neoow

I moved house two weeks ago and I'm pleased to say that Alfie took it all in his stride. I was far more stressed than he was about everything. I was really worried about moving him and my two cats. I left all of the animals until last to allow me time to move furniture roughly in place in the new house. Alfie was fine with it all. He watched as we took all the furniture away. He didn't really want to go in his carry box but did so without too much trouble/hassle and when I put him in his cage in the new house he settled in much quicker than I thought he would! Not really sure why I was so worried now haha! He just sat and stared and checked everything out. New surroundings but familiar furniture with the same cage (and same cage layout as he had at the old house). It didn't take him long to start whistling away at me again. It took the cats twice as long as Alfie to get used to things! I'm very lucky really because Alfie isn't as change adverse as some other African Grey's I have read about. He has been on holidays before and has always settled in quite quickly. He's usually pretty good with new toys except for the odd one or two that he freaked out about when he first saw them. Happy parrot = happy owner!

Here is a video of Alfie just 'hanging around'. He's been quite playful this evening and this toy has been his focus. He kept hanging upside down and making himself swing and spin in circles whilst poking at the two bells. It kept him happy and amused me at the same time! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151553072697037&l=3320691539354566139 [Edited to add: Although it might look like it in this video his foot isn't stuck. I've got another one (which was out of focus) which shows him swapping feet quite freely! Just thought I'd better add that in case anyone was concerned hehe! He just likes hanging upside down on things]

That's awesome. Great idea! Seems to work very well too

Thanks, I've got a dish which is similar- it's a food bowl meant for smaller animals like rabbits/guinea pigs etc but it's quite shallow and has a good surface area. I've shown it to Alfie, filled it with some water and played with the water to try and tempt him but he usually isn't interested. He poked at it a couple of times but didn't play with the water or seem overly interested. It never even occurred to me to put toys in there to perk his interest. I've got some I could use as well. So that's a useful idea for me to try. It's not a problem when he baths in his water bowl. I normally help him out by getting the spray bottle out, which he is fine with, thankfully. It's just he can't fit in it and have a good splash around. He normally only gets one foot wet or just his toes. The majority of it ends up on the walls and floors instead of himself as well. So I'll try some toys or ice cubes in the larger bowl and see how he gets on.

Will have to try this with Alfie. He'll bath in his water bowl but won't go near a tray or any other container with water.

Amazing bird!

Looks fantastic! I'd love to have a bird room just for Alfie but unfortunately just don't have the space to do so. We make do with what we've got though!

That's amazing. Alfie never ceases to surprise me with the things he does.

Hi Jeff, I've had him since he was 11 weeks old. He'll be 10 in April this year. He's always favoured noises and whistles and picks these up really quickly. It takes him longer with words and he always seems to pick up male voices much quicker than female ones as he learnt more phrases from my dad than he did me and he picked up "good day" from my housemate really quickly. He will chatter away when I'm in the house but usually goes quiet when I'm in the room. It's only now, almost 10 years later, that he's starting to make more noise when I'm in the room. Perhaps he's getting fed up of me chatting to him and is just trying to shut me up!! Haha! He also says hello more often when I'm in the room - normally this was said when I was entering the house or in the near vicinity. Now he waits until he can see me or says it multiple times. Same with bye- he'll say that more often in front of me instead of waiting for me to go round the corner nowadays. I love how he practices things too. I often hear him practising new noises and sometimes mumbling away to himself. He always does this when I'm not in the room though, which is fine- as I can still hear him. I'm just really pleased that he's now happy enough to start talking and making more noises when I'm in the room with him. He knows a few words and phrases: Hello Bye See you later Alfie Oi! Put the kettle on! (my dad taught him that one) Naughty naughty naughty! (in a bit of a mocking tone- again taught by my dad) nag nag nag nag! (again taught by my dad, directed at my mum, much to her disgust! Hehe) Good day Trina (my name, shortened) usually followed by a disgruntled sounding "What?" (from years back when my parents used to shout up the stairs and I used to respond in typical teenager fashion haha) Oi Sit (learnt when we used to have the family dog) down (for the dog, again) outside (dog, again) Come on! Ow (usually said after biting someone or something) Off! (talking to the cats when they jump up on something) No (elongated... talking to/warning the cats when they're being naughty) Hello? ... Alright then... alright then... alright then.... bye (mimicking phone conversation) night night! dance! (usually followed by some enthusiastic bobbing up and down...) I've always been fascinated by listening to him learning things and making noises. Especially when he chatters away to himself making all sorts of weird and wonderful noises!

