Hi from nz

[Dan d]

Hey all, ive recently purchased a 2.5 yr old female congo. she was hand reared but has had no socialization and has been locked in her cage, she takes fruit out of my hand and sometimes likes her head scratched (closes her eyes and looks like she enjoys it) but she bites like crazy and screams if you touch her feet. any help will be appreciated

 

Thanks Dan

[judygram]

Hello Dan and welcome to our family.

You are going to have to back off a little and let her settle into her new home, she needs time to adjust and you need to earn her trust. It might take a while for her to come to allow you to touch her much and most do not like their feet messed with. Just talk to her and offer treats by hand, she will let you know when she is ready for more interaction, this could take days, weeks or months but it will be well worth it when it happens.

Do you have any other birds? What is your grey's name? We would love to see some pictures of her if you have some you would share with us.

[Luvparrots]

Hi Dan, welcome to you and your new grey. Great advice from Judy, let your new companion settle in. Would love to see some pictures.

[Dan d]

we have a female eclectus who is super tame she came from a similar situation but is now trusting and cuddly, the greys are new to us but have wanted one since I was young. Her name is Bella

[Timbersmom]

Hello and welcome Dan and Bella. She is a beautiful bird! I'm relatively new to greys too. From other posts I've read and from my own experience with Timber, they have very definite likes and dislikes. Time and trust will help as the others have said. However, Bella may never like to have her feet touched. As long as she can step up and down without issues, I'd avoid her feet. They all have their little quirks, which is one of the things that makes them so interesting. The fact that she allows you to scratch her head is a good sign and a pretty big deal (in my opinion). It is possible that she had a bad experience with someone holding her feet, a bad nail clip or who knows what. Greys never forget, so anything that happened to her in the first two years will stay with her. That is what all of us with a rehomed grey deal with. Their past experiences, good or bad, affect how we interact with them. Good luck and God bless

[Dan d]

Thanks, she won't step up or anything, I'm just going to leave her in the cage for a few weeks to let her settle in, she is in the lounge so has plenty of attention, she was in a spare bedroom at the last place. They have the most amazing eyes very happy with her

[Timbersmom]

Is Bella flighted or clipped? Do you leave the cage door open and let her come out if she wants or keep it closed? It took about two months for me to get Timber (rehomed him last summer, he is about 5) to step up.

[Dan d]

She's not clipped, I'm not sure wether to clip her or not? The cage is closed as she just flies up to the curtains and sits up there I've only had her a couple of days so will leave door open after a week or so

[Ray P]

Hi Dan and Bella, Welcome to the grey forum.

New grey so give her a chance to settle in. She is in a strange world new home and new people.

Great picture of Bella.

[judygram]

Great picture of Bella and please do consider leaving her unclipped so a bird can do what a bird was meant to do.

[Dan d]

Today she has completely changed, came out of her cage and sat next to me rubbing beak all over my hand and fluffing her head up to be scratched.

[danmcq]

Welcome Dan and Bella. She is beautiful and seems to be settling in very nicely. I'll bet the sudden change from yesterday to now being perched there on your hand and interacting with you is a GreYt feeling for you both.

[Timbersmom]

Great progress! Happy for both of you

[itsjustnikki]

Hi Dan and Bella! Seems like things are going well so far! She looks pretty comfortable in the second picture!

[Acappella]

She's a beautiful petite looking litttle lady. Welcome to the forum to both of you. Oh, and a little trick some members here have resorted to to keep their birds from flying up to a forbidden place. Find a stuffed animal or other object she is wary of and place it there.

[Dan d]

I cant believe the change in just over a week, she steps up on command has stopped the biting, talks and mimics heaps of things. she must of come from a smokers home because she mimics a bad cough, blows rasberrys and has a creepy laugh! only thing is that she hates my partner she cant get near her with out her running and launching at her and bites her hard too is there anyway to stop this?

[aw64]

welcome she is lovely, so pleased things are going well, I second Acappella's comment stuffed toys work so well, have a lovely penguin sat on top of my unit as we speak not my normal kind of decor but it really works, I dont want edges of this unit rounded off by Alfies beak which he informs me he has no control over.