How sweet is your Grey?

Hello Cindy..

You wrote:
> > My question is...... are your Congo Grey's what you expected? >

I must say that going from a Cockatoo to a Grey is a major change!

For people who want a cuddly parrot as a 'first' priority, the 'Too' is
probably the bird for them, provided that they can live with the constant
demands for attention...

For people who are looking for a 'family fun bird, a clown' the macaw is
probably for them, provided that they can live with the noise levels...

But for people who are looking for an intelligent, talkative, sensitive bird
which is also RELATIVELY quiet and not UNREASONABLY demanding of continual
attention, the Grey is definitely THE bird to share one's home with.

In that light, my seven year old CAG ECHO is what I am looking for in a
companion bird.
He is all what I expected and a LOT more!!!

( Now, watch for it... some members of this newsgroup are likely to argue
the above statements, as it is their right to do, but in no way will I be
drawn into an argument!)

You also wrote:
"She will not hesitate to bite my husband ..<snip>.."

In terms of your bird suddenly nipping your husband here is my opinion FWIW:

A) I assume from the above that you were the main hand feeder and are now
still the main feeder/keeper, preener, etc, and the bird has even
regurgitated for you on occasion...

B) I assume that your husband only has limited interaction with the bird, as
compared to you...

C) If I am right so far, the fact that he nips your husband is because you
PAY ATTENTION to your husband ... attention that your bird is not DEMANDING
noisily, but feels HE/SHE would rather have instead. A bit of jealousy..

And you wrote:
"She talks only in a gruff voice (male).."

D)The fact that your bird speaks in a male voice, probably imitating your
husband, is because the bird notices that you do pay attention when your
husband speaks to you.. Your bird imitates your husband's voice thinking
that you will pay more attention to her/him if he uses the same voice.

E)The voice gruff because your husband sometimes has arguments with you? In
that case your bird is maybe trying to 'protect you' if he/she sees you as
his/her 'mate' or at least a loved member of the flock... and hence the
biting...

My opinion is that your husband needs to spend more time chatting to your
bird ( in the cage is OK, so that he won't get bitten) and try to develop
his own routine. This is a time investment that will pay off if you and he
are patient. It may take a year... Eventually you will notice that your
bird will develop his/her own relationship with your husband. The important
thing to remember is to develop a ROUTINE meaning something that the bird
can depend on... such as a last scritch at night before covering the cage..
or let your husband be the one who will remove the cover in the morning and
spend a couple of minutes talking gently to birdie.... Or maybe hubby can
give birdie an after dinner treat. He can sing or whistle to the bird or he
can play music to him. Whatever he wants to do, as long as it is an activity
that both your husband and your bird enjoy and that it is an activity that
is special to them both ( meaning that it is NOT something that you will
ALSO do with your bird) and as long as your bird can DEPEND on it...

Again, this is MY opinion, based on personal experience, studies and general
reading as well as common sense and intuition, which I absolutely do not
feel obligated to list/ discuss for the group to try and pick apart one item
at a time!

If you feel my suggestions have merit, then by all means try them! HOWEVER,
if , as you say: "I am so disappointed in her. I had hoped for a sweet,
lovable bird that I could kiss, hold and pet..." Then, if you do not wish to
alter your expectations of, or change your interaction with your bird, then
maybe it would be better both for the bird and for yourself to find a new
home for your bird before serious damage is done.

Good luck either way...
Lorraine in Canada
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Hello Trish..

you wrote:
"..They have a hard time recognizing how much they hurt when they bite.
BB will give kisses but has a tendency to give them to hard, we are working
on that.."

I am not quite convinced that they do not know how hard they bite! For
example, ECHO my CAG will nip my finger just hard enough to let me know he
has enough scritching ( when I am distracted and am not reading his body
language)

What tells me that he "knows" what he is doing is that he then looks at me
and says:
"Shame! Shame! "

You see, that is what I used to tell him whenever he nipped as a baby.. ( I
used to say: "Shame, shame! gently now!" )

Well, you might think that in his mind 'Shame' might equate 'Bite' but NO!
I had first hand experience that he knows EXACTLY what "SHAME!" means!

One day I was getting a bit late to go to the vet and was in a hurry.. I
wanted him to step up out of the cage, but he wanted to play his favourite
game of 'catch my tail if you can!'.... Out of patience, I bodily picked him
up out of his cage... and..

