help me!!! im new at this!!!

[prettybirdie]

Hi! can anyone help me?!

 

i have a new 1yr old african grey called 'cas'. i have owned her for about a month or so now. She is new to having a proper 'home' because she has been bought and then sold alot, moving to many different families and possible LIVING in a carrier cage and eating nothing but sesamie seeds... so i want to give her the longest and best life possible.

I am new to keeping large parrots, but have owned 2 budgies in the past.

 

i have some questions and if anyone can answer 1 or more of them i would be VERRRYYY HAPPY!!!

 

i know that it's kinda long, and may seem paranoid but i'm only 13 and i don't want to get anything wrong!

 

 

 

1. I know i have to take her out of the cage ALOT, but she doesn't seem to want to go into her small carrier cage so i can take her upstairs with me (I have tried putting food in the cage). hopefully, I will be getting a harness soon, but I'm not sure how i'm going to put it on her without stressing her out or ruining her trust... any suggestions? And even if i do, will it help me get her out of the cage?!

 

2. At the moment, i am feeding her fruit+veg in the morning - before school(like watermelon, apple, pepper or cucumber) and sesamie seeds and nuts in the afternoon - after school (i refill her water bowl normally 2ce a day). Veriety is the spice of life - and i feel that i am limiting her options. Any suggestions on what to feed her/give her to drink? or is this a normal diet?

 

3. She is being very vocal at the moment but doesn't talk yet... just sort of whistles/tweets and occasionally clicks a bit. Is it normal for her not to speak any words yet?

 

4. Whenever i change her food bowl, she gets overly protective and tries to pull it back, sometimes even when it's completely empty. Is this also normal?

 

5. Cas is still very teritorial and isn't TOO happy about you putting your fingers in her cage... sometimes, she will lash out to try and bite you, and if you get close she makes a growling sound. Does this also happen with other new parrots? Is there anything i can do to stop her?

 

6. Occasionally she will make a load screeching sound. does this mean she is angry/scared/stressed/hungry??

 

7. She has quite a large cage with 4 wooden branch perches in it and a few toys and bits of sting. I think she is happy and plays with them alot, but she does this thing where she climbs around the cage for periods of time. does this mean she is bored/frustrated or maybe even feels trapped?? or is she just excersizing?

 

8. Lately, cas's posture is vey upright, and she pushes the shoulder-y part of her wings further back and further away from her body. at the same time, she normally has her mouth open and looks like she's panting. does this possible mean that she is ill or maybe even mad or something? maybe just tired or stressed??

 

9. As i said before, taking her upstairs or even out of her cage is a problem. This also has other problems that go with it, like HOW AM I SUPOSSED TO BATH HER?!?! this is one of my MAJOR questions, because i live in Egypt at the moment, and it's so dry. i heard that you shoud bath them once a week, but i simply CAN'T!!! I've gotten a spray bottle once and tried to shower her with that... but she just screamed and tried to get away... OBVIOUSLY not enjoying it! the LAST thing i want to do is ruin her trust, so Would it be better just NOT to bath her?? or is there a way for her to enjoy it??!?

 

10. Also, if you could giv me any other deetz, like

- how often to take her to vets (bare in mind i live in Egypt, so english speaking bird specialists are kinda hard to find... we know one, but we aren't sure how profesional he is)

- how often to clean out her cage

- is there REALLY such thing as a 1 person bird?

- what are some good sources of info (like i've heard ALOT about Chet Wohmack, but if any of you have bought his products, do they work? are they as good as implied?)

- info on signals (like what african greys do when they are hungry/happy/bored/depressed/ect)... like how to tell what they want or when they love you!?

 

xxxxxxxxx

 

Again guys, sorry it's so long and thanks

SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MMMMUUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHH for giving me some advice... i REALLY apreciate it!!!!!!!!!!

