by Wolf » Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:27 pm
That really explains a lot about her life up to now as well as why she is fearful of hands. Most breeders are not much on socializing their birds as they are mostly interested in making the produce as many viable eggs as possible. They arrange the lighting and feed them high protein diets to help keep them in their breeding cycle as much as possible and then they have to leave them alone so that they will sit on the eggs and help raise the young until they are removed by the breeder. This is a very stressful life for these birds emotionally as well as physically. I am glad that this part of her life is over as it really uses them up.
Are you able to open the windows? The reason that I ask is that they need the uv light that we do not and the glass filters this out, so if you have screens on the windows and can open them up so that she can get the uv light it would help her a lot. If not then you may want to get a full spectrum light for her, the correct bulb for it is one with a CRI of 94+ and a K Temp range of 5000 to 5500. She should also be exposed to the twilight periods of both dawn and dusk to help reset her internal clock to be in tune with the seasons.
Diet issues can be quite interesting especially when dealing with a Grey as they tend to be harder to get onto a good diet than other species of parrots. You may have to get creative as well as persistent when trying to improve their diet. Take carrots for instance your Grey may have never had them before so you are going to have to show her that they are food and that they are good as well and you can only do this by eating them in front of her until she gets curious enough to want to try them. When she does try them she may very well spit them out. This only means that at this time there is something about them that she doesn't care for. You may have been eating the carrot raw and given her a small chunk so she may not like them chopped but she may eat them cut into spears or julienned, or grated or she may prefer them cooked in one of these forms or even in large pieces that she can hold and bite off pieces. And then again she may not eat them in any of these ways right at first so you may have to try all of these ways many times over before she will eat them. It will be this way with many foods that she needs to have in her diet.
May I ask what part of Arizona you live in? I have spent a few years in Arizona myself primarily around Tucson, Prescott and Bisbee with a small amount of time in Flagstaff and Sedona. I tried to live in Phoenix but really didn't like it there so I didn't stay there much.