get what she wants.

Linda I hear you with the screaming. Kea used to scream alot when we first got her. It got so bad that I would stand there listening to it and my body would be all tense and I was like a pressure cooker that finally exploded and I am not proud of this but I would be so frustrated and would say kea can't you just shut up and I would walk out of the room in tears. I hate to say it but I really didn't like her. My boyfriend and I talked about it and came up with a way to try and solve it. Part of it was the techniques you used like the ignoring and replacing it with other noises that were pleasant, but the other part was my reaction to her. I decided to just try and relax my body when she screamed and smile at her and pretend like it didn't bother me and take myself to a nice place and try and hold those thoughts. When she made a nice noise I then turned all my attention to her and directed all the nice feelings I had inside at her. The screaming finally stopped after using these methods for a few months. Now we are great friends and I call her Queen B and it is amazing the way she reacts to me now, just because I have changed my attitude to her. I feel so guilty that she must have known that I didn't like her. Now when I think about her I get warm fuzzies inside. We also train together now and I swear it is the best time we have together. We had fun learning fetch and now with the harness I have it over her head no problem and she is such a good girl. After training both of them are on the perch and I stand there for about 5 min and direct all the love and warmth that I have inside at them without saying anything. We just stand there and stare at each other.

Oh that is amazing, imagine the feeling and joy Tyco felt flying down the hallway. What an achievement. Your praise will definitely make Tyco feel even prouder of the accomplishment.

Phew, glad you didn't think I was nuts. I haven't even told my boyfriend that I do it, although sometimes I catch him talking to them and telling them exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it and that it's no problem everything is ok. I don't have kids, but could imagine you would do it with them as well. My logic was how would I feel if someone came over told me to do something or took me somewhere without telling me what is going on, of course I would resist, be scared and confused. I also do it when they have an accident, so if Rangi or kea have a crash landing and end up on the floor I walk over all smiles and laugh a little bit and ask them what they are doing and are you ok, keeping it very light hearted and inside feeling happy and at ease. Rangi will step up shake himself off and go say "ugh" and I laugh and say to him exactly and then he chatters away forgetting all about his accident.

I haven't read the book, but I do sort of use other ways to communicate with our birds. I know this is going to sound crazy but sometimes I look them in the eye and then just let myself feel inside so happy and pleased/proud of them (without saying anything to them) becuase I know they can interpret how we feel. I also find the explaining to them works. Rangi used to hate to go in the cage in the mornings, so I would look him in the eye and inside feel as much love as I could directed at him and then tell him I have to go to work now but I will be back soon and that you have to go in the cage now. Now a majority of the time he seems to understand and will step up on my hand and I will walk him to the cage all the time feeling inside so proud and love and talking to him gently telling him he is a good boy and I will be home soon. I know he understand because now he says to me " I have to go to work now, coming soon, you must go in the cage now". I really try now to explain to them what is going on whenever I do something, like if I move the perch with them on it I say hold on just moving it a little bit. Now when I move it and forget to say that he goes to me "hold on" and I laugh and say sorry you are right.

PekingeseMama there is definitely nothing worng with your grey. Both of ours hated it at the start and we worked with them for about a year every weekend with the bathing and we tried so many different things, times of day, water temp, places in the house, sink, bathroom, shower, flower base on the table, flower base on the top of the travel cage, squirting them on top of the cupboards etc. When they finally decided that the flower base on the top of the travel cage was acceptable I whooped with joy and praised them, made a huge noise, gave them treats. I think they thought their christmases had all come at once.

The blocking with the other hand really works. Rangi tries it on with me sometimes. He will sit on my hand and then lean down to bite my hand. I immediately bring up my other hand and place it under his beak so he can't get to my hand. He then steps up onto my other hand and I place him on his perch and tell him no biting and then walk away from him.

Rangi likes to bathe, he chatters away while he takes a bath. I fill up a plant base and he hops in and splashs about, even sitting on his haunches and spinning around in the water (what a mess that makes). I then squirt him as well and I tell him lift your wing and he lifts it up and I squirt underneath. Kea is a little madam and will only bath when it suits her. She hops in and thinks about it for a minute and then very gently she lowers her chest into the water. If it's a good day she tries to role onto her side in the water. The thing is her wings seem to be so long that when they are wet they drag on the ground and she has trouble manouvering with them. It does look funny.

Here are photos of our grey with his very first molt at about 7 months old. It went on for months the first molt. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/44845-skin-condition.html#44845 You can see that his neck looked the worse when he molted and then his wing feathers strated to get all frayed as well. I didn't notice any difference on his chest area. He is now molting again and he is 2 years old. This molt is not as bad as the first one and I really only see it when I bath him and can see all the pin feathers. Sometimes when he preens near me I see a patch that looks bald and then I move his feathers and see that all the pin feathers are there.

What I do is get a paper bag and fill it with all sorts of stuff(fresh chilli, paper, soda caps, beads, nuts, dried fruit etc). I then close it up and attach it to the side of the cage and when I get home from work it looks like a tornado has been through the cage. We also have foraging toys so the wheel that sits on the side of the cage and you put food in it and they are mean't to spin the wheel around to get the food. Must admit of all the foraging toys we have the simple paper bag is the most popular.

What would be good is if you posted about your own experiences with your grey and what you did to overcome any issues/problems and how it was for you when you fist brought your grey home. Things that you felt helped.

LOL, assassination plot. I know how you feel our female was plotting on how to get rid of me so she could have my bf and our male grey for herself. Little did she know that I knew exactly how to deal with the little minx. It started with her favourite treats which I gave her through out the day, followed by if you want the treat you will have to pick up the ring and bring it to me. I then had her spinning on her perch for treats. Oh the vicotry was sweet, she was putty in my hands and her weakness for treats and the motivation to do anything for them was a sight to see. It didn't take her long to realise that I wasn't going anywhere and we should be friends. She did have her vicories by teaching me that if she raises her foot then I should go over and pick her up (even though she had 2 perfectly functioning wings). We are now friends and she does let me touch her, but acts like the Queen of the house. One thing I did have to compromise on was letting her sit with my boyfriend every night for cuddles. I sometimes regret this compromise when I look over and she looks me in the eye with a smug look on her face, lol. So I think Coco will be fine while your mum is away as long as you have a plan on how you are going to turn the assassination plot into a plan on how to become friends. Plan well my friend these greys are very smart and cunning. Good luck