He said to me, loud and clear: "SHAME! SHAME! GENTLY!"
I laughed so hard I was late for my appointment...!

He also says: "ZITA, SHAME! SHAME! GO TO YOUR BED, RIGHT NOW " any time
our Viszla dog barks! Any time I hear him respond that way to the barking,
I answer: "thank you ECHO!" ( The dog listens MOST times)

You write:
"..BB will let you know if he doesn't want to be loved on..."

You seem to know how to deal with your bird in a 'grey manner'... I
congratulate you, Trish, on having learned to read your grey's body
language, or at least in continuing to learn, and also on working patiently
with him... The rewards are more than worth while!

Lorraine in Canada
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Blue and gold CAN be cuties!
It it weren't for a very unusual situation we would still have ours, named
CARO. I won't bore you with the story, which is funny in a certain way,
unless you really want to hear it.
Lorraine

> Blue and gold only has her name cutie.
> Hope all works out for you and your bird echo
> Lee & Trish
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

ok.. I will tell you...

Caro was the most amazing companion bird I ever had. It would take a whole
evening to write about him... We had him for about 5 years at the time the
problem developed. Here is the problem:

We used to take the bird boating with us... You heard me right! I have
photos of Caro on my husband's shoulder while he is piloting the trawler...
Well, our routine early in the season that year, was that we left on
Thursday evenings to go to the marina for the week end, to get the boat
ready for a trip we were planning, and we used to stop mid-way between
Toronto and the Marina, to eat a dinner of hamburgers at Harvey's ( Canadian
chain: Better burgers than Burger King or Wendy or any chain. Individually
made in those days at least.) Well.. ( don't chastise me!) we used to buy
a baby burger for Caro. ( It wasn't the mainstay of his diet, just a weekly
treat in the summers only!) Well, we ate outside at the pick-nick table so
that Caro could eat with us. That was at Barrie, Ontario, right on Lake
Simcoe. You can imagine the number of seagulls at that place.. Well, one
night, we were happily eating our burgers and so was Caro. He had a piece of
it in his talon and a part on the paper plate on the table, when a seagull
came sweeping down, screeching his heart out and STOLE the burger right out
from Caro's plate! Caro really objected and screeched and screamed in a
panicky manner, louder than he ever had... after a while he quieted down
and all seemed OK ( I gave him a piece of mine, same as any respected mother
would do! LOL!)

Well, the problem came after that.. from that day on, Caro kept a grudge
against any and all seagulls... and you can imagine that there are always
seagulls near a marina! Or anywhere we were boating, in fact... It was a
good thing that summer that we decided to take a trip around the Great
Lakes, ( Huron, Erie, Ontario,) so we were never more than one or two nights
at any one marina...! I am sure we would have been asked to leave!

Every time Caro saw a seagull he would call us, scream in a panic and
screech at those damn thieves! He was trying to alert us that the enemy was
coming and when they arrived, he was trying to send them away.. and protect
us from the enemy, I guess..

It was a case of selling the boat or selling the bird. We had no choice but
to sell the bird since boating had always been our main hobby and our
planned retirement included a lot of boating!

I took my time finding a home for Caro... I finally found a nice gentleman
who already owned a B&G. I felt that was the best as he knew what to expect
( and he was not a boater and didn't live near the water!)

I wrote nearly a whole book about Caro's likes and dislikes, about his food,
about his vocabulary, about what he understood, about what he would do,
etc.. and I made a video of him under normal conditions, showing what kind
of bird he was, what he liked to do , etc since it is sometimes difficult to
get a bird to do anything in front of strangers... We sold him with all
three cages ( a day cage, a sleep cage and a travel cage) also a carrier for
the car, and a play post, a swing, etc etc... all his toys and bowls etc.
We needed to take our station wagon ( estate car) to deliver everything to
the new owner!

Well, he was not far from us so I kept in touch... I called at least once a
month to see how things were and how well he adjusted to his new home... I
felt REALLY guilty about selling him. ( We had bought him from a previous
owner when he was 15 months old and he was now over 6 years old).
Eventually, I could sense that all was not so well between Caro and his new
owner, so I asked to go visit him. When I saw him I realized that he was
not all that happy.. he had started plucking feathers on his chest ( an
unusual occurrence with B&G). I talked to the owner and tried to figure out
what was wrong with Caro.. I found out that he had bought Caro thinking that
he would be company for the original B&G that he had... when in fact he
ended up with TWO birds asking for attention! He now regretted his decision
and was thinking of selling BOTH birds... Anyway, I felt really guilty so I
bought Caro back , cages and all, for the same amount I had sold him to them
six months earlier.

