reggieroo

Good to know as we always have a real tree. We have a great place by us & every year they have 100s of trees, a grotto & Reindeer.

Well I get up around 9.00-9.30am, go see to my little daughter & at which point Murphy normally pipes up under his sheet with a whistle to say "what about me?" He normally goes to bed around 8.30-9.30pm to make sure he gets his 12 hours sleep. Sometimes I'm naughty & let him stay up late the odd night & he doesn't mind that at all. To be honest he has never showed any signs that he ever wants to go to bed & you can always hear him going round his cage for a good while after he's all tucked up. Often you hear the birdie babble ball going off & you know he's still awake. :rolleyes:

Great pics, what a little character.

Jill, Murphy does the exact same thing, lies on his back. He will stay there for as long as I give him tickles, soon as I stop he wants up. I can also place up that way on any flat surface without fuss. I've been meaning to get Kate to take some pictures while I'm holding him so I can post them on here.

As some of you may know Murphy has a foot fetish, the video has been on here. But I think it's you Jill who has the foot fetish.......lol. I should introduce you to Murphy, you would get on well kissing & chasing after each others feet! Can we see some pictures of you kissing Harveys feet?

I had similar thoughts the 10 years that I had my Amazon but mine were about wanting a grey. I always wanted one & secretly wished for an African grey. For 10 years I thought of owning one but deep down I knew that having two parrots for me would be too much of a commitment so I left it. Every Time I seen somebody's grey it made me want to go get one right away but again I knew that it would not be the right thing to do, so unusualy for me I followed my sensible side & stuck with just my Amazon. I didn't want him to get neglected because of a new grey. Then after 10 years my Amazon went to live with his Mum (my ex) & I finally got the grey that I'd always wanted & I'm glad I waited for the right time. You do need to listen to your instincts with these matters as they are not to be taken lightly. If you really feel that you can give a macaw a good & loving forever home along with your grey then go for it but that has to really come from the heart. If you have any doubts at all I would say leave it be & be happy with just your Grey & know that that you made the right decision for everybody involved.

Your the same as me, you encourage the craziness. "Crazy Bird, crazy bird!"

They are funny aren't they once they start the craziness?

Murphy doesn't eat the garlic sticks anyway, I think they're quite nice though. Oh I've had a few accidents with chili peppers in the past..................burnt lips & eyes.........Ow......Ow.....Ow!! :eek:

Great to see you back. Murphy hasn't said anything yet, I keep hearing mutterings & think here we go...........but it's just mumble or a grumble of sorts.

You are so right on the nail about certain sounds to certain people. I've had people come see me here in the countryside & say they wouldn't be able to sleep with the sound of the birds in the morning but yet they live in the big city & the sound of trucks, planes etc doesn't bother them. Certain noises that our birds do can agitate too, not for everyone in the house though. Take Murphy & his screaming, it would annoy the hell out of me but at first didn't bother Kate. I think the screaming only annoys her now because she knows I don't like it. It's more of what I perceive it to mean than the actual scream that gets me agitated I think. He has toned it down a lot & not so often but every time I hear it I still feel that kinda feeling of here we go again! We did have it bad for 6-7 months so I have to remind myself that it's a lot better now & to give him a break. I think most of us at some point in parrot ownership have experienced a certain noise the we don't like & rubs us up the wrong way.

Hey Jayd, are you saying no chili peppers or chili peppers & cumin are ok? We have some chili peppers in Murphy seed mix (tidymix) although he doesn't seem to eat them. Thinking about it, the mix also has garlic sticks too. This is the seed mix we feed Murphy http://www.tidymixdiets.com/shop/parrot-diet.htm?Submit1=Place+Order http://www.tidymixdiets.com/about-us.htm

Good to see you having some good times with Yoshi.

Got to the bit about the head popping up from the almond bowl & burst out laughing........what a funny story, thanks for sharing.

Well we all know that most African greys don't like a shower, I found this out when I first got Murphy much to my surprise. The first time I took him in the shower he flew off from my hand & could tell he didn't like it. I was then told that I should be using a spray bottle & not a shower for a baby Grey so I tried that next. Well that was even worse, he hated it with a vengeance, growling & squawking followed by a swift take off as far away from it as possible. I knew that greys needed a shower at least once a week & I wanted to give him at least two a week so I thought I'd give the shower another go as what other option did I have? So the next week came & I took Murphy back in with me & this time he just sat on my hand looking rather put out as the water came down........but he didn't fly off or make any attempt to get away, just sat there tolerating it, silently. Well that was 7 months ago & Murphy is now 10 months old, after having a shower twice a week for 7 months I'm beginning to see what might be signs he is actually enjoying it a little. Now when asking him to step up from the top of the shower screen I get a few little whistles & clicking noises. As soon as the water hits him, that is followed by a tail wag & some kisses & some other cute little baby noises. I always tell him that we are going for a shower & also when I'm going for one on my own I tell him so he must know by now what I mean when saying "do you want to go for a shower?" Be good the day he asks me! I suppose the moral of the story is persistence pays off in the end, so if any of you are having troubles with showering just keep it up. I have always made it a nice experience for him with me doing lots of chatting & silly noises while taking a shower to show him that it is an enjoyable process. What have other grey owners experienced with their grey, be good to hear your stories?

