jencrane63

I have read in several different sites that are dedicated to educationg people about the habitat and and behaviors of the African Grey that frequent bathing is essential. I have included one such web material. African Grey Bathing: Method and Technique Donna Hefton The African grey parrot has genetically developed for millions of years in some of the most humid and lush forests on Earth. When one considers the annual rainfall measurements in the countries these birds inhabit, one may begin to understand their biological need for water, moisture, and the frequent shower. To illustrate this I will ask you to compare rainfall calculations in some of the areas where the grey parrot has developed to those in which we now keep them as captive-bred companions. Rainfall West Coast of Africa: Equator to 10° North Recorded variation: 100" per annum 1" in 5 minutes/ 4" in 1 hour 20" per day rare but occasionally double Rainy season: May - October Country of origin average annual rainfall: Liberia: 100" - 5" Sierra Leone 80" - 105" Congo river basin: 100" Cameroon: 163" 400" on the west side of the Cameroon Mountains U.S Average annual rainfall: New York: 42" Chicago: 35" New Orleans: 57" Los Angeles: 14" Now you may possibly see what we have been overlooking in dealing with these animals. Frequent showers and an increase in the amount of moisture makes an African grey feel better in our environment. Simply because your grey was captive bred does not eliminate 35 million years of genetic evolution in environments such as those mentioned above. The need for frequent showering of these birds is essential and fundamental for their care and well-being. The lack of, or infrequent showering may be the probable cause of feather plucking in these birds, followed only by psychological problems due to weaning trauma, environmental changes, and the lack of understanding of the species. Using the process of elimination I would first begin a frequent showering regime to see if the lack of showering is the reason behind the feather-plucking problem. "My grey hates showers" is what I commonly hear from many grey companion people. Having developed Showerbird and studying the bathing behavior of psittacines for nearly half a decade, I have learned one of the most important aspects of bird bathing behavior and that is that they all do it differently. Essentially no two birds bathe the same way. This is not too unlike their human counterparts, some people brush their teeth before they shower, others afterward. It's a personal thing. Some companions of greys tell me that their grey loves the shower and is exuberant during the process, others say that their grey will have nothing at all to do with bathing and even seem to fear it. I have to tell you a secret...greys bathe differently from nearly every other parrot I have encountered. To those that flap and play I must say BRAVO! For those that don't I will explain what I've observed. The wild grey will simply sit on a branch and let the water fall on him, shaking his head to relieve himself of the accumulated water, horizontal in posture to get the back wet, then under the canopy of the trees when he's had enough. And that, as they say, is that. No big deal. Even if your grey friend is from captive-bred parents he will still carry with him this genetically programmed method of bathing. It is the human caretaker that expects more than the grey is emotionally equipped to give. We want exuberance, we want to see this grey get into the shower like an amazon or a macaw. If your grey is not the "flapping" type it is not likely that this will happen. Therefore we find that our expectations lead to disappointment and we conclude that the grey hates the shower. This is not usually the case and should be reexamined by the careful and concerned grey keeper.

It's been awhile since I have posted anything on here so I thought I would update everyone on CoCo's progress. I have decided that it is true. You don't own your grey, they own you. It's has been 8 months since I "rescued" CoCo. When I went to pick him up he was a very haggard looking fella. He had no tail feathers to speak of and absolutely no tolerance of humans other than to allow me to feed and water him. Any attempt to go near him with my hands usually ended in me resulting injury. So basically we just have coexisted for the most of the past 8 months. I have read many posts about the birdtricks.com training program and have seen that many members do not endorse it. But, being the newbie that I was I bought the program. When I first got it I scanned through the materials and briefly tried a few things and then put it aside. Then a couple of weeks ago I decided that I had spent the money and I really needed to give it a deligent try. I have been using the clicker as instructed with the aid of treats trying to get CoCo to at least become more comfortable in his invironment. I honestly have to say that we are coming along better than I thought we would. In the beginning if I put my hand to the cage he would growl and very reluctantly touch my finger with his beak. I would use the clicker and immediately give him a treat. After an evening of just doing that he would no longer growl and would readily touch my finger. I woul click and he got a treat. We worked on this for a week with me moving my finger to different parts of the cage so that he would come to the finger to click and get a treat. Then I opened the cage door and starting the process all over from there. At first he was very hesitant but eventually got the hang of that. During this time he has been more receptive to head scratches and rubbing his beak on my fingers. I can now put my hand into the cage without him going crazy. I started pulling the cage right next to my recliner every night after I am ready to sit and relax and have time to spend with him. Last night I think we made a real breakthrough. For the past few days I have been placing my hand on the bottom of the open cage while I sit and watch tv. Last night he climbed down and started nibbling on my hand,rubbing all over my hand and even starting using his feet to grab my finger to pull himself up some. He did this constantly for about 15 minutes. I was very careful not to make any sudden moves and talke to him constantly. I think he is starting to trust me and I am so proud of him. We will continue with this until he decides to go to the next step. One thing that I have learned through these tapes and video is that it is pretty much up to the parrot as to when and how he will take the training. Training takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. So... my opinion on the birdtricks.com material is this...When you are a newbie as I was and still am on raising, training, and just general knowledge of an african grey you need help. So the visual and audio material does help. I did tons of reasearh before finding CoCo but nothing prepared me for the actual state he was in. He has improved immensely. He has all his tail feathers now and although he overpreens at times he seems to be adjusting slowly to his new life. A lot of that is probably due to his improved diet though. He went from all seed diet to now he gets a variety of Zupreem, PrettyBird Species Select, Harrisons, fresh vegtables and fruits, Veggies Crisps, and Red Palm Oil. I use shelled raw peanuts for training purposes only. I love this forum. It is informative and someone is always ready to give advice if needed. I will do another update as more improvemnts take place. Thanks everyone.

