birdhouse

Don't worry, this won't be your last misstep. There's plenty more where that came from And just when you think you've got the rules down, he'll change them You guys are doing really well. The fact that he even let you give him scritches at this point is very positive.

If you do feel it's ok to let him sleep in the new cage, you might leave a light on for him & some towels at the bottom. Just in case. If you decide to wait until another day, I'd really suggest you make the decision to close the door by supper time. Birds can be less accepting of anything new after they've started to settle for the night. And he's going to need extra time to find a good perch. Please trust me when I tell you (from experience) you do not want to hear him crash in the middle of the night.

AG's are notorious for being afraid of new things, even when they've grown up with all the advantages. They're just so intelligent & emotional. Not at all like quakers & conures who I think are pretty much party animals lol! Especially quakers ;0 No insult intended to anyone's intellect, just very different outlooks on life. And yes, it is a lot like you "moved a blind person into a new home that they don't know the layout of". It might be easier on him if you let him get used to it before you make him live in it. Let him explore a few times & put good stuff inside for him to find. Once he's gotten comfortable enough to stay awhile & play or eat, then close the door. Doesn't matter if this takes days. Like you said, he's very comfortable in his old cage & he was acting comfortable in his new home, too. btw, read all your posts leading up to this. Very greyt story. Big kudos for taking him in!!

Hi & Congratulations! I haven't had a baby grey, so I'm just going to suggest that you read thru some of the forum posts about socializing new babies. The other members who have had new babies should really post some feedback soon. Think everyone's a little distracted by the summer weather, so we've been a little slower to respond lately. However, your new baby should actually be in strict quarantine for the time being. His cage should be in a different part of the house. The contents of his cage should be kept & cleaned completely separately from your Zon's. If you hand wash cups, use a separate sponge, paper towel or whatever. Keep a big long sleeved shirt in the room with the baby. Put in on over your clothes when you enter. Take it off & leave it for next time, before you leave. Then wash your hands before you do anything else. Quarantine is admittedly a bit of a pain. But because birds can carry highly infectious diseases without showing any symptoms, it really is important. By the time the test results come back from the vet, you should probably have a bunch of threads under your belt & a bunch of suggestions from everyone. Hope you really enjoy tomorrow. I hear it's going to be a GREYT day

Love that 5th pic on the jungle gym. Looks like they're having a greyt conversation That last one is really beautiful, too!

I've done a few searches that just don't look right. No matter what I use for parameters, I'm not getting a full list of results. Examples Search in "All Types" Search for quarantine / Search Entire Posts Find posts A year Ago and Newer Results in 2 posts dated 7/11/11 & 7/14/11 Click on birdhouse Search for all started threads Returns one dated 6/29/11 Does this have anything to do with the work that's been done on the site recently?

Good Luck! It sounds like it could be credible. Murphy's in the wild. It would make sense for him to vocalize in parrot. Now that he's had time to get acclimated, he may do more of it which would be great. Much easier to hear a parrot than spot one in the trees. Hopefully, the weekend will have more people outdoors, too. Better chance someone will spot him.

Can you imagine what it must be like to just stretch out & soar thru the air?

You know what they say..."It takes one to know one." My grandmother raised budgies & canaries. Every memory I have of my grandparent's house has birds singing in the background. They're some of my very happiest memories. So I've been an addict all my life.

You're a full blown addict! You know that, don't you?

