how alike our african greys are

[suejr69]

Just thought i would start this thread as lesley'ruby5' has an african grey like i do and we are comparing them to see what funny things they do that are the same.i thought it might help us understand our parrots.
At the moment lesleys charlie is doing similar things to nina so i dont have to worry its not right.
sue

[ruby 5]

Good idea to start a new thread sue, I forgot to say about carrots too in Charlies cake. I just chop all the veg in a processer add the oats, grated cheese, garlic powder, cod liver oil and bind it all together with eggs flatten it in a tray and bake. I usually make a big batch and then freeze it cut into squares, then feed it to him broken into small enough pieces for him to pick up. He eats it all, there's never any waste. His other dish with his dry food in is another matter! I was singing his praises earlier but he has been deliberately naughty today. He bangs his head down hard into his seed dish so that all the food flies everywhere including all over the floor which I'd just cleaned. As you know you're not supposed to make a big deal of anything they're doing wrong as they carry on doing it for attention. All the time he was doing this he was shouting "NO, NAUGHTY BOY!" I ended up shouting back at him and taking his dish away so he called me a T*** (fav. bad word) and blowing raspberrys which he does when hes not happy with something. So we're not speaking at the moment ;D As for biting furniture, we have a leather suite and he has made a couple of holes in the arm so I cover it now before he comes out. We have 3 dogs as well and he knows their names. We thought at first it was a coincidence but he gets it right every time. When one walks past the cage he'll say Hiya and their name and to our old Weimeraner who was a bit poorly last week he keeps asking "are you alright Alfie" Sometimes it's a bit scarey how intelligent they are ......sorry for the long thread, hope you're still awake ;D

[BudgiesBuddy]

Sounds like it would be a very interesting thread

[suejr69]

Believe me bb these greys make you laugh and are so intelligent. When i say to nina, ' no stop that your naughty' she will say 'no, dont stop it your a naughty girl'
Her other favourite sayings that i can remember are,
What you doing,oy come here, are you coming, daddy you got to do the washing up,toast,nina your noisey. I cant keep up with what she says.tonight before i gad to rush out she was in a very loving bonding mood.kissing me and preening me,rubbing her head around my face so i can preen her,then the regurgitating started with the wings dropped and the noise like a young toddler does when it wants something.
that recipe sounds good lesley i will have to try that with her.it is scarey how they remember so much.i thought the bigger the brain the more intelligence as they say but greys dont have a very big brain but are one of the most intelligent birds.lesley my settee is leather also and i have only had it this year and within a few days she put her beak through it in protest that she doesnt like it,my older leather settee she cant bite through.my poor plastic vinyl blinds well they have more holes in than a sieve ;D i need some aluminum ones now.shes chewed my border off my wall.


Sue

[BudgiesBuddy]

She sounds like a lot of fun Sue It makes me buy one but all we have here is wild, sick and small bird Greys.
How long since you ladies have had your Greys and how soon they learn to talk?

[ruby 5]

Charlie is 6 yrs old in December BB, he started talking almost immediately. They are excellent mimicers but you can also have a conversation with them. Charlie asks for toast as well sue he has a small piece each morning. When the budgies were feeding the chicks my first job in the morning was to feed them, Charlie must have felt neglected because he used to shout in a feeble voice "want a grape" and "kiss". We were watching TV the other night, quite late, and I thought Charlie was asleep but when someone said "Right, I'll get off then" he piped up "OK, I'll see ya later". He's got the most raucous laugh you've ever heard, and he knows when to use it!

[Deleted]

hi sue ..
hi lesley....

great thread but one thing missing ....
no parrots.... ...

we need to see them....
so come on ladies....
pics and videos please ... ;D.