It took me a couple of months to get him back in the shape he was in
originally and I kept him another 4-5 months until I found a REALLY good
family for him.. Again, I kept in touch until I satisfied myself that he
was truly loved and happy... Then I said a final good bye with a tear in my
eye.

That was the story of why we ended up having to sell our B&G. It is a sad
story .. parting is always sad.. but as I said it was funny in a way about
the seagulls, but you would have had to see/hear him to fully understand.
I have photos and a VHS tape of him showing how he was, all he liked to do..
and how well he related to people.. You wouldn't believe a bird could be
like him! ( I think he is a she but his name when we got him was Caro and
not Cara. ) I still watch the tape a few times a year and shed a tear or two
because I still miss him/her.... But I know he is happy and loved. And
Echo the CAG is certainly no problem to take on our boat...

Lorraine

> Lorraine if you don't mind sharing I don't mind reading. I can talk bird
> all day.
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Are you in Texas? We were in Texas last winter... saw millions of beautiful
birds on the gulf shore between Corpus Christi and Galveston, during spring
migration.
Lorraine
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

We didn't have any problem with Caro and wild birds until the seagull
actually stole his dinner from him.. We also 'talked' to the wild birds,
and 'waved' to them ( spreading of wings) etc. We had Caro for 5 years so
he had seen seagulls before that episode...

We just couldn't figure out any way out of this new development. We tried
all we could to get him to quiet down and accept seagulls again, but he
really kept a grudge! Ducks and geese and others he accepted easily as
'part of the great outdoor' ... but not the seagulls after they stole from
him~

But I am glad that you are working out your problem with your own birds.
Just make sure you don't feed your B*G where there are wild birds who could
steal his dinner ! LOL!

Lorraine

you wrote:
"The first time cracker saw seagulls he yelled. So after that I knew I
had to get him to act like it was a game. The thing with the vulture is if
he see's through the window or if he saw them while making a trip. So I
just started telling him to say hello..."
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

I have a CAG, Elmo. I asked my mom to come over yesterday and try to pet
him for me. He looks like he wants to be petted but then he grabs your
finger with his beak and does a finger munching bobbing up and down dance.
My mom wrestled her finger away and he had broken the skin. No blood
though. She said okay, now you try. NO WAY! He bit her and she wants me
to do it? Oh man, I feel so so so bad for him, He must have been handled in
his other home but when I reach into my Too's cage, I don't get bitten
automatically. It's hard to adjust to the idea that you're going to be
nipped or bitten if you try to pet him. He lets me pet him with bread
though... he won't eat it, if I offer it he bends his head to be scratched.
I am so open to suggestions on how to handle him. He seems happy and
healthy, he was plucked and silent when he arrived and now he's fully
feathered and a real clown and chatterbox... anyway that is my experience
with my CAG. I didn't have any particular expectations, I only wanted to
love him, and that part has worked out well.

Shannon

"Cindy" <ozarkc.DeleteThis@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
news:vij103dhl5b2ae@corp.supernews.com...
>
> We have had exotic birds for years, everything but a Congo Grey. I
have
> read articles saying what a great bird they are, also the raves from this
> newsgroup. So I thought they must be the perfect bird to have:-).
> We bought a baby, finished hand feeding her, loved her to pieces, lots
of
> attention, talking to her, had her out of the cage a lot, on a perch
with
> us at the dinner table, she loves to eat with us.
> The older she has gotten (she is now 3), the less attention she wants.
> She will not hesitate to bite my husband, will tolerate a little head rub,
> and comes out the cage when SHE feels like it, not when you want her to,
> even with saying Step. She talks only in a gruff voice (male).
> I am so disappointed in her. I had hoped for a sweet, lovable bird that
I
> could kiss, hold and pet. The older she gets the less she seems to want
to
> be bothered with people. She has a good variety of food, plenty of
> attention, lots of toys.
> My question is...... are your Congo Grey's what you expected? I guess
I
> shouldn't compare, but after having a cockatoo, this Grey does not even
come
> close in affection.
>
> The most beautiful discovery of true friends is that they can grow
> separately without growing apart
> -Katherine Mansfield
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Hello Shannon,

I think that so far you are doing not too bad at all~ Your CAG was plucked
and now he is feathered... He was silent and now chatters happily away!
Continue to provide him with a happy relaxed home, a calm attitude, a good
diet and a nourishing environment... you should see good results.

