TeriG

Virgil definitely keeps me on my toes. I always know he's up to something when he gets really quiet. Normally he's constantly talking and whistling. If he stops, I go to him and sure enough he's on the floor chewing at the rug! LoL. Then he fluffs up and backs away from me, cause he knows I am going to put him back. We go through this every day now. I wish I had a room that he could be in and not get into trouble! He will when we build our new home, but that might be awhile.

Yay! So glad to hear!!

I haven't tried giving Virgil a chicken wing yet, but I am also curious on how often they can have one.

Thanks for all your input guys! I have been watching Virgil more and I can see where he really isn't clumsy per say, just cautious. He will occasionally slip while trying to reach his foot out to something that is just a little too far, but he will most times catch himself. I think he really wants to fly. He just started launching himself off his playstand and fluttering/falling to the floor. And oh does he get upset when I pick him up and put him back! He will immediately run over to our area rug and start pulling it apart! I have tried giving him toys while on the floor, but all he wants is the rug. So back to his cage or playstand he goes. After the 3rd time or so he will give up. He's not really into just sitting with me and getting scratches. He always wants to be getting into something. I'm sure a lot of it is because in his previous home he was stuck in his cage almost all the time. So now all he wants to do is explore!

Virgil hasn't tried escaping yet either. I really hope he doesn't! Lol

Do you have to grind the flaxseed? How much do you give? Thanks

My boy will do that same beep. I take it as an unhappy beep. He too will do it when I cover him at night cause he hates to be covered and he doesn't care for my husband and will beep at him if he gets too close. He is a beautiful baby and lucky to have found you. I just rehomed my baby 3 weeks ago. I have known him for 21yrs so he has adjusted well. I'm sure he remembered me (I hadn't seen him in 7yrs) and that helped with earning his trust. It took me a little more than a week before he would step up to me without biting. Now if he doesn't want to be touched or held he will just turn his head away from me. He is such a good boy. You will get there, it just takes time. Everyone here on the forum is great! They have so much advice and are so willing to give it. We are lucky to have a place like this to go to!!! Teri

That's too funny! I just got Virgil starting to play peek a boo. He's slowly catching on!

Will his feathers grow back normal? How long is a long time for them to grow back? I always thought it was weird for a bird to be clumsy. I don't think I would ever clip him, but it does scare me a little giving him flight. I'm planning on building an outdoor avary for him when we build our house, but that might be awhile. Till then I worry about the dogs and cats colliding with the bird! So I don't think I will try to teach him flight till then. But if he tries on his own I won't stop him.

I can't really give any advice since I'm a new Grey owner, but my boy doesn't like my husband either. He will whistle with him and take a treat, but really that's it. I'm hoping with him talking to him and giving him his favorite treats, he will eventually accept him, if not like him! Good luck!

I just watched all your videos and I was laughing so much my coworkers came over to see what was so funny. So of course I had to show them and soon everyone was laughing! They were great! I hope Virgil will pick up more the longer we have him. I just cant stop laughing!!!

Naturally clumsy or is it just my guy? I don't know if he has been clipped in the past. He can't fly and it looks like he is missing his flight feathers on his right side. Maybe even some on the left. So I dont know if they were clipped off or if he pulled them. Is he clumsy because he never learned to fly? I was just curious. I am always telling him "careful" when he slips or misses his perch, so now if he misses he will say "careful". It's so funny! Thanks, Teri

LOL! I hope Virgil doesn't figure that one out!

So, Virgil has been with me for 3 weeks now and is doing wonderful! He has bonded very well with me. We are still working on getting him not to regurg every time he comes to me. On Saturday, I was cleaning the house and I had noticed that he got really quiet. I went out in the livingroom and couldn't find him in his cage or on his playstand! When I called for him he squeaked ever so softly to get my attention. Some how he had climbed up on top of the mantle! He can't fly, so I'm thinking he climbed from his cage, up the wall over to the mantle. Our walls are a rough hewn cedar with 1X2's covering the joints. So I got him down, which I think he was grateful because he couldn't figure out how to get down on his own, and put him back on his playstand. Well yesterday, I was in the office doing the bills when again he got real quiet. I went out and again couldn't find him. Only this time when I went around the couch, he was standing on my sneaker that I had left out So I go to pick him up and the little booger runs away from me and laughs! This happened about 3 times yesterday. I watched how he is doing it. He climbes down to the floor of his cage, gets on the seed guard, and then jumps off onto the floor. So I guess he's feeling comfortable enough to start exploring! Only now I have to figure out how to keep him out of trouble! LoL

Oh I almost forgot. When he doesn't want to come to me, instead of biting the crap out of me, he will just turn his head and walk away! I guess he doesn't want to hurt me any more!

