SRSeedBurners

Preface my advice with the fact that I had my first Grey at 19 for several years and knew all the stupid mistakes we made back in the early 90's with these beautiful creatures. Breeder: I found a breeder who knew and practiced the abundance weaning and fledging. It was a new term to me but apparently has been in practice for a while so most good breeders are aware of it. I did not want a bird that was ever clipped. I called and 'interviewed' the breeder and also sent some emails until I was satisfied I was not dealing with a backyard breeder just making a buck. One other thing I did was searched the net to see what others had to say about this breeder. She seemed to have a very good reputation and lucky for me was only a few hours away. What you look for in a baby Grey is up to you! You won't get what you want - -haaahaaa. I wanted a cuddle bird , also very pliable and a good talker. I got two out of those three traits along with a bunch of other 'bonuses' (strong-willed, moody, highly mischievous). They definitely grow up and change. They become a mix of their own wiring and also their environment - which can be strongly guided by you. DNA testing is mainly for sex determination. I'm not aware of any testing for disease that is done through the same procedure. On that note, finding a good reputable breeder puts you way down the road towards getting a healthy disease free bird, more than any testing you can have done. Our breeder had a closed aviary policy and showed us all her testing paperwork that gets done on her place etc... Good breeders also know how to wean their birds and socialize them so they have the best chance of fitting into our world. So if you're going the baby route, your best bet is to find a good reputable breeder OR one you can visit with on multiple occasions before making any decison. Your other route is to find an older bird in need of a home and there are way too many Greys out there that need good homes since they can never survive on their own. Check out the recent posting here about Felix, it might make you cry. He's one of the more famous Greys in the CAG community and he's a rescue who's previous owner died and he ended up in a pet shop through the damn kids. Personally, the bird we fell in love with at our home was a rescue and she passed away - it was gut wrenching but we loved her more than anything. Find an avian rescue in your area if there is one and visit it. Older birds come with more baggage but they can really be diamonds in the rough. I've witnessed it on several occasions including the bird we lost.

Well, on the flip side, if you know in your heart that you would make a good companion/caretaker don't wait! I regret waiting nearly 20 years to get another one after losing my first. I always put it down to remembering how messy and destructive they are and did I REALLY want to get back into that mode again? The trigger for me was my inability to deal with an upcoming empty nest. Once I got my Grey again I wished I wouldn't have lost so many years of living with one.

That is a sad story and probably way too often repeated without the happy ending. Keep at it Murfchck, it took me over a year to get Certified Felix Trained. I got a very nice certificate and the coveted red butt feather. It took lots of trainings and lots of hard works. Actually what really happened was I started contacting Felix's Mom (gosh, I don't even know her real name) about trying to locate a Jardines. That progressed to GreycieMae writing letters to Felix. Then GreycieMae showed Felix pictures of her newly converted bird room and I was on the road to CFT! Then word got around through Home Aviary Design that I had built GreycieMae an outdoor aviary. Once the pics reached Felix's Mom, she private messaged me that she was going to print the album out and hand it to her husband with the expectations that this will happen at their home. She told me to be watching my mailbox for a surprise. That's when I found my CFT certificate. Yeah - we threw a little party - we did.

She's a cutie-pie. I need to set something up like that for Greycie. She's a play-on-her-back bird too. What is that pvc pipe thing hanging to the side?

Just know that if you do it right, you're basically getting another kid that will never go to school and never move out. They need their little meals and they need toys and LOTS of attention. Our birds have taken over our life and I wouldn't have it any other way. Some people can't deal with that once the novelty wears off.

Hi to you and Trigger. How old is Trigger (don't be surprised if I call him Tigger - I used to have a BFA named Tigger and I keep typing that). I hope Trigger is not smoking and taking all those pills. I know me and my Grey would be rolling and fighting trying to get that stuff out of each other's possession. She would go nuts with those pill bottles. She managed to get a damn highlighter apart that she stole from wife and flew it down the hallway knowing full well I was hot on her tail to take it back. How did you and Trigger come to be buddies?

Is that a dog whistle?

Can't wait for pics. BHC are handsome devils. Ours constantly makes us laugh with his peculiar antics. They are like no other parrot. What other bird do you know wears candy corn pants and means serious business while doing so?

So you mentioned in the evenings he will let you scratch him. It's a common trait with some parrots they will relax their guard in the evenings. I would use that time to really focus on making him pliable again - try to do some of the things you remember he used to do. I've screwed up with my bird a few times and lost a bit of her trust. I've used that strategy to 'apologize' and gain her trust back again.

Are you able to spend more consistent time with him than when this behavior was brought on? I do know with my bird, if she doesn't get enough of my time she starts to draw away and gets somewhat bitey and nasty and starts to not want to spend time with me anymore. This usually occurs over the course of a couple or more weeks when I'm stuck at work. All of a sudden one day I'll realize that she's being more of a strong-willed cantankerous turd. Her thing is she really needs the evening rowdy time with me. I swing her, bounce her around, fly her, tickles, chases and just plain rough-house with her. When I'm consistent with this she really becomes a velcro cuddlebug most of the rest of the time. My wife has a Jardines that is the same except he requires lots of scratches under a warm blanket - she gets off easy. With both of these birds if they don't get their 'normal' human time they start to revert back to their wild ways. -- just my thoughts.

