Casey Luria

It seems like it is in response to a moment of bonding and not just a behavior, that is why I was so surprised. I will remember to be impressed and thankful. Thanks

Hi, I am surprised to see my baby Grey, Quinn, 9 months regurgitating for me. I thought that was mating behavior and Quinn is still a baby. This is my first Grey baby and he is a sweetie! He eats all his veggies,a few fruits, and none of the treat foods or nuts I have offered him. I want to find some thing small that I can reward him with. He is becoming quite a character, I have high hopes for him. He has learned a lot of the animal sounds I have taught him. He knows a couple of phrases and makes a lot of noise He is more sure of himself and willing to sit on my shoulder. He likes the UTube Grey parrot videos. He loves toys and up until recently had no fear. Lately he can be a little afraid of them at first. He like to forage from the small commercial treat cups etc. By in large he is a pretty laid back little guy and even lets other people handle him. When do CAG mature and what month is mating season?

Quinn has spoken, he now says Meow. Admittedly it is an easy one, more of a sound than a word but he is pretty pleased with himself. He also does the wolf whistle, and OH. He always announces my comings and goings with a sound and starts the morning with his rendition of the Amazon's horrible screetch. This is before he has been uncovered and the day has begun. I think he is saying time to get going, he is ready to start his day. He was hatched 3/13, so he is on his way to joining the crowd. I have a feeling he will be saying a lot soon.

Quinn has been checked out and is fine. He has a new clip and it seems to have helped. He is busy learning easy words and sounds. Unfortunately he has picked up the sound my amazon makes when he wants attention and makes this sound before i uncover him and feed him in the morning. Do you think he is telling me something? Thanks for all the responses to my worrying, glad it has turned out that i am the one with a problem.

I am concerned about Quinn. I know that Greys have a reputation for being clumsy but I have lived with two other Greys and they were never that clumsy. I am worried that Quinn may have a problem either with his eyes or neurologically. He falls a lot, and seems to feel his way around the cage and other places. I am pretty sure that he has at least some vision. Just the fact that he wants to peer out from his cover in the morning. If he wasn't seeing anything I doubt he would do that. Quinn seems normal in other respects. He was hachted 3/13, and he is now copying sounds that I have taught him. He never takes a treat out of my hand, maybe he doesn't see it? Anyone else have this problem with clumsiness? I would love some feedback on this. He has been like this since I got him and I think that the breeder must have known there was a problem, I noticed it but he was young and I thought maybe that was why he was like that. He knows his cage and does better there. I put a lot of perches in the cage so that he could grab on to something on the way down and that has helped. He was long clipped when I got him and I am thinking of shortening the clip. When he flys he usually doesn't land on anything and doesn't have a nice landing. I think it might be better if he did not fly at all. Feedback would be very welcome.

Please keep posting what Marcus is doing, I am certainly enjoying his antics and I am sure everyone else is too. My Quinn has gotten to the whistle and sound stage and is imitating the sounds I am trying to teach him. He is picking them up fairly quickly and using them to announce my comings and goings. I can't wait for words which I suspect will be coming soon. He was hatched 3/13, he might be a little early even.

I have never had a parrot at this stage of development and I am really enjoying it. He is at the moment innocent and curious and enjoying all his toys the eating like a horse. He is beginning to want to be with me and snuggle a bit. It took a while for him to warm up so I am thrilled that he has. My experience has been trying to make friends with Greys that have already accepted someone else as their flock member. Quinn is going to be my bird. I am looking forward to all the good things I know he will do. I do think he will talk fairly early. I have a really good track record when it comes to teaching parrots to talk. I only had one cockatiel that didn't talk. I think Quinn is pretty bright and can't wait to have him really relate to me.

I think Quinn is starting to learn to talk. I am not sure of the process. He has imitated the sound of a kiss and just started to get the wolf whistle. He is 7 mos old. He announces all my comings and goings and has sounds that he uses a lot. I know he likes the sound of the microwave and thought that would be first. Is this the first stage prior to talking? Does the talking follow fairly soon after?

I am dealing with this problem too. I have a small two yr old Shih Poo who is definitely not a hunting dog but very playful. I think he just wants to play with this grey thing when it flutters to the floor. The Amazon is less likely to be on the floor. Anyway, even though I doubt that Jake would eat the bird I am sure he wants to play with him and could hurt him doing this. I have the dog crate trained and keep him in that crate if I am not around. I make sure the dog is with me, he usually is anyway, even when I go to the bathroom. Jake also wants to eat anything the parrots let fall to the floor which all of you know is a lot. It is making the dog sick when he gets too many pellets etc. This is something I am having a lot of trouble enforcing since I believe in positive reinforcement. Any suggestions? For now, I just keep the birds and the dog apart and hope that Jake will become less interested in time.