I get that you're frustrated & that you'd reasonably have expected some feedback before now. But we'd all prefer to offer no advise, rather than bad advise. Nothing specific comes to mind when I read your post. I doubt that you really want to hear this but, as written, it could be almost anything. He should be expected to molt flights at this time of the year. Molting can make some birds act a little strange & temperamental. And yes, even only towards one member of the flock. And yes, he could react differently from one year to the next. If it's normal molting, he should lose another flight on his other wing any day. They all come out over the course of the year, but only a few at a time so a bird is always fully flighted or they'd be in big trouble in the wild. You said the trembling stopped & didn't mention it again in your post. If it continues & looks like there's any pain or injury, then you should have a vet check him. Pain from an injury would also explain the way he's acting. If you don't see any signs of injury, then could he have been posturing? I'm thinking in 2 years you've seen some body language. Lowered head w/wings fluttering can be any number of things. That's a begging posture that starts when chicks are looking to be fed. But can also be displayed when a reasonably submissive bird is "begging" for something to stop. As he's been acting skittish, he may have been asking you not to pick him up. Then there's the ever popular "has anything changed?". Did you move anything in the house around him? Anything new in his daily routine? Have you started using a new shave cream? Did you do anything that may not even have been connected with him that might have scared him? Etc... You posted earlier about possibly getting a new conure. Did you, because that certainly could account for a change in Joe's behavior? Also, the possibility exists that he's just decided that you're not currently on his Favorite People List. Greys go thru this rather like children do. Currently, a kid can be Daddy's girl, but last month she was all about Mom & wanted no part of Dad. Is Joe eating, sleeping, playing & vocalizing normally? If not &/or if his wing looks in any way abnormal, then I'd suggest you take him to the vet as soon as you can. Otherwise, it's all trial & error, time & patience. You have to work on his time table. Don't push him because it's likely to make things worse. As long as he's ok w/your wife, maybe let her handle him more for the moment. Try to interact w/him in as reassuring manner as possible. Let him know you understand that he's afraid & don't push. Interact w/him without handling him. Just be near, talk to him, bribe him w/treats a lot. Give him some time to come around. Then start slowly back towards your normal relationship. I'm sorry I don't have any real answers, but I hope this helps.

You two have had an exceptional relationship that changed dramatically in an instant. Something terrified him about that clipping even before he broke the feather. So, it would seem to be the focus right now, inspite of any extenuating circumstances. I think it was very important that you listened to him & stopped that night. What happened became traumatic & he doesn't feel he can trust you, now. That's kind of big given your prior bond & I think it's going to take some time & effort to re-establish your relationship. Because of his age & the new baby, your relationship may change from here on. Which is not to say that it wouldn't still be greyt. Just different. His current responses are fear based & he's driven to be more dominating so he doesn't ever feel that helpless, again. Its very important to a grey that he knows he's not helpless. He's got to regain some measure of perceived control. He needs to know that he can make you respond to him when he feels he really needs it & he really needs it right now. I don't know how I feel about clicker training. I'm a hands on type. So, my instincts are to make physical contact to bond & communicate. I'd question your handling of the one episode, but I think your instincts are probably very good, even though they're different from mine. I can see some possible advantages to clicker training, here. But I think Ranaz is right about spending time having fun & laughing, again. The focus now should be on easing the tension before anything. The less dominating & the more time you can spend as flockmates, the better. Meanwhile, the baby may have to be addressed, too. Less sleep, changes in routine, sudden noises, lots of new things. Everyone & everything smells different. The energy level is totally different. I think those last two in particularly really affect birds & are most easily over looked by us. It's easy to think our fids are jealous of a new chick, but there is a lot to get used to & it can be very unsettling. In your fid's case, he doesn't have the sanctity of his cage to hide out in. either. His tree has been very good for him. But it may be an added complication under the circumstances. Bars keep things out as well as in & birds rely on that sometimes. He can't go to his man-cave or workshop to hide until he adjusts. Here again, he doesn't really have a space where he has the illusion of total control that's so important at times. Inspite of some complications you've had 5 yrs w/your total dream bird. That means you have a good, solid, established bond. He's got a good temperament. You've got good instincts. But a lifetime together is always a work in process. I think this is really just a reality check that has been building for a while & it's going to take some time to get past it. If you can realistically factor in everything that has gone on recently & focus on re-establishing his trust, I think you can reach a new plateau in your relationship.

Picture Perfect!!!

Please... guys...! ! ! Everyone here is in some way very invested in the welfare of this bird. That should be a good thing. Can this thread go back to sounding like that? Please?

