neoow

When I view the activity feed I cannot see the thread titles because the text colour is the same as the background colour. This means I often open up the same thread multiple times because I don't realise the posts are from the same thread. So for example: Huey judygram replied to SRSeedBurners's topic in The GREY Lounge That is actually amazing they get along so well, you got your hands full for the next week. 1 hour ago 5 replies Looks like: If there is any way to correct that, I'd be very grateful. I'm not sure if this is an issue across all themes but it's definitely the case with the red theme for me.

Alfie isn't overly food motivated. He likes his food but will mostly just eat out of his bowls. He doesn't tend to steal anything I'm eating. He might have a look and a quick poke at it but generally he's not interested and will just throw it to one side. It means I can't really use food as a motivator or a reward because he's not really interested... even when it's a favourite food. Generally he prefers praise and head scratches over food as a reward/motivator.

Haha I can see you're putting them to good use!!!

Alfie has known my current housemate for several years now. My housemate was never particularly keen on Alfie and gave him a wide berth. However over time they have slowly built up a relationship. My housemate would give him the odd treat and Alfie would watch and listen and has picked up a couple of sounds and sayings from my housemate. After a long while, Alfie started putting his head down for scratches through the cage bars. My housemate started obliging... with the end of a teaspoon at first... then eventually he was brave enough to use his fingers. This has been going on for some time. I keep joking that they have a 'secret bromance' going on. When Alfie was out of his cage my housemate would stay clear. I said he was welcome to come into or walk through the room to the kitchen but for the longest time he didn't. More recently my housemate has been 'brave' enough to walk through when Alfie is out of his cage (I have to keep the door to the upstairs of the house shut due to the cats). He even changed a lightbulb for me in the room when Alfie was out. Yesterday we had a major breakthrough. Alfie was out and my housemate came home. He came through the front door and the noise spooked Alfie. He flew off his shelf, around the room and landed on the floor. Alfie doesn't normally stay on the floor- he normally flies straight up to a higher spot. My housemate wandered in to say hello and watched Alfie for a while. Alfie wandered across the room on the floor and was checking everything out on the way, exploring and poking at things. My housemate then crouched on the floor and waited for Alfie to come over. Alfie slowly made his way over (checking out everything else on the way) and poked at my housemates shoe and knee. Well I thought that was a major breakthrough in itself... Later on- dinner was ready and Alfie was still out. My housemate would normally opt to stay upstairs with his dinner than join me and Alfie. Yesterday he decided to be even braver than earlier and came and sat in the room with us. He sat in the armchair and ate his dinner. Alfie wandered over to take a look and sat on the table next to the armchair then he worked his way on to the arm of the chair. My housemate was very patient and calm and offered him some food, which Alfie wasn't interested in. After some time, Alfie started dozing on the arm of the chair. This went on for about half an hour before Alfie decided to go and sit on my housemates knee. This is the first time they have ever had actual contact with each other without cage bars being in the way. Alfie dozed for another half an hour or so and every so often edged towards my housemates hands. I instructed my housemate to wait until Alfie asked for head scratches- which he normally does by nudging my hands or arm. I could see that Alfie wanted to ask for scratches but might have been a little out of his own comfort zone at that point. I watched and waited (as did my housemate) and Alfie kept dozing off for a little while before thinking about asking for scratches. After a while he suddenly lunged forward and half tapped/half scratched at my housemate's hand with his beak. He then immediately backed off and puffed up. My housemate did try to gently scratch his head but Alfie slicked his feathers back. At this point I decided to intervene and removed Alfie from my housemates lap as I felt Alfie was changing his mind about whether or not he wanted scratches and might have ended up nipping my housemate- something I didn't want to happen. All in all, this was a massive breakthrough for both Alfie and my housemate. Alfie isn't really used to being in close contact with anyone other than me because everyone we've lived with has been too wary of being bitten so would keep out of his way when he was out of the cage. My housemate has needed as much 'grey time' as Alfie has to get to this point and I'm really happy that yesterday played out as it did.

I'm not sure I have a nickname for Alfie when he's getting into mischief. I can't recall any... normally it's just his name followed by 'no' or 'no biting' (when he's about to chew on something he shouldn't). He knows what both mean... and usually just waits for me to stop paying attention before trying again.

Great progress so far! Keep the photos coming, this is an awesome project!

I think he's all good!

You've done the right thing by taking him to the vet. I'm afraid I am not a vet and I have no experience of this type of problem so can only say that I feel for you and please keep us updated on any progress.

Interesting. Not sure if that would work over here or at my workplace. I'm not going to kick up a fuss about it or force the issue as I figured I wouldn't be allowed which is why it had never come up before. I was actually surprised by how receptive my co-workers were about the idea, I figured someone would have an allergy or not like birds etc. But everyone seemed quite amused by the idea. The only concern from one colleague was whether there would be too much noise when making phonecalls etc- but Alfie is pretty quiet compared to some birds, especially when others are in the room. He may make the odd noise but I think he would mostly sit and watch the world go by. I guess it's easy when you own/run the place!

I was having a conversation with colleagues about Alfie earlier this week. My boss also has an African Grey parrot and he knows Alfie is at home all day on his own whilst I work. So he turned round and asked "why don't you bring him to work with you?". I said that I wish I could but didn't think I'd be allowed. This prompted a discussion with some colleagues who were in the office at the time and they all said they wouldn't mind. My boss told me to seek the opinions of my other colleagues, which I did. None are allergic and none would have a problem with Alfie coming in to work with me. However, it still needed to be run by the higher ups and health and safety etc... and that's where the idea was squished. It's a no pet workplace. Only guide dogs and therapy dogs/pets allowed. I figured that would be the case so I wasn't too bothered by it. The thought of Alfie being able to come into work with me was a fun idea whilst it lasted and sparked quite a few humorous conversations around the office! Does anyone here take their birds (or any other pets) into work with them?

Looks amazing!

No I think he escaped being squished or stretched, but it was time for a new photo anyway. He made sure I got his good side!