JakeGrey

I'm by no means an expert, having only had a Grey for 2 years now. But, here is my advice for what I have seen as a 100% foolproof way to get your Grey to go on any new surface: 1. Place a laptop computer on new playstand. Tell Timmy, "This is a computer, it is not for birds." 2. Place important mail on the playstand. Tell Timmy, "This is mail. Do not touch it." 3. Place your bowl of cereal on the playstand. Tell Timmy, "This is mine. Your food is in your dish." After you select one of the three choices above, turn your back and walk 3-5 ft away. Your little darling will be on the playstand destroying/devouring all the things that are off-limits to him. I have a different but similar method that works for dogs. Only you use bacon ... or a freshly baked loaf of bread that is cooling. Good luck!

LOVE your tattoo! Beautiful! So glad you are back. I mostly lurk on the forum, reading the trials and tribulations of others and soaking up all the advice I can find. I have always been particularly interested in hearing about the experiences of those who have fids approximately the same age as my Jake. Jake turned 2 at the end of April, and has suddenly gone from my sweet, obedient, cuddly boy to a little monster who bites, chews on chairs, flies to anywhere we don't want him to go, and fights going back in his cage. He still has his really sweet times, but oh were all those who posted about the terrible twos correct! Anyhow, after dealing with major surgery, it probably puts everything in perspective for you. So glad you are back to only having to worry about occasional "nawty and nippy". And so nice that you can sit back and enjoy the language explosion!

My vote is in. Good luck!

We live in the woods and have had an outdoor aviary for approx. 1 month now. Jake (2 yr old CAG) has learned MANY of the outdoor bird sounds. When he is outside (just during the day when we are home), you will hear him singing away to the other wild birds in each of their unique languages. In the house, though, he rarely makes bird sounds unless we all leave the room. What's really cute is that most mornings I stand in front of the patio door with him and say, "Listen ... shhhh ... do you hear the birds?" This same scenario has been going on for approx. 5 weeks now. This morning I said, "Listen ... " and as loud as he could, he made the robin's call right into my ear, then turned and looked at me and said, "birds!". Oh, did I laugh! Greys are really something. Not sure if he was trying to show me that we understood each other or just saying, yeah lady, I know already, there are birds outside. Either way, it was a hoot!

Thank you for the great information on this thread. I have an Eclectus (SIE) and a CAG. The SIE loves, loves, loves (did I mention, loves?!?) taking a shower. After he is done dancing and flapping and running in and out of the spray, he sits right under it and falls asleep. Unbelievable! My CAG on the other hand ... not so enthusiastic. I have the same challenge as JanMarie, my CAG will try to stuff his body into his little water cup but will never use the large cups, bowls or other tub-like devices that I have made available. It's too late tonight, but I am definitely going to try the sink method tomorrow. I have no doubt he'll be mad, but I'm Mom to two teenagers, so "mad" is a familiar response to things that are good for you. lol. We just put up an outdoor aviary and I was planning to put a sprinkler next to it. Figure it would be like a cold rain shower outside in the woods. We'll see how that goes over, too. JanMarie, looks like you have an Ekkie and Grey, too. Not sure your experience, but mine couldn't be more different. I hope the new bath idea works for you and your Grey. I'm crossing my fingers for mine!

I, too, had a Blue Fronted Amazon who died much too young. He was my sweet baby. Everyone in the neighborhood (when I moved to Chicago following college) knew me as "Sam's Mom". It has been so fun to read about Cricket and feel, for that brief time, like I was an Amazon mommy again. I will miss Ray's stories and updates. What a wonderful, lasting tribute to Cricket to rename the Amazon Room. Bird people are such caring, good souls! Glad to be a part of this forum. Cricket will be forever in our hearts!

