Kaedyn

Ha! Ha! Actually, I was using one of those tiny laptops and just viewing this thread when all of a sudden my fingers hit some key on the left side (LEFT SIDE!) of the keyboard and the next thing I see is, thank you for your post! I figured the only way I could recover was to quickly write something to fill in the missing space by editing the post. I guess I wasn't fast enough? B)

Both of my greys were clipped by the breeder prior to my picking them up. I didn't think that much of it. I remembered my parents clipping their Timneh back in the day and it just seemed like the thing to do. In hindsight, I'll never clip any of my fids again. Despite her mild clip Sierra has always been capable of flying from place to place. Rigel, on the other hand, had very limited flight ability due to his more severe clip. All this did was cause him to crash to the floor and lose even more flight feathers. He eventually wound up with none and as it got worse the difference in his personality and confidence was plain to see. The really bad part I found was that when I bird is trying to grow new feathers, it really helps to have other feather surrounding the new blood feather to protect it against damage. In Rigel's case, he had none, so just as soon as he'd span a new feather he'd break it. This went on for about one year and I eventually got fed up with the lack of progress. I decided that I was going to do whatever I could to help him break the cycle. He got a new cage, with a completely new layout. I made sure there was nothing within the cage that his wings might hit on the way down if he were to fall. I shortened every one of his perches to about 1.5 feet off the ground. I never let him play on his net unattended and I placed a soft mat below the net. We played with toys either on the floor or on a soft bed. I made sure to watch for signs that he wanted to go somewhere and helped him get down from his net, perch, or cage before he attempted to fly, etc....., etc. It's been quite an uphill battle. He injured many of his blood feathers, but I refused to pull any of them. I stopped the bleeding, showered him clean, and babysat him until I was sure it wasn't going to bleed again. As of this very moment, Rigel has one nearly full wing of feathers on his right side. His left wing was doing just as well, but he managed to lose two of his primary flights earlier this month. He doesn't really fly yet, but he is able to fly down from his perch or between perches when necessary. My obvious goal is to have him fully feathered and that just means I can't let my guard down just yet. I can definitely say that ever since his flight feathers started filling in and he realized that falling didn't necessarily mean crash landing, his personality has greatly improved. He's much more accepting of other people, he bites less, and he's become more confident. So my personal option is that I will never again clip any of their wings. I don't think the dangers it protects them against outweigh the dangers and other negatives it creates. I'd rather find other creative ways to protect them than to take away their bird-ness. <--- New word?<br><br>Post edited by: Kaedyn, at: 2009/05/01 03:25

I have two greys. One of them I trust entirely and she sits on my shoulder all the time. Just like a puppy I can press my face right up to her. She's about 13 months old now and she's never bitten anyone. She actually goes out of her way to be very gentile, even when I play rough with her and roll her upside down. It's as if she just "gets it". You can see the empathy in her eyes. My other grey is not shoulder approved. He thinks ears are the greatest toy ever invented and if he is annoyed with something you've done, he'll be happy to send a message. I play just as rough with him and he tries to be gentle, but eventually gets carried away and you have to remind him to "be nice". He's not a habitual biter and my fingers spend a great deal of time in his beak, but I do receive the occasional hard bite. It's rare that he draws blood, but I also know how to read his body language and how to sacrifice a more durable finger for the greater good of the rest of the hand. It's an acquired skill. So my point is that it's really going to depend on the personality of your grey. If you find early on that they aren't absolutely trustworthy, then I'd break them of the shoulder habit before it forms. As far as a bite is concerned, I have to agree with Erolls_Mom. I'd much rather a bite from a grey than many of the smaller birds. As for the larger birds I'd take a bite from any grey long before I'd take one from a Cockatoo. Unlike some parrots, I've found that greys just bite and release. The last time I played with a Cockatoo, it was bite, squeeze harder, then harder, then harder.

Sierra and Rigel tend to go silent when someone they've never seen shows up. After a little time goes by and the threat level is reduced Rigel goes through every sound and word he knows. Prior to that, he'll just whisper to me where nobody can hear. "Come here", "Step Up".

