katana600

I had to laugh at the mischief Bubba got into in the kitchen, of course it was only because I was not the one there to clean up the mess. Not only do you have to figure out what each of them likes or more importantly doesn't like, but they quickly learn from each other and have you outnumbered. When Pat is home alone with them, don't be surprised if he tells you how good they are for him. Better still, don't trust him, get a web cam so you can see whether they really are angels or if he is making it up. LOL.

I have a new trick up my sleeve. My family got me a juicer for Christmas. I have been using all sorts of devious methods to sneak veggies in on my husband for thirty years, but Gilbert has resisted all my efforts to eat more veggies. Last night I put tomatoes, carrots, celery, cilantro, green bell pepper, lime, jalapenos and other goodies in the juicer then used it to make a brown and wild rice. Gilbert is actively begging me for more. It is awesome to see him devour veggies and he doesn't even know that is what I am up to. He was in such a hurry to get more this afternoon that he was gobbling it right up off a spoon before I could add it to his dish. The tables have turned, I am having so much fun thinking I am getting one over on Gilbert for a change. Hee hee hee ho ho ho.

Great job! I love the enthusiastic head bob.

Austin, in most cases the sound of beak grinding is a contentment that our grey does as he gets ready to go to sleep. The fact he came looking for you when he escaped from his cage might have meant he wanted to be near you but then got too excited. Welcome to the forum, it may take some time but Fraisure will come around. I sometimes feel that Gilbert doesn't like me, but it really is that he is still a little scared and it is more about his situation, so don't get disheartened or take it personally. He doesn't know you well enough to hate you, and even if you made a few mistakes, you can still win him over in time. You have searched out and found kindred spirits here and we will cheer you on as you become a really good friend to Fraisure.

I had to come back to look some more, blue is my favorite color. This baby is so precious, glad you had the chance to hold it and see it up close. It must have been a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience.

This one is Booper the parrot on a red box Don't worry too much about your wife, I can't "get" my husband's favorite team either, but I keep trying.

We got off to a rough start with our rehomed Timneh. He has plucked many feathers on the day I picked him up and it took a while for him to settle down. It seemed like forever, but he has calmed down now, regrown the feathers on his chest and some on his wings and tail but be prepared for the long haul. It sounds like Pokey was stressed by his changes and gently talking to him and keeping things quiet for a while will help as he settles in. As you said you are trying not to give him too little or too much attention and that is good. He will let you know when he is interested in more attention but in only a week, it will take some time to "read" his signals. If he is really scared and plucking because of that, consider where you put his cage. Gilbert wanted to be in a spot where he could see everything and make sure no one approached unless he knew in advance we were there. He may not like being near a window or door where someone could suddenly "appear". It helped for us to talk to him as we entered a room and it helped if we talked to him with our hands behind our back. From my own experience it was frustrating not to be able to "help" Gilbert but I came to understand that by doing nothing for a while as he acclimated was actually doing what he needed. You have had the added stress of seeing him injuring himself in his panic, but slowly your gentle ways will win Pokey over.

Congratulations, Kiwi is a beautiful soul. I am going to look for lots of updates as he settles into your home. I have only seen one of these Amazon's briefly and her playfulness and energy were mesmerizing. Kiwi is a lucky boy, it is a great idea to come back a couple of times and get to know him a little before bringing him home. Only ten days to go!

Hi Anderson, welcome to our forum and thanks for joining. My name is Dee and we have an eleven year old Timneh named Gilbert and a six year old red bellied parrot. This forum has been invaluable to learn so much about African greys but also to get a peek into the lives of other bird lovers and the flock they call their own.

It is great that you can help out while you have an exit strategy. I keep thinking I would like to foster parrots, it would be hard not to fall in love with the, loud noise and all. Come to think of it, I do have a neighbor I would like to annoy a bit, I should make a recording. LOL. Enjoy Peaches while you have her.

Wasn't that your lucky day. This is a beautiful baby, I have never seen one, but the pictures are mesmerizing. I still have my hands full with Gilbert, but it sure is fun to look at pictures.

