Timbersmom

Here is a picture of Timber. He's a pretty bird! Or so I tell him all the time... Judy, thanks for the link! That was very interesting. I have a scale, but I'm not sure how to get him on it. He is just to the point of letting me touch him a bit and scratch the top of his head. He does NOT want to step up and lets me know it. I'm trying to let him get more comfortable with us before I push the step up behavior. Monax - Thanks for the very specific information. I don't feel so bad now. Timber probably eats that much, but I expected him to eat much more. I thought that might be the problem (my expectations) so that makes me feel better.

I'm a new bird owner and I'm glad I found this forum. My bird's name is Timber and I am the third owner, or so I've been told. Timber is supposed to be 4-5 years old. We are making progress, but he's still biting pretty frequently and I'm still trying to figure out his body language to prevent it. The biggest problem we have is his diet. In two weeks, I've gone through about $100 of food trying to find a pellet he will eat. He picks at all of them but doesn't seem to like any of them very well. He will eat a few vegetables I've found (cooked sweet potato, raw carrots, corn on the cob and asparagus), but not much of any of them. He loves any kind of nut, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, cheese, cheerios and pasta. According to the previous owner, he was eating Zupreem fruit blend pellets well, but that hasn't been my experience. To compound the problem, the vet said he was a little underweight. So, I've probably been feeding him more nuts than I should just to keep him from losing more! One thing I am unsure of though is how much your normal Timneh African Grey eats. Maybe he's eating enough but I'm trying to judge him by human or cat standards? Any help would be appreciated!

I'll have to go read up on molting. I'm not sure what it looks like! I will check it out though.

I'm joining. I actually have a question. I am a new bird owner and have a Timneh African Grey named Timber. I am his third owner (that I know of) and his age (according to the first owner) is 4-5 years. I've had him a couple of weeks and we have made a lot of progress, but we still have biting issues. I've been going really slowly with him so he has time to adjust to us and his new environment. Here's my question (finally). He will now let me scratch the top of this head (when he is in the mood). Last night, I was gently scratching his head. Out of nowhere, he turned his head and bit me (not horrible but drew blood), then he immediately dropped his head for me to continue scratching. What does this mean and what should I do? Thanks!