I love it!

I did find one and was reassured by the company that it had no teflon. It is a Cuisinart, but I never liked the cooker very much. It sprayed rice water around the outside of it. I suppose you could put it in something to catch all that. I finally stopped using it. You can also cook rice in one of those small sized Croc pots. Works great for brown rice but you have to time it so that it doesn't end up mushy. I use it to make brown rice for the birds. Casey

I love having this forum and being able to share our love of parrots, Greys in particular. I find that people who don't have one of these amazing birds just look at you when you start to tell them something and silently think, here goes another bird story. Here there is a willing audience and the chance to read about what the other Greys are doing. My baby, Quinn, just 5 months old is now starting to experiment with sounds, no words yet, somehow I think that may be soon. He is like a small child realizing he has a voice and can babble using what he hears around him. This is exciting as I have never had a baby Grey before.This morning was the first time he respond to hearing me move around just after getting up. He is usually silent but started making some of the sounds he was making last night. I can't wait until I can join you all with stories of my own. Quinn now accepts me as a member of his flock and just loves being right near me on his tree to watch what I am doing, especially in the kitchen. There is so much to look forward to with him. Casey

I can't remember off hand, but think it was one of those site like Birds just wanna Have Fun where you can get toy parts. Check on Ebay too. Casey

Actually, I want large amounts and I have found one on Ebay that will give you 40 blocks at a time in each shape and up to 400 beads. We will see, but I think this is a good deal. Pretty much have to make my own, the bird demolish them so quickly. Thanks for the response though. Casey

I think all of us would like to know where you got the wooden beads. Would also like to know if someone has a good source for uncolored soft pine shapes.

I just got that crinkled shredded paper in bright orange. I am using it in a small packet with holes in it so that the crinkles can be pulled through and the packet will hold a treat or toy. Scooter tried it out tonight and did exactly what I thought he would. Will photograph it. I got all the supplies at an online paper store the Paper Mart. The packets are a thin natural brown corrugated cardboard and I got paper ribbon in bright turquoise to make it look inviting. I am loading up on supplies so that I can make a bunch of toys. Will post photos if they are successful. Saw one the other day usuaing coffee filters, need to try that one. If you peruse the different toy sites you can get good ideas. Ebay has a lot of bulk parts so it is cheaper. Casey

Scooter really likes his Cargo Net, it took a year but he finally accepted it. Quinn is slowly getting the idea that toys are ok. He seems to enjoy chewing. Got one with a lot of hanging thin colored square blocks and he has worked hard on that one. Got another, and now have replacement animals, that has thin plastic animals hanging all over it. First the feet were gone on all of them, now the legs, soon the bodies. It has been a co=perative effort for both parrots. Casey

Neat! You can get the large cardboard tubes at places that sell rugs, then saw them down to size. Would like to see more of that amazing arrangement, looks like they are having fun. Casey

I had the Amazon first and he is adjusting to Quinn quite well. Quinn is watching everything that goes on between Scooter and I. Since Amazons are less shy about new things, I let Quinn see him do it first. Today Quinn watched him take a shower babbeling happily, while he got drenched, me too, I had to stand too close with the door open so that Quinn could see Scooter. I am hoping that Quinn will be willing to try soon. Amazons are a completely different experience, less cerebral, more happy go lucky. Scooter doesn't sing much but hums along to a song he likes and whistles too. After his shower he went through his whole repitoire, including my favorite, the old lady on the telephone. He came, a rescue bird, with that one. He doesn't do it as often. Scooter is a Dbl Yellow Head and they do more singing that the others. He truly loves music and the shop vac. Casey

I just got my feathered friends two Manzanita tree perches and they love them. I got lucky and the Happy Parrot, in Prescott Valley, AZ, sells them. A guy makes them for $124.00 that size and a bigger one for Macaws for about 10 dollars more. They have been a favorite with my FIDS. Casey

Come to think of it Quinn has not decorated me. A Conure I had years ago was so regular in the morning that I would just hold him over a waste basket and tell him to do it. It got so that he would do it on command or strain to try and please me. I raised that little guy, always regretted I had to leave him where he was hatched in Mexico. He talked better than most larger parrots.. Casey

