SRSeedBurners

I think like human kids, they are able to adapt to these kinds of situations when they are younger. However they do adapt well to a change in homes when properly cared for. We're convinced our Huey thinks he hit the jackpot. He's really busted out of his shell with us. If you can give the Grey lots of love and attention, I don't think you can go wrong. They do require a lot of 'work' that some people are not used to. They are more than just 'feeding the dog' twice a day. Mental stimulation and cleaning up after them is more involved but they are very worth it.

We introduced them within an hour of his arrival. These are photos of that moment. She's the one taking pot shots, and making the threatening head moves. I know my Grey and I am easily able to stop her in her tracks if things got out of control. He never showed any fear of her. They both can easily avoid the little jabs they both make. It's mostly just posturing. Just remember, they're the same size and know how to deal with their own kind. I have to be careful with her around our others because she has nearly killed our Caique twice. Also know that she is cage aggressive too and I would not let him walk on top of her cage (my birds are rarely caged except night time). They can remove a toe. Also, he took a couple of months to learn to fly. He could only crash land when we brought him home. The biggest problem he has with her now, is she steals his food from his foot when he's holding something tasty. 😂

I have a near 6 year old female Grey that we've had since 4 months old. She has always been the big bully in our house as she's easily 3x as big as any other bird we have (500 grams). Back in December we were asked to take in another Grey which is a 21 year old male. He does not weigh as much as our female but he has no problem stamping his authority all over our girl. We introduced them on night 1. I don't follow any rules or bull crap, I just go by the seat of my pants. Greycie, the female, tried to exert herself on him but we all quickly saw that she was no match for a much wiser older Grey. For a few weeks we would at least be in the same room but I found that the male easily had her under control and she wasn't going to beat the feathers off of him. They got into little stabby fights a lot but that has diminished greatly. She was never able to hurt him. He's not aggressive. I can now leave them completely unattended all day long and have caught them trying to mate, feeding each other playing together etc. They still get into the occasionally little stabbies but it's all harmless. The stabby fights concerned me a little, only because I was wondering if it's normal. I emailed a former member here who I know had two Greys that were bonded and also talked to the owner of one of the big bird sanctuaries. Both told me the little stabby fights are quite normal even with tightly bonded Greys. So I have no concerns over it. That's what worked for us.

It's because you added one extra space after the youtube link. The same link, which I grabbed from your post - with no added space at the end:

Our Huey uses the F-bomb. It's almost always when he bites at you and makes contact, then he'll immediately say the F-bomb. I suppose it's from a previous owner that got bit and used the F-bomb.

Alfie likes to crawl the wire like GreycieMae. I'll bet he was totally pooped after coming in from a day in that aviary!

The easiest thing to do is upload to youtube and then link it here. Just by dropping the link here it will insert the video preview, it's seamless and is just as good or better than posting directly to the forum. The old software was a steaming pile when it came to posting a video and I briefly tried to upload a video when the new software came along. When that didn't work, I just stayed with the youtube. Plus I have all my videos in one place: youtube instead of all over the damn net in different forums.

I love Greys, they're so cuddly (GreycieMae), except when they're not! (Huey)

If you're talking about the missing part on the very tip, that's definitely not an issue. I will regularly dremel my problem birds past that point on their beaks safely, including one of my Greys. If my Greys beak was that overgrown, I will dremel it but I'm not advising you to do the same. You have to know what you're doing.

That's a damn shame. I'm glad I don't have neighbors like that. I was down at the barn and all of mine were in full chorus....I could hear their racket clear down there. Our new neighbors told me my guineas were roosting on their roof. I said, yeah, guineas do that. I argued with the City of Allen not to let them build 10 ft from our barn. So sorry (not).

The more you describe Smokey, the more I think you have our Huey's identical twin, brother from another mother haahaa... Regarding the flying issue: that's exactly what Huey did. Low, flap, then leap and crash land. It took him about two months and he started actually flying. We coaxed him A LOT to come in the kitchen from the living room. He also saw our other Grey, GreycieMae, fly into the kitchen constantly and he couldn't stand being left so he practiced a lot. I spent about two months bolting from my current position to try and catch Huey so he didn't hurt himself. He had way too many crash landings for my liking and we're lucky he never broke a wing or something else. He's well past that point now and can fly and land pretty good. He's not graceful and sometimes will screw up a landing but I don't have to chase around and give him a safe arm to land on anymore.