 

xxxxxxxxx

[Tycos_mom]

first of all if your bird has been passed around from home to home its going to take a while before he trusts anyone. right now he's prubuly waiting to go to another home because thats whats been happening. Its going to take allot of patient on your part you have todo things at his speed not yours. Open his cage and let him come out on his own. are his wins clipped. if not because you are only 13 it might be a good idea to find some one who knows how to clip birds properly to clip his wings for you. at firt you could just sit and talk with him or read to him out loud. when he come out and you want to try and take him upstairs try to get him to step up onto a perch place the perch sideways under his belly just above his feet give it a little push and say step up at the same time. don't force him todo this if he wants to he will. Practice with him on a daily basis two or three times a day for ten minutes at a time don't practice to long or the bird may lose intrest or get stressed out. once you get him to step up onto the perch take him somewhere small like the bath room or a small room where he can't get to far away from you but out of the site of his cage. this is called neutual ground. if you use the bath room make sure you close the toilet and the shower curtain. put the bird down and start practicing stepups. onto your hand make a fist so he can't get a good bite and don't ever pull away from a bite if you half to close your eyes and just take the bite with out saying anyhing excet no bite in a firm voice. when he does something right lavish praise on him give him treats get excited. if he bite to often turn you back and don't pay any attention to him for a minute or two and then resume your lesson. Its going to take allot of work love and patients from you. he's still very young though so you have that in your favor. as for diet your bird needs to have diet very simalar to your diet without the dairy products and meat. there diet should include cooked and raw vegetables cooked egg a little fish or chicken one in awhile alittle cheese oncein a while no avacado it toxic to birds no cafeine or carbonated drinks. they can have fruit juice. anything that is healthy that you eat is healthy for your bird dark leafy vegatables such as beet greans cabbage romaine lettce carrot tops broccoli and the leaves are all great foods yams or sweetpotatos cooked and mashed are great carrots turnips raw or cooked all these thing will help insure that your parrot will stay healthy. I don't know if you can get bird pelleted food in Egypt but if you can that is a great source of nutrition for your bird. Like I said before don't push her todo anything she really doesn't want todo don't pull away from a bite and love him and talk to him as much as you can. and one more thing don't approch his cage straight on come in from an angle or zigzag. also try to look at your parrot with just one eye or put your head down. Preditors have eyes on the front of their face like we do and to him you could look like a scary preditor so looking at him with one eye or with your head down show him you don't want to hurt him he should turn his head and look at you with one eye to show you that he undderstands. I hope this helps the biggest thing todo right now is to spend time with him and letting him know that this is his last home and he is not going anywhere. oh yeah make sure you tell your parrot everything you are going to do before you do it like if your going to pt your hands in his cage to feed him tell im that say I'm going to take your dish and put some yummy stuff in there for you or I'm going to give you fresh water. or I'm going to touch you or what ever it is tell your parrot first it helps them to learn to assosiate your word with what your doing so they learn not to be so afraid.

[Tycos_mom]

first of all if your bird has been passed around from home to home its going to take a while before he trusts anyone. right now he's prubuly waiting to go to another home because thats whats been happening. Its going to take allot of patient on your part you have todo things at his speed not yours. Open his cage and let him come out on his own. are his wins clipped. if not because you are only 13 it might be a good idea to find some one who knows how to clip birds properly to clip his wings for you. at firt you could just sit and talk with him or read to him out loud. when he come out and you want to try and take him upstairs try to get him to step up onto a perch place the perch sideways under his belly just above his feet give it a little push and say step up at the same time. don't force him todo this if he wants to he will. Practice with him on a daily basis two or three times a day for ten minutes at a time don't practice to long or the bird may lose intrest or get stressed out. once you get him to step up onto the perch take him somewhere small like the bath room or a small room where he can't get to far away from you but out of the site of his cage. this is called neutual ground. if you use the bath room make sure you close the toilet and the shower curtain. put the bird down and start practicing stepups. onto your hand make a fist so he can't get a good bite and don't ever pull away from a bite if you half to close your eyes and just take the bite with out saying anyhing excet no bite in a firm voice. when he does something right lavish praise on him give him treats get excited. if he bite to often turn you back and don't pay any attention to him for a minute or two and then resume your lesson. Its going to take allot of work love and patients from you. he's still very young though so you have that in your favor. as for diet your bird needs to have diet very simalar to your diet without the dairy products and meat. there diet should include cooked and raw vegetables cooked egg a little fish or chicken one in awhile alittle cheese oncein a while no avacado it toxic to birds no cafeine or carbonated drinks. they can have fruit juice. anything that is healthy that you eat is healthy for your bird dark leafy vegatables such as beet greans cabbage romaine lettce carrot tops broccoli and the leaves are all great foods yams or sweetpotatos cooked and mashed are great carrots turnips raw or cooked all these thing will help insure that your parrot will stay healthy. I don't know if you can get bird pelleted food in Egypt but if you can that is a great source of nutrition for your bird. Like I said before don't push her todo anything she really doesn't want todo don't pull away from a bite and love him and talk to him as much as you can. and one more thing don't approch his cage straight on come in from an angle or zigzag. also try to look at your parrot with just one eye or put your head down. Preditors have eyes on the front of their face like we do and to him you could look like a scary preditor so looking at him with one eye or with your head down show him you don't want to hurt him he should turn his head and look at you with one eye to show you that he undderstands. I hope this helps the biggest thing todo right now is to spend time with him and letting him know that this is his last home and he is not going anywhere. oh yeah make sure you tell your parrot everything you are going to do before you do it like if your going to pt your hands in his cage to feed him tell im that say I'm going to take your dish and put some yummy stuff in there for you or I'm going to give you fresh water. or I'm going to touch you or what ever it is tell your parrot first it helps them to learn to assosiate your word with what your doing so they learn not to be so afraid.