I hope this means there are even better things to come. Today Quinn chose to hop from his Manzanita Tree to my shoulder when I had my back turned to him. It has seemed like he is warming up to me during the last couple of days. I have been spending a lot of time with Scooter, my Amazon, in front of Quinn so that he can see that Scooter likes to eat from my hand, regurgitates for me and generally adores me. I am assuming that this has helped Quinn trust me. I was beginning to think that I had no business with African Greys. Our rescue bird kept her distance, except to take treats from me for the two years I spent with her. My husband was her human. The bird before who had a tragic accident preferred my husband too. Now I don't have the husband and was hoping to have a Grey that liked me. I guess it just takes a while, even if they are babies. I have a question too, are the young ones a bit clumsy? Quinn can manage to fly a little, they gave him a long clip at the breeders, and he does well at that but is pretty unbalanced elsewhere. He was hatched on 3/18. The bird I raised seemed to manage a lot better at this stage. He is fine on his rope swing, it is wide and doesn't he doesn't slip on it. I also thought that part of why Quinn now trusts me more is that every time he flies to the floor, and that is frequently, my new dog runs right up to him. So far Jake has stopped when I have told him to and I pick up Quinn and put him back up on his cage. The dog won't let me out of his sight, so I am always there when this happens. Perhaps Quinn knows he is being saved even though he doesn't seem particularly afraid of the the dog. i think that the dog is curious more than anything else. this is a small Shih Poo. I still don't leave him in the room with them if I am not going to be there, even for a few minutes. I would love to know if there are things I can do with Quinn to help him bond with me other than talking to him and trying to feed him treats, he doesn't really want anything from my hand, though he did this morning when I handed something to Scooter who did want it. I have never started from the beginning before and thought it would be faster than it has been. I do think I am making progress now, should I expect to go three steps backward? Casey

There are certain things that Parrots do which are funny and annoying too. I thought it would be fun to start something and everyone can tell their tale. FIRST, PLEASE TELL ME WHY, NO MATTER WHAT THE PARROT IS SITTING ON OR WHERE THE NEWSPAPERS ARE PLACED THE BIRD ALWAYS MANAGES TO MISS AND GET THE POOP ON THE FLOOR?

We had a rough beginning, at least I thought a hunger strike for three days was too much. He had a vet appointment anyway so we went and he was deemed healthy. The doc gave him a vitamin and probiotic shot to get him eating and by that evening he was eating well and has been ever since. He now does a chirp, I am not sure if it is a Grey sound or one he has picked up but it is directed at me. He greets me and steps up very nicely and even acts like he wants to stay with me sometimes. I couldn't be happier. I ended up getting a dog from the shelter, not part of the plan, but it turned out to be the perfect dog. The dog is a Shih Tzu so it is small and really sweet. Follows me everywhere, the parrots don't interest him as much as I do. The Amazon got to meet him face to face today and started to touch the dogs nose with his beak. Scared the dog so I am not worried about that one. Quinn seems unimpressed with the dog, we will see how that develops. I think Quinn is starting to pick up some sounds or had them. He does a clicking sound and the chirp.

I did write another post with recent info but it seems to have gotten lost. We had a rough beginning with a three day hunger strike. Quinn already had a vet appt so we got him taken care of. He got a shot to get his tummy going. It worked, I left him with the people who sold him to me, I was afraid to take him back and have him not eat. The shot worked and being in a familiar environment with lots of birds and handlers who knew what they were doing. I got to pick him up two days later. I got a bird DVD with a lot of noisy parrots on it and played that most of the day. Quinn has been eating ever since. He now greets me with a chirping sound. I don't know if this is something he copied or it is his own voice. The Greys I have known spoke human and, sounds, and I never heard anything natural except for the cackle when they didn't want to be picked up. Quinn has always been good about being picked up. He is relaxing more with me and sometimes prefers to stay on me rather than go back to his cage. I use a small cuisineart to chop up a variety of veggies and fruit and add so e goodies like a little shredded cheese, brown rice, and nuts. Both the parrots have been scarfing it up. I freeze the excess, so I have back up meals. Quinn wasn't weaned onto pellets but is eating them all the time. Ihave just gotten new dog from the shelter, the timing isn't perfect but the dog is. It is a small dog who is interested in the parrots but not obsessed with them the way some of the dogs we tried out. TheAmazon met Jake today and wanted to check out the dogs nose with his beak, the dog was afraid. Quinn doesn't seem to care about the dog at all. I think they are all going to get along. The dog follows me everywhere so iknow where and what he is up to. I think all is going well and Quinn even seems to be making some sounds, he will be calling the dog soon.