We recently left town for a week and had to board our two birds with a local store. It was, in fact, the store where we purchased our Grey. He is about a month shy of a year old and is a very social and gentle bird at home. He has had no problems with new people and is, in general, a typical baby. Lovable, needy and cuddly.
Upon picking him up from the boarder, he had bare spots on his nose and seemed considerably lighter. The caretaker said he was ornery and kept attacking her when she went to feed him. She said the bare spots on his nose were from him banging against the cage while attacking her...it just doesn't sound like my bird.
I am wondering if this is caused by 1) him being caged the whole week (they had nice big, clean cages, but the room was pretty crowded and it we don't leave our birds caged. We let them climb and play. They are only caged at bedtime)
2) Us not being around. Do we think he is social, but he is only nice to strangers when one of us is there?
3) Could the bare spots be a sign of something else that I need to take him to the vet for.
as a side note, since we got home, he is perfectly happy. He greeted me so joyfully at the boarder and was so thrilled to be back. He is chattering and preening as normal, but I DID notice that not much of his food got touched yesterday, so I am gonna keep an eye on that.
Thanks a million!