ne member

[magician1973]

hi I have been a member a few days but just had been reading thru everything on here.I have 2 greys from same cluch shilo and zina

I had got the male 8 months ago and the female 1 month ago both will be 1 yr next month.

from beginning it been tough with the male

I bought him at 4 months of age he was weaned just day before he came home with us and within the first 24 hours he hang upside down and pull out tail feathers then it progressed to his wings and belly .

took him to see vet and everything ok the lady thought possibly as I smoke outside the smell of smoke on jacket but even this didnt work ,I did some reading and research and found some vitamins on net to add to water daily(stress formula )I must say in 4 weeks he begin looking like a porcupine lol now he has new feathers comming in but he still agressive with me .

he seems to go to my boyfriend since the beginning the only thing he will allow me to do is feed him banana chips or if he tries to fly and falls he will step up only from the floor I dont know if this is good sign or not but I am home all day and would love to not have to worry about getting him back in his cage.

if theres any suggestions I would appreciate it.

[Guest Monique]

Welcome!!!

 

Greys usually strongly favor one person birds and it sounds like he favors your boyfriend. Have your boyfriend do things he doesn't like as much (putting him back into his cage) and you do things he likes more (taking him out of cage for his playstand, feeding him, etc.). Usually they don't get quite so picky or bonded to one person until they start to get a little bit older than what your boy is now.

 

I'm afraid this will sound horrible but if I was in your situation and wasn't confident I was marrying my boyfriend, and I wanted this to be "MY" bird I'd tell him hands off the bird :ohmy: for a while to help out. After all you're the one who has to take care of him forever. And you'll have to take that w/a grain of salt I was an only child and I'm not so good at sharing sometimes.

 

Make sure when he tries to bite you that you don't flinch, yell, or otherwise inadvertently reward him for the biting. This is a really good article about biting in general: http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/biting.html.

 

Sounds like you got his plucking issue figured out. Good for you!!! - that can quickly become a really hard to break habit.

 

Please let us know how things go for you!!!

[Guest]

Magician 1973, welcome to the forum, glad to have you here

 

I would, even if you are sure you're going to marry your boyfriend, still ask him to lay off for a while until you can handle the bird completely. This based on that you are home all day and thus have to deal with him more than your boyfriend. Since I've also read that greys tend to be one-persons birds - it's better it's you. I think