Flyguy9708

I have a very good update for everyone. One of the suggestions was to let Doc come out of his cage on his own. So I have been opening his door everyday and each day he would come out a little more. Yesterday he came out, went to the bottom of the door, stretched for the floor and made it down. He kinda gingerly walked around. I sat on the floor 5 or so feet away. After 10-15 minutes he made his way over to me and stepped up. Just as if there was never anything wrong, he started hypervenilating like he always did because he was so happy to be with me. That felt so good. Hope this is a big turning point. His feathers have already started growing back in. The only thing I realized while holding him is from the scratches on my arms and hands, I need to get his nails clipped...lol. Thank you everyone for their heartfelt suggestions....

Wow, thank you all for your help. I am very impressed with this community. There has been some change. It looks as if the plucking has stopped. Before it looked like two inches of snow on the floor, now it is just the normal white fluffy feathers scattered about. As for taking him out of the cage I have to be honest that I guess I am scared to. I know that sounds bad from a 36 year old man, But his bite hurts and routiniely draws blood. Some say just to open the door, but when I go to put him back...CHOMP. I am so frustrated because before we were like best friends. Now he was never the cuddly type, But he enjoyed being with me. Now...I just dont know and I dont know what to do....

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. There has been no real changes in the house. There is no specific amount of time that I took him out of the cage. It is less than when I was single due to having two small kids in the house but it has been at this pace for like 2-3 years. I will work with him and see how it goes. If the situation persists, I will seek vet attention. thank you again everyone....

I have had my Grey "Doc" for nearly ten years. He just turned ten years old and I have had him since he was 6 months old. I havent been able to take him out of his cage for the last month to month and a half because when I try and get him out he bites me so hard he draws blood. And now suddenly in the past week he has started plucking. I dont know where this is coming from. During old times when I would take him out he would get so excited to be out with me he would hypervenilate almost. His wings would drop and he was happy as heck. But now I cant even get close to him. I was even getting him alot more tolerable around my young step children. The only thing I can think of is about three weeks ago I got my six year old stepson a Cockatiel. But his biting started before that. I am almost to the point of giving him up because I feel bad for him like he is not living the life he should be able to. All help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you...

I don't know how to personally help you, but there is a guy online who of course wants you to buy his product, but has just about every training video available. I am not saying you should buy one of his videos, but he has answered some questions of mine without me ever buying a thing from him. His name is Chet Womach and his sight is birdtricks.com. I am having probs right now too, though not as bad as yours. Maybe if you write him he can help you.

You are reading my mind Danmcq. I thought about welding a bar across the inside so when I close the door the bar sticks over top of the dish, but I dont know the first thing about welding...This sux. For now I have to use the plastic ones that attach to the cage. But they defeat the purpose of buying this cage. My Grey is like Einstein how smart he is but so dumb because he doesnt realize he will be thirsty and hungry later in the day...LOL THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING...

I appreciate the help. I thought I had the problem solved. I realized Kings made a new model and the lip was made differently. The lip was fatter and as a result the bowl could be lifted out even without the nodules lined up for removal. Easy for him to remove them. I went back to the store I bought it from and they gave me lips from another cage as the old style. Even though now you must turn the bowl to get them out, he now has learned how to do that. Due to the bowls being smaller, I doubt the ceramic ones will be much help. A Cockatoo I used to have had no problem removing them either. Im going to have to figure out a hardcore way to keep these metal bowls in....

I just bought a new Kings cage for my Grey Doc. It has three silver water/food bowls. The bowls have two nodules on each side that you must put the proper way into the ring that holds them then turn the bowls to keep them in place. In 1 day my Grey has figured out how to turn the bowls and remove them. Does anyone know of any way to rig these bowls so he cannot remove them? I do not want to get the plastic bowls that attach to the side of the cage. I had them with the old cage, and bought this new cage for that reason and a couple others. I just want to use the silver bowls but rig them so he cannot remove them. Any suggestions??? Thanks Sean