Hi everyone!

[Haggy]

Hello everyone I'm Jason, proud owner of TAG Harry

I guess my introduction really is over here for anybody with any input to offer

Great forum! I look forward to speaking to you all

[Greywings]

Welcome and nice to see your Harry bird. Can you tell us the story that led to his being a part of your life?

[Haggy]

Hi thanks for the welcome

Yes me and my girlfriend already owned a Kakariki and a Cockatiel and had wanted a parrot for some time. We'd taken the Cockatiel (Peggy) off a friend of hers who couldn't find the time to look after it anymore and tbh he was in a pretty bad way too. Similar problems to Harry - balding, bad diet, underweight etc. And after seeing the improvements from him and how satisfying it is to help a troubled bird, we decided to re-home a parrot rather than buy a chick.

The problem was deciding which parrot - I preferred Amazons, she prefers African Grey's - but after seeing Harry advertised on bird trader she'd called the owner before I even had a chance to think lol.

Now that we have him I think he's swayed my opinion He can be VERY frustrating at times, like when he decides to take a step backwards from all the progress he's made and ESPECIALLY when he pulls a feather out right in front of you, but African Grey's really do have great personality's and Harry brings us a lot of joy.

[Timbersmom]

Hello and welcome (again) I think I responded to another thread. That said, they are certainly in a class of their own! Good luck and God bless

[Haggy]

Yes you did Thank you very much

[Luvparrots]

Welcome to you and Harry. Looking forward to learning more about Harry!

[Ray P]

Glad you stopped by the welcome room to introduce yourself and meet some of our great members.

Again welcome.

[judygram]

Hello Jason and welcome to our family.

So glad you have Harry and they can capture our hearts very quickly as you found out but give him lots of time and be very patient with him as he settles into his new forever home, you will be rewarded handsomely if you follow those two rules.

One word of caution when he pulls a feather out in front of you, do not give any reaction to that or he may continue to do it for the enjoyment he gets from it, its best to just ignore it.

[Haggy]

Haha yes I used to let out a sigh or a desperate "WHY??!" but found that achieved absolutely nothing. He seemed to use it as a threat and would motion to pull one out until I stopped whatever I was doing that he didn't like. It helped us identify what actions etc he didn't like and now he never really bothers. The only time he seems to pluck now is when we're not home but since moving his cage I don't think he's pulled a single one ... Think he might not have liked the living room window

[judygram]

Sometimes its something so simple or slight that can make all the difference in how they feel and since he seems happier with the cage move then it was the right thing to do. I couldn't put my sun conure's cage close to a window as she freaks when she sees movement outside, it could be a bird flying up in the sky or tree limbs moving so the cages stay far away from windows.

[Haggy]

Yeah it took us a long time to figure out that he didn't like having his cage covered up. We assumed he was plucking while we were at work but it turned out it was at night time - he just hates anything touching his cage! I'll have to find some info on cage territoriality at some point as he's pretty much cage-bound and it's pretty tough to clean him etc without riling him