Tycos_mom

I've had Tyco for about 8 months or so she is a rescue and nas severe trust issues as I'm her fourth home and she just turned 5 in February. That said most of her previous homes she was locked in a cage that was much to small 24/7 with no toys and on a basic seed diet. She is terrified of hands. I have a great deal of patiants when it comes to working with rescues as I have done this 3 times before Tyco. I can pretty much do anything with the other three that I want they trust me completely I can touch them anywhere and Ilove them all unconditionaly. Tyco and I have made huge progress latley she loves to give me kisses all the time she leans in so I can kiss the top of her beak. She steps up onto my arm when ever I ask her too and I can take her to a mutual training area when ever I want. We do our Training In the spare bedroom. I sit her down beside me and then I ask her to step up onto my lap and she does with no problem and then we play games with blocks to learn different colours or I teach her to count with number shapes also at the same time she learn what the number looks like. all this is wonderful she calls me mom mom when ever I leave the room she loves to be with me constantly. But the thing we can't seem to get past is her fear of hands. like I said she steps up onto my arm not my hand she will let me rub her beak with my finger but that the only thing she allows. Except when she's on the floor due to a fall or flying down off her cage to get somthing that dropped. When she is on the floor she will step up on to my hand that is the only time How do I get her to get over her fear of hands without loseing her trust again or getting bitten. She has never bitten me yet but I don't push my hands on her either someone tell me what I can do Ive tried putting her on the floor and doing stepups off the floor onto my hands for weeks on end it doesnt seem to work. some how she doesn't put it together when she is not on the floor help me what can I try next.

Good advice Dave couln't have said it better my self

Mabie he's going to be a song writer when he grows up LOL don't you just love them so much. Tyco always comes up with new thing that get me ROFLMAO.

Nychsa sounds like your having a wonderful time teaching your baby lots of new thing It really is amazing how incredebly smart they are. Tyco is 5 yrs old and when I got her she didn't know much because nobody spent anytime with her at all. I've had her since the begining of Oct 2007 and since then she like a little spounge learning everything she can. she asks for the things she wants she says hundreds of different words and phrasis. she calls me mom constantly when I leave the room she know 4 different colors and can count to 3 sometime 5 if she want too. all this in about 8 months trully amazing is all I have to say every day its something new. and more wonderful I can;t wait to see what another year or two will be like for her and I.

Poor baby I glad you got her in the water quikly she just felt your stress and became stressed herself she will forgive you. Last summer my amazon flew into a fly paper strip now that was a serios ordeal first I had to oil her down with olive oil to disolve the fly paper glue and then I had to bath her in dawn dish soap to get all the oil off her it took hours and I was so lucky that she loves me or I'm sure I would of had to go to emergency for stiches she's one big bird at 450 grams and shes not fat. I wouldn't worry If she loved you before she will love you again just be extra nice to her and give her a few extra treats and mabie spoon feed her her favorite foods she will be back to normal before you know it.

When I got Tyco I got her because she needed rescuing just like my other birds Tyco only Knew 3or4 words when I got her and she made the most annoying mimmicing sounds like the garbage truck backing up and car horns honking because those are the sounds she heard locked in a dingy dark room with a heavy blanket over her. Now she has a huge vocabulary and its gettin bigger by the day but I got her because she need somebody to love her unconditionally for the rest of her or my life which ever comes first and when I die My daughter will take over giving her the love she needs. Four of my birds are rescues and even though I had to pay for all of them I did so without a second thought because of the situation they where in and I knew I could give them the time, patiants and love that it would take to rehabilitate them. Talking ability had nothing todo with it Luna one of my birds has never spoken a word and I got her when she was 2 and she is now 9yrs old. She is the most sweetest loving bird. and she makes her needs known without saying a word.

I buy lots of baby toys at the dollar store like plastic keys teething rings as long as there just plastic they have rings that you can put together and make a chain I bought one toy that all my birds loved it was a plastic duck that rattled and had lots of different coloured plastic rings around it. I ended up going back to the dollar store and buying all of them because they loved them so much here are some pics of a couple thing that are okay for your birds the rings hook together and then you can hang thing on each ring like rattles rope balls plastic keys what ever you want just use your imagination I think the rings come in packages of 12 for a dollar My birds just love baby Key rings also. I also make wood toys out of untreated wood and I don't totaly colour them I put polkca dots or hearts, Stars and things like that I paint them on the blocks with food colouring just so they don't get huge amounts of food coloring going through their systems and I think they look nicer with a few designs rather then solid colours I also do rainbows on the wood toys alot. Post edited by: Tycos_mom, at: 2008/05/31 23:55<br><br>Post edited by: Tycos_mom, at: 2008/06/01 00:08

This is a must read for grey owners it makes perfect sense that this is why Grey become phobic and pluck I think that we must learn from this so that we have less Congo's that become phobic. It can be done we just have to allow the birds to grow and mature as they would in the wild and if that is not until they reach close to a year old then they should stay with the breader til then or at least acouple extra months after they are fully weaned just to make sure they are old enough and mature enough to be put into a flock situation or new grey owners if gettin them after they are weaned should keep that baby by itself and very gradually introduce it to the rest of the flock so they then become the sole parent until its old enough to become and be able to decide for its self if something is okay or not okay in other words we must learn not to rush our Grey into becoming full flock members as soon as we bring them home we must be patiant and go very slow with them. and not be intrdusing them to to many things to fast. That way they will be able to build confidence slowly and more naturally