[Tycos_mom]

first of all if your bird has been passed around from home to home its going to take a while before he trusts anyone. right now he's prubuly waiting to go to another home because thats whats been happening. Its going to take allot of patient on your part you have todo things at his speed not yours. Open his cage and let him come out on his own. are his wins clipped. if not because you are only 13 it might be a good idea to find some one who knows how to clip birds properly to clip his wings for you. at firt you could just sit and talk with him or read to him out loud. when he come out and you want to try and take him upstairs try to get him to step up onto a perch place the perch sideways under his belly just above his feet give it a little push and say step up at the same time. don't force him todo this if he wants to he will. Practice with him on a daily basis two or three times a day for ten minutes at a time don't practice to long or the bird may lose intrest or get stressed out. once you get him to step up onto the perch take him somewhere small like the bath room or a small room where he can't get to far away from you but out of the site of his cage. this is called neutual ground. if you use the bath room make sure you close the toilet and the shower curtain. put the bird down and start practicing stepups. onto your hand make a fist so he can't get a good bite and don't ever pull away from a bite if you half to close your eyes and just take the bite with out saying anyhing excet no bite in a firm voice. when he does something right lavish praise on him give him treats get excited. if he bite to often turn you back and don't pay any attention to him for a minute or two and then resume your lesson. Its going to take allot of work love and patients from you. he's still very young though so you have that in your favor. as for diet your bird needs to have diet very simalar to your diet without the dairy products and meat. there diet should include cooked and raw vegetables cooked egg a little fish or chicken one in awhile alittle cheese oncein a while no avacado it toxic to birds no cafeine or carbonated drinks. they can have fruit juice. anything that is healthy that you eat is healthy for your bird dark leafy vegatables such as beet greans cabbage romaine lettce carrot tops broccoli and the leaves are all great foods yams or sweetpotatos cooked and mashed are great carrots turnips raw or cooked all these thing will help insure that your parrot will stay healthy. I don't know if you can get bird pelleted food in Egypt but if you can that is a great source of nutrition for your bird. Like I said before don't push her todo anything she really doesn't want todo don't pull away from a bite and love him and talk to him as much as you can. and one more thing don't approch his cage straight on come in from an angle or zigzag. also try to look at your parrot with just one eye or put your head down. Preditors have eyes on the front of their face like we do and to him you could look like a scary preditor so looking at him with one eye or with your head down show him you don't want to hurt him he should turn his head and look at you with one eye to show you that he undderstands. I hope this helps the biggest thing todo right now is to spend time with him and letting him know that this is his last home and he is not going anywhere. oh yeah make sure you tell your parrot everything you are going to do before you do it like if your going to pt your hands in his cage to feed him tell im that say I'm going to take your dish and put some yummy stuff in there for you or I'm going to give you fresh water. or I'm going to touch you or what ever it is tell your parrot first it helps them to learn to assosiate your word with what your doing so they learn not to be so afraid.

