JeffNOK

Great pix of Chickie. Gracie loves her spray baths. She doesn't do sweet and cuddly, but she sure looks cute all wet and bedraggled.

Gracie just air dries. I make sure the condo is warm and after 30 minutes or so Gracie is back to normal.

lol--I'm not scared yet.....I think I'm excited that with a grey's intelligence we will be able to bond in a deep way.

It's great to read your posts. I can relate to your feelings. I have had my Gracie home just 2 months, so I remember well those days of anticipation. As far as flying--the first month I had Gracie home she had quite a few crash landings! Just be on hand to offer your little boy a safe rescue and he will gain confidence. As for that cheeky jerk who tried to steal Archimedes out from under you--well I'm glad you have a breeder with integrity and I feel uneasy about his fitness to be a parront. Keep us all posted.

She definately has a strong sense of herself. I am beginning to see that as a blessing, though. I think she is happy and confident.

She is very loved. As for her going in through the open door--well it was getting close to "night night" time and Gracie hates bed time and was worried I might lock her in if she went inside her cage. So I think she was quite crafty in getting her food without risking incarceration!

I echo the advice above concerning letting him out. Unless he can't be supervised, I don't see why he would need to stay in his cage. If I am home and awake, Gracie has the choice of being in or out of her cage. As for covering the cage to discourage behaviour, I would not recommend that. Covering a cage can make a parrot feel isolated from their flock, and I recently read an article that indicated that this increases unwanted behaviors such as feather plucking. A happy bird is one that is fully engaged with its family.

kins: no other pets.

Here is a video of Gracie opening up and pulling out her foodbowl. I'm sorry that my voice is in the background, but I was on the phone with someone when I saw Gracie going for foodbowl door and I didn't want to be rude to the person I was chatting with. Enjoy! http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee371/JeffNOK/?action=view&current=Houdini001.mp4

Best wishes and blessing on your new addition. The advice above sounds great. Hopefully your new baby and your feathered baby will become lifelong friends.

When do you bring him home?

LOL--I will check my ebay account first and see if there are any parrot toy orders on their way!

Yes I agree with all comments regarding open mouths. My kisses are all closed mouth and on the top of her beak. I hope that's ok because that is the only touching she seems to enjoy.

Scarlet is gorgeous! From the picture I am guessing she is a Lilac Crowned Amazon. I only got my Grey 2 months ago, but in the future I have thought about maybe getting a Lilac Crowned Amazon as well. Does anyone here know much about them? Please keep us posted on her. I am eager to know how things go.

Good luck with your search. You are already experienced with parrots so I know you are ahead of the game. I can only say that my life with Gracie is a joy and I am sure yours will be as well with your new CAG/TAG. Keep us all posted.

Love the pics. Before getting a grey I considered getting a parrotlet. How is your relationship with the little one? Does he/she get along with the "Big Birds"?

You know, one of the difficulties with communicating through a forum such as this, is that lacking face to face communication , we often leave room open for misunderstanding. What some people see as humor, others may not recognize and feel hurt. This is especially true for newcomers who may not know the personalities of the contributors to this forum. I am very impressed with the maturity and diplomacy expressed here on grey forums. This is unique in the virtual world, and I am so glad to be a member here. By and large we all seem to be here for the right reasons and respect is the order of the day. Let us continue to be diligent in this regard. So much good is done here, and I have no doubt that many Grey lives are enriched because of it.

How cute! Marcus seemed so pleased with his "bad self"! I might try to MacGyver a similar toy. Gracie loves to bang and clang her toys. It seems to make her feel powerful. She loves beating things into submission--lol. Great video. Thanks for posting.

Sunday will mark two months with Gracie. I just wanted to say that I am sooooo happy. We are really bonding. Now, she is still not a cuddle bug--probably never will be. But there has been such a growth in trust. She watches my every move and really seems to love me (before I worried she was indifferent). She never nips or bites anymore. Perhaps I am reading her body language and respecting her wishes and giving her more choices. The bottom line at this point is that I feel like we are a team and we are co-habitating quite well. I think in a few weeks I will start to take her to work with me and see how that goes. Anyway, I am beginning to experience the joys of parronthood, and it is just greyt! Aren't our greys just the most precious adorable little feathered friends? I'm so glad I chose to make Gracie mine.

As I said, I've never seen evidence that she has crawled out, but she certainly could if so desired.

Last week I came home from work and found that the door containing Gracie's water dish was unlatched and opened up outside the cage. I thought to myself, "How careless of me. I forgot to close and latch the water bowl door. Hmmm...". Well I have since discovered, that Gracie is quite adept at opening all the doors on her cage except the main door which has a spring lock and metal shingle block at the top. Now maybe I'm an overly impressed proud daddy, but I was quite surprised that she figured these latches out so easily. It requires pushing up the handle vertically, sliding it over horizontally, and then pushing / or pulling (depending on whether she is inside or outside the cage) the doors open. When she is outside of her cage and wants to eat some of her pellets, she just unlocks the door, pulls it open, perches on the side and tucks in! She is doing that at this moment as I write ! Thankfully, she doesn't do this to escape. I have never found her outside the cage when I get home. If this happens, I suppose I will have to do something about it. I'm just in awe at her mental agility. She is only six months old. I'm worried about what may await me when she is fully developed cognitively. This may be typical and the norm, but I am convinced Gracie is "gifted"--LOL

I'm very happy to hear that this was a sign of affection. I have noticed more and more connection as the weeks have gone by. Things are moving slowly but in the right direction!

Getting Gracie was my motivation to quit smoking. I haven't lit up since she came home! Halelujah! We are both better for it. Since she is likely to live fifty years, I want to be around for as much of that as possible.

Gracie is in my former dining area just feet from my living room. It is carpeted. Despite that, Gracie only poops while in/on her cage or on her playstands which have papers below. Mess has been little problem. As she gets more adventurous and goes to other places I may have issues, but so far it's been a blessing in the cleaning department.

Well I can try to post a vid--she tends to get shy and distracted in front of cameras though--so we'll see.