Petting will come in due time. I think he is already trying. His taking
your finger in his beak and bobbing up and down is a good sign. He probably
thinks your hand is his friend and he wants to hold on to you. I bet that
if you were trusting enough to let him take your finger in his beak without
pulling away that he wouldn't bite.. .But I agree that it is difficult to
do, so I don't blame you for not wanting to. Just continue to pet him
through the cage bars with anything soft, until you feel comfortable using
your fingers.

My Grey is 7 years old and my husband will ONLY pet him through the cage
bars! On the plus side, Echo squashes himself against the cage bars so that
Rick can reach and scritch all parts of him! That is their understanding.
It works fine for them. I can scritch Echo outside the cage, but when I try
it through the cage bars, he grabs my finger and feeds me.. He thinks my
hand is his mate/companion! Birds sometimes will do that to someone they
love. It appears that they do not take in the 'whole person' as a unit: to
them, the face is a person and the hand can be something else. I have even
heard of people whose bird likes one hand and is afraid of the other!

Let him take the initiative.. let him decide what he is ready for at his
own pace. I am willing to bet that It will turn out OK for you in the long
run.

Lorraine
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Shannon, I can only offer a couple of suggestions that will help in holding
your african grey. One is you have to be in command, and I don't mean you
smack the bird around or punish it in any way. You know that the AG is
going to bite, and s/he knows that you know this. So we first have to work
with this fear and how to pick up your bird.

If you stick your finger out at beak level, then the normal reaction is for
the bird to grab onto your finger and climb up. This allows your
anticipation level to rise as to say, is s/he going to bite me, and how
hard? If we pick it up at foot level and say "Step Up" and the bird reaches
down with the beak. Lower your hand and say No, then raise your hand back
up and say "Step up" again. Keep doing this until s/he doesn't require the
natural instinct to check how sturdy the limb is that s/he is climbing onto.
Its sort of a trust, that you are building.

Now that we have the bird perching on your finger, we have to train it not
to bite the thumb, ring, or anything else within reach, unless you are
holding a toy in the other hand, and this can be difficult. Once a bird
bites and it feels threatened, such as falling, it will lock down with its
beak to hold on, and it is important when training this technique that you
can hold onto your birds feet with your thumb. What I am suggesting is that
you watch your bird. You will know when it is going to bite, and when you
see this action. Gently drop your finger and say No. Holding onto the feet
is where this is handy, cause some birds will freak out and might fly away
or flap to the ground. You have to do this before it will bite. If it is
already biting then this won't help. If this doesn't work after a while,
then I would suggest that you put the bird back in the cage, wait about 5
minutes and try to pick s/he back up. If s/he bites again, put it back in
the cage and wait another 5 minutes. Keep doing this until she steps up
without biting.

These are techniques that I have developed with my birds and passed it down
to alot of people. Yellow indian ringnecks being the hardest to break, as
they seem to have a knack for biting and use it often, but it does work with
a lot of patience on the tougher birds. Patience being the key word, as I
tell everyone that asks me if my bird bites, "All birds bite. It all
depends if you think that they are going to bite you in the first place."
We all have that fear level, cause darn it, it hurts really bad.

