Step up African Grey Parrot

[Wolf]

Thanks, Navre.

Blackcell, if you are interested in trick training you could begin with spin. You would hold the target stick behind the bird with the bird on a perch. It is easier to get a full 180 degree turn on a perch than on a flat surface and if the bird doesn't turn you can move the stick to the side further to get its attention and signal it to target on the stick and move the stick back to directly behind the bird.
I don't know how well trick training will progress with a grey as they have a tendency to refuse to do what they think of as senseless tricks, very quickly. But they seem to love puzzle tricks and toys. You may be able to target your bird to go to a puzzle toy and solve it. Just an idea.

[blackscell]

Thanks for the replies. I still have to find his favorite treat, he is a very picky eater so the only treat I give him is his food bowl where he can choose what he wants, however this is not as fast as a simple treat/seed.

My next question is he is barely in his cage, from morning till bed time he is out of his cage. So the UV lamp is kinda useless atm, is that a problem? At first he would only let my mom do certain things, but due to all the free time he's gotten and the hours spend with our family he is fine with everyone from petting to stepping up so that's great. Will also fly to anyone in the house.

But due to this I am afraid he will be very lonely if there are some days where not all family members will be home so he will have to be locked up in his cage. Should I limit his out of the cage time?

Another thing is he likes to sit on our shoulder, he will step up whenever he needs to but once he is on the shoulder he will sit there for hours and not wanting to step up. Could this be a problem? He hasn't bitten anyone yet and the previous owner said she was the most diverse bird, meeting people everywhere going outside etc. and she had never bitten anyone during that time.

But now when a stranger wants him to step up he will make a small bawk noise and move away from the hand.

And I've also noticed if I put him back in his cage he gets kinda wild.. Any idea what this could be or is this normal behavior?

[Wolf]

The biggest think with this is that if this bird gets accustomed to being out of the cage all of the time and with getting a lot of attention then it will expect this all of the time and will be very unhappy with spending any time alone and or in its cage. Greys always require a lot of attention but they also need to be encouraged to spend some time in and on its cage playing independently or the bird could start plucking when it needs to be in its cage or can't be with and on someone. they are creatures of habit and do not handle change well at all. Slowly adjust the time that he spends out and in independent play to what level it will be easy to maintain everyday for the rest of its long life.

I try to make sure that my Grey spends at least two hours in its cage each day as that is the minimum amount of time that it takes me to go to the doctors office or to go to town to grocery shop. I also have he play on top of her cage for a couple of hours and then she gets the remaining time to spend with and on me. She ia able to deal with it if it takes me longer to do my errands or while I am working outside without plucking, but I can always tell if I am taking too long away from her as she will start to pluck just a little and I make an adjustment to spend more time with her, Twice since I have had her she had to remain caged for 24 hours because I went to pick up a bird and it took that long and she plucked the feathers out in an area about the size of a quarter. They are very sensitive birds.