greyturkey

Welcome and congratulations!

Thank you Dave007 that is exactly what i meant. She enjoys grapes but i am not interested in giving her grapes everyday. I tried the mash and she didnt touch it. I still have some from yesterday and attempted to give it to her again. She knocked the food dish onto the floor. So i'm assuming maybe she doesn't want anything to do with it. I am making chicken tonight so i will try a bone. Does it need to be a big one? I'm afraid shed choke.

I tried searching but for some reason the search option isn't working for me at the moment. I'm assuming this has already been covered elsewhere, but any advice would be helpful. I gave her a bit of Oatmeal this morning mixed in with her grapes and she loves it. Any advice would be helpful as pepper is not extremely fond of her food and most of it ends up in the bottom of her cage.

Pepper enjoys Roger Whittaker... Defiantly not my type of music! But she loves it, she dances, and whistles. When she is left alone at night and i am cooking supper she will whistle a complete song. She is a very smart girl!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I'll let you all know how it goes, but for right now she's starting to get a bit more comfortable with me.. she still doesnt trust me and doesnt want anything to do with my hands. She trusts my husband on the other hand.. and sits up by his head.. but during the day i am the only one here with her and she sings up a storm, whistles, and looks at me and the dogs and constantly says "hi bird" I play her songs for her during the day, and spend time with her but i do not let her come too close to me as i don't trust her fully yet and she also shows that she doesnt fully trust me. were working together though .. so sooner or later.

I have 2 basset hounds. One being 6 who was around my Amazon, and the other one is 2 she's a rescue dog so she's not used to birds as she was primarily used as a breeding dog and locked in a barn most of her life.

:confused: There are still somethings we need some help with and i know that i shouldn't expect any changes over night (and i dont expect any) .. but some of the things just don't make any sense to me.. For instance - She is a BIG bully. She'll taunt my dogs alot during the day when she is inside her cage playing with her toys and swinging on her swing. Now this behavior does not happen when she is out of the cage.. only when inside the cage (i think she feels safe and knows they cannot hurt her when she picks on them and of course they are the dumb ones who keep going back thinking she wants to play) She'll do a whistle and then say "Come here" they'll go to the cage and before i notice they're there she'll bite them on the nose. I try to discourage this behavior as i know she could do some serious damage to them. I tell her no, and she just laughs. I'm wondering how i can correct this as i don't want her or the dogs to be hurt. Also i have a VERY hard time with her when she comes out of the cage. She is extremely nosy and curious! She gets down off of the cage (the dogs are not in the room at this time) and she will wonder around the room, she will hide in areas that i didn't know she could fit in (i bird proofed my house before bringing her home) and i look for her.. once i find her she tries to bite me when i go to pick her up. I have even tried bribing her with her favorite fruit or a cracker. Of course, she will snatch the cracker or fruit from my hand and back up. She lunges at my hand and i think its possibly because she wasn't out enough at her previous owners? I am not exactly sure.. Tonight my husband had to come in the room and pick her up. Although she acted the same way towards him. She has a toy in her cage which she came with - and she is getting to the point where she is holding onto it with her mouth shaking it on the side of the cage.. It sometimes looks as if she's going to rip it right off of the side. She makes this loud & very long kissing noise...But then slams it back against the cage. I was told not to take it out, and when i tried to she got really upset. I was just going to wash it and then put it right back in. I know that were just starting out with her and that we should give her some more time to get used to us - we have alot of patience with her and talk to her alot, The only thing i dont understand is -- when i let her out of the cage, and try to give her her space... how do i pick her up when all she wants to do is attack our hands / perch. She's 20, so she is set in her own ways and thinks she can do what she wants. Any advice?

Thank you, and sorry about that.

WELCOME! I hope that you enjoy your stay here as much as i do - i just joined recently but i really enjoy this forum, alot of helpful information and wonderful people. You have a beautiful bunch of birds & congrats on making the magazine!

your spartan is ADORABLE!

Thank you

Hi DawL She's doing great, shes really opening up and swinging on her swing.

Thanks everyone! What is this BOING your talking about?

Thanks for the answers to my question. It's funny because @ 0:26 she lifts her leg for a minute and it reminds me of someone riding on a skateboard.. Hope you all have a wonderful day! Ashley.

