Sarasota

Ohhhh...what an amazing photo!

How beautiful! Sounds like they found the right home!

If there is a bird mart in your area...try and check it out. Sometimes a breeder will be offered for sale. For the most part (and I hate to generalize), they are very fearful of human contact, will back away and growl and lunge if you get too close. I think you are looking for "breeding behavior" rather than what a Breeder is like. Do I have that right? There are SO many ways to offer enrichment. I don't know what your set up is, diet, situation. There's so much information and ideas. Do you know about the Parrot Enrichment books? They are free online and a wonderful place to start: http://www.parrotenrichment.com/books.html The site is full of great ideas.

Yep. These are all lessons we've learned the hard way. Not all birds are difficult around food. Burt is very patient and hangs out on his perch. Sondheim is all over the countertop trying to get into anything. He did the "nipping" thing with me for awhile and had me jerking my hand away. Boy did he train me!! Now, if he tries, I simply put him back on his perch and he loses his countertop privileges. He quickly associated nipping with going back to the perch. Now, when he's on the countertop he's patient and waits for the "OK" or for me to offer him something. Smart creatures!!

None of this sounds too strange to me - especially from an older (don't know the age), rehomed grey. Patience is the key here. Ditto on what Dave wrote above. But, to me, he doesn't sound anything like a breeder (which can rarely ever completely be made into pets - it happens, but it's not common). I'm interested in what you call "screaming" and what you do when he is doing it. Some greys are just naturally louder than others and may have some annoying sounds (like a smoke alarm going off, etc.) Growling and attention getting screams can be extinguished. I promise. But it's never an overnight process and takes very consistent behavior on the owner's part. You sound like you are wonderful, caring parents! Time, patience, time and more time!

You need to get the baby to a vet. I happened to be with a vet and showed him the picture. We couldn't enlarge it on my iPhone...but his concern was pox (which is highly contagious)

Duh! I forgot that Kris Porter put a chop step-by-step on her enrichment page. Try this (and some other delish stuff): http://parrotenrichment.com/nutrition/recipes.html

Bee, It's from kindergarten.com - Animal Flash Cards, iPad App.

I give them the 15 minute warning, then 10, 5 and then in the the cage. I rarely have problems since they always get a good treat for going in the cage - an almond, half a grape. But then they both act like banshees for another 10 minutes, hanging upside down yelling "Good Boy! Out! Out! Out!" If it's not one thing, it's another!

I'm so glad he's doing better!!

Sondheim is almost three. Burt is about thirty.

I'll try to get you an exact recipe (it's hard since it's always different). Heck, in fact, I'll try to take some photos!

Thanks, Greywings, I should have mentioned garbanzo beans! I forgot to add that I chop a small amount of fruit each morning (if you are planning on freezing your mash, fruit does not work well). I keep grapes and bananas as special treats. Daily they will get a little apple, papaya, pomegranate, blueberry or goji berries (yay! My plant is finally giving me berries!)

Chop is a good "jumping off" place for a good diet. However, it does include pasta, which I stay away from in the mix. Hi-carb, high-fat foods have been shown to increase behavior issues. Here's a great article by Pamela Clark: http://www.pamelaclarkonline.com/uploads/Diet-Linked_Behavior_in_Parrots.pdf. I use all sorts of veggies and grains in my mash. I will switch it up each batch. My standard grains are farro, amaranth, quinoa, kamut, spelt. For greens, my regulars are kale, mustard, collard, brussell sprouts. Veggies are carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, squash, purple cabbage, sweet potato, etc. The dry ingredients I add are flax seeds, pepitas, chia seeds, hulled millet. The bean mix is either sprouted or cooked adzuki and mung beans. I tried the bean soup mixes, which were ignored. I also sprout the China Prairie micrograin mix http://www.chinaprairie.com/afd.html. Burt, I believe, was raised on a mostly seed diet. In his bowl he also gets a small amount of the Leach's Hookbill Cuisine (It's a pretty dang good seed mix, no peanuts in shells): http://www.leachgrain.com/hookbillmixes.html. All diets are supplemented with a small amount of hemp and Red Palm Oil. Both birds get almonds in the shell as treats. I feed the mash mixed with their favorite Harrison's Pellets which encourages them to be less picky!If you want in depth information about parrot diet, you can join the Feeding Feathers Group. The website is not as user friendly as Parrot Nation. However, I know Shauna (spent a week with her at Natural Encounters). She travels the world learning about feeding parrots - even Japan! I need to convince her to make a more readable, blog-format website: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FeedingFeathers/

Maverick is still young. He will play with toys in time! I have flashcards on my iPad (they are actually made for autistic children). It's not the alphabet, but pictures of animals. There's a voice that says "This is an octopus, this is a toucan." Mostly the birds just shout "Whooo! Woooooowwwwwww!" And Sondhi likes to push the screen to make the cards flip. I got the idea from watching stuff like this:

Did the owner come see Pip/Larry? I've been thinking about this, how difficult and bittersweet this must be for you. I hope all is well!

Perfect! I use any cardboard box - Burt seems to prefer Amazon.com boxes, so I get to shop a lot! I also hide bits of nuts and seeds in the box. He has to rummage through the toys to get to the treats. He also enjoys shredding the box.

LOVE that picture!

Ahhhhh! My brain read it backwards.

I love how the Grey is eyeballing the others.

You know....I bet they do. Other than "Boo Boo," I bet I'm a series of whistles and chirps.

Yikes! My brother was bitten by a Moluccan - clear through the skin between the thumb and forefinger. Burt yells, "Burt, step up...NO! NO! BAD!" (which may explain why he doesn't step up for me), and recently he's been saying "Naughty Bird!" which is also something I've never said. The hoarding house he came from must have been a real hoot.

LOL. It was 101 at my house yesterday. Those perches are fantastic. I have a bottlebrush tree - great wood for perches. I also have a bad habit of pulling over and grabbing branches off the side of the road. Elm is great for the toucans.

Alfie is very helpful! I like when he first knocks it over...like Whooops! And he does the exact thing as mine at the end...time to get that camera!!

http://www.scilogs.com/maniraptora/wild-parrots-name-their-babies-video/