Darkmocha

I would say that you need to work on step up training. I only recently got my grey and I became a bit complacent putting her on my shoulder only a week after getting her. While she didn't bite me, she simply would not get down for about 30 minutes so I simply left her there and have been working on step up ever since. Someone can probably help you more with the flying onto the furniture part. But I know that most birds who start to bond to their owners don't want to go very far away from them.

Hey guys, Olivia is still doing just fine, making all sorts of funny noises. She makes this funny beeping noise when I see her in the morning and she also makes this sound like a laser gun and the moves her head quickly from side to side with every time she does it. No words yet but I'm sure she'll whip those out when she's better settled. As far as her food, she I did get her a cockatiel seed to munch on while she transitions. The funny thing is, she really doesn't like peanuts. The lady who was fostering her said that whenever she gave her a seed with peanuts, shelled or unshelled, Olivia would leave them in the dish and eat every other thing lol, looks like I did really pick the right bird for me. I have to work with getting her to step up more consistently though. Now, if she doesn't believe she's been out long enough she refuses to step up. It sucks because by the time she finally does step up, it's time to put her back in her cage and I don't want her to associate stepping up with going back to her cage. At least when she doesn't want to step up she let's my know by *gently* beaking my finger and pushing it away. I've never seen a bird be so gentle. But yes, Olivia is doing great, I don't know for sure if she's a girl since she was never sexed but after 15 years, I might just leave it at that. I promise pictures tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep...

So I posted before in the welcome area that I was adopting a 15 year old grey and yesterday I finally picked her up! She has a nice cage all set up that is completely massive compared to her old one. I think I could fit four of her old cages in her new one. She had no problem stepping up with me and exploring her new cage. You can tell that she doesn't have a lot of experience climbing as she moves around very slowly but she seemed to take to it, even tentatively playing with her toys. She steps up no problem and flaps her wings constantly while I hold her, I guess to stretch them out. The problem is getting her back in hahaha, she loves just standing around and taking in everything. No biting at all, and even after 15 years of eating nothing but seeds, she's already starting to eat some of the Zupreem natural pellets I got her. She's such a great bird, and much better than I could hope for. Thanks guys for all the advice and encouragement, and I'll be sure to ask tons more questions when I'm more awake

Hey guys, I just got some great news! It looks like SHE is doing just fine. She went back to the vet today to pick up her medicine and it looks like the heavy metal levels in her blood are back to normal so no medicines for her. My cage is coming in tomorrow and as soon as I have it set up, I'm running out to bring Olivia home. I hated the name at first but it's grown on me. I'll make a new topic and an album as soon as I grab her B)

Well here's an update for everyone. After a few scheduling problems, I finally got to meet my little guy yesterday. All things considered, he's in really good shape. It turns out that the original owner dropped the birds off at the SPCA as she became sick and the people at the shelter did a horrible job clipping/butchering their wings. They look a lot worse than they actually are and the vet expects the feathers to grow out without a problem. Also it seems that he was eating the paint off his ridiculously small cage and so his blood test came back with a high metal count. So he'll be getting medicine for that on Wednesday and I will of course be getting him a larger cage early this week. As for his temperament, he's very sweet. He was a bit scared, and would shake slightly when somebody new got close, but after talking to him for a while (like 10-15 minutes) he calmed down. When I asked him to step up and he didn't want to he just looked at me, without biting. I eventually got him to and he was very sweet if not a bit cautious. He's about as good as I could hope, I've personally hand fed birds that bit me more than he did in the hour I was there. So I'm even more excited now that I know how he is. I'll continue to keep you guys updated!

Thanks so much to everyone for all the great advice. I'm going to go with lyrics advice so I bought a small bag of cockatiel seed along with some pellets, spray millet and a few toys. I'm beyond excited! It's taken me years of restraint to keep from buying one before and now I'm finally ready. The person running the rescue is taking them to the vet today or tomorrow and I'll be visiting/picking him up early next week. As soon as I get more information from the foster person I'll let you guys know. And don't worry guys, as soon as he's home I'll have a few pictures

How are you guys doing? I've been doing a ton of research on birds for years, and I was a manager at both Petco and Petsmart when I was younger. Now that I'm older with a good job, time and my own place, I'm finally ready to get a Grey. I've contacted a bird rescue in my area and I will be adopting one of two African Greys that were recently put up for adoption. Their roughly 15 years old and were kept in a travel cage all their lives if I'm not mistaken. Their owner is sick with cancer and unfortunately can not care for them anymore. Despite the cramped cage, I'm informed they're in good spirits. My question is an odd one, I'm pretty sure with the owner not being able to afford a good cage, I would assume that they're on a mostly if not all seed diet. Now, is there a seed diet out there that I can mix with pellets that does not have peanuts? I ask not because of the bird's health (although that is one reason), but mostly because I'm allergic to them and I don't want to kill myself while trying to wean him off of the seeds :woohoo: Also, how would you guys go about helping a bird of that age get comfortable in a new surrounding? I've been able to deal with many birds who were "trouble" birds in the stores I've worked before, but never a bird older than 2 or so. And please shower me with any other advice you can think of, I'm not to proud to turn down the sage words of more experienced people!