DogsBirdsFish

Emma and I are off to a great start. You would think we were together for years. She has spent three days out of the cage (all day long). Getting her in at night is just a matter of offering her a bird cookie She flew over to me twice. When I want to move her to the play stand or somewhere else, she steps up, and generally gets off at the new location (sometimes she wants to hang on my shoulder a few minutes before she moves to the new location). The excess grooming she did the first day has subsided now that she has her feathers back in order. I ran the vacuum cleaner and she did not react at all. No fear of the two large Goodlendoodle dogs. She is interested in the caiques, but not enough to fly over to their cage. She does seem to enjoy watching them run all over me when it's their turn for play time. She often says "Oh Stop It" when they make too much noise. She is very gentle. Always lets me rub her neck; gently grabbing my finger if I go too far. She says I love you more than any other phase. I'm starting to figure out the "Do you want a bath" signal (that means come over here and spray me). She looks at the fish border often and also shows interest in the large (real) fish I have in three aquariums. I (hopefully we) could not be happier at this time. I don't know why you folks have so much drama with your Greys; these guys are easy........(winking while fingers crossed and knocking on wood)....lol. Here are a couple pics of her by the fish border and one of the caiques by one of the fish aquariums.

She had a busy day today. More confident, more talkative (at least 50 difference phrases), and way more active. She looked like she wanted to fly most all day long. I tried a number of times to encourage her to fly over to me, but she just wouldn't do it. Well a few minutes ago I was doing some heavy multitasking (Polish multitasking: breathing, beating my heart, and answering an e-mail) and she flew across the room and crash landed into my head and shoulders. We both survived, but while flying one of her long flight feathers fell out. I assume it will be about a year before that grows back. I hope next time she gives me a warning when she does that again.

How do I tell the difference between stress-related feather plucking, post mishandling grooming ( i.e., pulling damaged feathers), and normal seasonal molting? When I picked her up on Tuesday, she had quite a few mangled feathers and a few spots where feathers had been plucked (upper leg area, center of chest, and a couple spots under the wings). Nothing too bad; in fact the feathers on the chest have already started to grow back. Since she has been home, she has been grooming quite a bit and her outer grey feathers are 100% better. However, she has been plucking the white down feathers (fortunately not from any one area). The worse was on the first full day home. She groomed for hours and I only saw a couple white down feathers on the floor. However, I had an hour long conference call later in the day, and when I went over to the cage, there were about 20 down feathers on the floor. She only plucked a few down feathers yesterday and today but I'm also interacting with her more so she has less chance to groom.

Help!!! I'm no match for her. She is talking up a storm and trying to teach me to speak. I do not know how to respond to many of the words/phrases she is saying. So far I only understand about 1/3 of what she says. I'm afraid that by not responding, or responding incorrectly, may cause her to stop saying the many things she says. Some of the phases are very passionate and/or loud. I haven't figured those out yet, but I better soon...lol. She was only home an hour when she said "want some" when I started to put food in her bowl. A few minutes later I was petting her head and she said "I love you". A couple hours after that I was on the other side of the room and opened a bag of unsalted pretzels. She said "May I have that?" I was totally stunned (so polite); so of course I gave her a piece of pretzel. Three more "May I have that"s and I hid the bag. She taught me to say Wake Up when I first come downstairs to greet the birds. The caiques are probably confused because I have been saying Good Morning to them for the past two years. Every time the phone rings she says "Hello", but only after the second ring. I misted her yesterday and she said "Want to take a bath". I didn't know what to do. Should I take her to the shower or was she just asking for more misting? I knew taking care of a Grey would be difficult; however, I never thought about how difficult it has to be for Emma to train me.......

Here is a picture of the Goffin. She/he was very active and trying to get my attention as well. If it wasn't for my spouse, I would have taken both birds. I named the Grey Emma after my mom. My preference was a male Grey and I had a couple names picked out already. So when this female showed up in my life, I decided to name her after the person who had the same interest in animals (my mom had dogs, birds, and fish when I grew up) and had the same passion for birds in particular. The person who dropped off the birds gave no names or other details about the birds. My first challenge is trying to change her name without confusing her.