The little sick ones that need you the most always become the most loved and the absolute hardest to lose. That's the way it works here. We still miss our baby Raven. My wife can't stop talking about her. Jack's little stance in the photo looks so much like the way she used to perch. Bless their sweet little souls.

You may find out that doesn't work - haaaa! Eating first in a Grey world means eating twice.

GreycieMae does it as well. She has several methods she likes to use to play rollover and wrestle: grabbing my thumb and pulling my hand over on her (usually on the back of my chair), or she also will grab my collar and flip off the front of my shirt and fully expects me to cradle her and start the tickles. They are super cute when they do that.

How old is Miss Marco? I'm still holding out hope some day GreycieMae will start talking. She's just over 2yrs old. I'm thinking the problem is me. I can't stop baby talking her and never use my regular voice when she's in the vicinity. Plus she seems to learn everything from wife and she won't do anything consistent. But I know what you mean when you say you love that bird. They are adorable lil monsters.

Not sure where Rio was. No he's not chill with the baby goaty (goaty now has a name: Sir Winston Peabody or Winston for short). Just this morning they had a standoff. Rio was laying the smooth operator down on my wife's Christmas'y painted toenails and Winston came over for a look. Rio put his Caiquey-Jiu-Jitsu talon defense in the air and warded of the goaty attack. When Winston turned and walked away, Rio flew at him and attacked, wings flapping and everything. No harm no foul though, it was mostly a show of force.

So it was a setup to catch and 'trash' her reputation. Why, you should be ashamed of yourself. Now go apologize and get her some pistachios. There's no way I'm believing a sweet face like that is ever up to no goods....

I wish you could meet GreycieMae and tell me if you see the same 'thing' in her. When we were visiting her as a baby, she was exactly as you say with this new little one. However she was very independent. Greycie's two clutchmates were still there when we went to see her. The male was calm and friendly. The other female was exceptionally friendly and very clingy (which I liked at the time). GreycieMae was "Hi, what's your name? Quick, I have other priorities, like that nice hat you're wearing - mine mine mine". I still remember being 'talked into' taking Greycie. We both (us & the breeder) knew she was going to be a handful but neither of us would admit it. We wanted the bird, she wanted to sell us the bird. My wife told GreycieMae just a couple days ago: "Greycie, if your sister had been available when we went to look at you, you would not be here today causing all this damn trouble". Greycie likes to wait silently while we round the kitchen corner out of sight and then it's what can I get into. Recently we've been keeping the baby goat confined in the kitchen since it has indestructible porcelain tile. Greycie's favorite past time: throw things off the counter at baby goaty or get on the floor with baby goaty and chase him and make him squeal.

Sounds exciting. The new Grey will surely step up to the plate for the duty of Head-Tastey-Tester.

My inclination is they won't be 'buds'. However I think they do appreciate having somebirdy else around during the day even though they can't stand them in their personal space. We have three birds, from the oldest: CAG - Caique and Jardines. The CAG can't stand the Caique and tolerates/picks on the Jardines. If I take one from the bird room though the incessant contacting calling begins, so there is an attachment of sorts there.

Those are some lucky little miniature buzzards. I had the same bead curtain for a couple days and it kept falling apart so we sent it back for refund. I found a steel bead curtain that we never ended up ordering because the wife is now hell-bent on getting me my welder and enclosing our whole back yard in netting (another exhausting job for me). I thought of your little budgies the other day in Petsmart/Petco (can't remember which one). I went to their little budgie enclosure and found one had his leg locked in the door. He was struggling and no telling how long he'd been there. So I raised hell and got immediate reaction and let my wife handle the details as I was so goddamned mad. They wouldn't let her take him to the vet and promised to take him.

Put the little bowl in the big bowl next time. Let her go that route a few times and I bet she'll start using the big bowl. Also might try putting ice cubes in the water in the big bowl too.

That's normal. Just be consistent and keep at it and it will become second nature to him. Too many people make the mistake of giving up too soon.

From reading your post it sounds like you have a flightless Grey who is also an only bird? You might try using hanging boings/orbits that can be moved from room to room with you. We got rid of all of our stands as they are a pain to move and clean and we found that having hooks in various places as well as using natural hanging points (central air ventilation vents) are a lot easier to deal with. I move thier orbits/boings/ropes from their bird room to the kitchen, living and bed rooms. Also into their outdoor aviary. I can't imagine keeping a Grey in the house by themselves without finding a way to keep them with me. We also hang toys inside the orbits which keep them busy. Rio likes little cutout blocks of wood and beads to chew, Greycie loves her plastic chain with bells and Toby likes to have a bell hanging in the center that he can wear like a hat (he's a weird one).

How bad is Charlie fighting the harness once it's on? On a scale of 1 to 10 ( 1 - ignoring harness - 5 low stress standing and chewing on various points - 10 panic, rolling, biting, desperately trying to get out of it). I gauge my Grey at about a 3 and she's been in one for two years. She will work on the joints if left with nothing to do. If you can get the harness on without creating a ton of stress and panic, then immediately go and do something like a walk, car ride etc to get them focused on something besides the harness. This is the way I've trained all three of mine. My Jardines was the worst as he went to about a 9 just short of full-on panic mode. He did however roll around and growl and refuse to stand. It immediately changed when I took him outside for a 30 minute walk and he totally focused on other things. Harness came off immediately once back inside at first but now he can wear it no problems. All of mine will sit and chew on the harness if not given something else to do but there's no stress anymore.

I think I know what Corky is getting from Santa this year.