I think im getting along ok, am I?

[bigfellasdad]

Hi there.

Now life is getting a little more settled in the house having had Enzo my 12yr old CAG for a month. Let me explain how things are going and the normal daily routine.

Work day (mon-fri)
I get up at 7:00-7:15am each morning now, this is 1hr earlier than I usually do to ensure I spend an hour with Enzo. She is always happy to see me and is out of her cage before the door is fully open, immediately high five with a nose/beak 'knock'. I leave her for a minute on her door to allow her first poop (lino on floor for easier cleaning). She will then come straight to my shoulder and either want a head scratch or happy to surf whilst I get on with morning duties. She often has something from my plate for breakfast, cereals, eggs on toast etc. She has a fly for bit whilst i shower or she sits on the shower glass and vocalises for a while. She then goes to her cage for seeds and I close her up and chat for 5mins before i leave. she has a local radio station for company All good 'i think'

I return at 5pm->6pm and immediately call her once in the house, she comes out of her cage and flies to the top of the kitchen units, 30s later she comes back to me and drops her wings, clucks, regurgitates and paws my beard for upto 30minutes!!!! Very cute, but not sure if that behaviour is acceptable?? Ill then eat with her, green beans or fruit or something other fresh thing that we can both eat together. She then flies to the top of the kitchen units again and forage scratches/chews the towels i put up there to save chewing the units.
She will normally call me after 30minutes 'come on', ill stand on a chair and give her a head scratch for 10-15minutes usually. Whats odd is she will often walk around and turn when her tail is next to me so her tail rubs against my face/arm, not sure i'm happy with that so would like your advice. She will stay up there for a good few hours with a fly for a poop or look/shout for me.
Ill try and get her to come down at this point and come through to the living room, she will steal one or 2 crisps from me when im watching TV.. Depending on what mood she is in she will talk away, often saying things for the first time that ive heard (previous owners and stuff she has learnt from me). often another head scratch or two, she will get so relaxed that she often literally falls over, eyes closed and make no effort to save herself.
Bedtime, let the troubles begin! She will fly back to the top of the kitchen pupboard where ill talk to her for a bit and eventually ill have to pick her up with both hands to get her into the cage, again she is relaxed about this but if i give her one opportunity to escape back to the cupboards she will.

So, lots of solo play for her, lots of effection times but little to no play apart from throw balls/objects around together. She doesnt seem to like toys that much although she has lots of them.

I feel our bond is strong now but I dont think im giving her any mental challenge or training, so if everything so far is fine thats where ill try and improve.

Any other opinions guidance please, im new to larger parrots and birds with such intelligence.

many thanks

Andy

 

[chris-md]

No guidance necessary, sounds lie you are doing fantastically. Congratulations on the beautiful budding relationship between you two

My only real question is what time is bedtime? And with all that flying, have you considered flight recall training?

 

[Flboy]

Great! Is there a place for a cargo net, hanging rope, or jungle gym? Homemade is great!

 

[wrench13]

Parrots as smart as Greys, and certainly yours is smart, can benefit from some trick training. Find out what her favorite gotta have treat is, and use that ONLY for any training. I would discourage the butt rubbing behavior .
Take her toys and play with them yourself and let her see you enjoying them - I will bet she will start to play with them too.

 

[bigfellasdad]

No guidance necessary, sounds lie you are doing fantastically. Congratulations on the beautiful budding relationship between you two

My only real question is what time is bedtime? And with all that flying, have you considered flight recall training?

Great, that's good to know

Bedtime varies, anything from a reluctant 10pm to as late as 12pm, so I do realise she is not getting a long sleep at night but I assume she sleeps a lot during the day, my cockatiel did. She really has got her own mind and she will jolly well do what she wants! (often giving a little pinch to let me know if she isn't happy to do or leave something)

If i just call her she *may* fly to me but if i show lots of excitement in my voice she will come straight away, unless she is on her cupboards of course! Even going to the toilet she will fly straight to my shoulder when i stand up but ill point to one of her allowed perching points and she will normally fly to where i point, ill congratulate her when i come back if she is still there. When i spot her about to go to the toilet and she isnt on an acceptable place, ill tell her to go to a safe place and point and more and more often she will fly and do her business although there are still accidents. So, yep, i think that its something i can work on a little more as she seems to understand me already.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Great! Is there a place for a cargo net, hanging rope, or jungle gym? Homemade is great!

I was given a rope/wood hanging perch. Im yet to screw it into the ceiling as im not sure where would be best but ill give that a go soon.

 

[DRB]

What part of the country do you live in?

Be aware of the needs of the birds being awake and in bed relative to day light hours.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Parrots as smart as Greys, and certainly yours is smart, can benefit from some trick training. Find out what her favorite gotta have treat is, and use that ONLY for any training. I would discourage the butt rubbing behavior .
Take her toys and play with them yourself and let her see you enjoying them - I will bet she will start to play with them too.

Apart from snap peas there doesnt seem to be that much that excites her food wise (apart from plain crisps) so i wouldnt know what i could use. She does like currants coated in yoghurt but not a good thing for training i suppose. But ill try and find that treat for sure, good call, shes normally happy with a scratch or if I knock her beak with a knuckle and say good girl.

That butt rubbing behaviour, im glad you agree that its weird too, ill put a stop right now as i didn't know if it was a grey 'thing', its damned rude if you ask me!

Play with parrot toys, ok ill try that, but the only play time so far together is she throws things and i fetch them so i feel like she looks at me like a pet dog! When i roll a ball towards her she will either try and sit on it and go all fluffy or violently attack it, wings up, beak open and literally run at the ball and attack it. I stopped playing with toy balls as i dont think either reaction is desirable.

