katana600

Look at you go Mr. Mom, or Gourmet Dad. I love the picture of Isaac eating right out of the pan. With Gilbert, she may reject a favored food of months of insisting on it. It looks as if Isaac is trying new things and I bet he gets excited at all the changes and delicious offerings you have been whipping up for him. It has to be stimulating his appetite as well as his curiosity and imagination. Also, kudos on the almond milk. I would never have believed my husband would even try it but after months of putting it in my daily steel cut oats so Gilbert can eat her share, guess who started drinking it on his own cereal? Now it's all we use unless we have company.

From what I understand, an African grey will molt flight feathers symmetrically, one on each side in the same position. It keeps them balanced in flight. They might molt a bunch of down feathers all at one and you will know it when your room looks like snow. A molted flight feather should look hollow, clear and blunt at the tip similar to the look of a quill pen. If he is plucking a healthy feather, it might have tissue or a bloody tip. Some parrots "barber" or chew. Then you might see half a feather without the thick, hollow shaft, just bitten off. It seems as if Timmy chose you to be his beloved. Your brother and mum may be part of his family flock but they don't get the same privileges as you. Be aware that this can change as he gets older and he may reach a place in maturity when he doesn't want you to touch him either. He also may stay just as bonded and approachable and relaxed with you as he is today. A Congo African Grey (CAG) has a black beak and a bright red tail. A Timneh African Grey (TAG) is a little smaller and has a beak with a creamy area surrounded by black. The TAG has a deeper red to maroon color tail. If you look at my avatar, Gilbert is a TAG. Below on luvparrot's response is Ana Grey and she is a TAG as well.

Welcome to the forum, Timmy sounds like a good buddy to you. I have to say I was expecting a Timneh African Grey, and happily surprised to see he is a Congo African Grey. As far as attacking you when your mum comes near, he probably sees you as "his". If he sees her as an intruder and can't get close enough to bite her and send her packing, he could be taking tht frustration out on the only object he can reach, which at that moment was you. My little grey would bite me if something startled her, only because it was instinct and I was in reach.

I can definitely see both sides to this issue and I am certain that there are as many scenarios as there are individual greys and humans. When I see the many successful adoptions by our members, in singles and in multiples it really does depend on the particular parrot(s) and human(s) involved. Gilbert, as a single parrot has had unsuccessful adoptions prior to me and its a long road to recovery even though I had parrot experience, time and other resources to devote solely to her. If per chance we were to adopt another Timneh and she had a dramatic transformation into a fearless, docile parrot with no barbering or other self destructive habits it would be obvious to those who know her that keeping that balance may be far more beneficial than the relationship she has with me. Only the caretakers who have witnessed the distress of two or more flock members upon separation can make the assessment that they will be better off together. Whether a parrot is adopted as a single or a multiple, the new home must be carefully matched for experience, temperament of a specific species or individual parrot. For example an Amazon may fit with a confident extrovert in general but a specific Amazon may do better in a home where the solitary keeper works all day and creates a quiet, predictable atmosphere. It's a commonly accepted anecdote that a parrot with a parrot friend will not create a human bond. From our own members, I don't see evidence that is written in stone. If someone brought a second TAG to my home and I saw a positive change in Gilbert's behavior around that parrot, I would accept her having a chance at living her life in confidence even if it excluded any possible opportunity for me to create a blissful relationship between Gilbert and myself. VStar Mama, I do believe the right parrot is out there waiting for your right moment to adopt. It's painful to be ready in most ways but the financial or preparedness to take on multiples. Keep looking, visit rescues and any other place you find bird owners. Someone will see you and the best match and help bring you together.

