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Thanks all for the kind words. Alfie is doing just fine and I don't think he even noticed that he'd done it. I think I was just worrying a bit too much. I'm guessing he just got snagged on a toy or the cage bars and damaged/pulled a feather or two. You have to really look for it to see it now. The water definitely made it look a lot worse I think! murfchck - Alfie does exactly the same- beats the living snot out of a toy then gets annoyed when it swings back and hits him in the face! There's been several times when I've noticed a new red mark on his face. Never deters him though!

Glad to hear Greycie made a full recovery.... and still loves to rough-house with you!!

Thank you all for the reassurance. Alfie has had a lot of fuss and attention this evening because both my housemate and I have been chatting away to him whilst trying to get a sneaky peak at his wing every time he moves it. Neither of us can see any blood. It's difficult to spot because we have to wait for him to move his wing away from his body. I've attached a couple more photos- you can see when the wing is against the body you can't see anything at all. I'm not sure if you can see it too well in the photo but when he lifts his wing there is a small white spot along the edge which looks a bit sore. However, it's not bleeding. He's currently doing his evening preening routine, making sure every feather is just so. He did give both of his wings a once over but didn't stop at the sore patch or pick at it. I don't think he even noticed it happen! I think the water probably made it look worse than it actually is.

Oh man. I feel so bad. I caused Alfie to have a little accident today. I came home from work to find water everywhere- not unusual, as Alfie had decided to bath in his water bowl. I mopped it all up, replaced his water and all was well. Alfie then went to have another bath in his water bowl. So I got the mister out as he obviously wanted a bath (but doesn't fit in the water bowl). I got to misting him and I noticed that he was REALLY keen, sticking his wings out and following the mister nozzle. He normally tolerates being misted (so long as he can have a bite of the nozzle from time to time) but never really gets into it. Well he was sticking his wings out to full stretch, rubbing his head on his back and really excited about it. So I moved to the other side of the cage where he had more space to spread his wings and misted away. All was fine until I noticed blood. I stopped immediately (letting him have one final bite of the nozzle) and checked him out. It was coming from the top of his wing, where it meets the body. Not much blood but it was there. It looked worse at first because it has mixed with water but this dropped off and I could see some flecks of blood still - photos attached. I'm assuming he must have just caught it on a toy whilst he was enjoying his bath. He did slip (without falling completely) a couple of times and jumped across the cage to chase the nozzle. I guess he just snagged a feather or something. I don't think it's serious, it's no longer bleeding as far as I can tell, though it is in an awkward position to see. Every time he moves or lifts his wings I try and inspect it. He's eating, talking, whistling, responding to both myself and my housemate and climbing around his cage just fine. He didn't seem to notice it, hasn't picked at it or paid any attention to it. So I think we got away lightly. I'm just upset because he was really enjoying his bath and I caused an injury from it. Lesson learned. Next time, remove the cats from the room and let him out of the cage. Assuming he doesn't immediately fly off then he can be misted up there without fear of catching on anything.

Alfie does exactly the same thing when he has head scratches. He'll wander over, pull my hand or fingers towards him (gently) then put his head down. He'll then swivel his head round and grab my fingers gently before going back to enjoying the head scratches. He's always done it. It's interesting to know that other Greys have the same behaviour.

Yeah once he finally found the courage to step up there he was there for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and the birds chirping outside. It's funny because he loves that swing but as soon as I moved it out of his cage and hung it from the curtain rail he was a bit wary of it and wouldn't step up on it. I'm happy he's finally realised that it's a good place to sit. He'll get to enjoy some sunshine through the summer in that spot.

