Ollie the Grey

by Courtney
(England, UK)

Congo African Grey in the UK

My family purchased our Congo African Grey parrot (Ollie) in August 2007, we were fully prepared (or so we thought) for our new arrival, but I don't think that anything can really prepare you for the impact a parrot can have on your entire life.

He settled in immediately, and loved his new cage which we designed before he arrived, and with a few small changes and learning as we went along, we were able to make him even more settled.

At the beginning he spent equal time with everyone, but has since become a one person bird, as he spends 90% of his time with me, although recently he has started to spend more time with other members of the household, watching them shave whilst perched on their shoulder etc.

He makes sure every single person in the house is awake by 8 o'clock (He refuses to stop calling out until he sees everyone) with his morning whistles and chirps, and has made our lives so much happier with his constant energy.

He is still shy around visitors to the house, even nippy if they try to go near him, but I am trying to train him to trust others, and it seems to be working slowly.

He loves shoulder-time and often cuddles into my neck for beak kisses and neck scratches. He often falls asleep on my hand or shoulder after a tiring day. He is very gentle but of course sometimes nippy, that is to be expected, and it takes a lot of time and patience on everybody's part to get used to his changing mood, which is rare but does happen.

He has a foot fetish and enjoys chasing after people's feet...he loves leather and t-shirts along with all his toys, although some make him screech when he appears to be getting annoyed at them and kicking them around. He loves to sing and hear others sing (no matter how badly).

He has started to talk with the odd hello, and is gradually becoming clearer. He is very noisy sometimes but always seems very happy and content.

His diet is varied, he seems to enjoy most food: seeds, nuts, fruit, vegetables, and the very occasional herbal tea without caffeine. I don't feed him meat or eggs and avoid all the foods to be avoided by parrots e.g. avocados, chocolate etc.

I've bought all the manuals and read through masses of internet articles but there's nothing like learning from him and his interactions with our world. There's no doubt that he is part of the family now, and I can't imagine life before or after him, he makes everyday a pleasure by just being himself, even when he is being temperamental.