We have a 23 mos. old CAG (Jake) and a 9 mos. old Solomon Island Eclectus (Max). Jake is very bonded to me, but will go to everyone in the family. Max is a little marshmallow personality and happily goes to anyone, family or other. I was worried about getting a second bird but the transition went extremely well for us. I thought Jake might get feisty if I was spending time with another bird, but that never happened. My husband and I are home all day, so there is plenty of attention to go around. I also have two teenage daughters who handle both birds. The eating perches are approx. 2 ft from each other and they have no problems. They walk around each other and Jake flies on and off Max's tree with without incident. Of course, if they are in their cages (next to each other), they get a bit protective. They each have their own tree, main cage, sleeping cage and playing cage. They will both go on each other's stuff, but typically only when the other isn't there. Jake is a talkaholic. Has been since about 7 mos. old. Max is just learning to talk. Jake spends a lot of time sweet talking Max. If they are in their cages next to each other, Jake will be chattering away, then stop, walk over to the side that Max is on, and start talking in a very sweet voice. "Hi Max. How are you? Are you a good boy? Do you want some breakfast? It's gooooood! There's corn. Look outside. See the trees. When the trees blow it's windy. The snow ... brrr, it's freezing! Do you want to step up? Let's go to your tree. It's fun!" He goes through his little dialogue every morning with different variations (but always including the day's weather and something about corn). Always in a very sweet voice when talking to Max. I don't know for sure, but it seems that they get along well together. Of course, they don't play with each other. Come to think of it, they are a lot like my teenage daughters: You love them and want them to get along, but you always fear that if you turn your back, one or the other will lose a body part. As for me, I stopped at two (kids and birds). I know my limitations! If you are interested in getting a dog, I've also had no problems there. We have four. Big and little. All in the house. Of course, we have no brains. Lost our minds when we started getting all the animals! We do live in a state of bliss, however. And I wouldn't trade it for the world!!! Good luck on your decision. You sound like a very loving, caring, and conscientious bird owner. You will make some feathered companion very happy!

I think you're making a good decision. We had our patio door screens replaced with the pet screen in your first post. It is great for standing up to the dogs jumping on it, but it is fairly dense for screen. (When I have my reading glasses on I can hardly see through it!). Good luck with your aviary!

I have the African Grey Pak-O-Bird. It is roomy and easy to take anywhere. My husband and I love to go to Art Shows ... and Jake is always with us. It keeps him up high and close to us so he loves it, too. As for weight, Jake is 19 mos old and is still growing. Not sure if that is normal or not. He was around 360 grams when we got him (5+ mos. old) and he now averages 420 grams after the morning poo. We just got a baby male SI Eclectus who is 300 grams. Quite a difference in weight, but Max is just about the same length as Jake is, and fits very well into Jake's Pak-O-Bird, so I will probably get the same one for Max next year (We live in Wisconsin so it's too cold for outings anymore this year.) We really love the Pak-O-Bird for ease of use ... ability to just strap into the car and go ... and then throw the strap over your shoulder and go about your day. What a wonderful offer from JeffNOK! Tough to pass on that generosity!!! (I do not have the fleece cover either.) Good luck!

I give my fids a warm breakfast nearly every morning. I warm their soft food mix (cooked beans, grains) in red palm oil. I then add fresh veggies and sprouts. They LOVE it. They push past the veggies to get to the warm food first. Just a note to anyone who hasn't used it before ... their droppings will be reddish-brown tinged soon after eating it. I, too, bought it after reading the extensive thread on this forum. I don't comment often, but I do read the forum every day. Wonderful information from folks with lots of experience.

We purchased a 4x2x6 Hybrid cage in July 2012. It has a mural on the back, sliding acrylic doors on the front, and on the sides, we customized it as follows: we put acrylic on the bottom 2ft and stainless steel on the upper 4ft. This cost more, but we wanted to contain the mess and keep our 4 dogs out of our CAGs droppings and debris, while still having maximum interaction and sound/air exchange. We filled the cage with manzanita branches that I ordered from Manzanita Burlworks. I also hung an extra large boing in the cage so that if Jake falls, he can climb back up. This setup has worked great. Jake is 9 mos old and he loves his cage. The enclosed feeders and the two feet of acrylic on the bottom 2ft of the sides helps contain all mess except for the down feathers that fly from a molt. And, as a bird owner, you know that down feathers will fly regardless of the cage ... and if they don't ... then the cage is probably sealed too tightly and not healthy for your fid. The Hybrid cages are quite expensive and not practical for many people (this is the first really expensive cage I've ever owned). We like the mobility of the Hybrid as it comes with heavy-duty casters. We have been very happy with our purchase. Fortunately, we happen to live 20 minutes from Cages By Design (which I didn't know until starting to research cages) so we were able to go to their office and see the different cages in person before purchasing. The Magestic cages are beautiful but we wanted something more reasonable in price and mobile. You can see a pic of our cage on my profile. The pic doesn't have the boing in it, but I can take additional pics or answer additional questions if you'd like. Good luck with your decision. Although I haven't posted much since joining this sight, I've learned a lot and followed lots of tidbits of wisdom from all the great people here.

