Cheshire Cat

Most mornings when I get up early (I'm usually up before everyone else) I take Tui downstairs and make a cup of tea. I let her perch on the back of a chair with a teatowel on to stop her slipping and she watches me prepare a 'cuppa'. I've even talked to her and gone through the stages, "Right, then we get the milk from the fridge and pour some in." And she actually seemed to be listening. On an evening me and my fiancee usually watch DVDs together so she comes and sits on the bed with us; she's bonded a little more to my fiancee than myself and she loves to sit on him and chew the buttons on his shirt. When in my room with her, unless I'm obviously going to bed, I leave the cage open so she can come out as she wishes. If I'm watching TV, I'll talk to her about what's going on and I've even put music and YouTube videos on for her. I always try to include her with whatever I'm doing. My dad made a perch for me so I can take her downstairs with me and she can sit in the dining area or the living room with us. Nearly every morning now I take her down to greet my parents. The main thing is to just let them feel included. I'm always talking to Tui about what I'm doing and now she'll sit happily for a while whistling and yapping away and her speech is starting to come through; she's still gurgling and making sounds in the back of her throat, but she's trying (as a baby would)

Yep, my Grey is called Tui also. Her name came from watching Andrew's videos on YouTube (he lost his Grey with the same name a couple of years ago) I fell in love with the videos and was heartbroken over Tui flying away so I named my own bird after her. I do shorten her name to 'too' sometimes and I've called her 'tu tu'. Yeah, now that's strange calling your bird a number or a ballerina skirt! At my old work my manager did question my bird's name as there's apparently a New Zealander Rugby player who has the nickname Tui. She actually thought I'd named my bird after this guy! LOL.

He is a beautiful bird!

Aww! I'm glad that he's okay. With my cage, there's a lift up flap on the side which my dad pestered me about for ages. He was scared that Tui would figure out how to lift it so he got me a little lock to put on. There's no way she can open the front of the cage, but the side piece she could have easily opened at some point. We've had pet rats in the past who've figured out how to open their cages and have come strolling upstairs and got into bed with us. I remember it vividly as a kid waking up one morning to feel something furry up my leg. It was one of our rats. Gotta love pets!!

I haven't noticed my bird have bad breath. As said in an earlier post, sometimes you can smell the food on her beak, but her breath itself doesn't smell.

All the very, very best Kevin. I'm going through the same with my bird as she's plucking. I haven't heard of spraying with Listerine before. Interesting! I'm thinking of both you and Dorian.

That is just SO cute.

Oh yes, I read your post about Tui and I thought you were going to name him Tiki instead. So, you decided on Tui in the end? Yay!! It's such a lovely birdie name. I named my bird Tui after seeing the Grey named Tui on YouTube which was owned by Andrew (kskiwi online) and I fell in love with her and Greys. So it was decided when my parents agreed I could have a Grey the bird would be named Tui. I adored Andrew's videos and was so upset when I found out what happened to Tui. He never found her, did he? Last I heard he'd moved back to New Zealand as he said in one of his videos that he couldn't take her to NZ and had to stay in the US.

Tweedle, it looks as though we have two Tuis! LOL. Haha.

Birdnut, that has actually made me fill up knowing that you thought of her. Thank you!!!!

I'm just looking up prices now on eBay and they're quite decent for brand new editions. I think I might invest in them soon! I've visit The Alex Foundation and the site you linked me to, I believe. I've been to nearly every Grey site online. Lol.

I'd absolutely LOVE to read these books and have been looking for anywhere in the UK that sells them. Thankfully, I actually found them on the Waterstone's website (UK book shop). I was curious who else had read the books (either one of them or both) and what your thoughts are on them? I found out about Alex after watching video after video of African Greys on YouTube before bringing my own Grey home. I actually put one video on for my mom which I believe was aired on Animal Planet and was documenting the cognition and language capabilities of Greys. Alex, of course, was featured and also Einstein who I know has amazing language capability. The video actually made my mom cry which I was very surprised by as she's never been as interested in birds as me. Although my Tui has captured her heart. I know Alex and Me is all about Dr. Pepperberg's relationship with Alex more so than the actual studies which is actually more appealing to me. I was captured more by their relationship than his intelligence in all honesty. I'm just curious as to your reviews on these books before reading them myself. This was also the video I first watched which introduced Alex just in case anyone hasn't seen it. I'm sure a lot of you have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Fpad20Zbk

I think it's sometimes the stigma that can be attached to a plucking bird. A lot of people (most who aren't even bird owners/lovers) assume it's something you've done wrong. Even if I have done something wrong along the way, I'm trying my very best to make sure I can make it right in future for her.

Thank you all so much for your kind words, prayers and thoughts. For a while I was very embarrassed about posting because I was starting to think people would assume I've neglected Tui. No one knows how much I've worried/stressed over her and even spent out to get her well again. She's become very clingy to me and my fiancee of late; we've been pampering her a lot. And I'm so glad that people are noticing her feather re-growth. I asked my fiancee again today if he noticed her feathers and he said, "Yes, I told you that yesterday." My mom just smiled and said, "She (meaning me) just needs security and encouragement to know Tui's okay."

I'd already read Dave's thread on Aloe Vera and the product I brought was from a health and fitness shop at the local mall which is 100% juice. I started off with about a quarter Aloe Vera; I don't want to over do it just in case it doesn't agree with Tui's skin, but so far there doesn't seem to be any problems with it.

What beautiful birds! A very enjoyable watch and strangely enough, I even liked the nice music which was playing on it, too. I wish I lived in Australia now.