Alfie never normally talks when people are in the room. He might let the odd squeak or short whistle out but never normally makes many other noises. He's 10 this year in April and I've had him since he was 11 weeks old. He's always been the same- will make lots of noises if you're pottering about around the house but won't make much noise if you go into the room and sit with him or if he's out of the cage. However, he has recently started making more and more sounds when myself or others are around. He doesn't know that many words (always been much more interested in whistles and sounds than words) and he seems to prefer learning male voices than female ones. He doesn't want to copy a lot from me but learnt quickly from my dad when I lived with my parents and also from my ex-housemate who often visits. I love that Alfie is starting to make more noises when I'm in the room and encourage it, as I love to hear him chattering away but don't like having to hide out of the way for him to do it! Earlier this week I was half asleep and getting ready for work. I had said good morning to Alfie whilst pottering about and he had whistled back a couple of times, as usual. I went into the room to iron a shirt for work and whilst I was busy with that he suddenly said "good day" (which he learned from my ex-housemate) to me. I was thoroughly amused and really happy about this. I knew he could say it as I'd heard him many times but this was the first time he has said it when I was standing right next to his cage. I laughed and gave him lots of praise and encouraged him to say it again but that was my lot for the day. It was enough, to be fair. I left for work with a big smile on my face!

I don't notice much of a smell with Alfie but then again I also live with two indoor cats- I definitely notice when they smell! The only smell I notice is the smell of the cat litter I use to line the tray in the bottom of his cage. It's biodegradable and made from trees and sometimes gives off a faint smell. It's not an unpleasant smell at all though... it's like pine.

Alfie practices when he thinks I'm out of ear shot. He'll mumble away to himself and most of it is incoherent. Then eventually after a while you realise what he's trying to say. He won't ever say the words until he's pretty much nailed them. However, Alfie isn't much of a talker. He loves whistles and sounds and picks them up really quickly. My friend taught him to quack like a duck within a couple of days (words take weeks). He also picks up sounds from mobile phones really easy (the same friend has a bubble popping noise for emails/messages and Alfie picked that up after hearing it a couple of times one afternoon). The only problem with him picking up sounds so well is that when I was living at him my mum burnt a couple of dinners and set the fire alarm off both times and he picked that up. Fortunately he went out of favour of that sound pretty quickly. Pretty sure he did it just as loud as the real thing!!

My apologies! I completely missed that one. I'll go and take a look now, thank you. -Katrina

Hello all, I'm looking for a new carrier for Alfie. Unfortunately money is a bit of an issue at the moment (housemate moved out a few months ago and I'm still paying off the credit card bill for Alfie's new cage that I got last month) so I need something that's reasonably priced. Up 'til now I've just used a plastic dog/cat carrier but I don't really like it. It's ok (as in- it does the job of transporting him) but I'd rather get something I can put a perch in so he can grip on to something rather than slide about on the paper in the bottom of the carrier. What do you use or what can you recommend? Many thanks! -Katrina

Thanks Dave. Blunt and honest is good! I'd rather people didn't edge around an issue but tackle it straight on. I wasn't insulted at all and I found it all very useful, so thank you. I think tricks was probably the wrong word to use, really. Alfie already flies to me- but mainly when he wants to and it'll take some persuasion. So I think I just need to continue working on this so it's more consistent. Same with stepping up and turning round. He can do those, but it does take some persuasion at times. I think I just need to get to the point where Alfie wants to follow commands because he's happy to do so rather than just to shut me up!! Interesting about the shoulder and non-shoulder birds. Alfie will quite often seek out my shoulder to sit on and will stay there for some time before he'll make a move for my ear. I tend to move him off my shoulder at that point. If he continues to be a bit nippy then I'll move him to a perch. He'll then either sit there for a while or will fly back to me. I realise that everything with Alfie is going to take time and patience to rebuild the relationship which has unfortunately suffered. I know I need to do a lot more and need to be much more consistent with my time spent with him. I need to be a lot better with my time management so that I can spend much more quality time with Alfie rather than constantly bringing work home and studying and not giving him enough 1-1 time like he needs. I was probably being a bit hopeful with the harness. And I know that's a long long way off if it will ever happen at all. I was trying to think of all the things I could do with him really and everything I want to achieve, hence the big long list! I'm not planning on trying everything at the same time. My first port of call will be to work on my confidence with him so that if he nips at me I can deal with it in the right way and not become wary of him for it. Many thanks for your response Katrina

Hehehe. It always amuses me when Alfie comes out with a noise and I have to sit and figure out what it is and where he got it from. The worst one was when he learnt the noise of me unlocking the front door- it sounds so realistic that when he did it and I was in the house I thought someone was coming through the front door!! The only noise he has that makes me cringe is a really high pitched and really loud squeak. Not entirely sure what it is or where he got it from but it makes your ears hurt when you're standing near him and he does it. Fortunately he doesn't do this one too often- probably because I do my best to ignore it when he does it as I don't want to encourage him. He does manage to make me jump sometimes though! Haha

Thanks danmcq, I'll bear this in mind when working with Alfie if I can't find anything he likes to eat. That's why I was wondering about the orange juice really, because it's something that he likes that he doesn't have very often and whenever I have a glass he always wants some!