 

[bigfellasdad]

What part of the country do you live in?

Be aware of the needs of the birds being awake and in bed relative to day light hours.

Im from north west England over the pond from you! The nights are drawing in and lasting many hours this time of year, so what would be the advice please?

As its still early days the more routine we try and build the better, i must say ive never had a bird that wants to stay up as late as Enzo does.

 

[DRB]

I don't have the perfect advice for when to wake them up or put them to sleep, but I personally try to have my 22mo CAG up no later than a half hour after noticebale sunrise and in her cage ready for bed no later than half an hour after it truly dark. There are exceptions mostly at night, but I close all shades and dim lights before hand if I anticipate that scenario of not being able to get her in cage on time.

What I try to do is not put her too bed too early when the sun is still out.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Ive had a thought, the few hours Enzo plays on the cupboards in the evening ill try and discourage and get her into the living room. So from 6pm till 8:30pm will be our time and after that ill allow her time in the kitchen but with a lower light level. Maybe she will feel like sleeping earlier, allowing me my own time from 10pm onwards. That would suit me better for sure as im a bit of a night owl myself.

Ill report back and let you know how i get on.

Thanks guys for all your help and reassurance, its a big help.

 

[bigfellasdad]

I don't have the perfect advice for when to wake them up or put them to sleep, but I personally try to have my 22mo CAG up no later than a half hour after noticebale sunrise and in her cage ready for bed no later than half an hour after it truly dark. There are exceptions mostly at night, but I close all shades and dim lights before hand if I anticipate that scenario of not being able to get her in cage on time.

What I try to do is not put her too bed too early when the sun is still out.

Thanks for this, i don't have blinds in the kitchen where she sleeps as the back of my house backs on to woodland and not over looked at all, I use a large heavy rug over her cage, it doesn't totally cover her cage but near enough. Soon it will be dark when i leave for work and dark when i get home, your method wont work for me unfortunately but thanks for the help.

 

[DRB]

I don't have the perfect advice for when to wake them up or put them to sleep, but I personally try to have my 22mo CAG up no later than a half hour after noticebale sunrise and in her cage ready for bed no later than half an hour after it truly dark. There are exceptions mostly at night, but I close all shades and dim lights before hand if I anticipate that scenario of not being able to get her in cage on time.

What I try to do is not put her too bed too early when the sun is still out.

Thanks for this, i don't have blinds in the kitchen where she sleeps as the back of my house backs on to woodland and not over looked at all, I use a large heavy rug over her cage, it doesn't totally cover her cage but near enough. Soon it will be dark when i leave for work and dark when i get home, your method wont work for me unfortunately but thanks for the help.

In winter with it being mostly dark when you leave and get home I would add more lighting to the home so when you leave it can offset the darkness outside.

 

[bigfellasdad]

I don't have the perfect advice for when to wake them up or put them to sleep, but I personally try to have my 22mo CAG up no later than a half hour after noticebale sunrise and in her cage ready for bed no later than half an hour after it truly dark. There are exceptions mostly at night, but I close all shades and dim lights before hand if I anticipate that scenario of not being able to get her in cage on time.

What I try to do is not put her too bed too early when the sun is still out.

Thanks for this, i don't have blinds in the kitchen where she sleeps as the back of my house backs on to woodland and not over looked at all, I use a large heavy rug over her cage, it doesn't totally cover her cage but near enough. Soon it will be dark when i leave for work and dark when i get home, your method wont work for me unfortunately but thanks for the help.

In winter with it being mostly dark when you leave and get home I would add more lighting to the home so when you leave it can offset the darkness outside.

Of course, ive got a timer plug ill get that sorted.....thanks

 

[bigfellasdad]

OMG I need a brandy. I get home from work and Enzo came out of her cage ignoring me and went straight to the kitchen tops, I had stuff to do so spoke to her for a while in the kitchen. I thought she was quiet so climbed to check, she was collapsed and breathing was very erratic and audible. I picked her up, she was very limp and I called my neighbour whilst holding her against my chest. 2 minutes later and a knock on my door, she told me straight away Enzo was laying an egg..... sure enough 2 minutes later 1 pops out.

Ill tell you more tomorrow, but the hen is fine and totally ignoring the egg... im pouring that brandy!.

 

[DRB]

WOW, good luck, scary IMO as I am rookie owner, glad you posted helps understand what to expect in 6-7 years maybe.

 

[bigfellasdad]

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNTVFEZYL9VZ2_48civb4gjrnh2zWRDpTTCk4sU

Im working from home today, Enzo is very quiet and she has plucked lots of feathers from around her bottom. She would not settle till 1am this morning but eventually she allowed me to pick her up and cuddle her on my chest and give her head scratches.

Ive watched some youtube videos and it seems some lay eggs standing up and some laying on their chests as Enzo did, I was worried as she was so 'floppy'..

After losing Jed a few months back I really did think I was losing my Grey, i would have been heart broken.

 

[Billdore]

That sure is scary thank goodness all is well. Nice to have help so close to you.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Another freinday has been around to check her out although she has plucked a lot of her bottom feathers outhe he suggests more eggs are on the way poor girl looks sore... spoI lingerie her with a steamed vegetable mix and yoghurt and fruit to build her up and replenish the calcium levels

I was less stressed when my 2 sons where born!

 

[bigfellasdad]

Spell checker gone mad sorry. Spoilt rotten, no lingerie lol