Set up a perch the bird already trusts
African greys are cautious about novel objects, so the scale succeeds or fails on familiarity. Use a digital gram scale — grams give you the resolution that matters for a bird of this size — with a T-perch fixed firmly on top so it cannot rock. Park the whole setup beside the cage for a few days first, let the grey inspect it, beak it and receive treats on it while it is switched off, and only start recording once stepping onto that perch is a boring, rewarded habit rather than a test of nerve.
Pick one slot in the week and defend it
Comparability is the entire point of the routine, so weigh on the same weekday, at the same hour, in the same state. Morning before breakfast is the cleanest slot: the crop is empty, the bird has not yet filled up on water-rich foods, and yesterday's treats are not sitting in the reading. A grey weighed after a large evening meal one week and before breakfast the next can appear to swing by an amount that means nothing. Tape the chosen slot to the cage if you must; a perfect scale used at random times produces numbers you cannot interpret.
The weighing itself, step by step
Bring the bird to the perch with the usual cue and the usual reward, and let it settle with both feet fully on the perch and its tail clear of the table. Read the scale only once the display stops drifting, note the grams immediately, and repeat once if the bird shifted mid-reading. Keep the session under a minute and end on the treat, not on a second unwanted handling task like nail work. If the bird steps off mid-reading, simply reset and try once more; a third restless attempt means the session is over for today, because forcing a grey to stay teaches it that the perch predicts a battle, and next week's cooperation is worth more than this week's number. Weighing that stays quick and predictable is weighing a grey will cooperate with for years.
Read the trend, never the single number
One low or high reading is information about that morning — a big drink, a recent dropping, a restless stance — not about the bird's health. What you are watching for is direction across two or three consecutive weeks: a steady slide downward, especially alongside reduced appetite, quieter behaviour or changed droppings, deserves an avian vet call even if the bird still looks outwardly well, because greys hide illness and weight often moves before behaviour does. A steady line, week after week, is the reassuring result this routine exists to produce.
Keep the record where a vet can use it
A weight history scribbled across calendars and phone notes cannot be read as a trend when you need it. Log each week's grams in date order in one place, alongside vet visits and any moult or diet change that might explain a wobble. Held inside your grey's KinsLe Pet Passport, that running weight record travels with the rest of the bird's health paperwork to appointments, boarding and any handover, so whoever needs the trend can see the whole line at once.