New Bird, Need advice

[Jaco]

Hello
I am new to this forum, but looks like you have a lot of information in here! I got a 5 years old ( at least i was told so, I still going to check) African Grey parrot. In fact, we rescued it from a family where he was living in a very very dirty and bad conditions. I could not even imagine someone let their pet live like that. So, I have some problems with him. There is a very little time passed, but he shows me his attitude. When I am trying to give him a nut, he is taking it and throwing it away as strong as he can. He bites and ignores all my tries to communicate. How can I help him to adopt? Thank you!

[pennyandrocky]

how long have you had him? he is going to need time to adjust to his new home. even if he hadn't been abused they still need a few days to observe you and your family before you go reaching for him. birds have a natural fear of hands. try letting him come out on his own for awhile only feed in the cage so he'll go back in on his own until you can build enough trust to handle and teach step up if he doesn't already know that. what i do when i get a new bird is sit by the cage and talk never reaching for the bird. when he's ready to come out pull a chair up to cage or move the cage to a comfortable place to sit. then lay your hand out palm up and let him explore your still hand maybe put a favorite treat in your hand to entice him. when he no longer hesitates coming to your hand you can try touching never try to sneak a touch it will break his trust and put you back to the beginning agian. it's going to take alot of time and patience but he's still young and you'll have alot of years to enjoy him if you do it right.

[Jaco]

how long have you had him? he is going to need time to adjust to his new home. even if he hadn't been abused they still need a few days to observe you and your family before you go reaching for him. birds have a natural fear of hands. try letting him come out on his own for awhile only feed in the cage so he'll go back in on his own until you can build enough trust to handle and teach step up if he doesn't already know that. what i do when i get a new bird is sit by the cage and talk never reaching for the bird. when he's ready to come out pull a chair up to cage or move the cage to a comfortable place to sit. then lay your hand out palm up and let him explore your still hand maybe put a favorite treat in your hand to entice him. when he no longer hesitates coming to your hand you can try touching never try to sneak a touch it will break his trust and put you back to the beginning agian. it's going to take alot of time and patience but he's still young and you'll have alot of years to enjoy him if you do it right.

Thank you very much!

[pennyandrocky]

you're very welcome, thanks for rescueing you won't regret it. let me know how it goes.

[GreenWing]

Give him some time, wiggle your tongue at him (a way of saying to a bird, "Hey, I like you, wanna be friends?"), coax and praise.

[friend2parrots]

its so wonderful that youve given this bird a second chance in life. he's very lucky to have you as his owner now.

pennyandrocky and greenwing have offered great advice above. in addition, theres a thread from last month sometime that might be helpful to you:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9671

the situation is different, but I think the principles discussed will be of assistance to you.

all the best with your new friend!

[Jaco]

Thank you all very much for your advice and attention! I hope my Larry will like me soon)))

[Letta4]

I recently just adopted a 16 year old Grey. I had some difficulties at first too. One resource I found to be really helpful was a book called The Secondhand Parrot. It focuses only on birds who have been re-homed and how they're emotionally different from a bird that is raised by one person. Although I am still not anywhere near as close to my grey as I would like to be, we have made really great progress! Patience is key!