Here is a low quality cell phone pic I took when she was on my shoulder at the bird farm.

Nancy, You predicted the future. Your post is pretty much how things played out. I had not heard from the rescue home that had the 20 year old Grey for a month. I assumed the woman, who wanted both the Amazon who bites and the Grey, had adopted them. In the mean time, I visited the bird farm near me. What a dirty place. They basically have a barn that looks likes it ready to fall down to house the birds. They specialize in pigeons, ducks, chickens, finches, and parakeets. I left my number in case any Grey babies showed up. However, I was fairly certain I didn't want to buy a baby from them and then take another big chance with hand feeding. I checked with Bird Paradise and they had another 12+ babies for sale. They do not let you take them home until they are fully weaned. When I stopped by, I just could not commit to buying a "new" Grey and was still leaning to adopting a "used" Grey; so I drove home without putting a deposit on one. Out of the blue, I got a call from the rescue home on Monday morning (3 days ago), telling me that she had back surgery and had not yet showed the birds to the lady who wanted both. She was going to call the lady and give her 24hrs to schedule an appointment to see/adopt them, and then contact me later in the day. She then told me that they will not split up the two bonded birds (they must be reading this thread...lol.), and if the lady decided not to adopt, I would have to take both. I scheduled a vacation day on Friday; just in case. One hour later I get a call from the bird farm. A man just dropped off two birds (female Grey and Goffin). He said the couple had just divorced, and wanted to get rid of them. He told me the Grey was 5 months old and fully weaned. I wanted to hear from the rescue home, so I told him to hold her for 24 hours; he agreed. I did not hear from the rescue home on Monday, so I stopped by the bird farm on Tuesday during my lunch hour. Turns out the female is between 1 to 2 years old (judging by eye color) and the story changed to the man who dropped her off said they had her for 5 months. Both birds were a mess. The Goffin had plucked his chest raw and there was some dried blood on the wound. The Grey had a few small areas that looked plucked and many bent feathers. The guy dropped them off in a small rusty animal carrier (the size you use for Guinea Pigs), so the birds must have been in a panic being jammed in there. The Grey was holding her wings out, so I was afraid her wings were hurt. The bird farm owner grabbed her and showed me she was able to flap her wings just fine (she probably was in pain). When he put her on top of the cage, she came right over to me, climbed up my arm to get on my shoulder, and then caught me by surprise when she learned over and gave me a kiss on the lips (I had briefly thought about how I could have lost my lip in that brief moment). I took that exchange as her picking me. Well you know who came back from lunch with me. So I officially joined the Grey club. I'll post my two day experience with her later.

Yes, something else to think about; thank you. I missed a call last night from the rescue home. I'll have mixed emotions if they tell me the Grey has been adopted. But it is probably for the best if the other family is taking both birds. This is such a difficult process making a decision that will have a significant impact on the bird and me for many, many years to come (hopefully). Adding to the possibilities, I just found out there is a bird farm just 10 miles from my house. They will be getting some Grey chicks in soon. They sell hand-fed babies. So if I go that route, I'll be responsible for the 4+ feedings a day. That would be a challenge going into the summer months. That means I can't leave home for more than a few hours at a time for x number of months. And I'll be sending off the family again to another vacation without me. On a different topic; I had my caiques on my shoulder when I went upstairs to change before I went to the fitness center. When I change clothes in front of them I always say I'm changing my feathers. Well they definitely did not like my white feathers when I put on my new workout shirt. I had to put on a blue shirt over it to get them to get back downstairs to their cage. I guess if I bring home a Grey, I'll be dealing with situations like that all the time....

Thanks for sharing your journey and the great advice.

Sorry you misinterpreted my attempt at humor. The Funny Farm and being taken away is from an old song that was popular amongst us "different" kids (you know, the kind who grow up to be Grey owners; only kidding...). For those who remember Jerry Samuels' They're coming to take me away:

Funny you should mention vacations. Since I brought home my two caiques, I passed up vacation trips to Italy and Turkey. In the past, I had no trouble taking the dogs to the kennel and asking a family member to stop over at our house to feed the fish. However, I cannot bring myself to leave the birds in the hands of family members or a boarding house. I still have not stayed overnight a single day. Your history with birds is unbelievable. Will you be taking all them to the Funny Farm with you when they come to take you away....lol.

