Gracie & Kya - the road home

[Kya]

Maybe it was the chaos and noise of the rescue that caused her to pluck and now that she's landed in a relatively quiet place that's all she needs to stop plucking. Here's hoping for many feathers left alone and un plucked.

 

That is what it was! She was fully feathered when she got to the rescue. They had 30+ birds, mostly cockatoos and macaws and a few other greys, so I would imagine the noise level was way up there. Also, the man who surrendered her told them that she had plucked when he first got her 4 years ago. That is why I really expected things to get worse before they got better, but she has really surprised me.

 

When I contacted the rescue about adopting a grey, they had 2 - the other was a 9 year old male, but when they learned that we had dealt with plucking with Kya, they paired us with Gracie. We all decided that she was the best match for us!

[SRSeedBurners]

I think she is proud of herself! She's more cocky than she was when she first got here, more self assured. I don't think she's ever been a snuggle baby like Kya, but she watches longingly, and I am hopeful that eventually she will cave in and give it a try. For now, we settle for whatever tidbits she gives us. She is mumbling a lot, she has a considerably quieter voice than Kya, and it's hard to pick up on what she is saying. I get the feeling that she may have been punished or admonished for making noise in her previous life. She only raises her volume when music is on.

 

It's good that you have a snuggle muffins in Kya to get your fix. You can focus on moving at the speed Gracie needs without having to wish and hope for a Grey snuggle. I so wish I had two Greys. I think they do better with another of their own kind to get in mental lockstep with. One day my Odie may come back to me but until then...

[Kya]

That is how we felt, too, SterlingSL. I saw video after video of greys happily coexisting, and since our sun conure is a psychopath and thinks she can take on an eagle, we really felt as if Kya needed a friend. He was raised with his brother, but the brother beat up on him on a daily basis, and they were never separated until a few months before Kya came to live with us. (I would have separated them as soon as it started.) Not sure why those two didn't get along, as from what I have read and seen, most greys do get along with each other. I am betting on jealousy, Kya is pretty hard to resist.

[Kya]

It's been a good week with Gracie Lou, if you disregard the fact that she woke me barking this morning and I thought it was my Chihuahua wanting to go outside so I jumped right up, only to find it was Gracie Lou.

 

She has turned a corner this week, and decided I might be the human for her, rather than my husband. She will now readily step up for me at any time, I use no words, just offer my arm and that little talon is raised before I even get close enough for her to step up. She does not want to be touched, she just wants to hang out on my arm. Baby steps.

 

Kya's favorite words are "NO" and "STOP THAT", he learned those from the husband of his previous owner who he did not like at all. So, we find ourselves with a very bossy bird, and now Gracie (who obviously also knows the meanings of these words) is having to deal with Kya's bossiness. Last night, the cutest thing happened. They were both eating their fresh food, face to face, and Kya yelled (straight at Gracie) "NO! STOP THAT!" She had a strawberry in her talon and she calmly looked up at him and said "NO, NO, NO" and continued to eat her strawberry. Kya was so taken aback that someone had actually disagreed with him that he just sat there and watched her eat with his little head cocked.

 

Her favorite place to be is on her play stand or climbing all over her cage, which is fine, we're still giving her all the space she needs. I will take her into the kitchen or another room with me while I'm doing things but she pretty much just sits and watches, as opposed to Kya, who wants to knock everything off and destroy everything he can't knock off. The other night she was on her play stand and Kya decided he wanted to fly over to her. He's quite a bit larger than her, being fully feathered and just in general, so I am sure it looked like a 747 coming in for a landing to little Gracie Lou. It startled her and she flew for the first time since we got her, but not to one of us. She flew around the corner and into the bathroom and landed on a rug in the floor. Her flight was a little clumsy, even though she has all of her flight feathers and the majority of her feathers on her back are coming back in, so it gave me a scare because I have heard of greys breaking their breast bone with bad landings. I scooped her up - she was very happy to see me - and put her back on her play stand while my husband retrieved Kya from the play stand - we aren't going to let him push her, either. I do not believe he meant her any harm, I think he just wanted to hang out with her, but she wasn't ready for him to be that close outside their cages. And, he has been showing signs of being a little hormonal this past week, so who knows what his intentions were.