Oh Paul, hated to hear this! In addition to what the others have said, I'd suggest you look for him wherever there is a food &/or water source. He will be getting hungry & the initial flight fear will hopefully be easing some. He may be drawn to any fruit or nut trees, gardens, berries or backyard feeders nearby. Also, remember that he doesn't know how to fly straight down to you. Stand back if he's perched high so he can have about a 45 degree angle of descent & be as low key about calling to him as you possibly can. You're excitement will only amp up his, which is already way out of control. Just stay focused on being calm & knowing you can call him back. Keeping good thoughts for you. Please keep us updated.

Birds explore everything with their beak. They hit, kiss, preen, taste, play, test, balance & communicate using it. It might be better to limit the word "bite" to openly hostile action. It will help to learn when he's nibbling, mouthing, grabbing, etc. because these all have very different motivations that should get different responses. A young bird in particular doesn't always realize how sharp & powerful the beak is. So, even when a fid draws blood, he may not have meant to "bite" you. Acknowledge it when he asks you to stop doing something. Ask him, in so many words, to respect your pain tolerance. From what you've described I think he may be checking out your hand (nibbling) & he's a little unsure about all this (he has only been around for 12 days) so he isn't really convinced that he should cooperate (escalating beak pressure) but he thinks you might be ok so he eventually does what you ask. If you walk away in the middle of the process, it confuses him & he gets a little upset. More even if he thinks you're frustrated or angry. It sounds like he's just going thru the learning and adjustment processes. He is doing it sometimes & he's not trying to rip your fingers off. He's really doing very well for how soon he's coping this well with this level of interaction. He just needs you to slow down to his speed. And just because it can be a real problem to have a fid with feet issues, you might back up a little. Instead of taking that HUGE hand & grabbing that fragile little foot which he is trying to stand on, maybe just rub his toes & nails gently. This will not only be a good step towards step up, but also doing his nails. Oh, and if he eventually starts trying to peel your fingernails off he's really gotten comfortable with your hands because he is actually just playing.

She may deserve some slack. If this branch is anything like ours, they're stretched too thin & there's far & away too much for them to handle. I couldn't be an ACO. It would break my heart in a week & I'd have an extremely hard time keeping myself in check with the "human beings" responsible. But if that isn't the case, I couldn't agree with you more. It's extremely sad to think that bird could have gotten home by now. I really hope this ends well & it's great that you've done so much to try to make it happen.

Seems like it's been a while. Nice to see a post from you. Hope the computer issues are over & we see a lot more.

Glad to hears things sound like they're off to a promising start. Looking forward to your future updates.

Too funny. I've had birds all my life. I started to tick off the list as soon as I read the title ... clothes, books, cords, moldings, ceilings, blinds, remember cassette tapes (or maybe heard of them?), jewelry, throw pillows (w/beadwork), plants, my glasses... ...Ok, I want to stop now ... really need to go back to my happy place ***Gee Zoom, thanks for the memories!!

A number of people have been posting about DIY projects with sisal rope that they've gotten from the local hardware store. This rope may well be made with chemicals, oils & pesticides that aren't at all safe for a fid to be munching. I've actually used some that you could smell the mold & chemicals in. But even if you can't smell it, doesn't mean scary stuff isn't there. There are bird safe sisal ropes that are offered thru bird supply & online sites, that would be a safer choice. Doug - sorry, but your scrap rope was probably never bird safe to start with & can't be cleaned to where it would be advisable to use for you fid. The risks are just not worth the little extra money to buy safe, new sisal.

Galvanized hardware isn't used because Zinc is a toxic metal for fids. Nickel plated or stainless isn't a problem, though.

I just saw this. I haven't had time to research any of the products, yet. So anyone who has a chance, please chime in with some feedback. Many of the products looked like they might be have some potential as safer cleaning solutions. http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/634/the-best-cleaning-products/

Congratulations!! Can't wait to see the pics of her in her beautiful new home.

I always put food & water cups on opposite sides of the cage. But that doesn't stop my guys. Phenix will sit for hours on a cup anytime anything makes him nervous. Which is why he really hated the cup covers which, fortunately, someone gave me. He absolutely refused to put his head under them. (What can I say? He's got issues.) Kura didn't mind so much. She's a lot more adaptable. I didn't like them because I thought it was easier to clean the cups than the covers. Too bad you're the other side of the pond. I'd give you mine, if I could still find them.