Hi,
I recently adopted a 17-year-old male African Grey. The bird had been owned by an older gentleman who got Alzheimers and I was told, the bird named Bo hadn't been much out of the cage, been fed seeds only, was pretty much a wild bird and no one dared go near his cage. Bo can't fly and we think t's because he's been for so long in a cage, he doesn't have the mussels maybe? Another gentleman decided to help rehome Bo and had him for 2 months and this is where I finally got Bo from. By that time Bo was happily coming out of his cage, talking like a book, loving his fruits and vegetables and jumping on the guys shoulder.
Bo has now been with me for 2 months and other than his extreme territorial aggression I'll go into a minute, he is a sweetheart. He spends most of his time on a play gym in our living room hanging out with the family and even allows me to carefully and with eagle eyes to run my hand over his wings and give a gentle head scratch. He jumps on my arm or shoulder and asks to come on my arm when he sees me.
Where things go wrong is around his cage and the room where he gets to play. The 1st month was fine and he didn't nip me once. I got him a large, new cage with toys which he loves and he seemed to be ok with my other 4 parrots around (in separate cages) and didn't mind the dogs either. But after about a month I couldn't clean his cage with him in it anymore and had to move him. Then, when I put him back later to go to bed, he'll step in the cage only to then turn around and bite me really bad. When he plays outside the cage in his cardboard boxes, he started charging at me trying to bite my feet if I can within a meter of the floor area of his cage. We have aviary outside which I started putting him in as it was getting warmer and today he started attacking me as I put his food inside. So his territory is getting wider and that concerns me a bit.
When he does bite I give him the evil eye and say no and if possible, I have him step up on a perch and come into the living room or somewhere else for a while and then back. As I said, when I clean his cage, he is normally in the living room as well. The injuries from his bites started to get quite bad which is why I bought 2 pairs of leather gloves and wear them together double gloved to handle him. If he bites, I pick him gently up with both hands and hold him on my lap, talk to him and then put him back. That helped a little bit but I have to say that it's also making me nervous now when he is in the living room with me or somewhere else and jumps on my shoulder. Biting my hands is one thing, but not keen to have him bite my face.
It's only been 2 months and from my experience with other rehomed birds, it normally takes 1 year until they are fully settled and happy. I was hoping though that you guys may have further ideas on how to assist with the aggressive behaviour. The entire family is able to feed him treats by hand in the living room and possibly even when he is in the cage. He seems very happy around us and comfortable, trusting, no sign of stress or anxiety. He's become very dangerous playing outside of his cage though. The other day he walked up behind my partner's 6-year-old niece and bit her really bad in the ankle and left a deep gash in her leg. He's been trying to grab the dogs walking past his cage which he didn't do at the beginning.
Any ideas? Thank you in advance
I recently adopted a 17-year-old male African Grey. The bird had been owned by an older gentleman who got Alzheimers and I was told, the bird named Bo hadn't been much out of the cage, been fed seeds only, was pretty much a wild bird and no one dared go near his cage. Bo can't fly and we think t's because he's been for so long in a cage, he doesn't have the mussels maybe? Another gentleman decided to help rehome Bo and had him for 2 months and this is where I finally got Bo from. By that time Bo was happily coming out of his cage, talking like a book, loving his fruits and vegetables and jumping on the guys shoulder.
Bo has now been with me for 2 months and other than his extreme territorial aggression I'll go into a minute, he is a sweetheart. He spends most of his time on a play gym in our living room hanging out with the family and even allows me to carefully and with eagle eyes to run my hand over his wings and give a gentle head scratch. He jumps on my arm or shoulder and asks to come on my arm when he sees me.
Where things go wrong is around his cage and the room where he gets to play. The 1st month was fine and he didn't nip me once. I got him a large, new cage with toys which he loves and he seemed to be ok with my other 4 parrots around (in separate cages) and didn't mind the dogs either. But after about a month I couldn't clean his cage with him in it anymore and had to move him. Then, when I put him back later to go to bed, he'll step in the cage only to then turn around and bite me really bad. When he plays outside the cage in his cardboard boxes, he started charging at me trying to bite my feet if I can within a meter of the floor area of his cage. We have aviary outside which I started putting him in as it was getting warmer and today he started attacking me as I put his food inside. So his territory is getting wider and that concerns me a bit.
When he does bite I give him the evil eye and say no and if possible, I have him step up on a perch and come into the living room or somewhere else for a while and then back. As I said, when I clean his cage, he is normally in the living room as well. The injuries from his bites started to get quite bad which is why I bought 2 pairs of leather gloves and wear them together double gloved to handle him. If he bites, I pick him gently up with both hands and hold him on my lap, talk to him and then put him back. That helped a little bit but I have to say that it's also making me nervous now when he is in the living room with me or somewhere else and jumps on my shoulder. Biting my hands is one thing, but not keen to have him bite my face.
It's only been 2 months and from my experience with other rehomed birds, it normally takes 1 year until they are fully settled and happy. I was hoping though that you guys may have further ideas on how to assist with the aggressive behaviour. The entire family is able to feed him treats by hand in the living room and possibly even when he is in the cage. He seems very happy around us and comfortable, trusting, no sign of stress or anxiety. He's become very dangerous playing outside of his cage though. The other day he walked up behind my partner's 6-year-old niece and bit her really bad in the ankle and left a deep gash in her leg. He's been trying to grab the dogs walking past his cage which he didn't do at the beginning.
Any ideas? Thank you in advance