 

I really feel like we're moving in the right direction, and I am so happy to see these gradual changes in her.

 

The rescue that she came from (Exotic Avian Sanctuary of Tennessee) has recently bought a 5 acre piece of land that they are building a larger sanctuary on - right now the birds have taken over the homes of the two ladies who own the rescue. They are having a fund raiser and my husband is working on some paintings and I am working on some mixed media art for them to use for auction to aid in building their sanctuary. So, it's a beautiful weekend weather wise, we may set up our easels outside and see what we can accomplish.

[kittykittykitty]

This is such fun to read! Thank you.

[katana600]

I have very much enjoyed your approach to bringing Gracie into your life. She is fitting right in and learning her way around. We have a stress plucker from multiple rehomes. As time passes she is learning how to express herself and each incident is minor in comparison to the previous. Gracie is doing exceptionally well in your care and it is obvious you are smitten with her. What a great match!

[Kya]

All is well with Gracie Lou! (Kya has a bee in his bonnet, between hormones and the storms we've had this week, he's a bit of a jerk! Right now, he's having a temper tantrum because I put a strawberry in his bowl. I am a terrible parront. )

 

I am now able to get her to step up and stay on my arm. She loves for me to walk around the house with her, talking all the while. If I stop talking, she tries to make her way up to my shoulder, and I don't quite trust her not to remove an ear for me yet! (I'm asking myself why I cut all of my hair off these days.)

 

 

We now have new feather growth on the chest and belly!

 

 

She's just doing great. We couldn't be happier. Unlike Kya, she loves her fresh foods and all you can see is her butt and tail sticking out of her bowl until it is all gone. She is talking non stop, mostly mimicking everything Kya says, but they also argue back and forth at times, and it's quite humorous. He will yell for "apple" and she will yell for "grapes". Or he will tell her "NO!" and she will really let him have it and yell "NO" over and over at him. Yet they actually seem to get along.

 

Their cages are in front of a window, and when I know it is going to storm, I usually close the blind and curtains while we are at work. Yesterday, the storms hit much earlier than forecast, and both of them were out of sorts last night, neither would come out of their cages. I felt really bad, storms here in Western Kentucky are wicked, lots of thunder and lightning. And, of course, the power got knocked out so the tv didn't come back on, so they were left to deal with the storms in silence within the house and the curtains and shades wide open. I won't let that happen again. They are fine now, but it stressed them both out.

 

One more picture before I go and pick up all the chop rejects out of the floor!

 

[kittykittykitty]

She is wonderful but so is Kya. (You already knew that​.) Thank you for the pictures!

[SRSeedBurners]

Awww, she's looking great and really fitting in. We have those wicked storms here too and on up into Oklahoma. This time of year I always am on top of the forecast and if there is any chance of the destructive stuff headed in I move all my cages to the non-window side of their bird room, the heavy curtains go up to catch any glass and everybirdy goes on lockdown for the day. I couldn't handle coming home and a window has been blown out and my birds are gone. Wife has been after me for a few years to put up some kind of expanded metal safety screen as well as storm windows in their room.

[Timbersmom]

What a great progress report and loved the pictures! After several years with Timber, we still struggle with getting him to eat a variety of fresh vegetables. Try, try again. What a blessing that Gracie likes them. Bonus!

[Kya]

She is wonderful but so is Kya. (You already knew that​.) Thank you for the pictures!

 

Kya is amazing. I should have titled this thread to include both of them, it's been a little over a year since we rescued him. He's just so settled in that it seems as if we've had him forever!

 

Gracie has had a good week. Every day, she is throwing more words out there, last night she said "I love you" for the first time. (This is one of Kya's favorite phrases of manipulation, so I am not sure whether she already knew how to say it or has just picked it up from him.) She speaks in the voice of a little old lady who probably smoked 5 packs a day, so it's easy to tell her voice from Kya's. Kya speaks in several different voices - his previous owner, myself and my husband, and occasionally a child. When my grandson is over, Kya always uses his "child" voice.

