OllieBird

FairY , As a former computer junkie, I should have guessed the poster-size image I tried to post, was my issue.he he he... Thanks for the tip. That did the trick. Here's Oliver showing us some sexy moves. This was April 9,'08. Since I do not know his date of birth, or age, I'd appreciate if anyone could "speculate" or "guestimate" an approximate age, so I have some reference to work with, when determining what to answer, when people ask, how old is he? and, when to have a mini b-day session for him. Sam.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am happy to receive so many nice replies. I appreciate the info and encouragement I have received already. I really like the positive atmosphere on this forum. This is my first time on a forum relating to Oliver. I didn't know where to start, but it seems like a great place to get started. I am browsing pictures of Oliver to share with all of you. Here is one of Oliver a few weeks after he arrived. This was a ferret cage I borrowed from a friend. I found a nice cage, luckily, at our local pet supplies store, which was marked down due to a couple missing knobs and door latches, and a dent in the seed guard. I tried to post an image, but it's not showing. i'll have to read to find out how to add an image properly. I appologize Sam. Post edited by: OllieBird, at: 2008/08/07 21:41<br><br>Post edited by: OllieBird, at: 2008/08/07 21:42

Hi, My name is Sam, and my african grey - Congo - is Oliver. We call him Ollie, Ollie-bird, Oliver, etc. I recieved Oliver when he was around 2 months old, or less. Oliver was locally bred, and was being hand fed by the breeder, who got sick and couldn't handle her baby birds any longer. She sold Oliver to a local guy, who was more than equipped to handle the task. 3 days later, i was offered a chance to have Oliver, cheap, but the guy stipulated I had to be willing to hand feed him, as he was very young, and had down feathers, and a few regular feathers. I'm not sure how he was treated before I got him, but he was up and walking in 2-3 days, after being hand fed and loved with lots of attention. I was told, before our local guy recieved him, he had spent his first weeks of life in a small plastic box, with barely any space to move, let alone stretch his wings or walk, which might explain why he started to walk within days of arriving here. Oliver is now 7 months old, and does many different whistle sounds, as well as attempts to say hello. Oliver flies to me to retrieve a snack, and flies back to his cage when prompted, or lighty tossed in that direction. Oliver enjoys a wide variety of human and bird foods, and loves to play with his toys. I joined this forum hoping to find info to get me more on the way of disciplining and training Oliver. I guess, to start, I am looking to understand Oliver more than just holding and feeding him, and watching him play with people and bite hard on occasion. beyond understanding Oliver, and starting to discipline and train, I want to make Oliver's life as exciting and full as I am able to. I don't have a great deal of money, so training schools or the like, wouldn't be an option for me. I accepted Oliver for 2 reasons: First, I can't watch an animal go from place to place, and "hope" he does ok, so i wanted to "save" him, and secondly, although I have had love birds and a few cockatiels, i have wanted an african grey as long as I can remember. This just seemed like it was time to get one, and Oliver was the one for me. I should mention, although I would have been in the market for a young grey that was weened already, I was more than delighted to have one that still needed special attention. In respect to that, it is my belief that most "hand-fed" birds are hand fed, and not much more. Oliver seems very advanced compared to grey his age, in stores in my local area, leading me to think most aren't given that one on one attention for more than a few minutes a day. My problem with Oliver, in a nutshell, is that I don't like him to be locked in a cage for long periods of time, but lately, since he flies so well, he constantly flies to me, and to the couch, as well as flies to members of my family, but, he likes to poop on me, and my surroundings as much as he can. Oliver flies to me, and shows lots of love, and seems to be less testy with me, as I was the hand-feeder he remembers since he was very young, but he poops on me within a minute of sitting on me. He has started to land on my chair, or couch, and poop. I want to break him of this, so i can handle him much more, and so I don't have to keep him in his cage. For now, since his cage was usually open most of the time, I put him in for an hour, and let him back out. He used to come out and climb to his play area, and play, but now he plays for a minute, then flies to me..... and poops. To handle Oliver as much as I'd like, and as much as he'd like, I'd go through several shirts a day. Please help me, and/or direct me to the right place for info. I can also use some info on what books would be best for caring for greys. Meanwhile, I'm going to browse the forums for more info. Thank you all for being here, and for having a forum dedicated to our greys. Sam