Very timid african grey

eliam

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Nov 24, 2021
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Alex - African Grey
Pica & bullie -cockatiels
Hi

I got my african grey last september he was 3 months old at the time.. . not fully tamed. He would take food from my hand but he would not let me touch him .

He does not step up even today, he lets me , my daughter and visitors to pet him a lot but only at night and only when he is on his cage ā€¦ especially when i pet the dog he is jealous and he is wistling a lot like he wants me to pet him instead, he is very excited to see me each time i enter the room.He is not caged he is free to roam around the house but he will not step up. He will not let me hold him. He will not sit on me at any point shoulder hand where i can trasfer him.

I have tried food rewards etc . When i try to make him step up he just flies off or goes to a different direction so i will not reach him.

Also he didnt say a single word yet. We talk to him a lot and sing tp him..,he has a radio playing while i am at work but he is not even trying to say something he just whistles a lot when we are not in the room like he is calling us or when we enter the room bcs he is excited and after that he is quiet all the timeā€¦

Please advise what to do to make him to trust me enough to step and talk
Thank youšŸ˜˜
 

Birdgirl24

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Dec 2, 2021
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I have 1 budgie, He is a male both. I have been looking into getting an Eclectus Parrot tho.
just gonna point out "making him step up" is part of your problem birds don't like to be forced to do things it makes them lose trust if you cant get him to step up try to get him to make a small recall opposed to forcing him to step up because forcing him to do that is just going to further your problem.
 

AmyMyBlueFront

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Don't forget he is only 3 months old, is in a totally new enviroment with new people,thats a lot for him to take in! Having full roam of the house to me is a very bad idea,especially having a doggo also. If when he is on the roof of his house (cage) will he approach your hand? Try holding and offering a favorite treat..remember..you need to build trust so he doesn't think this big...new..MONSTER is gonna try to eat me1
Trust takes time and patients! Some parrots never talk...others won't shut up lol
Give him time,be patient with him,sit next to his cage and talk to him..READ to him! You might think thats stupid or funny but believe it or not they like it and listen.
I read to my Blue Front from time to time. He'll come to the side of his house I'm at and as I read he looks right at me and I see his beaky moving as if he is talking back to me.


Jim
 
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eliam

eliam

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Nov 24, 2021
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Alex - African Grey
Pica & bullie -cockatiels
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Don't forget he is only 3 months old, is in a totally new enviroment with new people,thats a lot for him to take in! Having full roam of the house to me is a very bad idea,especially having a doggo also. If when he is on the roof of his house (cage) will he approach your hand? Try holding and offering a favorite treat..remember..you need to build trust so he doesn't think this big...new..MONSTER is gonna try to eat me1
Trust takes time and patients! Some parrots never talk...others won't shut up lol
Give him time,be patient with him,sit next to his cage and talk to him..READ to him! You might think thats stupid or funny but believe it or not they like it and listen.
I read to my Blue Front from time to time. He'll come to the side of his house I'm at and as I read he looks right at me and I see his beaky moving as if he is talking back to me.


Jim
Thank you ,Actually now he is 8 months , he was 3 when i got him.. i do sit next to his cage and talk to him all the time and even when i am doing house work i am talking to him from another room and he is replying with a whistle or he is whistling really loud if i am long time out of the room like he needs me back in the room.
I have also seen him moving his beak or look at me really closely when i talk to him but no sound comes out :( I know he understands a lot i can see it from his expressions but i cant wait to hear his first word ... i have 2 children all grown up but its like i am a mom in agony waiting for my baby to say his first word all over again . I thought i would never have those feelings again ..
 
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eliam

eliam

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Alex - African Grey
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just gonna point out "making him step up" is part of your problem birds don't like to be forced to do things it makes them lose trust if you cant get him to step up try to get him to make a small recall opposed to forcing him to step up because forcing him to do that is just going to further your problem.
Thank you i will try that ..
 

Skarila

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6 months is a short time, really. Honestly, I started seeing changes and more trust from my fully wild aviary bred bird only after 6 months. 10 months later he trusts me much much more. (A tiny conure)

I honestly suggest to be hands off. Try to interact with him without any touching, wether it is just excited talking, dancing on music, bobbing head, whistling back... Even teaching small tricks helps a lot!!! From a simple head shake to step ups. My conure also refused to stay on me longer than a second. Now he will stay much longer, and actually follow me around the flat.

Greys aren't known to be snuggly birds, but an occasional head scratch is okay. Try to be patient. If you keep pushing the handling and stepping up, the bird might eventually just avoid you all in all. Instead through the non hand interactions you build the bird's trust through many months, and later the bird should decide wether they come to you or not. Most likely yes, because it was their choice. Stoic beings.

