Do greys sit?

[munch]

I feel gloriously foolish for asking this but

 

-do greys sit?

 

-if so, should we get her a resting place, ie bed, nest, cubbie area, etc?

 

-do you have a resting place- not only a perch, but something for them to get off their feet?

[MarcusCAG]

I know this isn't really answering your question, but when I read your post what popped to mind is this: the big Muscovy ducks that live around our house waddle around, and they fly, and they swim, and they nest. I've never seen them perch--I have no idea if ducks ever perch or not (or even can, physically, with those webbed feet of theirs), I know chickens do. Anyway, when the ducks rest they kind of pull their legs up under them and squat down on the ground so all you see is their bodies, and their feet are covered. I would say that's a duck that's "sitting" if it can be said they sit. But Greys have those zygodactyl (sp?) toes of theirs and I for one have never seen Marcus crouch on the ground like I've seen ducks do, so do Greys sit? It doesn't seem like they were designed to rest that way. It's usually with the one foot brought up close to their bodies, from as far as I can tell.

 

And in terms of resting their feet, I suppose a number of different types of perches (sizes, textures) will give their feet 'rest' from one preferred surface to another. When we adopted Marcus his feet were horrible, they only had one huge cement perch in his cage "because he chewed up all the rest". He could barely grip things when we first got him. But now he has a number of perches to choose from and his feet are much better and I assume if he gets tired of standing on one and wants to 'rest' his feet, he just moves to another.

[danmcq]

They will lay down at times, especially when young chicks. Adults will sometimes. In the wild, they live in tree holes and do in fact sleep resting on their bellies. However, birds were made to sleep perched on a branch as well and their talons "Lock" and must mentally be unlocked when they desire to move. Thus no birds falling from trees when sleeping.

Edited April 14, 2011 by danmcq

[MarcusCAG]

They will lay down at times, especially when young chicks. Adults will sometimes. IN the wild, the live in tree holes and do in fact sleep resting on their bellies.

 

Your interesting comment, Dan, apparently returns us to munch's original thought: should there be places supplied for our Greys to lay on their bellies, then? If they do it in the wild, should we try to simulate that for them in their home environments? It makes sense, now that I think about it, I saw a video online once of Black Palm Cockatoos and their tree-hole nest, there truly would be no place to perch inside! So would a cubby-hole or something be good for a solitary Grey in a cage, or might that irritate a natural desire to nest and mate??

[danmcq]

We have maintained a box (Large Milk Bone carton) with a 3x4 inch square from the bottom up and placed it along with a 1x2 foot towel at the opening on the bottom of the cage. He used to be found napping in there with legs sticking out, wings parted and sound a sleep different times of the day. As he got older, those times became much less frequent by about 18 months old. Now he goes in and scratches and tries to invite my wife into his casbah. He will lay down and sleep at night on my wifes lap when we are watching a movie for a few hours long.

 

We did initially try some of those birdy tents and other such sleeping devices you can place in a cage, but Dayo disliked them all and chewed them to pieces. I do know some grey's that have used them though. So try different things and see what you grey prefers.

[Ray P]

MarcusCAG There are ducks that will perch in a tree we have them here in NE Ohio. I don`t know what they are called we just call them tree ducks.

They have web feet and swim also.

[munch]

Thank you all for the replies. G, our dog, has 3 "cookies" left of his large Milk Bones! Perfect timing! Maybe she will use it, maybe she won't. Her feet do get tired, she is often perched on just one leg. I wonder if she even knows how to lay down.

[danmcq]

They commonly sit when relaxing with one leg up. Believe me, they know how to lay down.

[MarcusCAG]

We have maintained a box (Large Milk Bone carton) with a 3x4 inch square from the bottom up and placed it along with a 1x2 foot towel at the opening on the bottom of the cage. He used to be found napping in there with legs sticking out, wings parted and sound a sleep different times of the day. As he got older, those times became much less frequent by about 18 months old. Now he goes in and scratches and tries to invite my wife into his casbah. He will lay down and sleep at night on my wifes lap when we are watching a movie for a few hours long.

 

We did initially try some of those birdy tents and other such sleeping devices you can place in a cage, but Dayo disliked them all and chewed them to pieces. I do know some grey's that have used them though. So try different things and see what you grey prefers.