Tony


"Shannon" <shannon.TakeThisOut@schwabalaw.com> wrote in message
news:_jvWa.52413$7O4.1185050@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> I have a CAG, Elmo. I asked my mom to come over yesterday and try to pet
> him for me. He looks like he wants to be petted but then he grabs your
> finger with his beak and does a finger munching bobbing up and down dance.
> My mom wrestled her finger away and he had broken the skin. No blood
> though. She said okay, now you try. NO WAY! He bit her and she wants me
> to do it? Oh man, I feel so so so bad for him, He must have been handled
in
> his other home but when I reach into my Too's cage, I don't get bitten
> automatically. It's hard to adjust to the idea that you're going to be
> nipped or bitten if you try to pet him. He lets me pet him with bread
> though... he won't eat it, if I offer it he bends his head to be
scratched.
> I am so open to suggestions on how to handle him. He seems happy and
> healthy, he was plucked and silent when he arrived and now he's fully
> feathered and a real clown and chatterbox... anyway that is my
experience
> with my CAG. I didn't have any particular expectations, I only wanted to
> love him, and that part has worked out well.
>
> Shannon
>
> "Cindy" <ozarkc.TakeThisOut@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
> news:vij103dhl5b2ae@corp.supernews.com...
> >
> > We have had exotic birds for years, everything but a Congo Grey. I
> have
> > read articles saying what a great bird they are, also the raves from
this
> > newsgroup. So I thought they must be the perfect bird to have:-).
> > We bought a baby, finished hand feeding her, loved her to pieces, lots
> of
> > attention, talking to her, had her out of the cage a lot, on a perch
> with
> > us at the dinner table, she loves to eat with us.
> > The older she has gotten (she is now 3), the less attention she
wants.
> > She will not hesitate to bite my husband, will tolerate a little head
rub,
> > and comes out the cage when SHE feels like it, not when you want her to,
> > even with saying Step. She talks only in a gruff voice (male).
> > I am so disappointed in her. I had hoped for a sweet, lovable bird
that
> I
> > could kiss, hold and pet. The older she gets the less she seems to
want
> to
> > be bothered with people. She has a good variety of food, plenty of
> > attention, lots of toys.
> > My question is...... are your Congo Grey's what you expected? I
guess
> I
> > shouldn't compare, but after having a cockatoo, this Grey does not even
> come
> > close in affection.
> >
> > The most beautiful discovery of true friends is that they can grow
> > separately without growing apart
> > -Katherine Mansfield
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

GREAT NEWS!

Mom came over and went through the biting thing again... and then she said
step up and he did! She was holding him but he was still trying to bite her
hand. I went over to tell him what a good bird he was for stepping up and
he stepped right onto my forearm! I was just waiting for the approaching
chomp, but he just sat on my arm and whistled! After three or four minutes
I put him back on his cage door and he was fluffing his feathers and bobbing
up and down. For the whole rest of the evening he was happy and talking.
It was fantastic. Unfortunately, we didn't know how to get him back INTO
his cage, so he was out all night. The floor has been quite decorated but
not as much as my Too would have done... anyway, long story, I know, but I'm
excited. LOL. This morning I walked right up to him and scratched his head
for a few seconds!!! I stopped when his head turned. I'm afraid he's going
to think I'm teasing him if every time I reach for him and he reaches that
beak out I pull away. If he would just lower his head we'd have a system.
:) But anyway, I just wanted to share that I've held and scratched him this
weekend!

Shannon
"Lorraine" <lorwade DeleteThis @hotmaill.com> wrote in message
news:cLBWa.497$67.20015@read1.cgocable.net...
> Hello Shannon,
>
> I think that so far you are doing not too bad at all~ Your CAG was plucked
> and now he is feathered... He was silent and now chatters happily away!
> Continue to provide him with a happy relaxed home, a calm attitude, a good
> diet and a nourishing environment... you should see good results.
>
> Petting will come in due time. I think he is already trying. His taking
> your finger in his beak and bobbing up and down is a good sign. He
probably
> thinks your hand is his friend and he wants to hold on to you. I bet that
> if you were trusting enough to let him take your finger in his beak
without
> pulling away that he wouldn't bite.. .But I agree that it is difficult to
> do, so I don't blame you for not wanting to. Just continue to pet him
> through the cage bars with anything soft, until you feel comfortable using
> your fingers.
>
> My Grey is 7 years old and my husband will ONLY pet him through the cage
> bars! On the plus side, Echo squashes himself against the cage bars so
that
> Rick can reach and scritch all parts of him! That is their understanding.
> It works fine for them. I can scritch Echo outside the cage, but when I
try
> it through the cage bars, he grabs my finger and feeds me.. He thinks my
> hand is his mate/companion! Birds sometimes will do that to someone they
> love. It appears that they do not take in the 'whole person' as a unit:
to
> them, the face is a person and the hand can be something else. I have
even
> heard of people whose bird likes one hand and is afraid of the other!
>
> Let him take the initiative.. let him decide what he is ready for at his
> own pace. I am willing to bet that It will turn out OK for you in the long
> run.
>
> Lorraine
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

My wife and I had a grey, hand-fed from egg-hood. After a couple of years,
it started being aggressive toward me for no apparent reason. We interacted
with him frequently, although my wife more than I. After several painful
bites, I basically stayed away. A couple of years later, he started being
aggressive toward my wife as well, even though she would interact with him
continually during the day - his cage was in her office, in constant visual
contact with her 8+ hours a day, plus "playtime" where he would come out,
walk around, play with toys, chase me around trying to nip at my toes, etc.
We eventually had to give him up, to a bird sanctuary.

