New Bird Daddy Wanting To Do Right

[Elvenking]

I am currently the daddy of a now 11 week old Grey. Let me start off by saying that I love this bird sooooo much. It's been a dream of mine to make one of these little guys my friend...and it's finally happening. But I would like some reassurance from other Grey owners to be sure I am doing the very best by my new best friend.

 

So now with some information....BTW...if you take time to read my questions and answer...special thank you to you

 

I still feed the lil (well hardly little now..this guy is huge) guy once in the morning and once at night. He seems to eat more at night now. I give him fruits and veggies to much on during the day and he seems to be doing well in the nutrition department.

 

Okay...so he learned to fly over the weekend...lol. Its truly amazing, but I gotta get him clipped this weekend. One of my questions is, once he is clipped...will he tend to not try to fly as much. Right now he will just up and fly to where ever he wants given the chance. And I like to let him have as much out of cage time as possible. But if he flies around, I just can;t have that. So far I have been picking him up and putting him back where he was when he flies. And he tends to settle down and stay after a while.

 

One other question is what trends should I look for in his weening. Looks like I can stop the morning feeding soon, but the evening one is still going strong, in fact I ahve to cut him off after 50-60 cc's.

 

I read books to him too. Childrens books...he seems to love this.

 

When I am home, I love to spend time with him. In the morning, we get up, do a feeding and i sit on the couch with him for about 15 minutes after that. Then let him play on the top of the cage while I get ready. I will take him in the bathroom to watch me groom after shower. After about an hour or so of out time, it's time for me to go to work. I will come home after that and let him have out time up until about 10PM when he wants to sleep. We sit on the couch, I read to him, talk to him constantly, pet him, love him...let him sleep on me if he wants. Show him new toys...you know. so, about 3-5 hours of out of cage time at night.....Simple question...do I spend enough time with my bird. I can tell you that he seems to be a very happy bird...but I want to know other peoples routines to see how they compare.

 

He still tries to get away with stuff...sometimes he doesn't come up when I say up...in those cases...I will just gently grab him and put him on my hand...is this as good as the towel technique? He has never ever bit me at all. This is one gentle bird who knows that there is nothing to worry about when I am around.

 

And finally, talking. I hear it can take 3 months to over a year to ehar these lil guys make some words. What is this community's experience with that.

 

When I get up...or come home...right now he just makes this semi loud little chirp to let me know that food and or attention is requested. Is that pretty normal and does that change to other noises? Really want to see peoples experience with that...especially with people who live alone with their bird. I live with my Grey and a Green Cheek Conure too. I am a nut in the fact that i consitantly talk to myself anyway...seriously...my neighbord probably thing two or three people live next door. LOL. Does any one think that living alone with a bird makes them any less likely to talk. This guy is going to be loved more than anything regardless, but I would love to hear him chatter as well. I know its way too soon at this point.

 

So there you have it....my latest inquiries....if you read this far...I thank you dearly for listening to my story and questions. And for any who respond....mega thank you!

 

Post edited by: Elvenking, at: 2010/02/04 22:36<br><br>Post edited by: Elvenking, at: 2010/02/04 22:37

[ramsabi]

While the gurus will come along and give u the best advice possible (and that, in my opinion would be wise to follow), I will chip in with my responses:

 

I know nothing about the weaning. Dave and others will shed more than enough light on this question.

 

I was reading your other post 'To Clip or Not To Clip...Floor Walking'. From the time stamp on that post I think that u posted that specific question after this post. The consensus in that thread seemed to be in favour of not clipping. But it is your decision and you will have to live with it.

 

Your routine seem pretty much like ours and in my opinion u are spending adequate time with your bird. You say he goes to sleep by 10 PM. What time does he wake up? Ideally about 9-12 hours of sleep time is recommended. Rishi goes to sleep by 8 PM and is up at 5.30 AM.

 

As long as you are not getting SEVERELY bitten, I would not think that a towel would be necessary.

 

Talking is very individualistic and varies widely from bird to bird. We have not made any specific "training" attempts to get Rishi to talk. My wife and I ensure that we talk to each other as much as possible in Rishi's presence and we include him in the conversation. Rishi spoke his first words when he was about 10 months old and now has a vocab of about 30 words.

 

Post edited by: ramsabi, at: 2010/02/05 05:01<br><br>Post edited by: ramsabi, at: 2010/02/05 05:06

[JungleDreamz]

Hi and welcome to the grey family!