 

Thanks for the tip, Dan--it's something to be mulled over.

 

MarcusCAG There are ducks that will perch in a tree we have them here in NE Ohio. I don`t know what they are called we just call them tree ducks. They have web feet and swim also.

 

Wow, okay. You learn something new every day. Thanks for sharing this... I'll have to go Google 'tree duck' now or something, I'm sure they're a sight!

[mcuellar2413]

We have maintained a box (Large Milk Bone carton) with a 3x4 inch square from the bottom up and placed it along with a 1x2 foot towel at the opening on the bottom of the cage. He used to be found napping in there with legs sticking out, wings parted and sound a sleep different times of the day. As he got older, those times became much less frequent by about 18 months old. Now he goes in and scratches and tries to invite my wife into his casbah. He will lay down and sleep at night on my wifes lap when we are watching a movie for a few hours long.

 

We did initially try some of those birdy tents and other such sleeping devices you can place in a cage, but Dayo disliked them all and chewed them to pieces. I do know some grey's that have used them though. So try different things and see what you grey prefers.

 

Dan I can't seem to get a mental pic of that, the bottom of the box is cut out and resting on the grate at the bottom of the cage? What is the trowel for? Is there a door cut into it? Thanks

[Shara]

My Charlie has some foot issues too. His grip is weak enough for him to fall off of a perch or a hand. I have given him several sizes of perches and he seems to prefer the thinnest ones. His grip is starting to improve but he still moves around his cage pretty slowly. MarcusCAG how long did it take to improve his grip?

[MarcusCAG]

My Charlie has some foot issues too. His grip is weak enough for him to fall off of a perch or a hand. I have given him several sizes of perches and he seems to prefer the thinnest ones. His grip is starting to improve but he still moves around his cage pretty slowly. MarcusCAG how long did it take to improve his grip?

 

My. Well, I'd say it took at least a couple of months to see anything truly significant. We gave Marcus a long perch (a young striped maple my hubby chopped down and de-barked... I looked online and they're all right for parrots) that I zip tied to his cage bars in place of his cement perch. The cement perch actually seemed to scare him once we moved him into our house, so I got rid of it: at his former owner's home he was just hanging upside-down from the top of his cage like a bat. Anyway, that maple perch is rather slender too. Once Marcus got up the nerve to climb on it though he seemed to enjoy it pretty quickly. The other perches took some time for him to get used to, too, but after a day or so it was like he got the idea, Oh, I don't need to hang upside-down all the time anymore. Over the following months (we've had him about half a year now) we started introducing foot toys, and it is very obvious his grip is much better now, he can hold the toys and chew on them when the mood strikes him (which is not often, actually, but sometimes he likes them). He still seems wary of new surfaces sometimes, and with his aversion to stepping-up (long story!) besides other traumas from his past, we've wondered if maybe he hurt his foot once while trying to step up on someone. Marcus just treats his feet in kind of a 'funny' way compared to our Quaker parrot, Beaker, and I don't know if it's just a difference between species. I rarely see him sleep though, so I don't know if he'd be more likely to enjoy laying on his belly like Dan says the younger birds do (Marcus is eight) but we are making progress in terms of his grip, it's a lot better than it was, but still not the healthy vice that Beaker's seems to be.

[rbpittman]

Dixie doesn't sit - she reclines.....

 

 

And she does it quite often. Of the 11 winged creatures in our house, I've never seen any of them sit. The Dogs on the other hand sit quite often.

 

Robin

[danmcq]

Awwww Robin, I love that photo.

[Talon]

My amazon sits all the time...lazy thing she is. . One on my greys sleeps in a happy hut at night, the other one sits down at night next to us as we Pet her to sleep. So I believe if they are tired, relaxed, they sometimes do.

[AbbysDaddy]

They will lay down at times, especially when young chicks. Adults will sometimes. In the wild, they live in tree holes and do in fact sleep resting on their bellies. However, birds were made to sleep perched on a branch as well and their talons "Lock" and must mentally be unlocked when they desire to move. Thus no birds falling from trees when sleeping.

 

 

OH i dont know i have seen a few greys fall while sleeping lol !