THampton

Hello, my wife recently bought me a Timneh. I have had several smaller parrots and a very friendly cockatiel that I rescued. He must have been sick when I got him because he died soon after I got him. I also had an Australian bourke that was a super bird. I didn’t realize when a friend gave me the bird that they didn’t have but around a 12 year life span. He was around 10 when he was given to me. He died within the year. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a bird as loving as the Bourke was. My Timneh, Charlie, is reported to be 3 years old. I had been messing with the bird daily for about 8 days at a local pet store. I had been talking to my wife about how I was trying to get the bird to calm down and accept my hand to get him out. The local pet store had a good price on him and a cage since he was not very friendly at the time. On about the 10th day, my wife asked me to help her get some things out of the car and there he was, cage and all. I was speechless. We have come along way in the last month. He readily jumps up on my hand and says “what, hello and I believe it is I love you. He does the normal wolf whistle and clucks very loudly. He also makes a taser sound but he has recently picked up something I have no idea where it came from. It sounds like two cats mating; it is a hissing squall for lack of a better description. He doesn’t do it out of anger or anything, he just does it sometimes. He will eat out of my hand and now allows me to rub his beak and I will slightly push against the beak to let him know I am there but not hurting him. He will lick my fingers then try to dig on my finger nails which I have to stop him he gets a little deep..hehehee. Anyone else’s grey do this hissing squall? I wonder if it’s part of their usual or if it’s something he learned elsewhere and just brought it back. I was also wondering how you would recommend going about moving towards rubbing him? I’ve heard of the overwhelming them with two dowel rods and rubbing one side and the other, just not sure that builds a trusting bond. I also know of rapping them I a towel and rubbing them. Once again I don’t like it. Is it just a matter of time and slow approaches? Just not sure where to go next.