 

I also handfed my baby Grey...She was 4 weeks when I got her...And I gotta say, You should like PM Dave007...He helped me SO much...Everything he said would happen DID. I abundance weaned...Which is when you leave it up to them to tell you when they dont want fed anymore...I didnt think my little baby would EVER stop wanting her food, And just ask Dave, I was always like, "are you sure she will just stop wanting it? She loves it!" and he would always say, "yes, YOu will know" lol...What happened in my experiance was that the evening feeding was the last to go, And she would take all her food, then fly back to the cage and spit a couple CC's of it up, Thats the indication to just start giving them less, And less, and less, and then finally she just wouldnt exept any of it. Which I really thought would NEVER happen, But it did.

 

As far as Wing clipping, It is a very touchy subject hear, haha...We all have our own opinions. I honestly think it is differant for every grey and his situation. I would always say, Allow them to at least learn to fly, and see how it goes...This is what I did, But despite all my efforts to keep her from flying into the glass backdoor (I tried everything), I couldnt get her to stop, and the last straw was one day she tried to fly through it to get to me, and I heard this awful THUD, and I knew what it was instantly, I just ran over, like "please dont be dead" and she wasnt THANK GOD, But she had like a bloody rug burn looking spot on her head around her eye from where she had hit the window...And then to me I felt it was safer for her and her well being to be clipped...So I gave her light clip so she can still flutter, Just not soar. But like I said, If your bird doesnt have a problem flying into things, or you know you have a big house and lots of space, I would have kept her unclipped. Thats why I think it is just differant for everyone...Whatever is in the birds best intrest.

 

I think if your bird is seeming happy, I think you are spending enough time with him. Seens like all of your being at home time is spent with your bird, and that is great, Sounds like you are bonding well

 

And talking...Everyone says it will most likely be when they are a year or even a little over a year, That seems to be the average. Thats what my grey books say too, My Grey (calypso) is about 11 months, and I hear her really trying, She does lots of imitations, but only knows 1 word as far as right now goes. She says "hello", She mimics the microwave, gives kisses, Makes "bubble" noises, Thats her newest thing, haha, I posted a video, it is titled "Bubbles" Its pretty cute. So yeah...Thats where we are so far

 

Whats your baby greys name?

[Elvenking]

Thank you for reading my lengthy first message. I just had so much on my mind about my little bird at the time. His name is Issac....after Issac Newton....and I am gonna let him keep his wings so long as he is not hurting himself. So kind of ironic he should be named after a person who studied gravity...lol.

 

I am headed into a meeting here in a second. But I think its cute that your bird makes some cool noises. I can see my lil guy trying to make other sounds...and when he does...I praise him or at least let him know that I can see he is trying.

 

I will write more later...bye for now.

[Xtreme575]

I agree that the gurus will be able to offer you more, experienced advice, but after now sharing a home with him for the past few months, and with him just being under 8 months old, I can tell you the talking just exploded for us. I noticed a few weeks back that the noises he was mimicing was amazing, and then a few days later he shocked me by saying, "Hello, Pretty Bird, Good Morning, Paco, Good Bird" all at once! "Hello" is his preffered word at the moment, but he still runs through all the noises that he has made.

 

Others have talked about "Parrot Time" and how the bird will do what it wants, or needs to do on its own time. I'm impatient, so it is hard for me to accept this, but I was concerned that all he ever seemed to want to do was cuddle and whistle "whit woo", now he is playing, vocalizing, verbalizing, it's like a whole new bird, but he also is now more independent and I'm missing our long cuddle times.

 

As far as grabbing the parrot when he doesn't step-up, I worry that this is negative reinforcement. I would either choose one of two options, either have a treat to offer beyond your hand that will entice him to move forward to your hand when you need him to step up, and/or respect his independence and try again after a minute or two. Depending on my situation, I use both (offer treats when I'm in a rush). I try to make sure that I do not treat him like anything else but an equal, I suspect he is smarter than I am...

 

As far as talking goes, I've been told that living alone is beneficial. I don't know why that would be, but I don't think you need to worry. I live alone, and am actually quite quiet, needing to remind myself talk to Paco in order to interest him, rather than just relying on our body language...

 

Just relax and enjoy your baby, he will grow up soon enough. But continue to ask questions, I'm learning lots from you, and the responses that you are getting!!