I use newspaper and special little woodchips sprinkled over which the guy at the pet shop recommended (he breeds Greys with his dad so I'm assuming he knows what he's on about. LOL)

I agree with Judy. I've got a special perch for my bird which helps keep their nails trimmed.

I've heard nothing but good things about Aloe Vera and even though it made her smell all funny (Haha!) I'm hoping it'll work wonders. All the best with Pippa! Let me know how you both get on.

As stated in my last post in my last thread, Tui went to the vet on Monday and it still can't be pinpointed exactly what the problem is. But I'm beginning to think it may be her first molt which is the problem. I've read up on this and spoke to the manager of the pet shop I got Tui from (who also has a Grey of her own) and she was saying how bad their first molt can be. I'm taking all necessary action to help her now which the vet advised me. I want to tackle this from all angles. Tui hasn't plucked in front of any of us now for a few days and the feathers on her chest are starting to grow back little by little. My mom and fiancee have noticed that the feathers are coming back very slowly. I've been cleaning her cage bottom daily and less and less feathers are appearing. I saw three this morning, whereas last week her cage was littered with them. I brought a big bottle of Aloe Vera juice today from a health shop and began sprays with it. I can't really tell as of yet if it's helping, but I'm sure it will assist her recovery. On a sidenote, I'm not sure if anyone in here is religious, but my mom said she was pray for Tui as we've all been extremely worried about her. Strangely enough the day after the first night my mom prayed for her, she opened a book she had from church and the page was entitled "Sparrow's Flight" and stated that God knows even when a sparrow falls and can see all creatures, not only humans. Me and my mom were both very puzzled by this, but also enlightened. I'm not particularly religious myself, but I do keep Tui in my prayers, too.

I've just been to your post and seen your directions on its use. I never realised you could use it undiluted on birds. Thank you for your help with it. I said to the lady I spoke to today, a lot is down to personal preference with owners. I've read different things concerning certain subjects with Greys. Each owner knows their bird better than anyone else.

I need to use aloe vera juice with Tui and I'd been told to put five parts water, one part aloe vera. I didn't realise you could put 100% juice straight onto the bird. Thank you for the post, Dave! Very informative.

Right, here's a rundown of everything which has happened concerning Tui. Firstly, we took her to the vets on Monday. Personally I didn't like the man and could have throttled him when he grabbed her and she began screaming the place down. Nearly made me cry. He sat with me and my fiancee for about an hour going through everything with us as in her history and what we do with her day to day. He can't pinpoint an exact problem but gave us some special vitamin supplements to give with her food and gave us a help sheet on plucking. It goes though the medical, environmental and psychological aspects of plucking. So far I've made sure she only eats fruit, veg and beans, sprouts, lentils, etc. I'm trying to wean her off sunflower seeds and peanuts; the vet said that she seems to have taken a liking to peanuts in particular (even I knew that. I've seen her with the things) and she won't eat anything else. Tui will actually throw her food out the dish and in the past has only eat peanuts and left everything else. This may be one problem. The vet has also given me a pot to scoop her poo into to get tested for different diseases, although I don't think he was too worried about this being the case with Tui, but would prefer it be ruled out as a precaution. He also asked me about Tui's documentation when I brought her; well, it was actually my mom and dad who picked her up for me from the pet shop while I was at work. No documentation was ever given to them for Tui which the vet saw as unusual as most pet shops screen their birds for diseases. So, onto phase two. I rang the pet shop today asking if their birds have any documentation. I'd assume they'd have records of Tui from her ring number (which is 212 JW) I spoke with the manager and she said the breeder who sells their birds to this shop does not have any documentation for the birds at all. But the lady on the phone was very kind and gave me lots of information including spray her with aloe vera as it could be her first molt and she's reacting badly to it. I'm spraying Tui every day and showered her today, but it scares her at the moment. She obviously knows something is up and doesn't like being sprayed/showered. I'm going out tomorrow to buy some aloe vera juice for her as I was a little worried about buying it because I wasn't sure which specific places sold the 100% juice. I didn't want to spray Tui with stuff that had anything else added. She also recommended lots of red fruit and vegetables and has said if I want to go and speak to her anytime I can. So I'm going down Saturday with my dad to speak with this lady. She owns a grey too who plucks so she gave me a lot of tips over the phone. I'm personally swaying more to the idea now that Tui is going through her first molt. I've read up on it and I know it's uncomfortable for a lot of greys when they have their first molt. All I can do at the moment is try and get to this problem from every angle. Me and my fiancee have even been spending more time with her than usual, and thankfully at the moment, she seems to have slowed down on the plucking. I keep her cage bottom clean (cleaning it more than usual) so I can check for any new feathers which appear and obviously to keep her clean too. As for what you said Tim about being a 'she', I've never received anything saying that Tui is male or female and the pet shop assistant even told my parents that it doesn't matter if you aren't breeding. I would like to know if 'she' is indeed male or female, but I can't very well call Tui 'it'. That's just an awful thing to do so I, at the moment, call Tui a she. I've been looking up for different ways to get her DNA tested as personally I felt what the vet was asking for was a ridiclulous price. At the moment I'm also out of work and haven't got all that much in my savings so I'm concentrating solely on her health first and the sexing will come later when she is no longer plucking. One thing I did mean to ask, when putting aloe vera juice with water, is it half and half or five times more water? I was told five times more water by the lady I spoke to today, yet I was looking around and I saw somewhere that it's half and half.

I showed my bird a mirror and she was very cautious of it so I personally haven't put one in her cage as I don't want to upset her. But it's down to the personality of the bird.