neoow

I took Alfie to a professional photographer a few weeks back. I wasn't really sure how Alfie would react so I took a portable perch that he's familiar with. He settled in really quickly and was soon posing away for the camera! He was even happy to step on the arm of a stool that the photographer had. I'm really happy with the results and am trying to pick which one to have printed to go on the wall.

I'm afraid I don't have any experience with a plucker either. Alfie over-preens himself sometimes so the paler feathers underneath his wings usually look a little tatty. But thankfully he's never developed into a plucker. I only know what I've read and learned from others. It can be a hard thing to break and can start/be caused by a number of things. Illness, boredom, stress, nutrition. You might find that with the new home and good food/lots of attention etc that she starts to improve and lets her feathers grow back in. But it can also take a minor event to send her right back to the plucking habit. A night fright, something spooking her during the day, changes in the household etc. I know it can be really frustrating to watch them start plucking again- especially after a period of improvement. It's important not to let your bird pick up on your disappointment or frustration if they pluck, as this can easily exacerbate the situation. Greys are very empathetic and can pick up on how you're feeling. Preening and shredding toys may help. And foraging toys too. Keeping her mind busy might help if the plucking isn't illness related. Greys in the wild spend hours foraging for food whereas when they live with us they get it served up on a silver platter (well... near enough!). So if you know what some of her favourite treats are, you could hide some in pieces of paper so she has to work for them. You can get foraging toys too which she has to work out how to open to get the treat. I have a wooden box filled with crinkly paper and lots of different foots toys that Alfie likes to dig around in. I sometimes put a piece of walnut in there for him to find when he's throwing all the toys around.

Yeah both wings dropped with a clucking kind of noise is normally when they're getting a little over excited and lovey dovey- usually followed up by regurgitation as I see you've found out! Oof yeah, sounds like she came from a rough situation. Glad she's settling in well with you though. It won't take long before you can't remember life without her!

Interesting, I've not seen that before. When Alfie droops his wings he does both at the same time- and it's usually when he's feeling particularly amorous and is going to regurgitate. I've never seen him drop one wing at a time like that. Does she always do it when she's on one foot? Or does she do it at other times too? Is it only on a specific perch/place? I'm wondering if greytness is right and it's a way of balancing herself. Does she make any noise when she holds her wing like that? Or does her breathing change/become more noticeable?

Hello Jeremy and welcome to the forums! Thank you for taking on a rescue grey. Looks like she's settling in nicely already! There is a wealth of information already on these forums so have a dig around to see what you can find. But feel free to ask questions too. It's a little quieter around here than it used to be but there are still a few of us kicking around that will help as best as we can. 🙂

Oh they absolutely do understand more than we might think. I get migraines and Alfie and my two cats are always a lot quieter and lovey than they are when I don't have one. Same when I'm ill- one of my cats won't leave my side when I'm ill. He just lays right there with me until I feel better. So I'm not surprised that Debbie was so concerned.

I'm glad Debbie has settled in well and is enjoying herself! Ah it can be so easy to upset them sometimes 😂 I made the mistake of trying to clean my kitchen countertop when Alfie was on the window sill. I have a spray bottle and I grabbed that and went to spray it and he just launched himself at it in anger. He's not a fan of having baths or being misted so I think he took exception to me spraying the worktop... maybe he thought he was next? 😂 I realised my mistake as soon as it happened and put the spray bottle away until he had gone to play somewhere else!

I'm not sure that there is a "standard" for leg bands. Certainly over here in the UK it's very difficult to find any useful information to help decipher or trace them. I don't think there's any specific information that needs to go on a leg band or any particular order so a lot of breeders tend to make up their own systems, making it harder to track where a bird has come from or how old they might be. The numbers/letters on Alfie's leg band were pretty much unreadable as time went on. I have a record from his 'hatch certificate' which says what was originally on it but I wouldn't have been able to tell you otherwise. I ended up having to have it cut off after several years because it was starting to irritate him and was making his leg sore. So I had it cut off and had him microchipped instead. I did keep it in my purse for the longest time but unfortunately I think it must have fallen out at some point as I no longer have it.

