Help me with my grey

[Dim718]

how are you guys I've had my parrot for 8 years now he never really was friendly never sat on my hand or anything i got him when he was about 5 years old. he is loved by everyone in my family and we can't seem to get him tamed please help where do i start or what do i do, the most he lets me do is hand feed him or pet his head when his in his cage. when he comes out and sits on top of his cage he won't let me come close. i watched a video on youtube where i distracted him with a stick and he then with the other hand let me touch he back. who ever has exp with these birds please help me make him friendly as possible thanks in advance.

[Wolf]

We will be happy to try to help you with your Grey. You haven't given us much to go on, so please give us an account of your birds daily activities beginning with the time he gets up in the morning and ending with when he goes to bed. Please include such things as what he is given to eat and when he is given this food, what does he do all day long, is he clipped or not, you get the general idea. Parrots are complex creatures, very intelligent and we need to understand what is going on in his life in order to come up with the answers you are looking for.

[ParrotsForLife]

Your problem is kinda the same with my grey I have her 6 years since she was a baby only she does step up but it wasnt her the was the problem it was us she needed to have more time spent with her now shes getting close to everybody.

[Dim718]

We will be happy to try to help you with your Grey. You haven't given us much to go on, so please give us an account of your birds daily activities beginning with the time he gets up in the morning and ending with when he goes to bed. Please include such things as what he is given to eat and when he is given this food, what does he do all day long, is he clipped or not, you get the general idea. Parrots are complex creatures, very intelligent and we need to understand what is going on in his life in order to come up with the answers you are looking for.

as crazy as this may sound i was with my parrot all day today and trying to scratch him and everything and HE STEPPED UP on my hand for the first time in 8 years! he was making noises like a little chick "chirp chirp chirp" and he was shaking and spread his wings and started almost laying down on my hand but wouldn't let me walk away from the cage he was ok on my hand as long as we were one foot within the cage, he eats a mix of seeds , peanuts (none roasted) in a shell. he spends the day in the cage until we come home at around 8pm and we let him out until about 11. he spends his day on the balcony of my condo on the 5th floor and sees people and water all day. but after about an hour of him going on and off my hand in the end he bit me pretty hard. i didn't panic i let him go on the cage tried putting him on my hand again and he tried to bite me again. so the training session ended there for today haha.

[ParrotsForLife]

Does he eat veg,fruit or pellets or anything besides just seed? Tiko will try bite sometimes if u tell her to step up but she will always step up when shes on the floor.

[Dim718]

Does he eat veg,fruit or pellets or anything besides just seed? Tiko will try bite sometimes if u tell her to step up but she will always step up when shes on the floor.

ohh yes everything from veggies to all fruits , even cheese sometimes 1s in a blue. but I'm in shock how today was the first time he ever stepped up. he isn't as big as most grey his the different breed where he doesn't have bright red tail its a very dark red and smaller in size then most

[ParrotsForLife]

Does he eat veg,fruit or pellets or anything besides just seed? Tiko will try bite sometimes if u tell her to step up but she will always step up when shes on the floor.

ohh yes everything from veggies to all fruits , even cheese sometimes 1s in a blue. but I'm in shock how today was the first time he ever stepped up. he isn't as big as most grey his the different breed where he doesn't have bright red tail its a very dark red and smaller in size then most

Theres only two types of African greys Congo with Red Tail and Timneh with Grey tail and orange on beak.EDIT: sorry yes timneh greys have dark red tails and orange on the beak.I have a congo african grey.

[Wolf]

If your Grey is darker, smaller and has a dark maroon or burgundy tail then you have a Timneh African Grey. Post some pictures and we can tell you for sure.

[Pajarita]

Yep, sounds like a Timneh to me. Now, as to your parrot's diet and light schedule... you need to improve both and fast because this has been going on for far too long. Parrots need to be kept at a solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk (meaning no artificial lights on until the sun is actually rising or after the sun is halfway down to the horizon). This is because their internal clock (the one that tells their bodies when to produce sexual hormones, when to stop producing them, when to moult, etc) is set by twilight so, if you don't keep them at this schedule, you end up with a parrot that produces sexual hormones all year round which makes them VERY irritable (sexual frustration) and achy (and the longer this goes on, the more acute the chronic pain). You also need to improve his diet asap. Non-roasted peanuts are, pretty much, the worst thing you can feed them but they also cannot be free-fed seeds even when they eat raw produce on a daily basis because they are hard-wired to gorge on protein so they ALWAYS eat too much of it and too little of the produce.

You can also start by putting him on a daily routine and schedule so you always do the same thing at the same time. But this doesn't mean the same time by the clock but by the sun so you would feed produce one hour after dawn regardless of the time that this actually happens followed by interaction, then rest at noon, then interaction, etc. They need, at least, 4 hours of out of cage time and 2 hours of one-on-one. This is the very minimum, mind you.

Once you start giving him his high protein food only for dinner, it will be easy for you to use a nut or two (but, if I were you, I would not feed him anymore peanuts, try an almond, half a walnut, a pistachio) for training.

[Navre]

Paj would know better, but she sounds hormonal. I don't know when timneah sexually mature, but some of the greys at the rescue are acting broody. Paj says that it's that time of year for them.