Doesn't sound like too girly to thme it could be either or I think I wouldn't change it but thats up to you Tyco was called a boy until I got her last October and she is now 5yrs old so she was a he for 4 1/2 years I didn't change her name. But they used to call her Ty for short I don't I call her Tyco I think it sounds a little more like a girls name than Ty

I would call your vet at least and see what she thinks it can't hurt and then if she thinks you should bring her in then do that. WE all get over anxious about our babies so don;t feel bad I'm also sure your vet will be able to tell you if you have anything to worry about When I think somethings wrong with my babies real or my imagination I can't get to the phone fast enough and my vet always puts my mind at ease.

hi get yourself an account at photobucket.com and cut and paste pictures from there works every time I can't see your pics just a red x I hate that redx

I would sort of agree if the first breeder is willing to wean your baby hand feeding is not a good idea for a novice it takes time to learn and do you really want to learn on your baby and take the chance that something bad might happen. if it just a matter of paying the breeder a bit more to wean the baby for you then pay the extra and go with her.

yes yes yes Pictures please I love baby Greys with those beautiful dark eyes that make you fall in love with them the minate you see them. Pat

I almost bought a cage identical to that some freinds of mine had to rehome their grey and they were and still are I beleive selling that cage for 400. anyway I want to tell you a story about what happens when birds aren't caged at night. I had a beautiful bird when I was 20 years old and I thought I'm never going to keep this bird in a cage he had a cage but just to hold his food. one night we had company over staying with us for a few days he was out and came home late we were all sleeping he came in and not knowing the house tripped over something and spooked the bird the bird flew in the dark and hit the wall. the bird died. I cryed so hard and for so long that bird was everything to me. The bird must be put in a cage to sleep and when your not home. I cannot stress this enough You just never know whats going to happen and if the bird gets startaled and something bad happens you will never be able to forgive yourself and it will be your fault because you neglected to put your bird in the safety of a cage sorry if this sounds harsh its meant too. So that you understand how inportant it is for your Grey to be in a cage for its safety and your peace of mind.

That is Trully a sad picture to see all the beautiful Grey's in a cage for the rest of their live with none other little human interaction no cuddle no kisses no freedom breaks my heart what the heck is the matter with there previos owners couldn't they have at least taken the time to find their birds a decent home how long does it take to put an add in the paper and screan a few potencal homes for your bird a week mabie a month makes me absolutly sick to my stomach. My daughters have agreed to take my birds when I go than goodness. Mind you my birds won't be in the same place but at least they both will have wonderful loving homes.

How about an african name. These are the only unisex names I could find with meanings Amayomi-means brings Joy Abdalla-means Gods servant Abiona- born on a trip Adeyemi- means Royalty I don't know if you like that Idea but thought I'd suggest it

Thats very true I got Tyco's cage from a bird rescue Its huge 40 inches wide 36 inches deep 64 in high and It has a Playtop its a very high quality cage well made worth around 1200 to 1500 dollars I paid 100. dollars for it andit like brand new not a chew mark or a scratch on it.they were selling it because it doesn't disassemble and they are in the prosess of looking for a new facility and the cage was just to big to move from foster home to foster home. and the best part about it is the money goes to other birds that need help finding new homes or rescueing. so I would definatly phone around to the rescues to see if they have any cages for sale. This is the cage I got for Tyco

I took Fergie My YCA to the vet yesterday because for the last few days she has had the runs really bad.Apperantly she has a minor bacterial infection in her intestine the vet put her on antibiotics for 14 days and gave her a shot to start her off. she doesn;t look sick at all she still the same old fiesty bird she always was just got the runs and a dirty vent because of it Ive been washing that area allot because it really bothers her when its dirty and mucky my poor sweety hopfully the antibiotics will work quickly so she won't have to deal with this for to long.

I voted not clipped but I do give my birds a very minor clip when the start to molt around the end of may so by summers end they are fully flighted again I only clip them for the summer so I can take them out with me The are not traines to a harness I tie a shoe lace around Fergies foot just in case but she usually won't fly anywhere no mater what I've had her for a long time and she has been to the fireworks and heard sirens and what ever she has never left my shoulder

OMG Dave you can make me laugh sometimes didn't know you where an African Grey

Tyco was hatched Feb.28 2003 and I got her on Oct9 2007

Omg another whole week of waiting I can't wait to see the pictures of the babie I just love those babie dark eyes makes my heart melt. I would love a baby grey to raise on my own mabie one day it will happen but for now the birds I have are all I need to make me happy I looooovvvve them sooooooo muuccchhh.LOL:lol: :laugh:

If the owners of African Grey congos would like to sex there greys that have molted at least once here is somthing that you can do without having your bird dna tested this is how I found out that my Tyco was a girl instead of a boy. http://exoticpetvet.net/avian/appgreys.html you may have to type this on to your browser or cut and paste might work

there is a way to tell if its male or female but you will have to wait until it has its firs molt or it doesn't work the site I pasted on here will show you how http://exoticpetvet.net/avian/appgreys.html you may have to type this onto your browser but it should work Post edited by: Tycos_mom, at: 2008/05/29 22:37<br><br>Post edited by: Tycos_mom, at: 2008/05/29 22:43

Yep you sccared to bejesus out of most of us but it looks like you had a great time I hope Cosmos wasn't to mad at you for leaving I know when I go for a couple days it always takes a couple hours for Tyco to talk to me again she always forgives me but she sure can get mad she turns her back and won't even look at me for a while then she will eventually say mom mom and I know everything is good again