I agree with the slippery slope of labels and of giving human attributes and characteristics to our parrots. Miss Gilbert is most definitely disturbed and she was presented to me with known issues. I think the most important aspect for me is that new forum members or those reading while considering an older parrot to adopt understand she may not be the average rehomed Timneh but we don't get a guarantee and its really crucial to be prepared to hang in there and commit for the long term. Even though I fully understand this is a factor of her life experience and not a personal indictment against me personally, one wrong move on my part proves painful to both of us. I misjudged her request for readiness to know what she was asking. Even though I was hurt and shocked and I did chastise her and told her it hurt, I did t raise my voice nor make any move toward "punishment" even though I sorely thought wickedness upon her sharp beak. Friday she was beside herself to see David return on a red eye flight from Oregon. We were gone a few hours Saturday. Last night she sang sweet tunes to him and enticed him by hanging out down low on the seed catcher. While he showered I. A room around the corner she chatted from her low vantage point. In a few minutes when he came out she had barbered off at least fifteen secondary feathers and one long flight feather was on the floor. It wasn't particularly "plucked" because it was hollow, clear and blunt at the tip but much further up the shaft was evidence of blood, so it wasn't necessarily ready to molt naturally yet. All day today she is down low in one particular spot. If I move or if she doesn't have a visual on me, she goes topside. David sat on the stairs a few feet away and talked softly to her. When I sat beside him on the steps she was fine to stay low. And would you believe! As he walked past at this very moment as I type she went into a long garbled "human speak" punctuated with a couple clearly spoken "I sorry" statements. We have both assured her its okay and that she is a good girl. I had my oatmeal with her, as usual. I do have to admit, I curled my fingers in under the bowl almost "fist-like" to prevent her from nailing a fingertip again. Her momentary lapse was a reminder to me not allow her more latitude than she is capable of restraint.

We have yet to progress to this, but it is an aspiration. We are getting a deck built where I can take Gil out for daily sunshine. It will be in her travel cage and only with direct protection because we have hawks. Your Mr. Bossy Feathers comment has me smiling.

The truth is she is only comfortable having hands near her when she is inside her cage. She has been gently touching my fingers while I feed her oatmeal and I misread that for her opening up to me a little. More like she is so excited and immersed in gobbling oatmeal it didn't register that my hand was under the bowl. When she lured me in with sweet talk and it took longer for me to get the second pine nut between my fingernails to avoid an "accidental" bite. But there is no doubt about it, she was intentional and was NOT a startle reflex and she wasn't the slightest bit concerned nor sorry. Trust no one should be my motto. That bite was so hard my knuckle is red and swollen yet I am acutely aware it wasn't vicious or full force, just unexpected and shocking. Even when I was mad at first and told her so, we came back to baseline and I gave her oatmeal in the morning and we are back on track. It will be a long time before I offer her my bare fingers without the bars between us. I'm still put out about it and not feeling the forgiveness. But, really to me forgiveness is releasing myself from thoughts of retribution and there really isn't anything I would do to hurt her. And she is the most complex and confounding yet exquisite little character and dare I say mentally ill perhaps too.

Think of what our parrots mean to us. For someone being held hostage, these parrots and other creatures being their only company and comfort, how much more must they bond and depend on each other.

Apparently that is her long range plan, and we know by grey time, they have a bird's eye view of the big picture. Yesterday I had a sweet moment when Gil was on her cage top a d asked sweetly "You wanna treat?" She seldom will let my hands close to her without the cage bars between us. She has been real careful and gentle about touching my fingers every day when she eats warm oatmeal with me. When I gave her a pine nut, the thought crossed my mind that it would be wiser to put it in her cage treat cup. I decided to chance it and she took it gently, ate it and leaned and swayed a d asked again. As I gave her the second one, there was a split second when she loomed right into my face ditched the pi e nut and bit me instead. It was a deep puncture but not as vicious as she has shown herself to be capable. Of course I yelled. I told her quite firmly,don't bite. After stopping the blood flow, I came back and told her to go inside. She couldn't have complied any more quickly. But once safely behind her bars, she laughed. On the very few occasions, I have let my heart override my better judgement and given her too much temptation and she has struck out at me, she has always quickly said "sorry". This bite was by no means an accident, nor a knee jerk reaction to an outside noise or a spin around fear response. There is no doubt in my mind after observing her positioning, her calm execution and her behavior afterwards, it was intentional and it shook my warm regard for the wicked little pit viper of the moment. After we both had time to return to our senses, she was back on the cage top when I offered her red bell peppers from my salad, on a fork this time. She generally will snub veggies, but she ate the whole piece and asked for more. I think she was looking to get back in good graces. She never once, all day said sorry. Her next pine nuts will be offered with long handled hemostat "tweezers" I use in my sewing room. I have to admit I had thoughts yesterday of biting her toe! She has found the bottom of my supply of patience. For the first time in three and a half years, even with all her shenanigans, I did not smile at her all day. In fact, I returned the stink eye she was giving to me and didn't feel so much of a twinge of compassion or empathy for her for an entire day. I still talked nice to her and let her return to grace, but I wasn't feeling it on the inside. In fact, even when I was in my bed and awakened in the night I thought of her immediately with pure wickedness. I thought about walking right out there a dumping a bucket of water on her in her sleep and letting her have that moment of shock that she gave to me. Bloody hell, that fingertip puncture hurt.