[Elvenking]

As far as stepping up....when he is in the cage and I am going to let him out...he can all but resist jumping onto my hand befor I am even to the 'p' in 'Up!'. He is quite excited to come out and play. It will just be times where he is where he wants to be that gives me trouble. Then on those occasions I can keep saying 'Up'...sometimes tapping on his leading leg a couple times and he will come up. Other times...he is directly defiant after 10-15 calls for up, so I will just gently pick him up by his soft little bird body and put him on my hand. If there is another approach, I will try it...but keeping control over him at the moment doesn;t seem to be a problem. He has never had a problem with my hands or biting them....yet. Crossing fingers. He seems to know that I will never hurt him and that hands are 'good'. He loves petting and scratching behind the neck. He is just so incredibly cuddly at the moment. I heard you say that he may grow up a bit and be slightly more independant....that is good too.

 

I am also having some luck with getting him to poop on command...even so...I must have spot cleaned about 6 places in my home last night due to the accidents. But I keep at attempting to bring him over to his cage on a regular basis and say 'poop', and he complied about 3-4 times last night. It is hopeful.

 

For talking, I feel like he will try to catch onsoon enough. I read childrens books to him, I pretty much talk to him as if he can understand what I am saying. Like he is a little kid you know. In the coming months, I am sure I will let the forums how that is working out.

 

I am more relaxed now that I have made the decision about his flying. I realized that i was actually dreading having him clipped this Saturday and finally thought, 'Geez...just don't do it unless he looks like he is going to hurt himself with his new found power'.

 

There can be no doubt, I will be here with questions for my fellow Grey lovers. I want to do nothing short of what the most responsible Grey owner would ever do for my Issac. He is gonna be my friend for life

[Luvparrots]

So glad you and Issac are bonding so well and that you have decided to leave him flighted!

[pearllyn]

Hi Elvinking,

Isaac sounds like a real sweetie. It is so great to hear of a new parront going to these lengths to make sure their new baby is going to be happy! It's amazing to me that there are so many of them on this forum!

I'm with the others - there are many more experienced members on this site than me, but here's what I've found in the nearly two years since Alfie joined us.

The flight aspect I've already told you on your other thread.

As far as stepping up goes, I would agree with Xtreme575 and would be slightly concerned about grabbing him - however gently. It's forcing him to do something that he is trying to tell you he doesn't want to do, and that won't lead to anything good. If he doesn't step up when you ask, try gently raising your hand until it is firmly touching his belly just above his legs - he will stand on his tippytoes and the next natural reaction is to lift a foot - and conveniently, your hand will be there for him!! If he stil avoids this, I would really respect his feelings and leave him a while.

I understand that when you need to go out to work and have to get him back into his cage, time can be short, but it's a different thing lifting him to put him into his cage. He needs to see his cage as his safe place - if you take him out of it by force, the safety aspect will be gone.

The talking is different for every bird - some never talk at all, although I don't know of any on this site. Alfie said her first words - "hello Alfie" at 6 months 1 week and 3 days old!! (notice doting parront!!) She's been steadily adding to her vocab since. Will go through her repertoire every day, but definitley has a favourite at any one time.

She is a smashing whistler and can mimic sounds like a tape recorder!!

Generally, they need at least 4 hours out of cage time every day. I don't think there is an upper limit, but they do need a lot of sleep - 12 hours is not unusual for a young bird. Alfie still needs at least 10hours, and while she is often reluctant to go to bed, she never ever asks to be up before we are! Ocassionally she will take hereself off to bed, but not very often. Night time is cuddle time for her and she really enjoys just sitting on a lap of an evening.

Toilet training will only happen if you are consistant and pay attention. We still have the odd accident, but usually she will fly to her perch when she needs to go. She never poops on us anymore, sometimes the couch gets it. I don't really know why she has her little accidents, because she knows to go to her perch when she needs. Maybe she just gets sidetracked and forgets to go. Initially to train her, we put her on her perch every 15 minutes and gave the command. We still do this when she is sitting on our knee and she goes whenever we ask her to, so if she has an accident it's our fault.

Good luck with Isaac - it sounds like you are on the right track with him. Do read through the many threads on what a grey needs - diet, uv lamp etc, there are so many things you need to know, and be sure to just ask any questions you may have!

Lyn & Alfie.

[Elvenking]

Wow....I just went back after all this time and read this post after all this time and I have to say pearlyn...what a super sweet post for me when I was a new bird owner. This is awsome fist advice that really touched my heart to read. Thank you for welcoming me to the site with such a wonderful post. I loved reading this.