Shades Of Grey

My cage is the same size as the one you mentioned. It has a play area on top as well. Tui came with this cage and he seems to like it very much! You would be surprised how big the cage is when you get it set up. I couldn't imagine having a cage that is any bigger in my living room lol.

I think I need to buy a case of crazy glue to keep Tui on his cage LOL..JOKING of course . Tui has a new game of "find me if you can and watch me run away". Ever since Tui's wings have started to grow back in we finally got to remove the duvet blankets that covered our floors to catch his falls. It looked just lovely in my living room with poop and newspaper covered blankets everywhere LMAO :rolleyes:. Now that the blankets are gone, Tui has decided he likes our floors very much and he is now a dog, not a bird. Every time I get comfortable to work at my laptop or I go to the kitchen, Tui quietly sneaks off his cage and gets into everything. The little fart chewed up my fake poinsettia Christmas decorations one day. I knew it was too quiet. I walked into the living room and there he was looking at me innocently with a pile of my new decorations chewed up at his feet LOL. Good thing I know better to not buy real poinsettias! Last night he was hiding on the stairwell watching me look everywhere for him. I went to step him up and he took off running haha. It is really cute except its getting a little frustrating because my kids can't sit on the couch when he is out now. If anyone is on the couch or floor he comes down. He is nippy with the kids so I don't allow him to sit with them just yet. If I lock him up he goes to the bottom of the cage and does the chicken scratch LOL. Some days its hard because I have to keep him locked up when I am busy. He gets in a mood where he just won't stay on his cage. He is still afraid of all play stands but we did have a breakthrough and he sat on the back of a kitchen chair for about two minutes then he was bored and ready to take off :rolleyes:. Are your greys super active where they won't sit on a perch and be calm? Tui is only 3 1/2 and he has to stay busy constantly. There is no sitting still for this guy! It's hard to keep him occupied sometimes. Just now, Tui was on the floor and my husband walked over and told him to get back up on his cage..and he listened! He walked right back up. It was soo cute. Time to go find a new activity for him to destroy in 30 seconds LOL. Anyway I just wanted to share the quirky story and ask where I can get some super glue at a discount LOL

Happy belated hatch day Isaac! He is one very lucky fid to have such a great parront

I had this dilemma when I first got my rehomed grey. You can try leaving the travel cage where he can see it for a bit, and leave treats into it. If he won't go into the cage on his own, perhaps you can use a perch, this is what I did. Try to find a perch that he will step up onto. I have a firm cotton perch that I bend in half and I use it to step Tui up if I think he may bite. If you can get your grey onto a hand held perch that is small enough, you can quickly place him into the cage and just set the perch down on the cage floor and quickly close the door. It's a last resort but it would be less stressful than toweling him. Don't forget to bring the perch with you so you can get him back into the cage after the appointment.

It's funny because we make the biggest fuss over food around Tui. I even eat some of his cooked bean mix with him, and I hate cooked dried beans :rolleyes:. I think the problem with Tui is that he wants to eat with the flock but he is such a big grey chicken that we can't get him to sit with us. I see that the best answer for all of his quirky behavior is to give it more time. This is not my favorite thing lol, but I will continue to have patience and wait things out.

I would love to take Tui to a park but there is no way I will ever get a harness on my stubborn baby lol. I have seen people bring animals into Wal-mart before, despite the no pet rule. People have puppies and even kittens in carts occasionally. It's like they think the rules don't apply to them just because their animal is cute. The sign says, "no pets", not "no pets, unless they are cute" LOL. I think its disrespectful because some people, like myself have very severe allergies to cats. I wouldn't ever recommend bringing any pet into a store like wal-mart. With pet stores, it really depends on your bird and how well you trust the store. Ziggy has a harness and can travel with us. I wouldn't bring him into Petsmart because of risk of disease, but we do take him to a great little bird store down the road. I know the lady and all of her birds have to pass full vet checks before they come into her store. I feel comfortable taking Ziggy for an outing there because he doesn't spook easily. Tui, on the other hand would become very frightened so we don't even try to take him out.

That's just adorable I have to be so careful when I talk on the phone now. Tui listens intently and sometimes I catch him repeating whole sentences of a previous conversation. He has the ring, beep of the buttons, and my greeting down perfectly lol. I was talking to my mom about what I got my children for Christmas this year, I hope Tui doesn't tell! LOL

I was wondering where everyone had left to. The other forum you mentioned just doesn't feel the same anymore. I think I may stick around this new one for awhile Thanks for the link!

I will vote. I noticed that the forum you linked to has some great info. I recognize a lot of members that have "migrated" lol from another forum I used to enjoy. I will check this one out

I wonder if you have a meal time routine for your grey and if you have any ideas on how I can get Tui to eat more of a variety of foods? In his previous home he ate pellets, seeds, peanuts, apples and the occasional vegetable. It wasn't a horrible diet compared to some rescued greys but there is definite room for improvement! I offer him cooked foods and fresh foods every day but he only shows minimal interest by picking at a bite or two off his plate. Every morning I offer homemade bird bread with palm oil and a dab of peanut butter for enticement. He eats a couple bites then the rest goes to waste. His vegetable plate usually sits around untouched and at dinner I give him either his cooked bean veg mix or a bit of what we are having. Again, he only picks at it for a second and goes to do something else. When I first got him, he loved apples and seemed more willing to try a bit of new foods. Now, he doesn't eat apples anymore (not that apples are all that important for greys, but it is an example ) and its like he is bored of human foods and he is happy to eat his pellet mix. The only exception to this is the occasional peanut treat or a dab of my cool whip. He will jump through hoops to get these foods and he eats the whole thing lol. Oddly, if I hold his plate, he seems to eat more dinner, but the second I leave him with his dish, he is off doing something else. Since Tui is afraid of the dining room, he can't eat dinner with us. I put his plate on his cage top and he eats there. I am also hesitant to take away his dry mix for any length of time to see if he will eat more, because he was slightly under weight when we got him and I don't want to leave him without food at all. I wonder if there is something else I can do to get him eating more of a variety of foods?