 

I am considering something and I need some opinions. I am really torn over this.

 

I said initially that we were expecting some confusion, because our Chihuahua's name is Gracie, as well. She's a senior dog, so now every time I am calling back and forth to Gracie (bird) or talking to her, I have an old senile Chihuahua standing at my feet looking up expectantly, waiting to see what amazing thing I am about to do.

 

Gracie (bird) does not really respond to her name if I call her name from a distance - Kya does. She's 19, and when the man surrendered her to rescue he had only had her 4 years, so there is no telling how many names she has had in her life. As much as she is talking now, I've not heard her use one single name, although she did call Kya a "stupid bird" the other night when he went into his rapid fire "pew, pew, pew" for about 15 minutes straight. (We thought it was hilarious at first, until we realized someone somewhere had probably called her a stupid bird repeatedly for her to have picked that up, and then it made me sad.)

 

I've done rescue / fostering for years, and it really depends on the circumstances whether I change a name or not. For instance, I have a terrier that I rescued 2 days prior to euthanasia, after he was deemed unadoptable due to fear aggression from being abused. His name is Pedro, it really doesn't fit him, but I didn't change it, because I felt he'd been through too much in his life to throw that at him, too. With Gracie (bird), we don't know anything about her past. Her plucking started at the avian rescue, AFTER she was relinquished, that is why we felt she needed to be in a new forever home ASAP.

 

If she voiced or responded to her name, I wouldn't even consider this. If the poor little dog wasn't staying so confused, I wouldn't give it a second thought. What do you think about a new forever name for a new forever life with a 19 year old parrot who may be smarter than I am???

[Acappella]

I don't know about changing her name. I suppose the only thing to do is to try it and see if it seems to cause her any stress. What name(s) have you got in mind?

[Kya]

I don't really want to change her name, but looking down at this little confused Chihuahua makes me feel guilty! I have been trying to think of something that sounds similar to Gracie, but all I can come up with is Macy, and that doesn't really fit. (I love the name Gracie - that was going to be my son's name until he surprised me with that extra part, and it was my mother in laws name - one of the finest people I've ever met.) We've tried calling her Gracie Lou and calling the Chi "Bug", which has always been her nickname.

 

Ahhhh, well, Gracie (bird) doesn't seem confused at all. :cool:

[Kya]

Well, things are still going well with Gracie and Kya. I have not attempted to change her name because I cannot come up with anything else that suits her - she just looks and acts like a Gracie. The Chihuahua is still confused, but when I think about it, she's always been confused so it's really nothing new.

 

Kya has been a feathered ball of hormones for a couple of weeks - he is generally all about my husband, but since he has seen me working with Gracie, he's decided I just may not be the devil, so he has started showing an interest in me. He's still definitely my husband's boy, but at least he isn't trying to take a finger off when I change out his food and water, and he asks me for kisses all day long, and delivers, with both of my lips still intact!

 

Gracie is becoming more social, and will sit on my arm for hours - we are working our way to the shoulder, as I was told she loved to be on the shoulder. We have a little showdown of stubbornness every time I try to get her to step up - she will nip at me, but I don't flinch and it really doesn't hurt, I just keep offering my arm. If she's being especially stubborn, my husband can get her to step right up and then hand her directly to me, and everything is fine. Figure that one out...

 

She is NOT a great flyer, so we are having to be cautious about putting her into situations where she would want to fly. I don't know if it is because of the plucking - she never plucked her flight feathers, or if she was just never allowed out of cage enough to learn how to fly well. When I think about that being the case for 19 years, it makes me want to cry. I've just heard too many horror stories of parrots hitting the ground too hard and cracking their breast bone, so I feel like she is my bubble baby.