Also don't worry about the speech - my IRN (species who are simply known to talk A LOT) never ever said a word in 28 years of his life. And that is okay, he was special. Maybe your grey will pick up speech soon enough :D
 
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eliam

eliam

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Nov 24, 2021
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Alex - African Grey
Pica & bullie -cockatiels
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6 months is a short time, really. Honestly, I started seeing changes and more trust from my fully wild aviary bred bird only after 6 months. 10 months later he trusts me much much more. (A tiny conure)

I honestly suggest to be hands off. Try to interact with him without any touching, wether it is just excited talking, dancing on music, bobbing head, whistling back... Even teaching small tricks helps a lot!!! From a simple head shake to step ups. My conure also refused to stay on me longer than a second. Now he will stay much longer, and actually follow me around the flat.

Greys aren't known to be snuggly birds, but an occasional head scratch is okay. Try to be patient. If you keep pushing the handling and stepping up, the bird might eventually just avoid you all in all. Instead through the non hand interactions you build the bird's trust through many months, and later the bird should decide wether they come to you or not. Most likely yes, because it was their choice. Stoic beings.

Also don't worry about the speech - my IRN (species who are simply known to talk A LOT) never ever said a word in 28 years of his life. And that is okay, he was special. Maybe your grey will pick up speech soon enough :D
Thank youšŸ™ I will
 

CraigH

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Mar 31, 2022
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It often takes Congos a full year to become talkative. (Timnehs earlier). Just keep talking, and you'll have trouble shutting them up before you know it.

Mine is a rescue and was 1000% hand-averse when I adopted him--downright bite-y if you put a hand near him. It took a couple years, but now he's eager to step up from anywhere other than his home base. (I never close his cage door, and he has free range of the entire home, right up to the tree in the bedroom where he flies at night to sleep). He takes food from my hand, and even endures stroking on his back, though you can tell it's not his favorite thing so I never push it.

Mine is always happiest when he's in the room with people. Just let him/her come to you!
 
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eliam

eliam

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Nov 24, 2021
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Alex - African Grey
Pica & bullie -cockatiels
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It often takes Congos a full year to become talkative. (Timnehs earlier). Just keep talking, and you'll have trouble shutting them up before you know it.

Mine is a rescue and was 1000% hand-averse when I adopted him--downright bite-y if you put a hand near him. It took a couple years, but now he's eager to step up from anywhere other than his home base. (I never close his cage door, and he has free range of the entire home, right up to the tree in the bedroom where he flies at night to sleep). He takes food from my hand, and even endures stroking on his back, though you can tell it's not his favorite thing so I never push it.

Mine is always happiest when he's in the room with people. Just let him/her come to you!
Thank you so much for your encouriging words , thruth be told you are right i see small steps torwards coming closer to me every day.. He seems to be trusting me more and more every day.. and he communicates what he wants in his own way and im very happy for thatšŸ™‚ so i will wait for rest when he is ready
 

DRB

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Greys are inherently skiddish when very young. They need to build confidence and trust in themselves as well as people. However I think not having a cage is a big mistake. A cage can offer structure and gives them ā€œtheir spaceā€ and a safe space.
While a cage appears like a prison from our eyes it becomes their home and space. They take some ownership of it and it provides a retreat when they donā€™t like whatā€™s going on around them.
And they love to play in their cage with the proper toys and set up.
 

CraigH

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Mar 31, 2022
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Greys are inherently skiddish when very young. They need to build confidence and trust in themselves as well as people. However I think not having a cage is a big mistake. A cage can offer structure and gives them ā€œtheir spaceā€ and a safe space.
While a cage appears like a prison from our eyes it becomes their home and space. They take some ownership of it and it provides a retreat when they donā€™t like whatā€™s going on around them.
And they love to play in their cage with the proper toys and set up.
Agreed 1000% about the cage and will shamelessly repeat the pointsā€”ground foraging birds like greys need sheltered space and their cage (and trust me, itā€™s THEIR cage) is their sanctuary, home base, and security blanket all rolled into one. Just leave the door open and itā€™s perfect for any free range bird. Hang toys, food and water dishes, mirrors, and colorful and shiny stuff and though it looks like chaos to you itā€™s deeply reassuring to them. (Youā€™ll know when you attempt to hang something new or remove something or alter an arrangementā€”the outrage will make you laugh).
 
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eliam

eliam

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Nov 24, 2021
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Alex - African Grey
Pica & bullie -cockatiels
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Greys are inherently skiddish when very young. They need to build confidence and trust in themselves as well as people. However I think not having a cage is a big mistake. A cage can offer structure and gives them ā€œtheir spaceā€ and a safe space.
While a cage appears like a prison from our eyes it becomes their home and space. They take some ownership of it and it provides a retreat when they donā€™t like whatā€™s going on around them.
And they love to play in their cage with the proper toys and set up.
Hi , he has a cage with lots of toys on it and also he has 2 other perches/play-stands in other rooms.
 

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