SRSeedBurners

I've wondered whether I would clip her or not. I really like having a flighted bird but there's always the risk of her flying away. She's harness trained and I have plans to double secure our house doors with those security clasp/chain like what you see in the hotels. This will prevent someone haplessly opening the door from outside and letting her out accidentally. Also places a little more emphasis on making sure the door is closed as I have two girls in my house who won't lock or make sure the doors are shut. There's tons more risk now so I don't have to be a dicktator [sic] now. They get the idea that if they leave an open door and Greycie is gone, they might as well pack their bags too - preferably before I find out what's happened. Day 2: Last night we put together her new cage, Greycie helped of course until she decided the birdy in the mirror was too much for her to resist. She flew over to the mirror a couple of times and instead of a head-on crash like the day before she held up and was tapping with her feet before flying back. She see's her reflection and realizes that birdy has the same idea as her. I'm thinking of suction-cupping a perch on the mirror. Good? Bad? She had only a few nerves after getting her up this morning. Nothing like yesterday. Into the morning routine and she was busy helping prep for breakfast. The noise in the background is our coffee percolator. Good shot of one of our rescues Stuart (from MadTV) the Green Cheek Conure. You can also hear one high-pitched call from Raven our other rescue - a Jardine's parrot:

Changed it to 'unlisted'. I assume that's a version of public access. When I view it through another machine/browser combo I can only get about 1/4 of the way through the video. It's most likely our ISP connection - would like to know if you get through the whole video (1:08).

With all the great advice here, I decided to go ahead and bring home the baby Grey we were considering. Two hour car ride home was slightly stressful. She DID NOT agree on being transported in a carrier. I've never seen a Grey hold on with one foot and a beak and paw with the other foot. Adorable and pulling at heartstrings at the same time. She lasted all of 10 minutes in the carrier before she was out and sitting with my while my wife drove home. She's not so sure about her new home. Mama's home is in Weatherford and that's where her cage is too - she's been reminding us. She's made a few laps around our living room. We screwed up and forgot about our full length wall mirror. She hit that once and now we've put stuff all over it. Luckily no harm done. We're still trying to decide on a name. I really really like Greycie even though it's a very common name. Hell, my name is Steve. There were 40 other 'Steves' born within a few miles radius of my house back in 1969. I hate my name but I still answer to it I keep calling her Aerial by accident but the wife and daughter are insisting on Greycie. Forgive my baby voice. My real baby is 19, so it's been a while since I've used it:

Looks like someone has had too much Tiger beer.

I've been keeping a list of possible names in evernote so I can add one anywhere I think of it. Here's what I've come up with so far. Feel free to comment pro/con or add to it. Penelope Petunia (not sure I like this one) Ariel Dimitri Pixy Twinky Snickers ( not sure on this one either) Greycie (too common - I obviously saw this one here or somewhere. It's my absolute favorite but too common ) Pebbles Bam-Bam For some reason I'm leaning towards those last two but I really didn't want a cartoonish/cutesy name since she is closer to our own intellect than say our conure "Skittles" who currently acts like he only has two brain cells to rub together. Our Jardine's is name 'Raven'.

"Mystery's" (we'll be changing her name btw...to what, we don't know) travel cage will be a 2000 White Nissan Maxima (snicker snicker). We'll bring a cat carrier just in case but I asked Wendy to have her harness trained so we can just slip across to the car and get going.

I figured you either lived in Ft. Worth or Mineral Wells or maybe even Weatherford. I was hoping you lived in Allen - HAAAA - we need someone to trade pet/bird sitting duties for trips. Our pack/flock is getting big enough we can't take everyone anymore. That pic kind of looks like 'Dixie' to me - looks like you are getting a really sweet boy there. I noticed when we were there he has quite a bit bulkier head than the two females.

This is awesome news. Makes me glad I posted this thread. Will definitely contact you offlist as I'm interested in hearing more and you obviously know the breeder and the birds more than I could assess in the less than an hour we spent at her place. - Sterling

You say that tongue-in-cheek but, yeah...I have actually been losing sleep over the fact we're bringing another bird home and this one is a Grey. I've been accused of, and probably rightly so, of getting this bird (and the two rescues we just acquired) due to the impending empty nest problem I'm faced with. At least I won't have to put this one through college, that's a plus. (: It's a whole new world for my wife, she's never experienced parrots before. She's practically fallen in love with the Jardine's rescue we recently took in. That one and the rescued conure are both touch-me-nots and both act like they been beaten with brooms. She won't know what to think about this Grey. Btw...you all have pretty much convinced me to go with the one that's available. I think I saw a post on this forum about a Grey helping her 'daddy' build a gym. The one we're getting is an inquisitive little bird like that. That probably sealed the deal when I saw that post.

Choice just got harder :confused: The breeder sent me photos last night wanting to know if I was still picking up this Sunday. Looked at the pics and thought...oh my gosh...she looks so SWEET (read on, there's more to the story) Then a while later, I get another email...oops, wrong bird. This is the only one available that we looked at: Now you see my dilema. You can just see the sweetness dripping off the first bird. She's as cuddly and sweet as she looks in those photos. Unfortunately she's taken ): What to do... what to do.....