Tony


"Cindy" <ozarkc.DeleteThis@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
news:vij103dhl5b2ae@corp.supernews.com...
>
> We have had exotic birds for years, everything but a Congo Grey. I
have
> read articles saying what a great bird they are, also the raves from this
> newsgroup. So I thought they must be the perfect bird to have:-).
> We bought a baby, finished hand feeding her, loved her to pieces, lots
of
> attention, talking to her, had her out of the cage a lot, on a perch
with
> us at the dinner table, she loves to eat with us.
> The older she has gotten (she is now 3), the less attention she wants.
> She will not hesitate to bite my husband, will tolerate a little head rub,
> and comes out the cage when SHE feels like it, not when you want her to,
> even with saying Step. She talks only in a gruff voice (male).
> I am so disappointed in her. I had hoped for a sweet, lovable bird that
I
> could kiss, hold and pet. The older she gets the less she seems to want
to
> be bothered with people. She has a good variety of food, plenty of
> attention, lots of toys.
> My question is...... are your Congo Grey's what you expected? I guess
I
> shouldn't compare, but after having a cockatoo, this Grey does not even
come
> close in affection.
>
> The most beautiful discovery of true friends is that they can grow
> separately without growing apart
> -Katherine Mansfield
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey? 

Thank you for your comments. That was my point in post. I do not think
it is possible to have a sweet, loving, Grey. It is just not in their
nature. I would not trade my 3 year female Grey for anything, and I love
her for being her, but she is not a bird to be trusted as far as biting
goes. My husband, who is the one who has tamed many, many birds does not
feel comfortable even touching her as she will let you rub her around the
eyes and then, turn right around and bite you.
I keep working with her and 'hoping' she will change, but I am sure that
it really not going to happen. We have no plans on selling her, but....if
the day ever came and we really could not keep her, I have no idea who would
want a bird that you have to be careful of possibly getting a painful bite.
"Tony" <nospamplease.RemoveThis@nospam.please> wrote in message
news:FAW%a.27895$vo2.6717@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
My wife and I had a grey, hand-fed from egg-hood. After a couple of years,
it started being aggressive toward me for no apparent reason. We interacted
with him frequently, although my wife more than I. After several painful
bites, I basically stayed away. A couple of years later, he started being
aggressive toward my wife as well, even though she would interact with him
continually during the day - his cage was in her office, in constant visual
contact with her 8+ hours a day, plus "playtime" where he would come out,
walk around, play with toys, chase me around trying to nip at my toes, etc.
We eventually had to give him up, to a bird sanctuary.

Tony


"Cindy" <ozarkc.RemoveThis@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
news:vij103dhl5b2ae@corp.supernews.com...
>
> We have had exotic birds for years, everything but a Congo Grey. I
have
> read articles saying what a great bird they are, also the raves from this
> newsgroup. So I thought they must be the perfect bird to have:-).
> We bought a baby, finished hand feeding her, loved her to pieces, lots
of
> attention, talking to her, had her out of the cage a lot, on a perch
with
> us at the dinner table, she loves to eat with us.
> The older she has gotten (she is now 3), the less attention she wants.
> She will not hesitate to bite my husband, will tolerate a little head rub,
> and comes out the cage when SHE feels like it, not when you want her to,
> even with saying Step. She talks only in a gruff voice (male).
> I am so disappointed in her. I had hoped for a sweet, lovable bird that
I
> could kiss, hold and pet. The older she gets the less she seems to want
to
> be bothered with people. She has a good variety of food, plenty of
> attention, lots of toys.
> My question is...... are your Congo Grey's what you expected? I guess
I
> shouldn't compare, but after having a cockatoo, this Grey does not even
come
> close in affection.
>
> The most beautiful discovery of true friends is that they can grow
> separately without growing apart
> -Katherine Mansfield
>
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 >> Stay informed about: How sweet is your Grey?