Thanks Dave. Since I saw that article the first time, I could barely breathe thinking about the suffering of Raju and so many more exploited creatures. But the knowledge that he is free from those chains, that he allowed other humans to help him and he is free and well tended is a blessing and no one is more cognizant of simple comfort than Raju today. I hope he can overcome his years of torment to simply walk in the sun and be alive.

Yes, I love the scent of parrot! To me it smells like cotton sheets fresh from the outside clothesline. I wouldn't fare well to get close enough to bury my face in Gilbert's feathers but can get a warm wafting scent when she lets me scratch her head through the bars of her cage. Java lets me kiss her neck and I say "Oooh birdy, that smells nice". When she sees me coming to pick her up for good night cuddles, she says "Ooh" in the cutest little voice and makes a puffing, blowing sound. It must be the way my sniffing sounds to her.

What a beauty. She can step out with no makeup and before preening and still be the talk of the town and the belle of the ball. She is such a happy little lady and an example of the best outcome for taking in a rehomed grey. Happy birthday to you Inara, life just wouldn't be the same without you.

Professor of Patience, that made me chuckle. Little did I know how HARD it is to do nothing and wait. Early on, I read from people on our forum not to push, punish or try to mold Gilbert into what I dreamed a grey companion should be. She and I were both in "recovery" and mourning losses in the beginning. Once again, our house is in a turmoil. A month ago, strong winds took out trees. Once we cleaned that up, we preemptively removed some that were at risk, drought damaged, leaning toward the house etc. Big noise and heavy equipment, men shouting across the property. Then a neighbor lost a huge pine and it toppled onto my closest neighbor's deck and took it right off the house. So, there was more noise. Now that he too, out trees, it's a different landscape so now we are recontouring our lot, creating a patio on the lower level and a deck above. So, as I would expect Gilbert is less enthusiastic about talking or coming out of her cage. This morning she was eager for the comfort of our morning oatmeal routine. Several times she looked under the bowl, beaked my fingers, touched and gently beaked my fingers holding the spoon. I had butterflies in my tummy and a sense of awe no less than if a tiny wood fairy had flown in the window to have a conversation. Well some of those butterflies are the memory of sudden lunging bites of yesteryear, LOL. But as I held my breath so as to not break the spell, I was thinking about how she used to sound the alarms if there was noise, confusion of any unexpected change near her. A neighbor closing a car door doesn't even register as a sound to me, but it would sent her diving off her cage looking for a hiding place. She made foghorns, air raid sirens, tornado sirens, emergency sirens at the slightest distress. She also got so scared and frustrated she would snatch off a feather, chew and break her feathers and consistently barber her chest to her thighs. Now she shouts "Stop that! Get OUT of here'". She pulls back a little but she doesn't disappear into a 'dark' place any more. Keeping a journal of our time together helps me to get out of the 'wishful' and 'hopeful' and just love her at each stage of our evolution as a flock family. She's come a long way baby.

I was typing while Dave was posting. Breeder greys are totally out of the realm of my experience and he has much experience in that area. That's a possibility I hadn't even considered and I agree with Dave that if that's the case with John Wayne, it would take an entirely different approach.

You have a lifelong relationship with Asia and have learned a lot through her. With John Wayne, you have a wild card. Not only are you dealing with his baggage, but also with the introduction of two mature adult greys. Some things may be similar, predictable and common to the Congo African Grey or to the Timneh African Grey in general but I believe just like humans, there is evolution, nature/nurture, and life experience that adds up to a totally unique and wonderful companion. I have had Miss Gilbert for nearly 3 1/2 years. She has had a rough time getting settled and change is in small increments sometimes taking 2 steps back, waiting and taking 3 steps forward. We have had ups and downs. My main theory with her is to watch and learn her soft spots and give her room to come toward me on her terms and to allow her to retreat. It's a delicate dance to know when to approach or to give her incentives to come closer. You will learn how to make John Wayne feel safe, it's very subjective and very unscientific. Thanks for joining us. This forum has been a lifeline to me for learning how to be the best care provider and friend for a wonderful little Timneh with big obstacles to overcome.