All advice is welcome as are the words of ncouragement. I have about 4 new toys in the new cage so now it is a waiting game.

Let CoCo out at 5:30 and it was 10:30 when he finally went in to eat. He just sat on the cage door most of the time. Otherwise no confrontations. I have a new cage that has been setup for a week and I have a ladder between the two hoping he will get nosey and go investigate. Will let you know how that goes.

Okay gonna give it a whirl tonight. Let you know tomorrow.

Yeah that is what I feel like... that we took 2 steps back. So then you think I should go ahead and let him out of his cage and leave the food in and hopefully he will go back in on his own. If he doesn't go in by bedtime should I towel him to get back in. I really hate using my hands if he is afraid of them and as I said the perch isn't an opeion either. I just don't want to traumatize him further. Since I am new to the african greys I am worried I will jeopardize our relationship further.

I have tried the perch and he just squawks and screams and tries to bite it. I do not stare or glare at CoCo.

Okay so do I leave him in his cage then? Because really the getting him back in is so traumatic? I am really not discouraged just thinking maybe I am taking the wrong approach. I can take the time that he needs. I just feel bad about him being in his cage so much. I just don't want to make him go through all that to get him back in the cage. I just feel bad because we were doing so good and now I think we just relapsed. I don't want him mad at me and I know that trust is a big issue. Even if he never steps up I would not get rid of him but I feel like he is in prison staying in the cage all the time. Thanks for the help.

Okay... I was cleaning the cage last night and CoCo got out. I knew I was in trouble from that point on. He did okay on the playtop but would not come near me. I tried to tell hin to go into his cage but he either he did not know what that meant or he just refused. He knows what step up means but he will absolutly not do it. So in all the mess he ended up on the floor madder than hell. I finally forced him to step up and he stayed on my arm for a bit then before I could stop him he was on my chest. I am not afraid of him but I did not want to end up with a sliced nose or lose an eye LOL. I put my arm against him to step up and he went nuts. Before it was all said and done I ended up with 2 really bad bites and 2 not so bad. I am proud of my self because as much as it hurt I calmly said No Bite but really that didnt accomplish anything either he just moved to another peice of flesh. I got him to his cage and ever since he will not talk and when I offer him a peanut he just flings it to the floor. Although he did let me scratch his head for just a bit this morning. Before this I could put my hand in the cage and touch him but if I said step up he would go to the back corner of the cage. I just need some guidance. I don't know what to do. Treats will not entice him to step up and I don't want to leave him in his cage all the time. But if I can't get him back in then what do I do. Thanks for any advice anyone can give me.

Great News!!!! I can now put my hand in the cage and scratch CoCo's head! He also puts his foot on my finger but still won't quite step up all the way. I am so excited about our progress. Thanks fro all the encouraging posts Jenny

Well CoCo has been with us now for 10 days now. It has been fun. He talks all the time now. I have gotten him to eat a few different vegetables and he loves grapes. He has been afraid of any hands around his cage but has gotten better with the feeding and the cleaning of the cage. He is doing better with his daily mistings. I have been giving him 2 a day because his feathers were such a mess. They are improving alot his tail feathers are now smooth and fuller and his chest feathers are starting to smooth out too. We had a breakthrough this morning and he let me scratch his head sveral different times. While I was doing that he would gently chew and rub his tongue on my other fingers. I really hated to leave him to go to work LOL. Will continue to keep you updated on his progress.

Thanks for the advice and the link will read up on it. Jenny

I know that you should limit peanuts. My question is...How many should you limit to a day. I use the whole peanuts in the shell for CoCo as a treat and a reward, but don't want to give too many. I am going to get some fresh green beans and see if he would like those or any other ideas would be great. Thanks Jenny

Hi I am new to this forum and a new grey owner. Since I have gotten CoCo I have been introducing hime to new foods everyday. I think he was mostly on an all seed diet before I got him. I have given him the following foods. wild rice black beans steamed chicken boiled egg with the shells graham crackers baby food sweet potatos carrots celery nectarine sliced apple sliced bananas mixed seeds I use peanuts for treats as they say they are not good as a staple. he loved the chicken rice and beans. The carrots he loves but nibbles at the fruit but not with gusto. the graham crackers he really likes too.

CoCo didn't squawk yeaterday when I approached the cage just growled a little bit. He did take a peanut calmly from me. Before that he would jerk them out of my hand and hurry to the back of the cage and now he will take it and just sit and eat it. I fixed him some chicken and wild rice with black beans last night and he seemed to like it. I am trying to offer a wide variety of foods. The peanuts I use as treats since he can't have too many and he loves them. I ordered me some of the Harrisons organic food to try. He was mostly on a seed diet before I got him. I also give him fruit and veggies. It has been an enjoyable time with him and I hope I can continue to gain his trust.