 

We purchased two really nice travel cages and are hoping to get them used to getting out and about and being a bit more social, just waiting for nicer weather. Today is perfect temp wise, but very windy, and I don't want their first experience to scare them. I think Kya will do well with it, but we may have to take it slow with Gracie. Oh, how I wish they had both been introduced to harnesses when they were young. If they enjoy it, I have a friend who has a double stroller that she used for her twins, and I think the travel cages will fit nicely in it, so I can take them walking with me in the evening. Here's to hoping Kya can limit his curse words to whispers! (He knows how to whisper, all you have to do is say "Whisper, Kya" and he will repeat "Whisper, birdie" and for about 10 minutes, he whispers. After that, all bets are off!)

 

We are hoping to start on a small outdoor aviary for them soon, but we have had so much rain and so many severe storms that we have had to rethink how we are going to do it several times. They will never be in it unless we are outside with them, but we want to build it underneath a huge oak tree we have in our yard and and falling limbs may be a problem with these storms. We want to build something strong enough to withstand that happening. But with Kentucky summer heat, it has to be shaded. If anyone has any pics or thoughts, they would be welcome.

[SRSeedBurners]

We are hoping to start on a small outdoor aviary for them soon, but we have had so much rain and so many severe storms that we have had to rethink how we are going to do it several times. They will never be in it unless we are outside with them, but we want to build it underneath a huge oak tree we have in our yard and and falling limbs may be a problem with these storms. We want to build something strong enough to withstand that happening. But with Kentucky summer heat, it has to be shaded. If anyone has any pics or thoughts, they would be welcome.

 

Your aviary situation sounds exactly like our aviary situation when we started. We get to 110 in the summers here with brutal humidity so I had to put it under a tree. I also have a mister and box fan for the 95+ days. Check out my thread about GreycieMae's aviary. It documents the whole build process. I also have a parts list on my facebook album dedicated to her aviary if you decide to the go the route we did.

 

Go big or go bigger - haaaa!!!

 

Miss GreycieMae's Aviary

[Timbersmom]

You are making great progress with Gracie! From what I've seen, jealousy is a great motivater for greys. That could account for Kya's recent treatment of you. If there is one thing Timber has taught me, it's all about him all the time. He will speak when people in the room if he is being ignored (never otherwise), say "OK, Bye" when I'm on the phone and not talking to him, etc. etc. You probably seem much more interesting to Kya now that he has competition.

 

I hope getting out and about works for you. I've tried with Timber several times, and he remains terrified of the outdoors.

[Kya]

Your aviary situation sounds exactly like our aviary situation when we started. We get to 110 in the summers here with brutal humidity so I had to put it under a tree. I also have a mister and box fan for the 95+ days. Check out my thread about GreycieMae's aviary. It documents the whole build process. I also have a parts list on my facebook album dedicated to her aviary if you decide to the go the route we did.

 

Go big or go bigger - haaaa!!!

 

Miss GreycieMae's Aviary

 

I will definitely do that! Most of their time will be spent outside late in the afternoons, closer to dusk. Never thought of a mister! You know, they actually make industrial size fans with misters built into them. My husband uses them at work.

[Kya]

You are making great progress with Gracie! From what I've seen, jealousy is a great motivater for greys. That could account for Kya's recent treatment of you. If there is one thing Timber has taught me, it's all about him all the time. He will speak when people in the room if he is being ignored (never otherwise), say "OK, Bye" when I'm on the phone and not talking to him, etc. etc. You probably seem much more interesting to Kya now that he has competition.

 

I hope getting out and about works for you. I've tried with Timber several times, and he remains terrified of the outdoors.

 

I think you are 100% right! When we go to leave for work, if I kiss Gracie goodbye first, Kya is showing off and pressing his face against his cage saying "Give me a kiss! I love you!" (Gracie doesn't say Give me a kiss...Yet...she seems to be learning a lot of words from Kya.)

 

Kya has been exposed to outdoors in his previous home, he loves it. She took him outside all of the time, unharnessed and unclipped. I'm not so worried about him. I don't think Gracie has had that kind of exposure, so we will take it slow with her. We plan on trying it tomorrow - temps hitting 80 and we have tons of yard work to do, so it will be a good time to try it out. Our evenings are still cooler after work, so we haven't done it yet.