Sorry, I would be so heartbroken if this happened to me, but OMG, I laughed so hard at the way you wrote the post...too funny! I hope Paco comes back around soon.

Quivering without panting is usually a sign of excitement. If she is only quivering her chest, she is excited. If she is quivering her whole body, more than likely she is frightened. Tui loves to stand at the window and as soon as I take him here, he quivers his chest. When he does this, I know he is a happy fid

Thanks again for all the tips. I think I might look for a new nail perch. The cement perch we have actually has varied sizes, its an odd shape for foot comfort but it is not trimming his nails enough. He likes to use it to file his beak though. I saw a nice perch made of bamboo for about $30. It had nail filing grit on the sides. I am hesitant to buy it though because I have a feeling it will get chewed quickly or the grit will wear away within a short time. I am happy to announce that I cut Tui's nails myself two nights ago. My husband and I finally worked up the courage to towel him and get the job done. It was a little rough at first with a couple misses before we actually got him restrained properly but Tui forgave us and the nail trimming went quickly without issue. The didn't even scream, just struggled a bit. My husband was surprised how strong he was! We were careful not to put any pressure on his chest Thanks again for all the help. I am glad that we know how to towel him now, it wasn't so bad but its not something I would want to do every day lol.

LMAO at the grey curse word. I can think of a few choice things that Tui might be saying

This thread is too funny LMAO. Cute pics

Thanks everyone Tui is quite the character. Its hard to believe we have only had him for three months. He is doing pretty well, other than a bit of a sassy attitude LOL.

I was playing with Tui last night and he was preforming his favorite trick LOL. He LOVES to swing upside down on my hand. My husband got out the camera and Tui decided to show off by laying on his back for us. Here are the pictures of Tui in all his dusty glory Rabbit ears LOL His favorite trick The grand finale Note to self: get a lighter couch that doesn't show so much parrot dust LOL.

My husband knows that sound! Tui just nailed him last night but the stinker didn't make that sound until AFTER the bite. He bites then gives his warning. Glad Harvey is more polite with his warning LOL.

Now I don't feel so bad about my bird toy graveyard LOL. I thought Tui, AKA The Big Grey Chicken, was just being..well being Tui I guess. I see that you all have duds in your toy chest as well. I have a drawer full of things that Tui is afraid of and Ziggy the conure couldn't care less about. One of the toys is a $30 lima wood and coconut toy. Maybe I should decorate our tree with these as well A little tinsel on the top and it could look quite festive

Thanks, I will try fussing with his toes for a bit and see if we can get anything accomplished that way first . Tui doesn't mind his toes being touched too much but he is still a little on the nippy side as we have only had him a couple months and we are building trust. I tried clipping a nail through the cage bar the other day when he wasn't paying attention. I got one done but then he tried to bite my finger afterward and wouldn't offer his foot again, little stinker lol. Tui has a bit of an attitude :rolleyes:. If I offer him a treat but he wants to step up instead, he will throw the treat and grab my finger to try to get to me. When I walk away he will find the treat, eat it and pout. Sounds like one of my children LOL.

I am not an expert in this area but the best advice I can give is to continue to completely ignore him when he is screaming. Even if this means not walking in the room while he is doing it. He is continuing to scream because there is a payoff in him doing it, such as your attention. We had to do this with our conure for quite awhile before he got the message that his screaming would not bring him anything good. Try to never approach your grey when he screams and don't even offer eye contact if possible. As soon as he is quiet, go to him and make a big fuss and offer a treat. Greys are very intelligent. I imagine he will catch on fairly quickly

LOL, got it. Thanks P.S what do you recommend for clippers?

It is a little steep isn't it. She said it included nails, wings and beak if needed but I only need his nails done. I think my husband will hold him for me. My only concern is that he may hold a grudge against us if we towel him. I know he screamed blood murder when the vet toweled him before, poor baby. I wonder if I should cover his eyes with the towel someone or if that would make it worse.

I thought I would poll everyone and see what your preferred method to trim your grey's nails is? Do you do it or do you hire someone? Tui needs his nails trimmed as it is painful when I hold him on my hand and he throws himself down and swings, what a ham LOL. He has a cement perch in his cage but it is not working for him very well. I don't have an avian vet in the area and the only groomer that is available charges $50 with no exceptions. I am wondering if it is worth it to pay the $50 because it seems a little pricey, or if there is a way to trim them at home. I do my conure's nails with a small pair of human clippers. Tui would need to be toweled to have them clipped and I have never toweled him before but I should probably try so I am comfortable doing it in an emergency. Anyway, what do you use to clip your grey's nails and can you offer any tips besides having styptic powder and avoiding the quick

Aww, how cute. Well..I don't have any free time in the evening anymore and I clean more bird poop and messes than I ever thought possible LOL, but I love every minute of it. Tui has really changed our lives as well. I wanted a grey for so long but I didn't fully understand what life would be like. These last few months, I think I have worried, laughed and loved as much as I did when we brought our children home as newborns. Life will never be the same, but in a good way.