[Tycos_mom]

first of all if your bird has been passed around from home to home its going to take a while before he trusts anyone. right now he's prubuly waiting to go to another home because thats whats been happening. Its going to take allot of patient on your part you have todo things at his speed not yours. Open his cage and let him come out on his own. are his wins clipped. if not because you are only 13 it might be a good idea to find some one who knows how to clip birds properly to clip his wings for you. at firt you could just sit and talk with him or read to him out loud. when he come out and you want to try and take him upstairs try to get him to step up onto a perch place the perch sideways under his belly just above his feet give it a little push and say step up at the same time. don't force him todo this if he wants to he will. Practice with him on a daily basis two or three times a day for ten minutes at a time don't practice to long or the bird may lose intrest or get stressed out. once you get him to step up onto the perch take him somewhere small like the bath room or a small room where he can't get to far away from you but out of the site of his cage. this is called neutual ground. if you use the bath room make sure you close the toilet and the shower curtain. put the bird down and start practicing stepups. onto your hand make a fist so he can't get a good bite and don't ever pull away from a bite if you half to close your eyes and just take the bite with out saying anyhing excet no bite in a firm voice. when he does something right lavish praise on him give him treats get excited. if he bite to often turn you back and don't pay any attention to him for a minute or two and then resume your lesson. Its going to take allot of work love and patients from you. he's still very young though so you have that in your favor. as for diet your bird needs to have diet very simalar to your diet without the dairy products and meat. there diet should include cooked and raw vegetables cooked egg a little fish or chicken one in awhile alittle cheese oncein a while no avacado it toxic to birds no cafeine or carbonated drinks. they can have fruit juice. anything that is healthy that you eat is healthy for your bird dark leafy vegatables such as beet greans cabbage romaine lettce carrot tops broccoli and the leaves are all great foods yams or sweetpotatos cooked and mashed are great carrots turnips raw or cooked all these thing will help insure that your parrot will stay healthy. I don't know if you can get bird pelleted food in Egypt but if you can that is a great source of nutrition for your bird. Like I said before don't push her todo anything she really doesn't want todo don't pull away from a bite and love him and talk to him as much as you can. and one more thing don't approch his cage straight on come in from an angle or zigzag. also try to look at your parrot with just one eye or put your head down. Preditors have eyes on the front of their face like we do and to him you could look like a scary preditor so looking at him with one eye or with your head down show him you don't want to hurt him he should turn his head and look at you with one eye to show you that he undderstands. I hope this helps the biggest thing todo right now is to spend time with him and letting him know that this is his last home and he is not going anywhere. oh yeah make sure you tell your parrot everything you are going to do before you do it like if your going to pt your hands in his cage to feed him tell im that say I'm going to take your dish and put some yummy stuff in there for you or I'm going to give you fresh water. or I'm going to touch you or what ever it is tell your parrot first it helps them to learn to assosiate your word with what your doing so they learn not to be so afraid.

[casper]

Hi there,

Wow such a long post where do we start!

I think the best thing to do which will answer a lot of your questions is use the search forum box at the top of the page. Just key in what you want to learn about for example, how to bath etc, and previous threads will be shown for you to read and learn.

Start with the basics, eg, do's and donts, do not use Teflon items near your grey as these can instantly kill.

Then take a look in the diet section, there is a do's and donts list again, find out first what not to feed your grey then read through different items you can to give you ideas on what to feed.

Your grey has been passed around alot and needs to gain your trust, there are lots of owners on here with rescue greys who I hope will read your post and give you lots of advice as patience is going to be the key here. You are going to have to work on the basics before even thinking about using a harness.

I wish you all the best with your new companion, remember read through the sections then give us all a shout for any other questions you need answering.

Welcome to the forum.

Caroline

[LindaMary]

Pat and Caroline have given you great advice, prettybirdie! Take things in steps - you can get many of your questions answered just by looking around on here.

 

A side note re: harnesses : if you order an Aviator harness, it comes with a DVD showing you how to get your bird adjusted to it over time. That's really for much later, tho: you still are working on some real basics. (I am just starting to work with my 20-month-old Timneh on harness training, and I expect it to take months for me, even without her having the backstory your birdie has!)

 

Mainly I just want to gve you a BIG pat on the back for being so conscientious and doing what you can to give this bird a good home. Sounds like the poor thing has already been through a lot, and it's wonderful that (s)he has now landed with someone really dedicated to doing things right! That's big responsibility to be taking on at your age, but I think it's wonderful that you are taking it on, and karma to you for that!

[Mistyparrot]

I agree with almost every thing Tycos-mom has said except please don't clip his wings !! It is a horrible practice and it can cause severe problems for most parrots as well as Greys.

If he has been clipped then let his flight feathers grow back although it will take a few months.

His whole body design is for the purpose of flying.

He needs to be allowed to fly in the room at least.

