I have lived with my African Grey for 14 years and she talks a lot, is very inventive, and is easily bored. I have found that hanging an old phone book on a coat hangar in her “house” or on the outside of her “house” (cage) will keep her working at making “chads” daily. It can be a bit messy, but my bird loves “going to work” and gets noticeably irritable when she is not given a book to work on. I remove all coated paper and the yellow pages, leaving only the regular directory available. Pretty bird has worked on about 100 directories a year for about 10 years, with no side affects except that she is an extremely happy parrot who does not bite, scream, or have any offensive habits. (Friends save all old phone books for her).

Pretty Bird has many toys available to her both in and out of her house, but chooses the directory over other entertainment more than 1/2 of the time.

When tired, Birdie says “Birdi tired, Birdi has to go to sleep, Birdi worked hard today” If not covered, the communication gets louder until she finally says “Hey! Birdi worked hard, Birdi tired, is someone going to put this bird to sleep?”

Pretty Bird is on my shoulder as I write this and is paying attention to all of the characters being printed. Sitting on my shoulder and flying around the house are also some of her favorite past times.

Pretty Bird has never pulled her feathers or showed any signs of boredom since I have put the book in her house. (a friend told me about chicken farmers long ago, who put a catalog upright in the coop with chickens to keep them from pecking at any one chicken)This was my reason for trying the books in the first place.

Hope this helps some African Greys’ friend to make their pet less likely to pull feathers.