 

I was at work this week and got a text from the man who mows our yard. He said they were quite confused because they were weed eating under the window and kept hearing someone yell "Nooooooooo!" and "Stop it. Stop it right now." He said they kept looking around but there was no one in sight. I told him to look through the window, as we raise the blinds during the day by the cages, and he would find his boss. Neither of them like anything going on outside their window - poor guy thought we were trying to stop him from weed eating.

[Greywings]

I love that story sent it to my hubby at work to lighten his day, thanks.

[Kya]

All is going well with Gracie Lou and Kya. I need to upload some new pics to share and will try to do so this weekend!

 

Gracie becomes more vocal every day, and we're constantly surprised by the things she says. I also find it so neat that although she does seem to be picking up some words from Kya, we can easily tell who is talking from the other end of the house - their voices are so very different. She is still argumentative with him, no matter what he says, she says "Noooooooo". Outside their cages, they pretty much ignore each other, and we are happy with that. At least they don't dislike each other. It seems greys in general get along with each other, but I think their human bonds interfere with their species bonds to an extent. In reality, I'm not sure either of them are aware that they are parrots. I did expect some issues having a male and female as far as hormones go, so far their indifference towards each other has been a pleasant surprise.

 

Kya is very bonded to my husband, he really seems to have a way with the larger parrots. (He was a woman's bird before he came to us, and absolutely terrorized her husband.) He is much better with me than he used to be, but I am basically just his short order cook unless my husband isn't around. So, of course, when we got Gracie Lou, I had really high hopes that she would be my bird. We were also told that Gracie preferred males over females, so I knew I had my work cut out for me, and my husband and I devised an approach to the whole situation. I am happy to say that it seems to be working well.

 

He interacts with Gracie Lou, but only on her cage or play stand. He will pet her and give her scritches (which she adores), but he will not ask her to step up or move her. Her flying is not great, I am not sure why. She never lost her flight feathers but perhaps the loss of the other feathers on her back and tummy affect her flying ability. Or, since I don't know much about her previous life, maybe she doesn't know that she can fly. Regardless, she is dependent on us for transportation, so I have always been the chauffer.

 

The other night, I realized that we were always letting them out together and spending time with them together, and decided to take Gracie Lou off into the bedroom for some girl talk. She had never spent any real time in the bedroom, other than a quick walk through with me to grab something. I put her on the bed with some foot toys and stretched out beside her. She quickly went straight for my shoulder, got as close to my face as she could, and checked the room out from her safe spot. For a few minutes, she was totally silent, just taking everything in. Then she began what I can only describe as whispering in my ear. I had no idea what she was saying, but she was repeating the same thing, over and over. As her confidence grew in the new room, so did her little voice. She never left my shoulder, but she did clearly say "It's okay", which is what she had been whispering all along. She talked herself right through it. It was a very proud moment for me, and now we go in there and spend some girl time daily.

 

Oh, these baby steps really tug at my heartstrings...

[Timbersmom]

So glad it is working out so well for all of you! My husband talks about getting another bird that would he "his" bird, but there is just no guarantee. He wants an Amazon. We'll see!

 

Timber can't really fly either. He hasn't been clipped since I got him (almost 5 years ago) and he is fully feathered. I assume he was clipped when young and never fledged. Sad! We've tried to get him to fly, but he doesn't seem interested. When he is startled into "flight" he definitely gets more height than he did when we brought him home clipped, but doesn't seem interested in flight.

[Kya]

Will it ever stop raining??? My husband and I took the week off to start work on the outside aviary, but this weekend has been a bust - non stop flash flooding. I have plenty of other things to do, but being outside was at the top of my list.