Greys need lots of patience and company and attention. They are flock animals so they have a need for company. As he is about one year old he is primed to have a close companion so you are in a good position to be his best friend. Greys are not normally exclusive in their friendships but they will have preferred friends. As long as he gets to meet other people and he has not been teased he will be fine.

They have long memories so if he has been mistreated by people he will be less easy to socialize.

It maybe best to change his food when he is out of his cage. He may regard it as a sanctuary and your hand reaching in could disturb him. All the things that you describe your parrot doing are quite normal.

The posture with his wings and his panting is normal.

All greys will do it. It may be a kind of bonding signal.

 

Grey parrots like to eat in company so if you eat with him and share your food he will get closer to you.

By the way, NEVER give avocados or chocolate to your Grey as they are very poisonous to most parrots.

 

Keep his cage clean. If he gets to spend most of his time out of the cage he may well wait to defecate when he comes out. Especially in the morning. Be prepared for this !

 

If his cage is big enough you could put a heavy bowl with an inch of water inside for him to bath in. It will make a mess and he will try to tip it up so be prepared to clean up !

 

If you can please send us some pictures.

 

Steve n Misty

[BMustee]

1) If she was forced into them before then she isn't going to asociate the carrier with something good. Is there anyway to take her upstairs without the carrier? It will take time for her to enjoy the carrier again.

 

2) The best foods are dark green veggies...like Broccoli and spinich. Yellow Squash is a good one too. Be sure when you feed fruit like apples and cherries to remove the seeds...they are toxic. Water it the only thing that should be in the cage for her to drink, but you can offer juices when your dinking them. You mention feeding sesamie seeds...do you mean Sunflower seeds? If that is what you are feeding you need to wean her off of them once she has settled in. I feed my CAG a base diet of Sawflower Gold seed mix (no sunflowers) and pellets.

 

3) Greys normally start to talk around a year old give or take but she will probably not talk till she is comfortable in the new home. That is if she will talk at all...not all greys talk and some will only talk when they are alone in the room.

 

4) If she is being aggressive about the food bowl then it's probably due to being a bit cage bound and possesive of "Her" things.

 

5) She is doing this because she does not trust you. You need to work on building a relationship with her and let her know you mean no harm. The eye game...although it seems dumb to people...works wonders with parrots. Give that a try and when she blinks back and acts comfortable then try taking her out of the cage,

 

6) Greys screech for a number of reasons...they screech when they are scared or playing. What the screech means is all about what they are doing at the time.

 

7) Many cage bound birds do this "round n' round" thing in their cages...it's kind of a frustration thing.

 

8) it sounds like she is too hot. Birds do not sweat so they pant like dogs do and hold their wings out. This could also be a scared posture but it sounds more like being too hot to me.

 

9) At this point I would not try to bath her...it sounds like she isn't your biggest fan right now and you don't want to damage that right from the start. Once she is more comfortable with you I would say once or twice a week is good.

 

10) Normally you want to take a grey to the vet once a year for a well bird check

 

Once a week the cage should be cleaned and the paper at the bottom should be changed every day.

 

I got one of Chet's DVDs and I really liked it. It's mostly trick training, but that does help to build a relationship. The first video of his also goes into taming parrots which I have used some of the advise on the DVD with good results as well.

 

there are a number of posts on body language, so you should search the forums and read through them.

 

Also, on the wing clipping...parrots that are full flight are MUCH harder to train and if they do not have a good relationship with you a full flighted bird can really hurt himself trying to get away from you. I would have to say I am for clipping a bird that has behavior problems as a way to help train them, and then if you want allow them to grow back when they are trained and enjoy your company.

[bettyboop]

bmustee , gave great advice , as well as the others ,

 

If you do decide to have the wings clipped , make sure whoever does it is an expert , a bad wing clip to a bird especially a Grey can really be bad .

 

One thing I do to help my birds adjust when they first come to live with me is sit by their cage with the door open and read childrens stories to them , after about three or four days they climb out and eventually will come sit on your shoulder .Don't rush her , just let her hang out on her cage and she will grow to love you .Make sure she has plenty of toys to keep her busy .I clean the bars on the cage daily also the newspaper . Dried poop is not healthy for the bird or you .

Good luck .

[BMustee]

Bettyboop's story time is also something that will really help build a relationship. I have used methods like this to get almost wild birds to come around and love human interactions.