A day in the life of a GREY--What does that look like for you?

[Guest]

I was wondering if there is any schedules that you all follow. I understand that each are different but -----are there specific times that are better for play, alone time, eating napping,? What does a day in the life of your Grey look like?

 

Thank you.

[kpflynn]

During the week I wake up about an hour before the sun comes up. I let my bird, Beautiful, out of her cage and let her take her morning poop. We play and talk for about a half hour. Then I change her water and give her some fruit and vegetables. I put her back in her cage and leave for work. My wife wakes up an hour after I leave and she keeps Beautiful in the cage but talks with her while getting ready for work. After my wife goes to work Beautiful stays home alone in her cage for about eight hours. As soon as we get home we let Beautiful out of her cage and we all eat. I usually take her out to the front porch and let her take a bath after our meal. She stays out of her cage until we go to bed. I interact with her most during the evening hours. On weekends we don't have a routine at all.

[SRSeedBurners]

6:30-7:00am - uncovered and taken from bird room to the kitchen. Give Dad lots of sweet beaks and thanks and kisses, be sweet as can be. Poop in the sink.

+15 minutes - eat the breakfast Mom or Dad has made, in the feeding cage in the dining room. I don't much like my feeding cage but Dad says it keeps him sane because I like to drop my food over the edge of the counters, all of them. Plus it keeps me from fighting with my two feathered siblings.

 

1-1.5 hours of Dad time before he escapes from the house. Sometimes I play in the living room, swinging from my chain, rawwwrrring like a crazed pterodactyl, AND 10-20 exercise flights around the living room and kitchen to take some of the naughty out.

OR

Put out on the back covered porch in our feeding cages to enjoy the sun and fresh air while Mom and Dad make a bigger mess of the yard.

 

8:00-8:30 Dad leaves for work - Mom is supposed to be in charge but I, Greycie the Magnificent is in charge of my Queendom. I will either be left out on the porch while Mom slaves away making an even bigger mess or we'll come in and play and then off to the bird room for screeching, throwing toys from the toy basket, eats and more eats, my radio playing my favorite music. Mom will alternate putting one of us in our cage while the others are out as we can't seem to get along in threes, but in twos we're ok. Dad seems to have a way of monitoring us through the rotating eyeball on the desk and if I'm causing mayhem and mischief, Mom gets a call and busts it up pronto.

 

2:00-3:00'ish - quiet time. We seem to naturally settle and even snooze around this time, but not everyday. Some days mayhem and destruction must ensue throughout the afternoon, trashing the bird room.

 

4:00pm - Mom comes and gets all three of us and puts us on the counter. We stare at her knowing full-well she knows it's treat time. If the treat time seed mix doesn't come out fast enough, mayhem and destruction will befall the kitchen. So we get treats pronto. Then it's play time till Dad gets home.

 

6:00pm - DADS HOME!!!! I disown Mommy - no thanks given.

 

6:30pm -8pm

- If it's Tues or Thurs Dad is onto the bike trainer in the spare bedroom with the radio pumped, A/C unit on full blast with a blower and I ride his shoulders or his handle bars screeching my head off to the music. GreycieMae loves her some RockNRoll while Dad's pounding out the watts.

- M/W/F ride around on Dad's shoulder and do what he does.

 

8pm - put the littles to bed. GreycieMae gets 1 hour of sweet cuddles time. Sometimes I talk Mom into talking Dad into going to the Sonic and I steal bites from a vanilla cone.

9pm - I fight the good fight but end up in my sleeping cage anyway.

Edited August 22, 2014 by SterlingSL

[Greytness]

My routine is uncovering all the cages and chopping up all my fids' fresh veggies first thing in the morning while sipping my cup of Joe. I go around and chat with each bird before I go about our family's daily routines.

 

Every afternoon I change out all their water, seed and pellet dishes, and remove all the fresh veggie dishes. During this time I begin taking my birds out. First out come the little ones and the very last one out of the cage is Maalik, as he usurps all my time!

 

The little guys are out flying all over the place for around 45 minutes or so. Then they must return to their cages for safety reasons. Out comes Harley, my Pan-Am, my Ekki, Ziggy, and finally...Maalik! Harley chooses to stay on top of his cage to play, even though he's flighted. Ziggy must be watched very carefully, because as soon as he can he'll climb out of his cage, strut across the floor and then up onto another fids' cage to harass them. Ziggy's flight feathers are all grown out (rehomed baby), but he wasn't ever given a chance to fledge or fly. Flapping his wings is the extent of it.