Miss Gilbert and I benefit equally. I think back often to when all this started. I dragged my feet for five months at taking in a parrot with known issues and having been rejected from other homes. I wondered if we could be up to the task because quitting isn't an option and knowing where she has been, if we couldn't make peace I was concerned if we would be exacerbating her problems. Ever so slowly, so as to be imperceptible most times, I am seeing Gil-girl become less encumbered by her past and her expectations and it makes me so happy to hear my kids and their prospective husbands take a liking to this little wisp of a soul who may someday grace their homes. It's all part of my grand plan. I expect to have grand babies some day and will teach them to love Gilbert and let her be herself no matter how she evolves. It's so enchanting to hear Gilbert's vocabulary change to include our family members. To me, it means she wants to be part of our group and please us and to elicit delighted responses. However, I notice she calls them all by their given names and she still calls me LuLu.

Wouldn't you know it, this was a weekend long "Ryan-fest". My mouth dropped many times over to see Miss Gilbert come out in royal form for our guest. She was absolutely charming. When I tried to explain that it was a great honor to him and that she did more for him in three days than I have elicited in three years he was a gentleman. His reply was that the three years of care and trust building aallowed her to be in the mental place to open her heart to him. That was sweet but quite honestly she was smitten with him. We were in the kitchen playing board games when she gave David a shout out. Of course he asked what and she repeated his name so he responded with "Gilbert" and she quickly asked "What?" with attitude and when we laughed, she laughed then called my daughter's name Kelsey for the first time. It was a magical weekend. We took the kids to the airport and when we returned and let her out she flew to the floor, walked o er to me and asked for a step up. She stayed near me on the perch stand and gently took pine nuts and pistachios from my fingers. When she was ready to go back she happily came to me for a step up and jumped from my hand to get to her cage top. She sure is getting more brave and more sociable.

Winkum, Blinkum and Nod. They just look so innocent and precious. I know myself well enough to know I could not stop at a play date. So happy for you to have this experience. There is something about holding the promise of the future in those babies that helps me be patient with Miss Gilbert and think of her black eyes and baby curiosity, no fear, just innocence. I can never get enough of the baby pictures.

There is nothing to compare to the void and heartbreak of your loss. You did everything you could do and her life with you was filled with love. I am so sorry for your loss.

I am so happy for both of you. In three years we haven't gotten to the bathroom door much less to the shower. We mist Miss Gilbert on the cage top and are just now getting to acceptance. It's really important. So glad you are making it fun and have accepting greys.

You really have double the work getting Bogart to trust you as you overcome the status quo he has learned over the decades but also to overcome the view your wife has had of him since her earliest memories. Add to that the two little ones in the house to protect and eventually bring in to love and bond with Bogart. Gilbert's fourth home had four kids under eight and they referred to "him" as that mean gray bird. Some of our members with young kids have been able to put a gate up and keep one room as bird/child safe. You will find the best way for your family. As Bogart comes along and wants to join you, a way that worked for us with dogs in the house was to put a floor stand in a babies playpen and put the parrot in protective custody. I think what helped me most in working with Gilbert was to learn that a parrot is a prey animal and to them every interaction has the potential of them ending up as a meal. They are very aware of this. As much as you can, give Bogart clues as to what is going to happen next. When he can predict that you are consistently trustworthy, he will begin his relationship with you. Loving him always, even when he seems utterly ungrateful will pay big dividends when you reach a companion status. You can do this. Thank you for being willing and learning as you go.

I am also watching your integrated flock with great anticipation. I'm a long way off from expanding my flock but I am learning a lot in case it "comes" to me.

What a little pip she was. We had company this weekend and this could easily have happened in our home. Your niece was very understanding and calm, big kudos to her. Hopefully Nilah will sort out her behavior. I'm sure you were shocked both times she acted out.

That is an awesome switch to be activated. Malik has probably been practicing during his quiet time alone. He is comfortable with his home and ready to join his human flock in your language now. What an exciting time for you.

I hate to be the one adding a "maybe" to the topic, but when we got Juno, both his parents were at least 30 years old and still producing a clutch every year. I also read an article relating that a pet Amazon in Florida fathered his first clutch at the age of 36. For some reason though, I thought conditions for breeding had to be just right with the ratio of darkness to light time, a nesting box, wood to chew etc. Louie may need a cold shower.