Thanks for joining us and for posting the adorable baby pictures. When you visit Sunday, you will be smitten, it is a wonderful new beginning for you and your baby. Congratulations.

It just gets better and better all the time. No worries though, Felix will soon have you trained.

That is a great picture, he looks so happy to be the first in the line for the good stuff mama is making. He is a beautiful boy.

Oh golly do we get a lot of mysterious sounds. Usually when we track down the source, it is a source of amusement. There was the one and only time we boarded Java for a weekend and she came home making a new sound that we finally realized was a dripping faucet. That was more than five years ago, and she still does it. She also makes the sound of the garage door opening and gets the dogs in an uproar thinking "daddy is home", then she laughs. With Gilbert, he was rehomed and the worst sound he continues to make is the screech of a vacuum cleaner with either a belt slipping or a bearing going out. He makes that one when he gets distressed, so it is a double whammy knowing he is upset. He also lived many years on the coast so he makes warning sirens and the sound of a low foghorn when it storms. It is those occasional sound effects that keep us guessing until we finally hear it in the house and realize where it is coming from. Our refrigerator has a chime when the door is left open too long, as I put away groceries, I tune it out but then will hear it from Gilbert and it sounds different because it is out of context. It took me a while to learn that he would make that sound, then the microwave trying to get me to heat up some beans for him. When I finally got the message and asked if that was what he wanted, he was sooo excited. He was probably thinking I was pretty thick not to "get it".

Welcome to you and your flock and thanks for sharing your joy with us. You have had a lot longer to enjoy being a "parrot person", I wish I had known to start earlier. We have a red bellied parrot related to the Senegal family and she loves to be handled and talks very little but interacts constantly with sound effects. We also have a rehomed eleven year old Timneh and it has taken almost two years for him to be comfortable with any closeness, but I have hope that he is going to relax and get beyond his past. It will be lovely getting to know you, we will surely learn as much from you as you gain from us.

Wally's video debut was a great introduction. He seems so relaxed, I was surprised to read that this was his first time out of his cage at your home. He was stretching and looked like he has settled in just fine. It just keeps getting better and better. If he is this relaxed with the camera you may be one of those people that can get videos of many happy moments and lots of laughter. Thanks for putting the time into editing and posting for us, great job.

Thanks Dave and Happy New Year to everyone. Make new friends, keep the old. This forum exemplifies that little adage, love the long time members and a big welcome to all our new parrot lovers.

Hahaha, Happy New Year to Corky! I may not have an Amazon (yet) but I think I may have a little Amazon in my own DNA, LOL.

I like this cage alot. It has all the features our cages have with one added benefit of the distance between the grates and the papers on the bottom. I don't like when Gilbert gets down on the grates and eats food that has been discarded and is not only past its freshness, but also soiled so with my cage, I have to be much more vigilant to remove temptations. I like the way the playtop has a sliding solid "drawer" like our cages because I can leave that out when he is on the playtop, but when it is Java's turn out of the cage, I put it back in because she sometimes lands on his cage top and that protects her feet from him reacting before I can chase her off. I would actually prefer this cage to the ones we have and the cost is about the same as the discount we got by buying two from the same vendor.

That is so funny, this morning I was up early and cleaning a mess I left over in the kitchen and first I was humming the "just breathe" that I heard from Acapella and then I was smiling and thinking of all of Biscotti's banter and I knew I was missing my time on the forum. Gilbert had a great Christmas, the love of his life was home for four days in a row. I have discovered a secret weapon and will use it judciously, but it really made me laugh. When I come and go, my dogs and parrots give me nary a greeting or seem to even notice. But, boy howdy when dad's car pulls in the driveway, especially after a business trip of a few days, you would think he was Santa coming to the Christmas party. Well, Dad got a new car and we kept the old one to tow the motorcycle trailer. That means, he parks in front of the garage doors, so when I needed to run an errand while he watched football yesterday, I took his car. As I came in through the garage door, I got the hero's welcome because they mistook it for David coming home! Hey, I know I tricked them but it was magnificent for a few minutes until I realized it was only the sound of his car that got them all delighted, and I won't hesitate to use that tactic again when I need a moment of affirmation. LOL.