I don't really think well socialized greys see the human members of their flock any differently than they do their winged members. The rules of socialization appear to me to be fairly universal. As long as they receive plenty of positive individual attention from each member of the flock, chances are that everyone will get along just fine. I have two. They have separate cages in the same room and share common play areas. They are both bonded to me and prefer me to each other, but they get along with each other and the rest of the flock just fine.

Just in case anyone ever wondered about this, a parrot's tongue can successfully and accurately navigate the touch screen of an iPod or iPhone. Sierra spent a good 5 minutes today clicking and moving widgets around the screen. Unfortunately, her search for "Arfru" on the Internet Movie Database turned up no results. Of course for $300, you'd think it could hold her interest for more than 5 minutes. She's now busy trying to get the lovebird on the front cover of the latest Bird Talk magazine to play with her. FYI. The author of this post is not responsible for beak marks on your iPhone or iPod!

It's very important that they get UVB light in order to synthesize vitamin D3 for proper calcium metabolism. UVA may also benefit their phycological health. If your bird is kept indoors, even behind a window or a window screen, then chances are he's not getting any UVB. There really is no perfect substitute for natural sunlight, but in just another month or so, I'll be able to tell you my personal opinion of artificial UVB. My oldest grey, Rigel's last blood test showed he had hypocalcemia (low calcium). I invested in Featherbrite lamps for all of my greys and Rigel is due for his 6 month reexamination some time in May. Just make sure that your grey sits fairly close to the lamp, but not too close. The falloff from the artificial lamps is significant. I placed mine just over the location that they prefer to take daytime naps. The top of their head is no more than 10-12 inches below the lamp. I also invested in an inexpensive programmable timer from Home Depot, so that I don't have to worry about turning them on and off. Your UVB should be somewhere between 290 and 310 NM, around 5000 Kelvin, and have a color rendering index (CRI) close to 90. The only question I have with your setup is that those UVA/UVB percentages sound a bit higher than what I'm used to with avians. Are you sure they weren't meant for reptiles?

Sorry Judy! That's what I get for not catching up with the board before posting. One of my coworkers sent me that video, since he knew I had birds. I did my best to post it in between meetings, but didn't have time to catch up with what I'd missed.

Check out the link below for some entertainment. As one of the posters said, "That parrot has some sweet moves!" http://www.cuteoverload.com/2009/02/shake-a-tailfea.html

I realize your question has to do with the bird's age and not if you should adopt a wild-caught grey. I also agree that the bird you are looking at is very likely not wild caught. But, I figured I'd chime in on the subject of living with a grey that wasn't raised in captivity. My parents had several birds in the house, back in the mid 80s. One of them was a wild-caught TAG. I in no way endorse the practice, but back in those days, my parents didn't know any better. That information, along with basic care, such as diet, psychological issues, etc., were a bit scarce at the time. Unless you lived near a really good avian vet, research hospital, or a very knowledgeable breeder, all you had left was your public library. Much of that has changed over the years. I think we and our fids owe a great deal to the big information dissemination tool we call the Internet. Of course, you do have to watch where you get your information from! That's why all grey owners should be right here at Grey Forums, right? Anyway, the point I want to make is that despite his being a wild-caught bird. he eventually integrated into our flock without issue. He did growl and scream a lot in the beginning, but that passed with time. My mom always tells the story of the time (once) he bit my dad and drew blood. If only they understood just how lucky they were!

That's the elusive video I've been trying to capture for some time now. If you notice, even the picture I posted is a little fuzzy. It was taken in the dark (with flash) and the camera had a bit of trouble focussing. Had she realized there was a camera nearby, she'd be more interested in chewing it than sleeping.

I've always cooked my grey's sweet potatoes. What's everyone's opinion on serving them raw? I found a pack of sweet potato sticks at the local grocery store which would be mighty convenient. The look like the carrot sticks they already eat.

That too! I can see our karma dropping really fast if we don't stop right now with this train of comments.

Hmm. This is a hard one. Can we have some clues? How's your bird's driving? Does it talk on the phone a lot? While driving? Ok. Ok. Just kidding!

