Conference 7.286::pet_birds

    
    Hi Mark,
    
    		Welcome to the Wonderful World of Spoiled Greys. I haven't
    had that particular problem with my Grey, but similar things. Since I
    open the top of the cage for Jonsey when I am home, what I did was to
    lock him in his cage and then ignore whatever it was that I didn't want
    him to do, which as you know he did even more after being locked up. I
    also say "NO" to him in a stern voice when I punish him.
    
    	In my opinion, Greys are very strong willed birds. You have to show
    them that you are just as strong willed as they are to control them.
    Mine likes to chew on my bed when he wants me to share my food. I used
    this method to get him to stop and it worked reasonably weel. Sometimes
    he trys to test me, but putting back in his cage and locking the top
    and ignoring him seems to work well.
    
    						Good Luck!
    						   Mark

    My hand-fed grey has done similiar things.  Your bird needs more
    things to occupy his time.  When friends come over to my house
    they think my birds run the place (and they do).  My birds (especially 
    my parrots) have LOTS of toys in their cages.  We have several
    play pens also that they each spend several hours on per day.  
    You can get real creative with things for your birds to do when
    they are in their cages.  My birds (especially my grey and cockatoo)
    spend hours a day messing with their toys.  You would probably think
    there are too many toys and things, but it works.  My grey has never
    been a feather picker and I'm sure this has much to do with it.  He
    also has so much to do that when he goes to his food dish, its to
    eat, not to play.... This is the key.  
    
    You don't necessarily need hanging things.  I buy baby toys (safe
    kind).  My Greys favorite now is a very hard plastic rattle.  The
    inside of the rattle is a hard plastic ring, not beads or something.
    He can't chew threw it.  He LOVES to throw it all over his cage!
    I could almost sit there for hours and watch him enjoy himself.  
    
    Give your bird lots to do and a fairly large cage to do it in and
    this will probably help considerably.  Remember to think about safety
    first though when adding toys...  
    
    Karen

    Thanks Mark.  This is driving me crazy.  She doesn't seem to care if she 
    is covered or not.  She just poke her head from under the cover and say
    NO!
    
    Re: Toys.  She has quite a few and she is in a cage that is probably
    too big.  I know that a cage can't be too big but she really is in a
    cage that is giant.  I'll get a couple more toys and see if it makes
    any difference.
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Mark
    

    I don't think that it is the toys - but rather a spoiled trait.  I have
    a yellow-nape that started the same thing about 8 months ago.  I
    always gave him a small bowl of seeds every 2-3 days along with his
    monkey biscuits and veggies/fruit.  Sort of a treat.  Then it started!
    the foot would scoop up a clutch full of the seeds and he would nibble
    on a few and let the rest dribble through his feet.   Oh yes he would
    just so happen to hang the foot through the bars a bit so they would
    splatter all over the floor.  Well after several weeks of this, we
    decided to reduce his seed treats.  Now he gets even less and only
    once every couple of weeks or so.  He now relishes his seeds and
    eats every last one!  But I know if I started giving him the seeds
    on a more regular basis, the problem would probably start up again.
    They are spoiled brats!
    
    Best of luck!
    Denise B.

    
    	How about a large piece of lexan to cover the area around
    	the dish so your grey  can't reach arond it to throw seed 
    	on the floor ?  Fastening it so that you can still get to 
    	the dish is the tough part, and I don't have any brilliant
    	ideas for that.
    
    					Roger