New to home

[OBoy]

Hi, my name is cristina. I just bought a grey today. I bought him from a lady in jamestown. she told me before hand that he had anxiety issues. When we got him his feathers in his chest were all gone. just waiting for them to grow.

I'm a new owner. Even with birds. He's been home for a couple hours now.

Have a couple questions.

Just wondering how long it will take for him to get use to us and the home.

When will his feathers grow back?

He's not to happy about the dog, probably was never around one. He takes stuff from our fingers, doesn't talk much, probably a little shy.

Just worries things aren't going to work out, i really hope they do. I mean i don't plan on getting rid of him. But anyhow, hes about 5 years old. Cute lil feller.

If someone could let me know, as to how and when things will work out, i'd appreciate it. Thanks!

And yeah..his name is o boy.

[danmcq]

Welcome Christina and thanks for joinging!

 

Those are tough tough questions. The first thing to do is get him settled in and feeling comfortable in the new home. Depending on his age, it could be a while. Most times, the older the longer for them to adjust.

 

Their are many things you can do to try and address the feather issue. Diet, lots or toys and interaction that give strong mental stimulation will help tons. Their are many things you can find helpful by doing a search of the forum for topics on feather plucking. Ask all the questions you wish.

[judygram]

Hello Christina and welcome to our family, you have asked some tough questions like Dan said but realize that it takes a while for a grey to settle into his new home especially one that is older, it could take weeks or months for him to feel comfortable so give him plenty of time and use lots of patience when dealing with him. He is a wild animal so its not like a cat or dog that will fit right in from the start.

Please read thru as many of the threads here for lots of useful information and do ask questions and we will try to help you in any way we can.

About the plucking, I would advise a visit to an avian vet to rule out anything physical and he needs to be health checked anyways but plucking issues are common in greys and be prepared for the fact that he may not allow his feathers to grow back but having him checked out by an avian vet is first and foremost right now.

[OBoy]

thank you for the reply. now getting him to the vet would be interesting. seeings he won't let us touch him...how should i go about doing that?

[Kyle]

Hello and welcome to this site. This forum is really very nice and there you can get lots of knowledge about your bird. Hope you'll enjoy your stay.

[chezron]

Is he food motivated or toy motivated? An idea is to load up a portable cage with either enticing toys or foods, or both, and maybe he will climb into the cage. Just a thought. A combination of regular trips outside for sun exposure, and weekly baths corrected my grey's early feather-picking problem. The sunlight, 15 minutes most days, really seemed to improve his mood and anxiety level. The vet said it is because sunlight allows them to make Vitamin D which is a mood hormone as well as a vitamin. Weird but true! Good luck!

[OBoy]

he's actually doing really well. Hes been taking stuff from our fingers. He comes out and sits on his cage. He talks a little when we are in the room. He mostly talks when we are in the kitchen though. He hasn't been picking at his feathers recently, which is good. We are keeping him occupied with paper and cardboard and what not. The dog spooked him and he flew to the kitchen. He was on the floor squawking at me when I tried to pick him up. He then just jumped on my arm so I could carry him to his cage and then the dog spooked him again so he just flew to his cage. That's really the closest I've gotten to him. I was actually surprised.

But other than that, he's been great. He loves carrots and fresh fruit. Really don't like dried fruits. He still tries to nip when we put our hands in his cage, but we are just waiting patiently for him. It's not that bad, I really thought it was going to be worse waiting for him. But it's going faster than what i had expected. But anyhow, he's doing great. Thought I'd let everyone know. !

[judygram]

Thanks for the update on Oboy and glad to hear he is doing fine and starting to settle into his new home. Usually when a grey is spooked and they land on the floor they will step up onto your hand to pick them up and he did that rather nicely.

Try to offer him lots of different veggies fixed in different ways, cooked, raw, sliced, mashed and so forth for sometimes they prefer them one way over another and go easy on fruits as they need more veggies, offer fruits every few days and not every day.

One thing about his cage, most greys tend to think of their cage as their safety zone which means its their territory and they usually don't like anyone invading it so allow him to come out of his cage before interacting with him, he will be more receptive to you that way.

Its good you are patient with him as that is the best thing you can do right now, just give him plenty of time to come around on his own terms and please keep us informed.