Obviously I can't say or do anything to make you feel better or improve anything but I really do feel for you. I'm so sorry.

Oh no, I'm really sorry to hear that. 😔 Was it mid journey or in your new location? One of my biggest fears is Alfie accidentally getting out and losing him. So I can only imagine how you and your flock are feeling right now.

I haven't, but will check it out!

I love that Sukei is helping to train Kasey! Alfie used to yell at our dog, Ben, all the time- but Ben knew better and just ignored him! Alfie now has two cats to yell at- he tells them 'off' and 'out' and 'no' but they don't listen to him either. Doesn't stop him from trying though!

Oh how lovely!

Well done Huey for keeping your human's in order and making sure they look after you properly! Lovely to read that he is so well cared for by his vet.

Love the photos! I've never seen a TAG in real life before either. Are they much smaller than the CAGs? I think Alfie is on the larger size for a CAG. The vet always comments how big he is. He's a normal weight though- just larger in size than others they have seen I guess!

Oh yes, Alfie loves to bite feet/toes! I have to keep them well out of his way! Although he seemed to get a bit confused one, started biting my big toe then regurgitated for it. So I think it was a bit of a love/hate relationship that day! 😂

Ah, he'll never go on the floor if I try and put him there. Sometimes he'll misjudge a flight and end up on the floor by mistake and have a little wander but for the most part he never really wants to be on the floor. I did let him explore for a while over the weekend. He flew between each window sill quite a few times and checked everything out. Then he came and had a snooze and some head scritches on my knee, so I think he's pretty happy with it all so far!

Interesting topic - I'm afraid I don't have any answers. I wouldn't be able to get my face close enough to Alfie to give him a proper sniff- but I do notice how he smells sometimes. I can't say I've ever noticed it changing. And I only have him so wouldn't be able to compare to any other birds.

Oh goodness, I couldn't even imagine!! 😂

Well I'm fresh out at the moment- so it's back to cardboard for Alfie. But hopefully someone sends something through the post too! My dad has a sailing boat and I bought him something boat related for his birthday once... so now I get sailing/boat catalogues through the post every so often... they always go straight to Alfie!

Alfie has had a busy day shredding a large bathroom catalogue in his cage today. I let him out of his cage this evening so he could play and get up to some mischief but he's obviously tuckered himself out during the day!

I'm having lots of renovations done to the downstairs half of the house. Alfie is being housed upstairs for now until it's all done. I'm going to be buying him a new cage as well when it's safe for him to move back downstairs. I've carried him downstairs a few times so he can see the room and check everything out. It's got to pass his inspections, of course! In this photo he was checking out the new flooring that is being laid this week. He also checked out the kitchen space now that everything has been stripped out. Can't wait for all the work to be completed so I can get the house back to some kind of normality! And I'm sure Alfie is looking forward to having a bigger cage back and a bigger space to play in too!

Well that's a puzzle for sure!

This is a real long shot- but your neighbours don't have any bright lights (e.g security lights) pointing at the room/window he's in, do they? I only ask because my neighbours are a nightmare for leaving their outside lights on... although they don't shine directly into the house they do get through the blinds and light up my ceiling in my bedroom. It's more irritating when their flashing solar lights are blinking away well into the early hours.

How strange - does he have a cover over his cage? I've not really had this with Alfie. He doesn't have a cover over his cage because he always pulled them off so I gave up on the idea years ago but he's normally pretty good at settling down and staying quiet overnight. He's also pretty good in the mornings as he'll tend to wait for me to wake up and start moving around before he makes a load of noise. At the moment, Alfie is housed in the room next to my bedroom so I have to walk past it to get to the bathroom. So he'll sometimes say "hello", "night night" or ruffle his feathers at me as I wander past and back again in the middle of the night. But other than that I've never really known him to make loads of noise or move around much overnight.