I have to agree with Judy. This month they had a great photo of a black palm cockatoo. That's one beautiful, yet scary looking parrot. Amazon is a good place to go if you are looking for an inexpensive subscription. Last month they were running a special where they reduced the final cost by a few extra dollars at checkout

Yup. She's really lying down, with her feet pulled up against her body and her belly supporting her weight. That's pretty much how she goes to sleep every night when we watch TV. She's been doing that since she was around 4 months old and still today at 10 months. I wonder if she'll ever outgrow it. She sits on her perch or my shoulder and the moment I place her towell either on my lap or across the automan, she goes running to it. She places herself in the very center and then instructs me to cover her. If I don't, she sometimes shows me how by covering herself.

There is nothing wrong with that as a temporary diet. Just make sure he isn't ignoring the Zupreem in favor of the Cheerios. I'm assuming you've only had him for a few days and if that's the case, it'll take time for him to settle in and get back to a healthy appetite. As things progress, you'll want to make sure he gets a nice supplement of leafy green and meaty orange foods, such as broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, turnip greens, etc. My preference for a daily pelleted diet is Harrison's Bird Foods. A lot of research and quality control goes into their formula. For greys they recommend the high potency course. Another popular brand is Roudybush. Harrison's tends to only be sold trough veterinarians. I'm not sure about the rest. Apple cinnamon Cheerios are quite popular around my house. That particular flavor was recommended by my vet.

Here is a picture of Sierra after a long day of being a bird. <br><br>Post edited by: Kaedyn, at: 2009/02/05 00:59

I bathe a lot of birds and I don't think I've ever seen or heard of such a thing. Is there any chance you can post a photo of what you're describing? How long have you been noticing this? I know they can twist their necks quite a bit and not every crop may be created equal, but it does sound out of place based on your description.<br><br>Post edited by: Kaedyn, at: 2009/01/28 02:30

I have a male (Rigel) who is around 18 months and a female (Sierra) who is about 10 months old. I brought Sierra home when she was around 16 weeks and Rigel was just shy of 11 months. They aren't really best friends, but they do tolerate each other. At night they like to snuggle with me while watching TV. There are times when their heads are almost touching, but they just ignore each other. There are other times when they do a bit of beak-jousting. It never really amounts to much and they quickly ignore each other again. They have a large rope net that they play on together with minimal supervision. It took some time to introduce the two of them. You can read about that at the following link. It was a reply to someone asking a similar question as yourself. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/99735-should-i-get-a-second.html#99773 One thing I can add to the information in my previous post is that while Sierra has had the same personality since day-one, I can definitely say that Rigel's personality changed the day she came home. Prior to that day, he had never bitten anyone, but those days are long in the past. I think it's part of his personality that would have eventually emerged anyway.

If you happen to live near a Logo store, they have a bunch of bins with various blocks that you can pick from. You fill up a plastic cup, much like you would a soft drink at a convenience store. I think the large cup is around $14. I snap them together on a big green Lego platform to form various shaped buildings and "art". Rigel likes to pull them apart and Sierra like to destroy the blocks. Luckily she takes her time with each block, because they are pretty much unusable once she's finished with them.

In case you are dealing with a blood feather, here is a video which might help. As I said, if it's not a blood feather, just leave it be. Pulling it would be VERY painful for your grey and could damage the folicle. http://www.monkeysee.com/play/2035-bird-care-how-to-pull-a-blood-feather

If it's bleeding, you'll likely need to pull it, especially if it hasn't stopped on it's own. If it's just a mature feather which has broken, I'd leave it be. Your grey will eventually take care of it. I don't have a great 'pulling a blood feather' tutorial on hand, but managed to find this with a quick search on Google. Maybe someone here will know of one with better illustrations. http://www.wikihow.com/Pull-a-Blood-Feather

It's a good example, but don't put too much faith in it. The only true way to tell is either DNA or egg laying. I recommend having your vet do it, but if you know what you're doing and prefer to do it yourself, have a look at Avian Biotech (http://www.avianbiotech.com/).

Actually, Kaedyn is an alias that I used years ago in an early online game. I suppose it can be a bit confusing in this context. My fids are Sierra, Rigel, Behati, and Harley. I kept putting off buying a subscription to the magazine, since I typically pick up a copy at random when I spot it in the store. If I'd known how much more I was paying vs the subscription, I wouldn't have procrastinated so long. So, I figured I'd pass this on to everyone else who may be in the same boat. I know they have a lot of readers here.