[stace]

Your birds sound fantastic. Pics would be good

[suejr69]

I had nina when she was 14 weeks old and shes now 28 months old. The first thing she said was hello and then good girl,we had had her a week.from then on she picked up everything bb.they are a beautiful parrot to have but i would say its like looking after a young toddler that never grows up and cant be left alone for long.how come they are sick over yoyr country bb? I know we get some here that become sick but i was lucky our local petshop lady who i have known for years have greys and then i saw nina and fell in love with her,she was such a character.nina has a small piece of seeded brown toast in a morning and at night.they do feel left out very easily dont they. When i used to hand rear my baby budgies i used to put a little formula on my finger and she would lick it clean.
I will try and put some photos on but i find it difficult to put photos on here mick and stsce.
Sue

[BudgiesBuddy]

So she started to talk from 15 weeks of age. This means what I heard was wrong that African Greys cannot learn to talk until they are older.
There are no breeders of African Greys here so only source is wild ones from Africa or babies from breeders in other countries. In both cases, long travel and poor hygiene condition result in their sickness. I always see them fluffed up and on cage bottoms.

[ruby 5]

Charlie would have been about the same age as sues bird when he started to talk. He was 12 weeks when we got him, he'd been hand reared from 6 weeks. His first word was hello too. He picks more words up from just listening to conversations than if you keep repeating a word over and over, he likes to sit and give commands, he's always telling the dogs what to do, and as I've said before he always gets each dogs name right! Once my son was playing with one of the dogs and his ball bounced up and wedged between his cage and the wall. Charlie ducked and said "get your ball Benson" we couldn't believe he'd said it so did the same thing again and he said exactly the same!! He's never been taught this but must have heard us say it at some time. They have a vocabulary of around 2000 words.

[ruby 5]

Sue, is nina a congo or timnah?

[suejr69]

Nina is a congo l,she has a lovely bright red tail. I tried to put a photo of her on here but i couldnt do it.will try again.
I find nina listens to us a lot and when i talk to her you can see her watching my mouth move listening to what i am saying. Two words she picked up that i wish she hasnt is ' oh s*** ' i am afraid it is me thats the guilty one.
Bb some greys never do speak but they say ususally when they are twelve monthe old,but ours both spoke early.i think if they have a lot of interaction with humans from an early age they will talk. It is a shame you cant get a grey bb, they are like a member of the family that kerps you young as they never grow up mentally and always want to play.
Lesley do you ever find that if you are ill for some reason charlie knows. Even though she's not over keen on my daughter,if my daughter is ill nina will stare at her and is very well behaved with her.at the moment my husband is ill and when i let her out she will sit inches away from him and just stare at him not wanting to play or bite him just to sit next to him. I am sure nina can sense when someone is ill.
Sue

[ruby 5]

I'm sure nina can sense when someone is ill sue, Charlie doesn't though, but then he is a male He picked up his naughty word t*** after hearing it once when he bit my son and he said "Ouch, you t***" If he drops something or falls he'll say t*** and mucky b****r which I've mumbled when cleaning his cage. He knows these are bad words and only uses them when he is in a mood. He'll follow up with "that's rude" as well!! He too is a Congo, I'm glad it's not just me that has problems posting pics, I have to wait while my son can help.....

[suejr69]

I need to wait for my daughter to help load photos for me lesley,what are we like. Its suprising how they pick up words you dont want them to. There are some words nina wont say no matter how i keep repeating them. ' pest ' or ' fatty ' nina says most words when SHE wants to unfortunately.how many hours sleep does charlie have lesley? Nina goes to bed at 7.30 and we uncover her at 8.00 the next morning.
We have the christmas decorations to put up soon and i have introduce them slowly to her,i have to put the tree up in the hall as she doesnt like it in the same room.
Yeah its funny males in general find it hard to sense when us females are poorly ;-)
Do you have charlies wings clipped? I asked our vet to do it because i cant get her to stay still for me and i know she would have to be sedated. He wanted to charge me £75.00,i was so shocked. Nina is very good at flying in the living room so i am not going to clip them.we are extra careful with doors and windows.my back door has a mesh door on it like they do in the hotter countries for when we get hot weather.
Sue