If someone was trying to sell me something for a $1,000 that I HAD to interact with a couple hours each day for the rest of my life. And there was no guarantee that the item would provide a wonderful experience, and in fact, may become a hardship; I would say no thanks....lol. Is there something not quite right with us who want to bring African Greys into our lives? I read that the profile of a typical bird owner is one who is above average in intelligence and often has an eccentric personality. Maybe that explains the irrational decision one makes.

Thanks steve59 and murfchck for sharing your experience adopting older Greys. Looks like if I end up adopting the ~20 year old Grey, the best I can hope for is the bird to feel comfortable in our home and whatever he has picked up along the way (both vocabulary and bad habits) is what I will have to accept. Of course I wish I could know all that before I make the commitment. I doubt I will be able to pick up on the baggage in a couple of ~ hour long visits. Then I read posts like this from danmcq and imagine spending countless days with an intelligent, talkative, interactive Grey next to me in my home office. So I may be faced with choosing between the satisfaction of rescuing an older bird and (hopefully) providing him with a good environment that he may have an enjoyable life with us or buying a baby with the hope that he will blossom into a Grey with all the best attributes that the species has to offer.

There is a person who is interested in rescuing both. If that falls through, the rescue home has a person interested in the Amazon and me for the African Grey. I am supposed to hear from them on Friday.

Thanks for the advice. Your reply just adds to the allure of bringing home a Grey. Kind of reminds me of the people who work for me. It's the most brilliant ones who are the most challenging to manage; often getting things done their way and in their time frame....lol. Given the Grey's popularity and unpredictable (crap shoot) behavior, you would think there would be more rescues available.

I'm fairly confident that if I bring home a Grey, he will be entering into a loving (and in the case of the rescue; better) environment. My family, friends, and neighbors can attest to the special bond I have with animals. I believe I will have the Grey's interests covered the best I can for a captive bird. I am just trying to also satisfy my need to experience the special "gifts" that a Grey has to offer. If I choose the best match for my needs, I believe the Greys needs will be met as well.

The Caiques were rescues. The first time I visited them, the male immediately stepped up on my finger and allowed me to rub his neck.. So that had already exceeded my expectations. The female was another story. She was a biter. The woman at the rescue home disclosed that. However, since she was young I took a chance. After about six months, she/we developed a trusting relationship and the biting stopped. In fact she is now my favorite of the two. Regarding the Grey. I will have to see how the first visit goes. Last year I made a visit to another potential Grey rescue who was recovering from a plucking problem. I am very good with reading animals and sensed that that particular bird was not comfortable with me (bird didn't pick me). The reason for my questions are to help me decide what to do if the first visit goes well. One of the main reasons the Grey is so popular (local pet store had ~ 15 Greys in cages marked sold and had a sign up sheet to get on the waiting list) is their intelligence and talking ability. I am attracted to those traits like many people. So I am looking for the best odds of getting a talking and intellectual challenging new family member. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for rescue animals; and would rather take home the rescue Grey. Of course if I bring home a Grey he is here to stay.

I am interested in bringing a Grey into our home. I work from home and would like the challenge and enjoyment of teaching him to talk and interacting with him (male Grey is my preference). I am currently on a waiting list for a TAG new born; however, I may have an opportunity to rescue a ~20 year old CAG. The CAG has been well care for but he only says a few words. He spent nearly his entire life with another bird and apparently speaks fluent Amazon (the other bird is an Amazon). So the question to you folks with experience; will I be able to expand the human vocabulary of this older bird and will he be intellectually capable/interested in learning new tricks? I know there is no guarantee that a baby bird will have a good vocabulary and be very interactive. However, I do not want to adopt a Grey and end up with a bird that does little more than eat, sleep, and poop. BTW - I also have two Caiques that are extremely interactive.