 

Yesterday, we went to the Exotic Expo in Nashville. It absolutely kills me to see all of the birds terrified in those cages, some of them going home with so many who are clueless as to what they are getting into. The rescue that my husband and I help out - the one that Gracie Lou came from - met us there. They told us that in a couple of months, they will be overrun with birds purchased on an impulse at this very expo. It made me sick to even look around the expo. There were lots of baby macaws, still hand feeding, up for sale, tons of cockatoos, lots of breeder pairs of pretty much everything. They all looked so sad and terrified at the crowd. There were so many people walking around with their own parrots with harnesses, and it was disturbing, considering the risk for disease transmission. Our shoes are still outside, our clothes came off of us and into the wash as soon as we walked in the door. I cannot imagine taking my birds there and walking around with them and touching everything. I overheard vendors (trying to sell the baby macaws - there were at least 50 of them) telling clueless people how easy it was to hand raise them, and how they would give them a lesson in hand feeding and they would be good to go. Needless to say, my husband and I and the ladies from the sanctuary grabbed our toys, perches and bulk foods and high tailed it out of there. Surprisingly, we saw one grey - a Timneh. He was so terrified over the crowd that I had to look away.

 

Karen, I think an Amazon would be a great companion. They are so beautiful, and so smart. I had a friend who had 2, went through a messy divorce, didn't want to separate them, and begged me to take them. If I had room and more time, I probably would have, but by that time, we were already considering another grey, and I just thought it would be best to pass. I regret doing that, but if I had, I probably wouldn't have gone ahead and gotten Gracie Lou, and that would have been a travesty. I do believe you can win them over and make them "your / his" bird, you just have to handle things differently.

 

The other night, Gracie Lou and Kya were on their play tops to their cages. My husband walked over to talk to both of them and Gracie Lou started waving that leg, which means she wants to step up. No one can resist Gracie's leg wave! Before he realized what he was doing, he stuck his arm out and up she stepped. She quickly scanned the room, spotted me, and started crouching and raising her wings to fly to me, even though she would have probably crashed before she got there. I jumped up and met her halfway, she landed sort of on my shoulder after sliding off my head, got her bearings, looked right at my husband and said "Nooooooo" - as if it was his fault she wanted to hitch a ride.

 

Today, she and I were in the kitchen working on the island preparing dinner. She was snacking on bell peppers and brussel sprouts, neither of which Kya will eat, and making her water noises every time I walked near the sink. She was totally content and happy, it was as if we had been doing this her whole life. Kya was in the den with my husband, but I kept noticing him peeking around the corner. I was getting ready to turn the stove top on, and didn't want any injuries, so I took Gracie Lou back to her cage top. I had no sooner gotten back in the kitchen than here came Kya, soaring straight at me. He landed on my shoulder and promptly bit my jaw. No blood, no glory, but he got a good grip on my skin and twisted hard and for a split second I saw stitches in my very near future. I have no idea what spurred that on. Maybe it's hormones, maybe he doesn't really love me but doesn't really want Gracie to love me, or maybe he just got angry because he was missing out of food he does not like. I calmly walked into the den and handed him over to my husband, where he sat and lamented "No bite the Momma" over and over again for about 10 minutes.

[Timbersmom]

What a nasty experience at the bird fair. There is a nice one about 1.5 hours from us that happens twice a year and it is fun to be able to "see" toys and items I hadn't even thought of instead of looking at them online and trying to visualize how they might be. There are some birds for sale, but they are sitting out on perches and don't seem agitated. They do have babies for sale, but I haven't seen any for sale until they are ready. You put down a deposit and wait. The one in Nashville does sound like a recipe for disaster.

 

Sure glad Kya didn't decide to bear down and give you a worse bite!

[kittykittykitty]

It sounds as if PETA should be involved in that bird fair! I, too, am glad there was no emergency trip for you.

[Acappella]

That bird fair would have killed me. Just your description has me worried about all those poor babies. I guess all we can hope is that those new owners find a safe spot on the net like this that will guide them through hand feeding and ownership.

 

I'm glad you didn't get pierced. I'm not sure they get the "don't bite the momma's" talks. I know I've had a few with Dorian and he just sits there staring at me blankly.