Hi all, Apologies- this is likely to be a long one. I'm in a bit of a reflective mood. When I joined this forum back in 2012 I made a fairly open and honest introduction to myself and Alfie. At the time I had gone through the agonising process of trying to decide whether I was a good enough owner for Alfie and trying to decide whether or not I should rehome him. When I joined, I had already decided that Alfie was staying put. The thought of rehoming him was far too painful. I've had him since he was 11 weeks old! So I promised Alfie that I would make changes to become a better owner and give him more of what he needs. This has been a slow process of making changes- both big and small. I am nowhere near the "perfect" owner but I am doing the best I can. One of the problems I had to overcome was a fear of being bitten and regaining trust with Alfie. Because I work long hours and also have commitments outside of work, Alfie wasn't getting enough time out of the cage and therefore I felt we had lost a lot of that bond we had built in previous years. He also wasn't in the best location in the house (I was house-sharing and renting at the time) so didn't get constant attention. Fortunately my housemates moved out, so I could shuffle things around (and Alfie) so he was in the same room as me whenever I was home. In 2013 I moved home and bought my first house. I arranged the furniture around Alfie- so he is now in the centre of the house and ALWAYS has my attention when I'm at home because he is in the living room and next to my PC. He also gets attention from everyone who comes into the house, because he's right there. This in itself was a very positive change and Alfie was very receptive to it. We quite often have a bit of back and fourth and he even makes the odd noise/word at my housemate (previously he wouldn't utter a word when someone was in the room). He can see and be a part of everything that is going on. I have to be careful as I also have two cats. So when Alfie is out to play, the living room door is shut. Alfie gets the run of the downstairs and the cats stay upstairs. Alfie is exploring every inch of the room these days and I am constantly looking for more fun things to do with him. He discovered two shelves that he like to play on - so when he comes out I take everything valuable off them and put cardboard boxes and toys up there for him to throw around/chew on. He will spend hours up there showering me, the sofa and everything else in bits of cardboard and toys. In terms of trust and bonding, we are a lot closer these days. He will still bite if he has the inclination to (e.g if he is telling me he's not happy about something) but I no longer have a fear of it. I can usually tell when it's going to happen and I can normally ride it out if it actually happens. He knows that if he bites too hard, he will get a timeout- so normally I just get a warning rather than a full on chomp. He seeks me out when it's time for fuss and I will happily oblige. When it's time to go back in his cage he's now normally ok with this. I rarely get the run around now where I have to 'chase' him all around the room to try and get him back. Typically he just accepts it's time to go "night night" and he'll let me put him straight back in. At worst I might get a small nip just so he can show me he's not happy about it, but he'll still stay on my hand/arm and go back in. My housemate is even making attempts to befriend Alfie. He's not at the point where he would want to be in the same room as Alfie when he's out of his cage, but Alfie often lets my housemate stroke his head and will come over to see what my housemate is doing. Whilst my housemate is very cautious and waits for Alfie to put his head right down (without looking at him) then he's secretly quite pleased that he's allowed to pet Alfie. He even stops to talk to him now whereas previously he used to mostly ignore him. A while back I realised that I could utilise the curtain rails in the living room to provide more fun space for Alfie. (This came about after Alfie climbed up the curtains and swung from the curtain rails). I bought some 'S hooks' and hung Alfie's favourite swing from one curtain rail and have a cargo net and a bridge for the other one (which is a lot stronger). I've had these S hooks for the best part of a year and hang the toys every time Alfie comes out of the cage but he's shown absolutely no interest.... until today. I threw the back doors open today and hung his swing in front of the doors, got Alfie out and took him over and he stepped straight up on to the swing where previously he's always shied away. He's now enjoying the breeze through the mesh (I have the door covered with a mesh so he can't get out) and listening to all the local birds chirping away. One day I'm sure he'll realise his cargo net is actually a fun place to hang out rather than something that's going to eat him too...! All in all, I still have a lot to improve on. I still work long hours but I am doing my best to get home on time so I can work from home if I need to do extra. I still have extra commitments with the hockey club and Alfie still isn't out of the cage as often as I'd like- but we have made a lot of progress there. Whenever I am home and have a few hours to spare, he's out. Even if I'm working or cleaning, he is out and amusing himself on his favourite shelf or following me around to see what I'm up to. I am so happy I made the decision to keep him. I can't imagine ever giving up on him and every time I thought about it or talked it through with family it bought me to tears. I was the problem, not Alfie, so it was up to me to change rather than give up on him. It was a tough call to make and we still have a long way to go but we are definitely heading in the right direction. If you managed to read through this whole essay- thank you. (I'm sorry it was so long!) And thank you to all on this forum who have given advice and encouragement over the last few years. This is an amazing resource full of wonderful people. I was trying to upload some photos...but I keep receiving an error saying they are not valid image files. I will try and find an alternate method, as I know you won't let me write this much without seeing photos too! :rolleyes: EDIT: Here's a link to the photos I was trying to upload: https://goo.gl/photos/KjREuYEBJNQvCVA56

Ah geez. Poor Olive. And poor you. I'm really sorry to hear that.