 

Maalik usually hangs out on my shoulder while I fix dinner or what have you. Once he starts his annoying behavior of climbing down my back, and then hanging upside down to reach over and pinch the tender skin on the inside of my arm, I back up over to the chair filled with blankets for him to 'perch'. Usually he flies right back over to me. This is repeated over and over while I try to find something else for him to chew on. Usually it's a dampened paper towel that holds his interest the longest.

 

My large birds are out of their cages for several hours. It is my goal to work towards taking the little guys out earlier in the day so that they can spend more time outside their cage. Wish I could have them all out for longer periods of time, but must also juggle my 4 German Shepherds placement inside our home. Two of my German Shepherds (females) don't get along while I'm present, so I must keep them separated. My world has become a very fine balancing act!

 

Between 8:30 and 9:00, I say good night to each of my fids. I open a side door to give them scritches and then cover them up. Maalik is, of course, the last one to say good night to. That's because he's the sweetest, most loving baby at this time of night, and will eat up all the attention with his little eyes closed and looking all ready for dreamland.

 

I simply love my babies. <3

Edited August 22, 2014 by Greytness

[Guest]

Thank you to all. It gives me some insight on what to look forward to when my little girl comes home.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

LOL to SterlingSL schedule! Greytness... youve got it! I envy you all with figuring out schedules! It is important. Due to my job, different start and end times... Sophie has adjusted.Sometimes I am up at 430 am. I feed them but obviously too early. Sophie whispers " morning!" Not sure whom we are afraid of waking! LOL When I leave at 8am, she gives me a normal voice, " morning".She goes to bed like clockwork at 8pm. A 15 minute story time, reading her favorite books. Sometimes I don't get home until 9pm and use to hire someone to come in for bedtime, but she is a big girl now and knows I only miss booktime, because I am at work.

You will figure out your routine. Sophie LOVES routine, but knows now it sometimes gets altered. Not by much. Nancy

[Guest]

SterlingSl...Poop in the sink??? is this something you taught? lol

 

Greytness--when you say chop vegetables and fruit..how much do you give per day?

 

Nancy~I love routine and thrive on it as well but I do like to mix it up once in a while so I am glad to hear that she will be able to adjust to small change in schedule if need be.

[SRSeedBurners]

SterlingSl...Poop in the sink??? is this something you taught? lol

 

Yes ( I don't do it myself ). Bird poop, or primarily grass/veggies/fruit eaters poop generally does not bother me. Meat eaters and such, I can't stand it. So it doesn't bother me when my birdies poop in the food disposal and I send it on it's way.

[Greytness]

Greytness--when you say chop vegetables and fruit..how much do you give per day?

 

That's hard to say. They usually get papaya, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, a grape, mixed super greens, pea pods, sweet corn, carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potato, along with a cooked avian mixture of beans, etc. Their bowls are usually 1/3 filled. I cut everything up daily, as I want to make certain their chop is doled out equally to each bird.

[katana600]

I am going to fight the visuals on Sterling climbing up the counter. Y'all are too funny. Our daily routine is to get up early, fix a bowl of oatmeal and let Miss Gilbert have her share mixed with almond milk. Then she sits next to her food door while I freshen her food and water. Cages for both parrots are open for the day. Most days they climb up to the play top and are very quiet unless I go outside or to sew in the basement. Then there are contact calls, giving me a shout out if the dogs go to the door etc. By 8:30 every evening Gil will tell me its time to go night night. When I go to the cupboard to get an almond they both hurry to go inside the cage, have a snack and a scratch on the head and they are happy to go to bed. When I come through later to go to bed, Gil always say "hey" when I turn out the light in my room. She can see in there from her cage in the living room. When I say "hey yourself" she says "woo" like she had a surprise. Then she laughs. It's a rare night when I don't fall asleep with a smile at her antics.

[Guest]

Katana600~ aww. That sounds like a great day to me. I can't wait to have those sweet little back and forth banters with Maggie. I saw her tonight for about 2 hours and she is getting so big. She is still making baby noises but she is starting to take freeze dried peas from us as treats. She is very affectionate with us and let's us touch her just about everywhere. She was preening me tonight. I can't wait for her to come home with me.

[Guest]

Lol to Sterlingsl. Bird poo does not bother me either. Guess that makes us bird people.

[Muse]

LOLOL Loved this!!!!

[Muse]

Yes ( I don't do it myself ). Bird poop, or primarily grass/veggies/fruit eaters poop generally does not bother me. Meat eaters and such, I can't stand it. So it doesn't bother me when my birdies poop in the food disposal and I send it on it's way.

 

Emphasis mine... worst visual ever from reading that.... ROFL.