Ray P

My grey Corky never said her first until she was 25 months old. Now she won`t stop.

Hi and welcome to you and Bogart to the grey forum. Take the time to let him settle in to his new home. Talk to him, give him treats and just be there for him with a kind word and a gentle touch.

That sounds great that he is doing well.

IMO if you add another grey than add another cage. They may enjoy each other from a far in the same room each in their own cage. They will enjoy communicating back and forth from their own safe place. Every one is safe that way.

Necessity, the mother of invention.

It`s called the HAY TAXI SYNDROME as they learn very quickly how to make you come and get them when they don`t want to fly. My Amazon was that way. She would be walking on the floor and when she wanted up she would walk over to me and look at me with those big eyes and I would give her a lift to where she wanted to go.

Take the time and spend it on building a relationship. Sit with her and talk to her, and some times read a book and just be around her. I have a CAG that just loves being around People and has a very strong bond with me, my wife, son and some of our friend who come around often. Treat them like they are your kid. We have traveled a lot and Corky always has gone with us, in fact she has been in 25 of our 50 states. CAGs and TAGs are both great companions.

After years of losing her eggs to other wild critters she has won a battle and saved some. The father (Petee Peacock) is strutting around the pen while mom (Hanna Peahen) is happy sitting in the nest. Can`t wait to see them hatch.

Hi Kylie, Gizmo and hubby and welcome to the grey forum. You have just started on a great adventure that will enrich your life beyond any of your dreams. Hop on and enjoy the ride.

Your right it dose

All parrots speak in body language to some degree, but it`s the Amazon that they say speak it best. The trouble is when people speak of amazon body language they talk about the raised neck feathers, the pinned eyes and the dreaded fanned tail feathers that mean, back off or I will take a big chunk out of you and send it to your relatives. Well you better back off because they mean what they say. This is what I believed about Amazons before Cricket, and that you had to be a very skilful in Amazon behavior in order to get by this little kink in their DNA. You can not boss an Amazon as this makes it worse, You can not fear an Amazon because this puts them in control and their body language will show you this in no uncertain terms. As I would sit by her cage and sometimes I would talk to her and sometimes I would just sit there. There were times I would eat my carrot chunks. She seam to know I was confident in what I was doing and it was her that made the first move when she put her foot through the bars for me to give her a carrot and the time she put her beak between the bars and gently took a carrot from between my fingers, well that was Amazon body language of the best kind. Being able to read the gentle request is just as important as knowing when they want you to stop. The more you learn how to read the good stuff, the less you will see the bad stuff. This comes between developing a relationship and building a bond. I guess you might call it respect.

Ahh that brings back memories of when my brat Corky was innocent.

What a great video !!

Hi Nicola and welcome to the grey forum to you and your family. I also had a loss on the 2ed of June, My beautiful Blue fronted Amazon Cricket, so I know and understand what you are going through. There are a great bunch of members here ready to share your life with any all of your family companions. Sorry for your loss of Shen and Missy. We love pictures and sharing our lives with all our critters.

Great video. When you are the reward and not food, that`s when you know the two of you are real companions.

You have to know what you are getting into when you take on parrots as companions in order for them and you to be happy. In my case I need my fids more than they need me, so I give them every ting I can to make them as happy as they make me. If you can`t fill their needs than don`t have them. Remember we took them out of the wild and put them in a cage, And they forgive us when you take the time to love them.

Deep down they know who to call.

There way of coming to your aid.

At 13 1/2 years old she still likes to be spoon fed.

Penny I have a resolution for you. Buy gluten free bagels for them and share theirs that you got for them.

That was funny.

OK Penny, you spent the money to turn your porch in to a bird room just for your fids. Now spend your money to make things better for all four of you. Sounds like a winner to me.

I am glad to hear that you have a background with birds and the technical support that you need. Some times we see a new person that never had parrots before try and hand feed their little one only to lose it later. We are hear to help all we can, but we are so far away in another country and we don`t know what you have for a support system in case you need something in a hurry. A hand feed baby makes a great companion.

Has your vet/breeder helped at all with information on how to take care of a baby. It`s a lot of work and there should be some one who knows about hand feeding and making hand feeding formula and temperature. You may have taken on a task much to large for a person with no parrot hand feeding experience. I wish you good luck and hope you can find someone that can help you.

I have given this thread a lot of thought and it was hard for me to look back at the many directions that this relationship could have gone. I would like to share all the little things that made our bond what it was. There was never one big thing that I can put my finger on, just a lot of little ones that made the big break through. At first when I was offered Cricket I said no because of all things I read. If I stuck to that no I would not be grieving her loss now. If I stuck to that no I would have missed what had become a loving companion. The first days she was in our home we moved her into a larger cage and in a month an even larger one. And changed her diet for a better one. Because I did not know anything about Amazons nor could I find much other than if you have no large parrot experience don`t get one. Lucky I had Croky my grey. Yep that's an another book !! Observation; Me, my wooden stool, Crickets cage and Cricket. Each time I came into the room where Cricket was I would sit by her on my stool. Some times I would talk to her and some times I would not say a word. I would talk to her in different tones of voice and that's when I noticed she would react very positively to a soft quiet voice. Some times I had cut up carrots that I would eat in front of her(I did not offer her any, just sat there and ate them. One day as I sat by her with my carrots she came over and put her foot through the bars and I put a carrot in her foot and she ate it. The next time she put her beak between the bars and gently took a carrot. I was not seeing this aggressive Amazon they were telling me about. My next thread will be about Amazon body language and how Cricket taught me how to read it and not miss read it.