Adele at home

Last week I got very sick and stayed home the entire week. I think the birds were very happy and Manzi has been much better again. On Monday I was hit bad with being sick and stayed in bed all day. I didn't let them out nearly the entire day except an hour when I was on the couch laying down. The birds have been very well behaved. So Tuesday I was also in bed most of the day, but I left their cages open and they pretty much stayed on their cages.
I remember the first two years that I had Manzi, I was able to leave him out while I went to check the mail, get water, etc. Then Manzi learned that he could get into trouble while I was away and began to take advantage of it. For some reason, Manzi is back to staying nicely on his cage while I run out for quick errands. I'm not sure how long this will last, but it is nice. I was able to leave him out nearly the entire day on Tuesday and the rest of the week as I spent most of the time in bed. He did wander into my room twice the whole time wondering what was going on. Maui was not quite so well behaved. She will try over and over to get to what ever spot appears of nest quality. I put her back about five times before I finally lock her in her cage. After a while, I will let her out again and about 50% of the time she will try right away to go to the spot again.
A wonderful thing about African Greys are their inherent ability to be in tune with human emotions. I'm sure this is attributed to their strong "flock" sense and their dependency on each other for survival. Anyway, when I am sick, both birds (but especially Manzi since he is so strongly bonded with me) are more quiet, more affectionate and less demanding. It is really nice and makes me love them all the more.

Good news, the giant cage is coming tomorrow. I found volunteers to help me carry it upstairs and into my apartment (370 lbs) and more volunteers to help set it up. The bad news is that I have friends coming to town this weekend and next weekend I will be in a conference, so I won't have time to set it up for two weeks. At least I will appreciate it's weight and grandeur. I am excited to get it set up and stick the two critters inside. I'm sure it will help with their bonding (i.e. learning not to kill each other).