I can only imagine the happy chaos at your house, you have to be on your game to remember what each of them likes (or likes too much in Gus's case, LOL). You are certainly earning your own set of angel wings for the patience and understanding from both you and Pat. I am in awe. Here I have had my hands full dealing just with Gilbert and his many moods and behaviors. I love hearing how all your flock is doing. I imagine they all are quite aware of how blessed they have been to find you.

It sounds like you're doing sensible things like not letting him out to set up a battle when you know you have to leave soon. Avoiding that frustration is good for both of you. We have an older rehomed Timneh and he is not flighted, but he will get out on his playstand or cage playtop and not want to go back inside. They do love predictability. What I did at first was to work on a ritual at bedtime. I turned off each lamp in the living room about fifteen minutes apart, always in the same order for the three lamps. As I got to the second one, I would tell him it was time to go night night. If he went in before the fifteen minutes, I immediately gave him an almond. If he didn't go in, I would put the almond in his dish and tell him to go night night. At first, I would turn off the third lamp and leave him in the dark while I went in my room, then turn a hall light on that gave him a dim light and he would begrudgingly go into his cage. He still got his almond but he had to eat it in the dark. As time has gone on, now when I tell him time to go night night and dig in the almond cannister, he is eager to run inside because he knows he only has fifteen more minutes of light. I am home a lot but don't have a routine daytime schedule, so if I have to leave the house, I would start early by telling him I had to go and tell him "time to go inside". I get my shoes, my purse and my keys and put them near the door as a signal that I am leaving soon, then I turn on the radio. Slowly, over almost two years now, he sees me take the key of the hook and starts telling me "bye bye" and he eagerly goes into his cage to get his almond. I tell him that I am coming back soon and he now says "bye bye, back soon". If I am going to be gone longer, I wait until he is inside the cage to tell him that one, LOL. He is so smart, he knows if I don't change my clothes, I am going to the grocery store or a on a quick errand, but if I shower, blow dry my hair and "dress up" he knows it will be longer. You will find the right rhythm to getting him inside the cage, he is getting to an age of determined willfulness and it will pass.

After a long stint away from home and grueling travel which Gilbert had been along with me, I slept in the next day and he was not happy. He could see me through the open bedroom door from his cage. At first he was asking "Night night?" like he was questioning why I was doing things "wrong". Soon he was saying "Get up!" Also, after I get my teeth adjusted with the braces, sometimes that day I will lay on the couch and he complains loudly about that too. I wonder if that has to do with them being a prey animal and they are warning us to get up, not to show weakness in case a predator is going to snatch us up. Instinct maybe? On the other hand, after an emotional distress and he saw that I was very quiet and "different" he picked up on that too and it was one of the first times he came close to me and he touched me all over my face with his beak. They definitely can pick up our mood and be empathetic, it was an entirely different approach. It amazes me how much we learn from living with these exquisite and sometimes demanding little souls. Hope you and Jellybean are both feeling tip top again soon.

Hi Carl, Welcome to the forum, so glad you found us. When we got an older rehomed Timneh, I had to take their word for his approximate age, so I just set his anniversary date to our home with a number to keep track of his new life with us. He wasn't banded either. At first he was really picky about his eating, but I have discovered that it is more that he was rejecting the changes in his life and it would depend on how the food was offered and what his other choices were. Like the others advise, give him lots of variety with veggies, keep his pellets in a separate dish. I found that giving him smaller amounts and tossing what he didn't eat of the fresh food after a couple of hours is optimum. For pellets, I give him just a little instead of keeping his dish full. He seems to toss more on the floor when he has an abundance. Every morning, I toss out what he didn't eat and put fresh ones in. I seldom will see him eat his pellets, but I know he is eating some because I am seeing them disappear and that is easier when there is just a tablespoon or so in his dish. It sounds like you are off to a good start. Take your time, watch him settle in and take his lead for how much interaction he will allow. You and Chico sound like a great match.