Acappella

What a beautiful girl. Thanks for sharing.

My sweetie. I'm getting used to typing without a w key but it does slow me down. Please don't eat any more of mommies computer keyboard keys. I'm sorry about last weekend. I was working for Elections Canada manning the advance polls. I'm also going to be away all day tomorrow, election day, from 7:30 in the morning to about 11:00 at night, so you'll be late going to bed. We'll have a good day on Tuesday 'cause I'll be spending it on the couch. Also, I'm going to ask if I can have the voting screens from all 6 polls at my location. They're made of the perfect cardboard for parrot toys! I can spend the rest of the week recovering from my long day and making toys for my baby.

Just be careful. Even with a butchered clip he could still get some height if something startles/frightens him enough.

Glad you and Sophie both had a good vacation experience. Welcome home!

I have an older indoor cat. They are always supervised when Dorian is out. Jac (cat) is mostly irritated by Dorian. Every once in a while he looks at me as if to say 'is He still here?!" Jac is too lazy in his middle age to actually go after Dorian, but on the few occasions when Dorian has had a started flight he has shown interest. That predator instinct is a hard one to ignore. With a hyper kitten I'd be very cautious.

Happy belated birthday!

Welcome to the forum. Do you have any ideas on names yet?

Wow, talking and already out of her cage! Hopefully this will be a smooth transition for you both, although don't be surprised if there is a bit of a honeymoon period then a little bit of regression, that would be perfectly normal. Welcome to you and Lilly, she's a very pretty girl.

I'm so sorry you and Echo had this experience. I hope every day brings you a little closer to 'normal'.

Maybe you need to start asking people at work to save bottle caps for you lol. Glad you found something he loves so much!

The biggest thing to do to guard against boredom is to supply stimulating toys. Look in the toy forum room. There are lots of ideas there from other members for toys you can make that are less expensive than the store bought ones. Welcome to you and Lilly to the forum!

It's called the grey diet. You'll find that nothing will look as good to your grey as whatever is on your plate, so you end up eating a better diet by default. lol Welcome to the site and to grey ownership!

I have (had) a nice wireless ergonomic keyboard that I'm quite fond of. It's amazing how fast he can pop those keys off now that he's got the hang of it.

Like Dave said, just let it be. It'll fall out or the bird will deal with it eventually. Just try not to see it for now. It's bugging you more than it is your bird! <3

As far as power cords go he didn't seem to get zapped at all. Maybe they're like rabbits. Their mouths are dry so they don't get a shock when they bite through them. He went straight for the cord on the new monitor. I'm going to have to find something that fits in the space between the computer and the monitor that hecan't move or chew through to block his path. I don't see banning him from there as a permanent solution because 80% of the time there he's good as gold, one foot tucked up beak grinding away. I actually like having him there when he's not being a snot!

I may have to finally ban Dorian from his favourite perch, my computer. He chewed through the power cable to my monitor, and chewed off and broke the w key on my keyboard. I have to use a pen to push down the w now. You don't realize how often you use a key until you can't! I'm only typing this because I happened to have an extra monitor lying around, but it's got the power cable in exactly the same spot so I can't let his nibs near it. I know parrots are expensive, but this is getting ridiculous! I'm surprised he doesn't yet say "Don't you do it". Anyone else got a technology obsessed birdy?

Novalee may just not be a petting type of bird. You might have the answer to this in another thread, but how long have you had her?

Dorian isn't much of a toy birdy either. I just got a store credit for returning some of the more elaborate toys I've purchased for him that he couldn't be bothered with. He wasn't afraid of them, just not interested. He loves his adding machine tape and anything made out of cardboard, but other than that he's a bit of a perch potato. I've worried about it in the past but he seems perfectly happy sitting and chatting away. When he's on my desk the only toys he's interested in are my computer keyboard and my mouse and phone. That's why I'm now using a pen to type my w's - he destroyed that key.

Dorian once took off in a startle flight and lost 5 flight feathers on one wing. They, to, were all destined to come out - no blood - but it left him unbalanced and I decided, even though he isn't a flyer, to trim the other wing to more or less match. Those trimmed feathers soon fell out. I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes a slight trauma can precipitate feather loss. I don't think it's anything to worry about. Maybe he had a nightmare and that caused the flapping about.

Glad you and Noodles are getting along so well. Isn't it great when they mimic you. Shows that they are paying attention and watching and listening to what you are doing.

Dorian also prefers his bath water to be cold rather than warm. Every time this summer I took him out and put ice water in his water bowl he went to town splashing around. It's much harder to get him to bathe in the winter. He just seems to feel that cold al fresco bathes are the best!

Dorian also did not step up when I got him. You may not want to take the route I did with him, but I'll tell you about it anyway. It took months. He was cage bound when I got him. It took months before he even stuck his head outside of the cage. I just let him explore at his own speed. I'd offer my hand and ask if he wanted to 'come with mom'. (The phrase 'step up' made him tremble.) He'd decline and I'd say "OK" and walk away. Eventually he started going to a perch I had mounted on the outside of his cage. When he went to that perch it was his signal to me that he was ready to step up for me. This took well over a year to get to. After he was used to stepping up from that perch he started to be willing to step up from inside his cage. Now he 'comes with mom' virtually every time I ask him, but it's still his choice (unless it's time to go to the groomer or it's bedtime, then I persist). I would let it be Alex's choice whether he comes with you or not. Offer him the choice but walk away if he declines. You'll end up with a more confident bird if he feels like it's his choice. His freaking out is a strong message to you that he doesn't want to do what you're asking. I know you just want him on your hand to show him the world outside his cage and I know the frustration you're feeling because he's not cooperating, but I still believe in going at the birds pace. Hope that helps.

So sorry about your sons accident. Hope his road to recovery is a smooth one. Glad you're ok and back among us crazy grey people.

Well it's Thursday. I hope dirt guy is there working away!

Congrats on figuring out what was triggering Mayday's plucking, that's huge! I also have a high-strung grey who is afraid of his own shadow at times, although he's improved leaps and bounds over how he used to be a few years ago. It does get better. Like you discovered, our own emotions and reactions play a huge part in their reactions. You can help him become a more confidant fellow just by reacting in a more confidant, it's no big deal, way yourself. They look to us for cues more than you'd ever think, it's part of their flock mentality. WTG Mayday, you're doing great!