neoow

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!

Things have been a little quiet around here lately so I thought I'd post some photos of Alfie... because everyone likes photos, right? I'd love to see some photos of other member's birds as well, so feel free to post some to this thread. Alfie climbed up the curtain then practiced his acrobatic skills on the curtain rail

Hilarious! Thank you for the video!

Oh geez. Such sad news. Dave was such a major contributor to the forums. I have no words. Rest in Peace Dave.

I second Acapella's advise- get a professional to do it. But be very picky about who you choose and make sure you find someone who is experienced so they do it properly. I think it's more risky doing it yourself- you don't want to cause accidental damage- either to the wing or to the trust/bond you have with each other. Alfie has had two wing clips in his whole life (he's 16 years old). They only did one wing and then when I went back the second time they did the other wing. They wrapped him in a towell to do it and it was very stressful for him. And in the end it made no difference at all. As soon as he worked out the balance, he was able to fly just fine. Personally I just decided it was a whole load of stress for no real reason. He is fully flighted and I manage the risk as best as I can.

I swear Alfie has velcro feet- even if I try and encourage him to fly he just sticks to my hand if he's not in the mood. He can fly and does fly- but normally just one one location to the next. He doesn't fly just for the sake of it- there is always a motive. I really want to sort the garden out and try and concoct some form of aviary/flight for him. But my garden is quite small and split level so I'm not sure how well it would work out. It's currently rather overgrown!

I'd love to do something like this with Alfie but I think I'd have one of two problems 1) He would sit on me and be too scared to go anywhere else 2) He would fly to the highest point and not come down

It didn't even occur to me that they may have teflon in them. I don't have one and don't have the space or the need for one, but my parents do. So I'll just need to be mindful when I take Alfie with me to see them.

Alfie chews wood, card and paper. He's currently destroying/throwing around the centre of a roll of wrapping paper whilst also destroying/shredding a 24parrot.com catalogue on his favourite shelf. He makes mince meat out of cardboard too. I'm forever finding pieces of card and paper stuck to things! Looks like Dorian is having a blast with his boxes. Cheap entertainment at it's best!

Oh what a cutie. I really must stop looking at baby grey photos as I get so parrot broody!! I'm really happy that you've decided to take on another grey. It's difficult to make any suggestions about the feelings of guilt though. I think this is just a process that you'll need to work through. As cliche as the saying is, time IS a great healer. My family and I went through similar when we lost our family dog. It took us a few years before we all decided we were ready to have another dog. I think once Django is fully settled in you'll get to a point where it feels like he's been there forever and you'll accept the differences between the two Django's and that there is no betrayal.

Welcome to you and Jason! We have members from all over the world, so you're more than welcome to join in! You've already passed the initiation test anyway by posting some lovely photos of your Grey!

I pay just over £20 to have Alfie's beak done... So that price is CRAZY!

Zoe is adorable. It made me laugh when she started coughing. Alfie can cough, sneeze and blow his nose. He also goes camera shy. If he knows there is a camera about, he'll stop everything and just stare at it. The only time I ever got videos of him making noises was when I set up a wireless security cam and left it on noise activation a few times.