What is your daily routine with your grey??

[Nekkyousha]

I've heard of many grey owners who make breakfast with their grey, watch tv at certain times with their grey and their grey actually responds to the routine. I was wondering what is YOUR grey routine everyday? do you have certain training times, play times etc. Upon reading many grey stories, this is just something that interests me, how your grey can actually join in with your daily household routines.

 

My grey is very young and very new to the household. she has not shown what she's learnt yet but i hope she will do upon reaching her first birthday :lol:

 

I will have my grey join me in making breakfast every morning but its a bugger getting her to eat afterwards, she's just interested in a cuddle :ohmy: lol

[zandische]

Awww, your grey sounds like a sweetheart Athena is a bit of a t-rex at eating time. There is definitely no cuddling till AFTER the little beast is fed

 

Usually I get her up about an hour before I go to work. I spend a few minutes preening her face while she's on her cage perch and this seems to help her wake up. Then I go to the kitchen and start making her breakfast - usually a mix of warm pellets, baby food or oatmeal. She'll hear the microwave or the pantry door and come to investigate. While she's eating I change her cage paper, wipe down the cage and refill her water and seed dishes. Then we "snuggle" for the remaining few minutes, which can be anything from her snuggling up to my head while I'm on the couch or her just preening herself on my shoulder.

 

Then it's back to the cage and I'm off to work.

 

When I get home I let her out of the cage and make her dinner, which is a mix of fresh veggies and fruits and whatever I'm having for dinner. After that she usually plays with her toys for an hour or so, then we spend the next few hours watching tv with Daddy (she sits on my shoulder and receives lots of head scratches). Of course, that all changes as sometimes we work out, clean house or do other things. Most of the time in the evenings she doesn't really care where we are or what we're doing, as long as she can be included

 

As for training, I try to incorporate that as a regular part of our interactions. At this point she is so young (a year) that most of what I'm training her IS stuff that we'll want to use all the time. Things like flying to me when I call her, staying put, eating certain foods, stepping up, not biting, and potty training are all things that we reinforce the entire time we're with her. These may not be natural to her wild brain, but they are the basic building blocks of our relationship, so I try to be as patient as possible to reinforce these things all the time. I'm not terribly interested in teaching her to do "tricks" at this stage of the game (although she's learned a few on her own) but I do talk to her often. It's having a really positive effect as over the last 2 months her vocabulary has gone through the roof!

 

Anyhow, good luck teaching your grey and keep us updated on her progress!<br><br>Post edited by: zandische, at: 2008/03/17 23:06

[Nychsa]

Hi there,

 

Well, our routine can vary as my schedule varies. By in large, Bella, my CAG and Jigme, my conure, wake up before I do and are jabbering away at the top of their lungs before I get downstairs.

 

I usually get downstairs with my female greyhound, Dream while Doc, my male greyhound, usually sleeps another hour or so. First thing I let Bella and Jiggy out of their cages and they're usually really spun up. Jiggy chirps at the top of his lungs ( you really need ear plugs as he can blow your ear drums out!) and Bella is bobbing her head up and down, flapping her wings and giving "kissies".

 

Jiggy starts foraging on his playtop (I've created a foraging enviornment on their playtops using hay with pellets, dried fruits and viegies and nuts strewn about the hay). Bella flies off her perch and "assists" me in making her breakfast. She nibbles on my toes and climbs up the side of the counter, gets into anything she can get into, crawls up my leg, makes it to my shoulder and starts preening my hair. She's always fit to be tied in the morning.

 

After she eats, she's usually ready to play and she plays rough! She attacks her toys, dangling upside down, growling and screeching at the toys, she chases poor Jiggy around (he usually flies over to sit with me until Bella is done acting crazy). In between she'll forage, sit on her door and jabber and jabber and jabber! She talks non-stop!

 

If I'm working from home, we all then go upstairs to one of my bedrooms which I use as a meditation room and believe it or not - all four of the critters sit with me while I do my meditation practices :lol:

 

After that I bring the birds to their cages, and put them in, turn on the bird sitting video and take the dogs for a walk.

 

When I get back, if it's their shower day, I'll take the birds into the shower with me and give them a nice long shower. When they're done, I wrap them up in their warm towels and let them sit in those until they're fairly dry. In the mean time I get dressed and put on make up. By then Bella usually comes out of her towel and starts playing with her image in the make up mirror, or she steals the lipstick or something else she can get her beak on :lol:

 

If I'm heading into the office, I put them into their cages, fill their foraging cups, or hide goodies throughout their cages. I then do a quick cage clean (sift through the walnut shavings in the litter box andwipe off birdy poop), get dressed and off I go to work.

 

In the evening I let them out of their cages first thing and they spend time foraging then, and of course talking up a storm. We feed the dogs, and then settle in for news and a movie or something. Bella usually eats dinner with me by helping herself to my plate :blink: She then sits in the living room on her table top perch and plays with her toys, or jumps on to me and tucks her head under my chin and gets her head and neck scratches.

 

So LOL That's about what our routine is like, but it varies a good deal I think I'm going to get one of those bird adventure packs for the summer and take the birds with us on our morning walk. I think they'd enjoy it too.

 

Cheers!

Terri

[nevjoe]

I am different then most, because I don't want them in any routine at all. I feel that once you start one you will have to follow it all the time. I feed them different food daily, wake them when I see fit, go to sleep from 10 to midnight, take them out for a ride or the stores, bath them at different times of the day, and so on. It is working very well with me, but everyone has their own way of doing things.

If something has to change for you or you need to something different one day, WELL what?

Your bird should fit your life style, and not you fit theirs. They are the PET!!!!!

 

Joe

[Marlene]

I happen to be somewhere in between. When we get up (5.45am in the week and anything up to 8am on weekends) I take Gus for a poo then he waddles over to his play stand for some seeds. I take the kids to school and let Gus out again to play with me for a while. At this stage I give him his food for the day. Pata, rice, various fruits & veg, soaked pellets etc. He then sits with me while I do paperwork, phone calls etc.

Once I go to the workshop Gus goes to his cage where he plays. I hear him screaming and growling at his toys and food all morning.

 

At lunch time when the kids get home Gus is out again to play, snack on some seed and generally just hang out with myself and the kids. He "helps" me prepare supper and when we eat he gets his meal - whatever we are having.

 

Just before bed I give him some more soaked pellets for when he wakes up.

 

Meal times change, out time changes and his time out the cage changes. I really don't want him to get so used to a routine that if it gets broken he gets stressed. However, he will always know that he will be fed, cleaned and watered times a day.

[Nekkyousha]

Hmmm well I have to admit that I doubt I will follow any major routine for Cleo, she gets fed every morning at the same time but like Marlene said, I dont want Cleo to get so used to a routine, that a change would cause stress. I have started a training routine that usually happens at the same time everyday so she knows what to expect, which mainly means lots of treats for her! lol. I think it's sweet how people will sit down in the evening to watch a movie with their family and the birds lol, I dont think cleo would sit still long enough for that, she'd be hopping on our heads, back and forth.