Worktime and playtime with your bird

[fowlgame]

How many of you work outside of the home and therefore must leave your Grey home alone for X hours throughout the day? What kind of schedule works well with owning a Grey? How many hours of attention must they have daily? Who has children? What are their ages? Howdoes your Grey interact with them as wll as new people or company that you may have in your home? Enough ?s for now.

[FeatheredFiend]

hmm. we both work outside the home, and for that matter, we each commute about 40-50 miles one way to work. we have one child who goes to the middle school. our birds (one QP and one CAG) are home alone all day m-f. this is the schedule they are used to - our CAG actually came to us from a homelife very similar, which is one of the reasons we were able to bring him home. they have HUGE cages and many toys. we leave the radio on during our absence for "company." i believe that while some birds do ok with this situation, others would not fare well at all - it's all individual. i actually thought i would never be able to get my CAG due to our schedules, but we found the perfect match. i don't know that there is a "set" type of schedule that works for a grey, it's all about each particular bird's personality.

 

you should interact as much as you can with your flock, just remember to not do too much (as in giving more attention in the beginning than is a realistic amount for the next 50 years) in the beginning or you could be setting yourself up for problems in the future. this is not to say that home and work situations don't change, but it's kind of a "general" rule. for the most part, i think they can adapt to your schedule and any changes.

 

our CAG, goofy, LOVES my daughter. i think she is his "person" as he will let her touch his tail, he will most times step up for her (when he won't for the rest of us lol). he is pretty social on his terms, and did very well on christmas when we had family over who he had never met, even stepping up for my dad and letting my birdphobic mom scritch his head. some birds might clam up in the presence of "new" people, but mine just continues to jabber on and on lol.

 

kris

[danmcq]

We are gone at least 9 hours on weekdays, but sometimes I work from home Thursdays and Fridays depending on business factors and if my presence is needed on those days in-house.

 

Dayo our CAG and Jake our Conure have been just fine with a varying schedule. The minimum out of cage time they get is 3 hours a day and the maximum is 12 to 13 hours on days I'm home on weekdays and weekends.

 

They are a little timid around our young grandchildren due to the way they run with their arms flinging arounding and yelling,laughing and just cutting up. Both our birds usually want to be on one of our shoulders or in their cages when the young ones are here. The children's ages go from 3 to 13.

 

 

When our Son's or older grandchildren are here, the birds are comfortable with them because they have been trained by us on how to properly interact with Parrots and how to properly read their body language.

 

As far as strangers go, with adults they are more reserved, but not aggressive or frightened. Just more curious than anything of these strangers entering our home.

 

The key to having a well socialized bird is in having and introducing people of all ages to them constantly (if possible) so they become accepting to having other people over as a "Norm" for their flock and home.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/01/13 18:44

[judygram]

I work 8 hours a day 5 days a week and with commute time I am gone for a minimum of 9 hours, but Josey has a large cage with many toys and Sunny, my sun conure, in another cage for company. I leave the radio on for them to mask the quiet of the country where I live.

 

My hubby gets home first but he does not have much to do with my birds, so I let them out when I get home, I can hear the conure calling for me as soon as I pull up. They are pretty much out for the rest of the evening until they go to bed around 10 pm. Josey goes to her playtop and plays there or I take her and put her on the playstand while I do things. Sunny usually stays on my shoulder most of this time but they both usually go with me into the kitchen while I fix dinner.

 

On the weekends when I am home maybe all day they are out more but not all the time. This works best for me and it seems to go ok with them. The conure seems to need to be on me more so than my grey does, she can be just as happy playing with her toys where as the conure loves nothing else but to be a permanent fixture on me.

 

I have two grown children and they don't have much to do with Josey but my daughter likes to interact with Sunny and my son could care less for either. I don't allow my grandchildren to get near Josey and I have to keep one of my granddaughters away from Sunny, she will lunge at her if she gets too close, she bit her on the lip one time and now she seems to hate the sight of her.

 

I don't have too many people coming into my house as I live out in the rural country but most anyone who does come in shows little interest in my birds.

[Laurie]

My husband & I work opposite shifts. Dad is "breakfast guy", but I don't think he always lets Klaus out during the day. When I get home, I let Klaus out & he stays out until I go to bed. (I first tried to set the limit that he'd be out from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, but Klaus has re-trained me on that one!). I have a 10-yr old son, and Klaus is not crazy about him. My nieces (aged 9 & 7) also visit frequently. The 9-yr old gets on very well with Klaus. She fusses over him, so how can he resist? She has a lovebird of her own at home, so she's good with birds. The 7-yr old niece doesn't really bother with him.

[MazyAK]

fowlgame:

I am a commercial fisherman in the gulf of Alaska. So when I go take my boat and crew to work I'm gone 3 to 4 months. Mazy seems to accept this now and will accept my wife's help when I'm at sea, but not when I'm home. What I do when I'm in radio or cell range, I call and my wife puts the phone up to Mazy and we have a little talk. She really enjoys it and it reassures her I'm still out there. The up side to that is I'm home solid every day for the other 8 or 9 months with all the time for myself and Mazy and spend most of the day with her on my shoulder doing my chores or whatever, with me. She has adjusted well to this, so as others have said it is a very individual thing.

I'm lucky with that as this amount of time away is a lot, but the rest of the household routine she is used to carries on every day in my absence. This provides her with a secure feeling. It's all about routine, mine is just in big segments. It sounds like your bird has been used to this already and should be fine with it.

Good luck

Bruce & Mazy

Here's my office

 

Post edited by: MazyAK, at: 2008/01/14 10:14<br><br>Post edited by: MazyAK, at: 2008/01/14 10:16

[Hannah_Rae]

MazyAK,

Wow, an Alaskan Fisherman....one of the most dangerous jobs out there...

 

I think it's amazing how our birds will adapt. I am excited that my full time job will allow me to bring Juji with me.

 

Countdown: 11 days

[loviechick]

I work 8 hours a day, and live about a mile from my job, so I can go home and check on my birds for lunch daily. They all get 3 hours out of their cages at night during the week, 8-12 hours on the weekend. No kids, no other pets.

 

I can't say this is a good or bad schedule for a Grey, there is no "right" schedule, I worked nights for 4 years, and while that was a bit less consistant, my birds still had the same amount of out of cage time. It's whatever you think you can do, however I don't recommend getting one and letting it out "when you can" They need a semi consistant routine, otherwise there can be a lot of problems with it emotionally, constant coming and going and no routine much like children, isn't good for them.