So, Virgil and I are doing wonderful! Last night we spent about 15 minutes cuddling! He loves his head scratches and if I stopped he would look at me and then put his head right back down for more. He has really been good with me. Every time I come over to him he immediatly steps up and starts to regurg. I don't mind it so much until he starts to lower his wings over my hand and wiggle his tail. At that point I tell him I love him, put him back in his cage and walk away for a few minutes. After about the 3rd time of walking away he stops. But we do have to go through that each time so far. I'm hoping he will eventually stop that. He let's me come right into the cage to get him, which he never did with anyone before. I can rub his head and face/beak. He even started grooming my hair last night. So I think he has really bonded with me. I just love this little guy so much

Lol! Too funny!!

I was curious about this kind of thing too. We are in the middle of remodeling our home and I still have a few rooms to paint. We are also putting in wood floors and they will be glued down. Our master bedroom is done, so I guess we could put him in there, but the woods floors are going down right outside the bedroom. Will he be safe? I live in Florida. Would he be ok on our screened porch? I hate to do that, but if he will be safer...

I really am enjoying him. This morning he actually asked to step up by lifting his foot for me. I was so shocked! But he did so good. I'm so proud of him. :-)

I thought I would post a few new pictures of Virgil getting use to his playstand. We attached a perch from his cage over to it, so he could check it out on his own.

That's cute about the "Trouble" game. I have my husband help with cleaning the cage and getting him fresh food and water, but he can't put his hand too close to or in the cage. So far I can only do that. I'm sure over time he will get better. He was never really handled by a man before. His previous owner was a woman (my dad's girlfriend) and my dad was afraid of him, so he never even tried to mess with him. He loves my brother. When he lived with them (years ago now) he spent alot of time talking to him and working with him. So he learned to trust him and now he will come right to him and regurgitate on him. Not to mention he will rub his tail on him when he is holding him and make these cute little noises. Now that I've been on this forum I know that we shouldn't let him do that. My brother doesn't live near me so I don't think we have to worry about it. I do have a question about the regurigation though. I know some people think it's not a good idea to let them do it, but if it's something they like to do is it ok? He tried to do it to me the other night and I thought it was his way of saying he's starting to trust me.

Sorry to hear about the bite Karen. Hope the rest of the day goes better for you. I will try not to let it get to me if there is any regression. Last night he came to me again for a couple scratches, but he didn't want to stay as long. We'll just take it slow. At least I know he likes me. We need to work on my husband though. Every time he gets close to the cage, he fluffs up and beeps his alarm. Last night we were covering his cage and if he could have, I think he would have attacked him. He had to walk away and I had to calm him down. Baby steps I guess. Thanks you guys gor all your advice!

Thank you everyone for the replies. I am super happy right now. Last night I was sitting next to Virgil's cage and talking to him. He came out onto the door and slid down to the bottom. Then he decided to climb onto my leg. I didn't know what to do at that point. I didn't know if he was going to bite or what. So I slowly put my hand in front of him and he kind of bump it with his beak and then put his beak down on my leg and let me rub his neck! I was so shocked!! If I stopped, he would bump me again and put his head back down wanting more. Then he grabbed my hand with his foot and kind of mouthed my fingers. A couple of times he acted like he was going to regurgitate, but nothing came up. Then after about 10 minutes, he looked back up at his cage. I asked him if he wanted to go back and he climbed right up onto my hand and I put him back on his cage. I hope this is the start of him trusting me. I went to bed last night feeling so much better!

It makes sense! The last thing I want to do is overstep his boundaries. Of course I would love for him to want to hang out with me. I know that will take time. But of course I do want to be able to get him in case of an emergency (like for the hurricane that was headed our way )

I'll do that. I'm hoping to ween him off seed completely too. He is eating his Harrison's pellets pretty good, but I'm having trouble getting him to eat fresh fruits and veggies. He's never had them before. And I'm only giving a little less than 1/4 cup seed a day right now. I'll slowly give less and less. He LOVES sunflower seed and I use that for good behavior. I guess I should attach a perch (maybe rope) from his cage to the play stand so he can go over to it if he wants to. He isn't clipped (at least he doesn't look clipped) but he doesn't know how to fly. I honestly don't think he has ever been clipped, but I have never seen him fly. He will flutter down to the floor, but that's it. He does have a few longer wing feathers on his left side that he doesn't have on his right side. I like that he has never been clipped, but I don't know how crazy it would be if he learned how to fly.