I am uploading a video of my AG swinging on her swing. She does this for hours during the day, although it's only been lately that ive noticed her swinging herself. Just want to make sure it's normal behavior as sometimes she starts swinging quite fast and violently also she ignores me when shes swinging - its like shes in her own little world...haha, i'm completely fine with that... I notice that the fast / violent swinging is only when she's listening to her favorite music.. Which is not my taste in music, but whatever makes her happy Do you find this normal? am i just a paranoid mommy? I didn't know where else to upload the video and its my first time uploading one, so hopefully it works. NOTE: This is a cage that came with her - since then i have purchased a much larger cage for her, but she loves to hang out in her old one during the day. It's been her home for the last 20 years so i can understand why..Although i believe its too small for a AG to be homed in full time.. [video=youtube;i-qiiyLgyQM]

I would not suggest buying the bird training CD's, in my own opinion they are a total waste of money. Maybe some people recommend them, but i defiantly don't. I purchased an entire collection of the bird training CD's and i would sit in my living room on a daily basis with my Amazon trying to teach him the words off the CD. I would leave them on when i went out and eventually he started screaming as im sure the CD's became annoying! I found that just us talking to one another and talking to him pick up words. I cant speak from experience with an African Grey as i am a new mommy to a 20 year old grey who already had a vocabulary when i purchased her. I wish you the best of luck, but give your baby some time and eventually he'll learn!

Thank you all for your comments.

Thank you! Im looking into it as we speak.

She is eating what is in her food although i notice she picks alot of the stuff out and throws it to the bottom of her cage. I was thinking of adding to it to possibly give her more of an option so she doesn't throw everything down. She loves peanuts, and pieces of corn... is there ANYTHING i could add to improve her diet?

Ben, being a new AG owner i cant specifically answer from a grey point of view, although i can answer from my past experience with a amazon. Do you know any of her favorite treats? My amazon opened up to me when i gave him treats, or when i would let him out of the cage just to look outside and see the world. He slowly got used to being on my shoulder which then turned into a daily thing. It did take months, but the thing that mattered most to me was that it happened. I don't want to bash your mother one bit and in this next sentence i am not trying to do so at all so don't take it personally its just a question.. why would she keep a bird locked up if she couldn't be bothered with taking her out of the cage and allowing her the socialization she needed. I am glad your re homing the AG and i wish you all the best luck with her. I cannot stand seeing a bird always locked up, i have a friend who has a amazon who used to always be out of the cage and socialized, then she met her new boyfriend and she never takes him out of the cage. I go over there and try to socialize with the bird and take him out of the cage but hes to the point where he just wants to be left alone and not bothered. A couple of months ago i asked if i could purchase him, but she decided that she was going to keep him.. Luckily she is giving him to a person who is willing to work with him, as she doesn't want him to got to any friends. Back on topic.. Do you have her by a window or is she in an area where she is near a wall? The best suggestion might be putting her cage near a window, opening her cage and letting her come out when she is ready. It will take time and patience as judygram said but slowly she may open up to you. Give her treats and make sure you talk to her alot regardless of what your doing (for example: if your cooking supper - speak to her) It might help her loosen up.. Good Luck.

Thank you for your help both of you! I will take the bedding out immediately and go back to normal newspaper. I wasn't aware of the fact that it could start nesting behaviour and the pet store (for birds) assured me that it was normal to change it to this type of shredded paper bedding. Plus it was pink, so i thought it would fit her perfectly. I don't expect her to change overnight, i am just hoping she adjusts to me without any problems or concerns and i do understand that it will take time. Regardless of who she is more in favor of i still love her to pieces and wouldn't trade her for the world. Ashley.

I contacted Roudy Bush and they said they unable to send out samples to Canada. I am waiting for a response from Harrisons Thank youf for replying Ashley.

Just wondering.. We purchased new bedding for our little turkey and she has been spending alot of time in the bottom of her cage scratching at it and picking it up in her mouth moving it around. She is a 20 year old African Grey that was only used to having one sheet of newspaper in the bottom which she shred into tiny pieces. As i am new to the African Grey birds, i am just wondering if this is normal behaviour? Is it a nesting behaviour? Also the lady who we got her from said that she HATES men, although her and my husband have this bond going on, and she seems to not like me too much? any tips on how to help her adjust to me. I give her her favorite foods and she takes it from me but she gives me this look like "i'm going to get you..come a bit closer"

Welcome to the forum

Thank you all. I appreciate your warm welcomes Ashley