Dave, do you have a picture of your slip-joint net? Approximately how much rope did you use? I would like to try making one but am totally in the dark as to how big, how much material, how to make the knots, etc. I have been scouring the internet and it seems that you need LOTS of rope ... but I haven't found exactly how much. One website showed a homemade net with the explanation, "this is way too small for an African Grey or larger bird". Hmmm. Because I am a net-making newbie, I would appreciate any advice. Thanks. Beth

Thanks for the warm welcomes. Even though I have had other large birds, the CAG sounds like a whole different animal. I have gained great knowledge on this forum (avian lighting, foraging toys, stand ideas, carrier reviews, DIY toys, etc.). I feel like I am as prepared as any new parrot companion can be. My hubby is not a "bird person" ... YET! Lol. He says that if I love Jake, he'll love him, too. I am busy looking up sprouting info as my breeder told me that she has begun offering sprouts to the babies and they are a hit. More late nights on the computer ...

Hi Everyone: I joined this forum a bit ago and have been reading all the wonderful advice. We are still waiting for our baby to come home. Jake is a CAG, 17 1/2 weeks old, and is still abundance weaning and learning to fly at the breeder's home. In addition to myself, my home consists of my husband, 15 and 13 yr old daughters, 4 yr old Goldendoodle, 1.5 yr old Cockapoo and 7 yr old Yorkiepoo. Fortunately, our breeder has three dogs also, so Jake has been accustomed to the barking and activity associated with three furry friends. I have prior experience with large birds as I had a Blue Fronted Amazon who was my absolute pride and joy until his death. I also had an Umbrella Cockatoo who now lives with my uncle's family (they took him in at a time when, following a divorce, I was working 2 jobs, going to grad school and living in town vs my uncle being retired and living in the country). I still visit him, clip his nails, cuddle with him, etc. and he still loves me, but he is being well-cared-for by his new extended family. That brings me back to Jake. I am excitedly awaiting his arrival. We purchased a large acrylic cage from 'Cages by Design' for him. My husband (who has never had a bird) decided that it would be better to spend a little more and have a cage that looks more like a piece of furniture ... plus 'Cages by Design' is located 15 minutes from our house so we could see in person how nice they were. No objections from me ... after all, I've lived with rooms that had more trees than most Nat'l Forests. Anyhow, I ordered some manzanita wood over the internet (ok, I ordered LOTS of manzanita wood) and have now filled the cage with it and made one 5' tall stand. Hmmm, still have lots of manzanita left, so more stands and perches are in my future. I have also made two tabletop stands from PVC that sit on top of newly purchased plastic dog kennel replacement bottoms. These bottoms flip up on the side to help contain some of the mess. I have also been dying rawhide and wood and have made replicas of the some of the foraging toys that I have seen on the internet. I will post pics of things on my profile if you are interested in looking at them. (Since I'm very new here, I'm still figuring out how to do all of this.) I've also spent a fortune on stainless steel c-clips, eye hooks, washers, wing nuts and screws. I've taken over one stall of our garage and have all my tools, hardware, wood, PVC and toy parts strewn about. My husband suggested I go into business building bird toys and perches as it seems to be a passion. Lol. My husband also mentioned that he's never seen me so excited about anything ... I'm up 'til all hours of the night reading and building parrot stuff. I've tossed all my teflon pans (amassed since having no birds in the house) and have purchased healthy, bird-safe varieties. We are also in the beginning stages of building a new house, so the designer has added "Jake's cage" to our designs (upon my constant questioning as to where Jake will be) ... doesn't that make a bird-lovers heart go pitter-patter?!? So, I thank all of you for your wonderful advice, for sharing your ups and downs, and for being part of this wonderful forum. I look forward to a lifetime of happiness with my baby Jake and thank you all for helping with the foundation of that relationship! I know this is long-winded, but I figure I'd better write as much as I can now, as I will probably be doing little once he is home! It's also nice to communicate with other bird lovers ... as most people just don't understand how strong and satisfying that connection can be! Beth (aka JakeGrey)