I agree. Not even a dog can do what a Grey can do. I think it really has something to do with the ability to cross the communication boundary with us. For example just today Huey saw me sitting in the bedroom from his position in the aviary just outside our window. Next thing I know he's pacing the window sill saying "C'mere, C'mere, shower? Shower? Marietta..." Marietta is my wife, she's his favorite. I'm not sure he knew who was in there, he could just tell someone was. Yesterday he was calling me into the kitchen to get him some cheerios. They're like having a kid around.

Wow, he looks a lot like our Huey. Our Huey has had some abuse in his past too. Not his previous owner but before that. It took Huey about 3-4 months for the real Huey to come out which I guess is really short for a Grey. These guys bring so much love and joy with them when they blossom in the right care.

Pics!

Wow. You're braver than me. Nothing bigger than a Grey here.

OH wow. I would love a Senegal. They have the type of personalities that I LOVE!!!

Well, be careful. I would not have let those birds get into that situation in the first place. Too many in too close quarters. It's an indication to me they are not really taking care of those Greys the way they should. They may have the best intentions but they may also be over-loaded with other things since it's a wildlife park. If you do go the FB route, do not indicate you are giving the bird away. You will not be able to sort through the riff-raff that will come out of the woodwork. If you have time, I think it would be best to seek out a home for Bailey. They deserve the best since being captive was not their choice. I have to ask, are you interested in keeping Bailey or just not in a situation where you can? I also hope your Dad doesn't decide to get another bird in the future. These creatures are not throwaway animals when the situation isn't convenient any longer. They are way too intelligent and function at the level of a small child.

That video of the Greys in the enclosure looks like way too many in one enclosure of that size to me.. Looks more like an animal hoarding/zoo to me than a sanctuary. Sure you can't find Bailey a nice home? I know there are a lot of Grey owners in the U.K. on the African Grey facebook groups.

That's a really nice setup. He's going to love that the more he gets to use it. I love to see them out getting their sun.

I use earplugs around my birds a lot. Their nature is to make loud shrill noises sometimes. I have found with earplugs in, I don't mind it at all.

I've always liked that dino-parrot poster too. Every morning after her breakfast, GreycieMae has to do her pterrordactyl runs back and forth across the aviary. It usually sounds like there's a massive fight going on in there but it's just her getting her dinosaur out to play. 🤣

You've not been practicing properly . This is how I usually have to do my computer work. Tinkerbell absolutely has to be sitting in my mouse hand. 🤣

Well, my wife complains that she's 'third wife' behind GreycieMae and Tinkerbell and the service is pretty lacking back there! GreycieMae has a todo list a mile long and Tinkerbell is the most demanding lil ball of fluff I've ever met.

Add in three parts crazy with a 10-pack of 31,000,000,000 mAh rechargeable batteries and you have a Caique! I was reading your description and was thinking, all of that sounds just like a Caique with the exception: they do no respect self-confidence one little bit, they are not easy to train. I had a BFA with my first set of birds when I was 19+. His name was Tigger and he was probably my least favorite bird. I assume now that he was a wild-caught as he just never tamed down, was always growly but I still handled him. He rode on my beach bike along the California coast line with me, he loved that. He also was the only bird I've ever had that went absolutely nutters when any spray bottle or water hose came his way. Our Caique is a little like that when he's in the mood. Tigger was always in the mood to get soaked. I recall he was a chatter-bug, nothing intelligable though. He did mimic the cry of my daughter to a 'T' and also did the car alarm and backup beeps with perfection. I considered getting another one before we exploded to 6 birds but I just don't really mesh with that breed. For some reason I have a very strong pull for Greys and Conures. I love those two. Tigger from the early 90's:

Haahaa...you'll have to get in line! GreycieMae needs decorative window bars on her aviary to keep teenagers out and airflow in! I've had no less than 10 welders out here to look at the job and provide a quote. Not one welder ever calls me back. Looks like I'm going to end up doing this myself too. Good thing I'm certified in TIG and SMAW welding. Here's what I know about these companies (plumbing/electric/etc) that you hire to do stuff for you: they're all about making money as fast as possible with cheap labor. Our foundation lift was done by a crew of non-English speakers. They totally screwed me and I'm now paying the price. A few years ago we had Baker Brothers plumbing, a very well known, highly advertised company, come here and repair a water line in our bathroom that I didn't have time to mess with. Their fix leaked and within a year destroyed the wall and the studs before I knew what was going on. So I repaired that whole thing myself including re-doing their plumbing job. I don't trust any company. It's why I do most things myself. Especially mechanic work on our cars. No way in hell I'm letting those shitbags touch our cars.