Haha thanks danmcq! I just happened to snap him looking like that and thought it was quite a pose! Thank you so much chezron (and everyone who has posted). I've been made to feel very welcome, which is great! =)

Great, thanks. Perhaps I'll stick to using this as an occasional treat and look for something else for a training treat then. He has never been overly food orientated but I'll have to try a few things and see if I can find something else that he likes as much as juice.

Hello all, I recently joined this forum and posted a ridiculously long essay about my 9 year old CAG, Alfie who I've had since he was 11 weeks old in the intro forum. I won't repeat myself here again but to put it very basically, I haven't been able to spend as much time with Alfie as I would like to due to work and time contraints and I'm trying to make that better for him to avoid ever having to consider rehoming him. I want to be able to have him out of the cage much more often and for longer periods of time but I feel I need to build the trust between us again. When he's out Alfie can be a little agressive towards me so I need to learn to understand what's causing this and how to rectify it. I find myself being a bit more wary of him than I used to be and I'd like to work on this so that we can both have a good time when he's out of the cage. Other than a boat load of patience (on my part) are there any tips/activities/methods that you can share to help with this process? Alfie is happy with me going in to his cage. He doesn't scream at me and doesn't instantly try and bite me when I put my hands/arms in his cage. He will often step up on to my hand from the cage or he will make his own way out and to the top of the cage to survey the room. He will sit on my knee, my forearm or my shoulder when he's out (prefers shoulder when I'm standing but is happy on a knee when I'm sitting). Sometimes he will let me stroke/scratch his head but he can sometimes start biting. Usually it's not overly vicious. If I say no to him (not shouting, just in a firmer voice than when I'm talking to him normally) he will sometimes stop but sometimes he will bite harder. If he starts to bite harder I tend to move him back to his cage and will sit back down and wait for him to get out of his grump. Sometimes when he's sitting on my shoulder he will try and grab at my ear (thankfully I have long, thick, curly hair so he normally misses and just hits the side of my head) for -seemingly- no reason. I'd like to work on him so both of us fully trust each other. So that I'm not wary of being bitten, he doesn't get into a grump and feel he needs to bite and we can both do more and more together. I'd like to do some training with him to teach him a few useful tricks (e.g flying to me on command, flying to a perch, step up (first or even second time of asking!), drop an item he is holding etc). Eventually I'd also like to get him an aviator harness- but am not even going to consider this until we both trust each other fully otherwise I can see it causing all sorts of unnecessary stress! Any advice would be much appreciated. I have bought a few new books so am currently reading these- but I think it would help to have some insight from other parrot owners who have been there, done that and have tried and tested methods which worked for them! Many thanks Katrina

Hello all, Just a quick question - is orange juice ok for African Greys? Alfie likes eating oranges and I know these are ok but he also loves orange juice - so much so that if I have him on my shoulder whilst drinking it he will stick his beak in the glass and steal some! I buy orange juice from concentrate from my local supermarket. Is this ok to give Alfie every so often? (definitely not every day but just a couple of sips from time to time) I was also wondering if this would work as a treat for training. He doesn't seem to like taking food from my hand that much- especially when out of the cage. If I offer food to him by hand he'll just look at it. If I put it in his bowl he'll go and investigate and will eat it if he's hungry. I think he's more interested in everything else other than food when he's out. I think orange juice (assuming it's ok for him to have it) would make a better training treat than any of his favourite fruit/seeds. Many thanks! Katrina

Thank you Ray, much appreciated. I've been lurking around the forums over the weekend and there's a lot of useful information here! Glad I stumbled across the site. I see you have quite a hoard of animals there! And I thought I was bad with 2 cats and a parrot! Don't think I could cope with that many critters hehe!

Thank you momo. And thanks Dave. I hadn't read the whole thread about unweaned babies so thats probably where I was confused about what sort of age was frowned upon. Alfie was eating seeds when I got him and I was spoon feeding him twice a day if I remember rightly. The pet shop I got him from were very good and showed me how to do it. They also let me visit him before taking him home and let me feed him there so he would get used to me and I to him. I couldn't fault them on anything (I would have walked away if I had any doubts!) Thank you everyone for the extremely warm welcome. I'm looking forward to reading about everyone's parrots!

Thanks for the warm welcome danmcq. You're certainly right, the thought of giving him up was horrible but it conflicted with the thought that I was being selfish by keeping him. However, as I think I said in my post, I would much rather try everything I possibly can to keep him and make him happy than just give him up and regret it! I've been browsing round these forums and I've already seen a lot of information just in the one evening so I'm feeling much more confident than I was before. I'm sure I'll have many questions and lots of stories to tell!

Thank you! I look forward to discussing all things parrot with everyone! I see you have quite a crew there!