My 14 week baby gray :-\

[gardinerca]

Ive had my baby gray for the past 3 weeks. It seems very happy and carefree. After about a week I had it flying from the top of its cage to my hand (where ever around the house I happen to be, I just had to make a certain whistle sound). Its always been a fussy eater. Wont try any fruit but bananas. I normally feed it half veggies, moist seed, and fruit in the morning and also at night but it normally goes uneaten. I wake up around 6:30am to find him already eating on the organic pellet food I leave in his cage at all times. Is this normal? He never wants to be in his cage. No matter what. If I have to run out to the store for an hour or two, I come to find him on the floor of his cage either doing the drag foot thing in the corner or hes just staring at my door.

 

A few days ago hes attitude about his cage grew. He would leap out the door off his perch only to be stopped by his wings. He would fly out on the ground or out my room and just wait for me to pick him up. I clipped his wings because I figured he would know he no longer could jump leap and bounds and have it be ok. He was an excellent flier and I'm positive he learned the fundamentals of flight. My major in school is cognitive science and Ive worked with birds so I clipped his wings myself. He allowed me to do it to my surprise. He no longer jumps from his cage but he still never wants to be in the darn thing. He either climbs to the opening in the top or if that's closed or he just chills at the bottom until I open the door up. After being clipped hes been exposed to the outside and has taken a liking for it. The only behavioral issue Ive noticed is that hes a lot quieter and he just wants to be on his window perch and look out. Every so often he'll lets out a little cerp and ill go over and he'll step up and ill try and offer him his cage for food and water but he just poops and then climbs up and will cuddle on my chest for a few min while i scratch his head then just wants to go back to the window perch. Sometimes I swear he wants to sleep there but right after dusk I have to beg him to stepup and go to his cage for the night.

 

Basically I just want to know what I should be doing with him at this stage of his life. I live in a fairly large house and he seems to love exploring now that I give him outside area. His food situation seems to be a concern for me but I assume eating this pellet mix and from the treats I give him throughout the day is sufficient. His weight seems to be on the right path so I'm guessing hes just eating the heck out of the pellets.

[judygram]

If he spends his days outside the cage then no he doesn't want to go back inside but for his own safety he does need to be caged whenever you aren't at home and at night for sleep. Do you provide him with food and water outside his cage? If so then stop that and only put his food and water inside the cage so he has to go back inside to eat or drink, he won't starve himself and will go back if hungry enough.

You must have bought this grey unweaned at 11 weeks of age, did you finish the handfeeding yourself?

Thats right, you provide him with pellets that are available at all times for him to snack on as they do that all day long, I know mine does. You might also entice him back into his cage by offering him a treat or something he really likes and if he wants it he has to go inside to get it.

[rawleyd]

Maybe there is something inside the cage that he doesn't like or is afraid of?

[gardinerca]

Maybe there is something inside the cage that he doesn't like or is afraid of?

 

 

Im good at keeping up with daily cage cleaning so I know thats not the issue. Ive switched out all 4 of the toys in the cage with the window perch toy hook and he plays with all of them with ease. I have 3 different size perches for him to choose from inside the cage and hes taken a liking to the larger of the 3.

[danmcq]

He was just excited to get out of his cage. He was still learning flight and would have quickly learned how to exit without hitting his wings on the cage opening. He is quite because he just had his wings lopped and now cannot do what his instinct if telling him to..... fledge, fly, learn flight skills, coordination and make connections in those all important brain synapses in the frontal lobes that would have made him the avian wonder he was intended to be.

[Jayd]

Hi, there's some very good Threads and Post's about "Wing Clipping" and other important subjects..If you like, check out this "link" to some of them... http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190489-Welcome-PROSPECTIVE-and-NEW-GREY-Owner-s..

[harmonicaman68]

I agree with danmcq ... your Grey knows that something VERY important has been removed from him. He is supposed to be learning to fly and thereby learning all of the important mental. social and physical skills that are associated with flight. Please read the article here on Greyforums at http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190818-Imping-Feathers-Clipped-wings-restored-through and consider if imping your fid's flight feathers is needed. If you decide to restore flight, please do it as soon as possible. The neural and physical development of your companion requires quick restoration. There is also an article about "thinking on the wing" at http://www.theparrotuniversity.com/ that is very revealing since you are interested in behavioral development. You can contact Steve Hartman at that site and he will be happy to help you understand behavioral development of parrots. He is very straight forward in the way he speaks on this topic, so please don't be put of by his frank speech ... just process what he has to say and you and your fid will benefit greatly. I know that my wife and I have as we have been bringing up Ziva.

 

Just looked it up ... the article about thinking on the wing is at http://theparrotuniversity.com/flight.php

 

Hope this helps.

Edited August 30, 2010 by harmonicaman68