I know the thoughts may cross your mind to give Yoshi to a new home but just think if you manage to get your Husband & Yoshi to get along & you manage to iron out any problems things will be cool again. There have been times when Murphy has stressed us out to the point when you wonder why you put up with it when you don't have to. Because let's face it no one has to keep their bird if they really don't want too, we ultimately make the decision about their future. "Kate has said on more than one occasion that bird must go, I can't handle that for the next 40-50 years" I even got the threat of "if it's me or the bird!" one day. Kate said " I know you won't get rid of him so if it comes to it, he goes or I do!" I wasn't best pleased about that statement, I have to tell you! I could understand her thoughts on the matter though, all the screaming & biting, the thought of that for 40-50 years would drive anyone crazy. Anyway what I'm trying to say is you are not alone, I'm sure there are other people on here who have gone through the same thing & worked through it. What I tell myself & Kate is that "when we work through this, which we will, all will be good. I remind myself of all the reasons I wanted a grey & think about all the nice stories & vids on here that make me smile & I think one day my grey will be like that. We just need to work through this difficult time to get to better times. Things are starting to get better for us, finally after 7 months, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. You will have setbacks, we did yesterday as Murphy was back at the screaming again for some reason but that was yesterday & I put that behind me now, today is a new day. Be positive! What I would suggest for now is that your Husband doesn't handle Yoshi for a while to let things calm down between them. I have found that you really do need to work with these greys & give them time to come round if you upset them in any way. What seems to be happening with Yoshi & your Husband is, your Husband is getting frustrated with Yoshi for not doing what he wants her to do like step up etc & Yoshi is feeling that frustration & stress too. Just say to him that he will have to have a verbal relationship with her for now & that in time that will progress into more but for now just chill & talk with her instead. This is what we did with Kate at first, she just spoke to him as she walked past etc, then gradually tried the step ups with a piece of wood, then from my hand to hers & now there is progress but still lots more work to do. Maybe if you give us a typical day in the life of Yoshi. All the things that happen from the morning wake up to the time for bed. How she is with both you & your Husband, interactions, good & bad etc. That way if you paint a picture for a whole day there will be other people on here with good experience that will be able to help, give you the right advise & together we will help you work through this difficult time.

In the wild African grey parrots don't generally poop in their nest/tree, as someone has said to avoid attracting predators. Issac is doing what comes naturally, pooping everywhere but his nest. Murphy on the other hand is different to that for some reason, he poops in his cage & on his stand but very rare that he does it anywhere else. I never keep hold of him for too long though & if I see signs that he might poop I put him back on his stand. I'm sure if I kept him in one place other than his cage or stand & he needed to poop he wouldn't wait & would just poop. Oh & we all know about that big one in the morning, they obviously don't like doing it at night while sleeping, it's 12 hours worth of poop!

We've had a few ups & downs with Murphy & one of the issues was handling of him with other people but me, have a read of some of my posts, you might get some answers. One thing that might not be helping your Husband, you say that your husband has tried to catch her mid flight? That will not help Yoshi in her confidence with your husband, it could make her worse. That is their way of escape, to fly off with their heightened sense of fight or flight, either fly or bite. If she flys & he catches her, it will make her feel kinda trapped, surprised she hasn't bitten him hard yet upon being caught. I have had those situations with Murphy when he is giving me the runaround & you don't have time for it, you lose patience & try to catch them in a hurry. What happens is it just makes the situation worse, they start stressing & panting because they are out of breath trying to avoid being picked up, your stressed, their stressed. I soon realised that you need to just let them settle & offer a calm hand in a relaxed manner, remember they sense how your feeling. If this has happened on a few occasions, especially repeatedly that could be the reason she feels nervous of his hand. Also if your Husband is the one putting her in her cage most of the time, it could be that she doesn't want to go back & associates his hand with something negative like going back to the cage. I had something a little like that with Murphy, he would give me the runaround, I would finally put him in but then he would be in a mood with me for hours afterwards. So now I try & put him back in on a positive note rather than after a chase. They are funny little creatures & very sensitive, sometimes you don't know you've done anything wrong but in their eyes it may be a different story.

A little update to how it's going with Murphy & his antics. Kate has gotten a little more confident & started to try & handle Murphy with some success. I just left her to do it in her own time & didn't take her long to start trying again, I was a little concerned that she wouldn't bother with him anymore but she has. It may have been when I said " you do really need to try & get on with him as we will have him for maybe 50 years". Kate can now get him to step up with no bites, not quite sure how we did it, maybe persistence or just a phase he was going through? I think it's important for Kate to handle him on a regular basis, which she is going to do. I can tell Kate is a lot happier now that she can handle Murphy. We haven't had any guests for while so it will be interesting to see how he is with them but fingers crossed.

He absolutely hates it & is scared to death of it! He has never been like that with any other toys, might be because I set it off in front of him before I put it in his cage & it just freaked him out. I should have just put it in the cage & let him discover it on his own. I've had to move it to the back of the cage out of the way, as before it was by his new perch & he wouldn't go on it, he just sat on the lower one growling for ages. Kate said she heard it go off yesterday but Murphy looked ok & didn't seem bothered, he must have knocked it by accident or something moving round his cage as I haven't seen him near it at all. I'm going to move it soon, a bit closer & see how he is with it.

It does take a while to get rid of them & break the life cycle. I'm sure you'll get there in the end but you may have to consider one of the household sprays to treat the house.

I always wanted a grey after meeting some over 12 years ago, I was taken with their personalities & of course their ability to speak. That was what got me into parrots & when an Amazon came along at an affordable price I bought him, kept him (Conan the amazon) for ten years until he went to live with my ex-girlfriend who he preferred to be with. That was hard for me & having a house without a parrot after 10 years didn't feel right, I also aways secretly wanted a Congo grey so I set about looking for a baby one. I now have Murphy a 10 month old grey bundle of trouble. Now I have the grey parrot I always wanted, all those years ago.

Murphy's silent right now but about 10 minutes ago he wouldn't shut up......lol I was trying to watch TV but he had other ideas.

I always had incense & candles in my house for years when I had my Amazon & never had a problem. I was totally unaware that they were supposed to be bad for parrots until I bought Murphy & the breeder told me. So since finding out I only use them when he's in bed, in the other room.