Chris and Matt

Ooh, we haven't tried pine nuts. We'll give that a shot!

Thanks Inara! She's great with me, just not so keen on the hubs right now. I hung her boing up in the kitchen (away from dangerous objects) and she's been having fun hanging out with us in there. She was a little nervous this morning but after moving her back and forth a few times she was swinging and climbing all around by this evening. She picked up with me again right away but maybe she's associating female to female and she's just more comfortable because of that. The hubs is just getting frustrated and his feelings are hurt more than anything, I think. I'll encourage him to hang in there and keep on taking it slow, hopefully it'll help. He's been trying to offer her treats but she's never been a big fan of treats, anything that I've found anyways. She'll take a bite and drop it right away. Oh well, we'll keep on working on it and take it slow. Thanks for reaffirming things for me!

Hello all! Maggie has been settling back into our home pretty nicely, it's so nice to have her back! She whistles and clicks and pops and says all of her old familiar phrases. I hear new things pop up on a near daily basis. We have a problem though... My husband was always Maggie's favorite. I could hold her and care for her but he was the one she loved. She even threw up for him once! Well, it seems that Maggie is holding a grudge. She's pretty upset with him and has drawn blood more than once in the last few weeks. My husband is pretty bummed about the whole thing but I'm convinced that there must be a way to bring her back around. I couldn't think of a better group of folks to ask. So, any thoughts or ideas on the matter?

I nervously made the drive from Tucson to San Diego yesterday. I spent the night with a friend and picked Maggie and her cage up this morning. The woman who has been watching her for the last year shed a tear or two, I nearly did as well. Maggie was an excellent road trip companion and it wasn't long into the drive before I knew, without a doubt, that she remembered. I swear I drove all 6 hours with a smile on my face! I got her home and got her cage set up and she's been contently watching us for the last several hours. We're giving her some space and some time to get adjusted and talking to her just like we used to. I checked on her earlier and she let me scratch her head and everything. I need to clean her cage, replace her perches, get her new toys into her cage, etc, etc but it'll be a long, slow, drawn out process so she doesn't get too stressed. Her plucked patch seems to have healed up as well! So much good news all around. I'm so glad that she was SO loved while we were out of the country but I am so very happy to have her home to love on myself! Thank you everyone for the encouraging words and I'm looking forward to being active on the forums again (even if it was mostly lurking). I'm already itching to break out the toy supplies

Hello all! We got to see Maggie today!! She definitely recognized us from the start. As soon as we walked up to her cage she came running to the front and was excited. She let us both hold her and I even got some snuggles in. Eventually, she gave me a few GOOD bites and I let her retreat to her cage. She kept lunging towards my husband and he got close enough to get a few good bites. She was obviously a little overwhelmed with the whole situation and we kept our distance for a while and let her sit on her door and out of beak's reach. She didn't say a whole lot while we were there but she made a few familiar whistles and noises. She does have a patch on her belly that spreads under her right wing where she's been plucking but I'm hoping with some baths, humidity and some aloe juice we can get that healed up. Does anyone else have suggestions? I really can't wait to bring her home now. I think we'll hold off until July when we can get out there with our truck to get her with her cage and everything that comes with her. That seems so far away!

Thanks everyone! I'll have an update next week. So excited!

Exactly, it's about Maggie at this point. We've come to terms with the fact that we may need to leave her behind. It wouldn't be easy but it's always a possibility. Time will tell!

Thanks everyone! We're doing our best to keep realistic expectations. We'll definitely be taking things slow and doing our best to help her readjust. It was incredibly difficult to leave her behind and we knew there was no way we could make that a forever decision. We did wonder if that was a selfish decision on our part but I would like to think that it wasn't. Her caretaker for the last year and a half has pretty limited technological knowledge. We did get pictures once. I was concerned that she had a spot on her belly that she had been picking at but the spot never got bad. It just nice just to see pictures of our girl though. I've spent far too much time over the last year and a half looking at old pictures and videos I still have of her. I can't wait to have new memories, pictures, and videos to add! Our bird nanny has expressed repeatedly that she'll miss Maggie. I feel a bit guilty taking her away but the selfish feelings take over Maggie will love our new place in Tucson. We'll have to get an extra cage for outdoors on the patio when it's cool enough. She used to love to sit on our patio in San Diego but from what I've read there are lots of prey birds around Tucson and we wouldn't want to risk it!

I know no one would remember us, but man am I glad to be back! We moved out of the country about a year and a half ago and couldn't take our baby with us. Maggie Mae is about 4 years old now and is currently living with a woman in San Diego. She was recommended to us as a "bird lady" who takes in birds from deceased and otherwise put out friends. I can't even begin to describe how much I've missed our girl, especially with how much she would have loved it here. After nearly 2 years we're headed back to the states and we'll finally get to pick her up and bring her home. My fingers are crossed, so very crossed, that she'll remember us and she'll be OK with our return. She's gotten close to another grey in her current home but her living conditions aren't anywhere near what she had at home with us. At least, that's what I like to tell myself. We'll get to visit our girl next month when we're in San Diego and I think we'll get to bring her home in June or July. If I were to say I can't wait, that would be an understatement. I just had to share with everyone, since I figured at least someone here would be able to share in my excitement.

Maggie loves to taunt the dog, "Guinness.... Guinness! Come here! Go! Go lay down! Go away! Goooooooo!" She also calls the dog over, tosses food out of her cage so the dog will eat it, she'll climb down and hang off of her door and bite the dog. She's definitely a resourceful one.

Katana, you must be reading my mind because you took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn't have possibly said it better myself. I came here because I trust your input, and I definitely value everything you all have had to say. Thank you so much! Dave, I wasn't trying to be rude or argumentative or anything of that nature. I appreciate your input. And Katana, thank you so much for everything you've said and your offers for help.

Well, Maggie's well-being and happiness is definitely my major concern. That being said, a year is a drop in the pool or our feathered friend's (hopefully) long life. I think we also tend to underestimate the resiliency of our birds, much like our children. I would not be opposed to a sanctuary type situation, I'm open to all suggestions at this point. I'm really just trying to get an idea of the options available to us. There are many, many greys, even here on our board, who have come from horrible situations and turn out to be lovely birds. A young grey being moved between two loving situations in a year's time hardly strikes me as an abusive traumatic situation. But again, I'm still just mulling over ideas. The last thing we would want is to harm Mags in any way. The way she snuggles my husband, I'm pretty sure she'd remember us, even after a year apart!

I guess we've gotten quite lucky. We've had Mags for 2 years and cussing is at a moderate level in our house. She has yet to say anything inappropriate. *Fingers crossed!*

I'll start looking for some reputable rescue organizations as well. Thanks! I'm going to talk to the boarding facility here that took care of Maggie when we first moved here. They have ties with some of the parrot rescues and such around town. I think I'll ask around at the avian vet too.