Ours used to do that well into several years old and then again when I went to visit her when she was around 20. Maybe she's just a big baby.

I get the following error using chrome, IE and firefox when I attempt to mark the forums read: Does this feature not work? How does anyone view all new posts/topics? Thx!

Back in the early 90's I moved from San Diego to San Antonio in a Budget rental truck. Three birds (one was a CAG) riding on the back of the bench seat. They loved it - but I also had birds that went and did everything with us so they were used to constant comotion.

Thought I would relate a story about my previous Grey 'Odie'. I purchased her with my wife at the time in '88 or '89 when I was 18 or 19 years old. We also had a conure and a Blue Front Amazon at the time. Odie ended up living with me for around 5-6 years before I got the boot from my now ex-wife. This was 1994. I never saw the bird again until... Fast forward to 2010? 2011? It seems like it was only a couple years ago but probably more like 5. You know how it is when you get old. My ex-wife went through some hard times and ended up having to re-home my birds to my aunt. One day when I was home visiting my parents I asked if we could go see my aunt and the birds. I walk in and see Odie and she acts sort of like I expected her to act - stand-offish and giving me that look that says keep your distance mister. I figure she's forgotten who I am. I do notice she is keeping an eye on me though. So I go over again and say something to her that I remember she used in the voice her and I would use and OMG...the bird nearly turns herself inside out trying to get to me. She starts panting, her wings are up and half-cocked all while doing that baby grunting noise that I remember she used to do. I get close enough and she instantly puts her foot up and is begging to step up. Grunt, grunt, grunt...she can't contain herself. This went on for a good half hour or more. Kisses, more grunting. I kept doing stuff that I remember she would do and she started doing some of the phrases and noises she used to do. My aunt said she had never heard her do some of them before. Had never seen her act like that either. Greys are pretty special. Hopefully she's coming back to me if and when my aunt needs me to take over (I still need to talk to her about that - hard topic). And my daughter, who grew up with Odie is in line after that if needed.

I have 'Of Parrots and People' in my Amazon basket with a few other selections. Will have to pull the trigger on that one. I agree with your comment about something so deeply special about Greys. I've had several birds and the one that I can't stop thinking about is my former Grey. She was/is a special girl. I almost hate to ask but what became of Calypso?

Funny...my wife found this cage about a week ago. I wrote it off because of the price then saw it over on AA and got re-interested in it and now this thread. When I saw your link I thought, I'll bet this is the brown Petco cage . Seems to be a nice cage, however I found one for sale on CL and they want $300. I'll throw the link their way and say, I'll pay used price but I won't pay way over new. Looks like this will be the cage we get too. Someone over there at AA said it goes on sale occasionally for $180. I got two weeks (and the price will probably go up - haahaa).

Went to look at a baby Grey this weekend. I'm very picky about the breeder and just happened to find one of the best located within a couple hours drive of my house. Inquired about her flegding method, she seemed to adhere to the 'abundance weaning/fledging' principles I've read about recently. She does not clip and lets them fly free to gain confidence while growing. Feeds seed sprouts, etc - i.e. no red flags, lots of green flags. The one that is available (a female) was apparently the first to do everything: fly, eat solid food, etc. She seems to be a very inquisitive, curious bird. Her sister however is the sweetest bird I've seen - but has already been spoken for - damn. I went ahead and put a deposit down with the stipulation that I reserve the right to wait for the next hatch. The problem is, her birds are amazing, but I'm after a cuddly Grey. My previous Grey was a cuddly girl and I'm afraid of getting hold of a monster that I keep reading about. The one that is available was of course, the first one to fly to us and get all 'in your face'. She really appeared to be trying to talk already, making some serious vocalizations. Unusual for such a young bird (hatched sometime in Nov). She even did the impatient grunting that I remember mine use to do when she got over-excited. But after a few minutes, she was gone. Off to explore while the sweet one sat in my hand and loved on my for over half an hour. We kept bringing the other back to look at her but she was definitely interested in exploring rather than cuddling. What would you do? I know their personalities will change somewhat as they mature but those traits are there for life. I feel like I may be passing up an gifted scholarly Grey just because I want a cuddler. As the breeder mentioned, the cuddly sister is a very needy bird and I may get tired of that after a while. I've got two weeks to decide. Hrrrmmmmmm.........

an AGaholic Going to look at a Grey this weekend. May put down a deposit. Had a CAG back in my early 20's along with a BFA and some kind of conure. They, unfortunately, ended up with my ex, who then, fortunately, had to re-home them with my aunt many years later. I figure some day I'll get them back but for now...I'm only getting older and I want another Grey. My first one was named Odie. She called herself Odie Podie. 'Stop it Odie' was one of her favorite phrases along with 'Be quiet Odie'. Really miss that bird. Hopefully I'm not trying to re-live the past by getting another, but I realize this one will not be the same. Odie was very sweet and cuddly which I understand may be unusual for Greys? I don't know what we did right with that bird but she was definitely a good one. She did however start plucking and it never stopped. Other than that she was a very happy bird. Off to browse!

Is this grey still available? Im looking for a cuddly grey. We have a stay at home situation. Previous Grey experience as well.