Welcome to the forum, Bob! Do you have a name ready for your new addition or are you going to work that one out after he/she arrives? I'm not sure what to suggest on the window front- Alfie has never flown into a window and knows where they all are. When I moved houses I always took him round and showed him where the windows are and sat him on the window sils so he could tap the glass. Whenever he gets spooked he doesn't tend to fly towards the windows - he normally flies at a shelf or his cage... or me.

I'm afraid I have no advice to offer- but just wanted to say I hope Olive makes a speedy recovery.

I love Sully videos! This was great

Wow, fantastic news! Do keep us posted!

Zoey is adorable! And such a good talker/whistler!

A lot of Alfie's vocalizations are contact calls. If I'm in the room with him (which is whenever I'm at home and not asleep) then he's a lot quieter. He will make the odd noise and occasionally says the odd word - but most of the time it's when I'm out of the room. We had a bit of a 'hello' back and forth earlier. Whenever I said anything other than hello, he stopped. As soon as I said hello to him, he would say hello back. But normally he's pretty quiet when I'm in the same room. He also occasionally practices "what noise does a duck make" when I'm in the room- usually prompting me to say it. He can only say "what noise" then quacks like a duck. But he's still trying to learn the whole phrase. Alfie isn't a big talker though. He prefers noises. So most of his vocalizations are beeps, chirps, clicks and whistles (with the odd duck, chicken and dog noise thrown in). And I usually hear these when I'm away from the room.

Alfie listened to one of my dad's phone conversations once then decided to copy it. (My dad isn't a big talker). It went something along the lines of: "Hello?" "Yep" "Yep" "Alright then" "Alright then" "yep" "bye!"

Yeah the milk was the part I was most unsure of. I was fairly sure he could have small amounts of yogurt every now and then as it's something he's had a bit of in the past (mostly when he sticks his beak in mine!) but just wanted to double check. Thank you for the alternative suggestions to the milk! I think I'll give it a go for him to see if he's at all interested.

I'm trying to get into the habit of eating breakfast and I've found that overnight oats work well for me, as I can leave them overnight and take them into work with me. I was wondering whether I could share this with Alfie? The ingredients I use to make them are: rolled oats skimmed milk Yoghurt Frozen berries (blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries) I wasn't sure about the milk and yoghurt?

Haha yours made me laugh. My dad taught Alfie to say "Oi! Put the kettle on!" when he was younger but I haven't heard him say that for quite some time. My dad also taught him to say "nag nag nag nag!" and even managed to get him to associate it with my mum. My dad would say it whenever my mum walked past- so that was her "name". Needles to say, she wasn't too happy about it. Speaking of teenagers... I got Alfie when I was 17. He mimicked my mum calling my name and then my sulky teenager "What?" response. He also calls for my mum... "muuuuum!" He has recently started doing this again as I call my housemate down for dinner and apparently me calling his name reminded Alfie of me calling for my mum - so when dinner is being prepared he starts yelling "MUUUUUUUUM!" and quite often my housemate will appear- as he knows that means dinner is almost ready. Alfie has been learning various animal noises. So he now says "What noise...." followed by a few quacks. (I ask him "what noise does a duck make" but he can't quite mimic the whole sentence yet)

So happy Sukei is home safe and back where he belongs with his family!

Aw it didn't play for me either

Hahaha oh that had me in stitches! Then the end... Share? SHARE?!?! Whadoya mean share?! That's GreycieMae's cracker! She worked hard to get it all by herself and you want her to SHARE?!

Woot! Glad Jac is happy and Dee was able to help!

GreycieMae really needs to work on her 'hard' look. As you say, she's far too cute for that!

Thanks Kasperhm! Alfie hates his back/wings being touched so I'd never be able to handle him like that! I wish Alfie was interested in water like Captain Jack is. The only time he'll ever (willingly) have a bath is when he tries to squish his feathery butt in his water bowl. If I give him a larger container of water he just ignores the water and chews the container. He'll tolerate the water bottle - but I have to bath him in his cage or he'll just fly away and I'd end up soaking the whole room. :rolleyes: So contrary! More photos/videos please, people!

Loved the video! Captain Jack certainly has bath-times sussed!