Questions from a noobie!

[MzMoxie]

Okay, I have just a few questions to help me out in my quest to share my home with an AG. I've done a lot of reading on both TAGs and CAGs, but I love to hear from people and not just books, magazines, and websites.

 

First off, how do you feel TAGs differ from CAGs, to anyone who has/does owned/own both. Do you have a preference? If so, why? If you haven't owned both, tell me why your TAG or CAG is so special to you.

 

Second, Do you feel that the gender can define the attitude of the bird? Are males more aggressive, are girls more nervous, ect. Or do you feel gender doesn't have too big of a role in their identity?

 

Third, tell me one of your fondest feathered memories, or one of your most challenging times, I love to hear stories and I will gladly listen to whatever you wanna tell me. =)

 

And lastly, I am looking for a reputable breeder around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I'm willing to consider surrounding states but I'd like to stay under a five hour drive unless there is someone within 8 hours that is absolutely superb.

 

Anyway, thank you to anyone who reads this or responds, I could listen to people talk about parrots all day I think. Especially personal stories. I think parrots do the most fascinating things.

[rawleyd]

Hi and welcome.

 

I'm still very new here (had my new CAG for 1 month now).

 

Here is where I bought my little girl

parrotville.com

 

They are located in Brunswick, OH. It was an 8 hour drive for me from Virginia. Very, very worth it.

If I were to buy another parrot in the future, I would consider them again. Pat has many kinds of parrots and the shop is great.. birds get daily baths and handling, are weaned excellently on a variety of foods, lots of out-of-cage time during the day in the play area.

 

Good luck in finding your Grey. Mine has been an angel in the last month. =)

 

edit: I would like to add that it tooke me 2 months of talking to different breeders around my state to come to the decision on choosing parrotville. I'lm so glad I picked them.

Edited July 7, 2010 by rawleyd

[Georgiesmum]

If been told a few times that Male greys prefer women and vice versa. I dont know if this is actually the way it is though. I think It might be more so with the female electus that they dont take to women very well. Im sure someone with more knowledge will help you out here

[Talon]

welcome to our family! I would highly recommend buying your grey from Bird of Paradise in New Jersey! All their birds are vet checked, hand raised and handled daily. They come fronm the best of breeders and they are very careful as to who they allow to buy their birds. Great care is given to their birds and they are the best!

 

I have 2 greys, a TAg and a CAG. Both are females. I have found and heard from others as well, that a TAG is less timid and nervous. Although my cag is always willing to venture to a guest after she chooses to, my tag won't. But my tag isn't scared of anything. My tag isn't as loud as my cag, but talks and is much smarter in learning words. Alot is just personality in a bird, not necessarily a difference in breed, but my cag is a nervous bird by nature, my tag isn't.

 

Both are females.

 

Sorry for the quick answer, have to go off to work. Hope some of that helps.

[Luvparrots]

Hi MzMoxie, my companion in a TAG and I totally adore her. She is fearless and very loving. My favorite thing she does is come when I call her. I can always hear Ana Grey's wings fluttering (my favorite sound) as she flies to me and she lands on my chest. I ask for a kiss and she waddles up to my cheek and lightly touches my cheek with her beak. It definitely gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Then she bends her head for her tickle and a pecan. If the pecan isn't forthcoming she will ask for it. "Want a nut". Ana Grey is a small TAG only weighing in at 290 grams or so. There are oodles of threads here at the forum with lots of amusing and heartwarming stories so read, read, read. Welcome to the Grey family!!!!

[Jingles]

hi, i have a tag and love him! He gets along great with both my husband and I but is a bit scared of our 4 year old. He doesn't really go to strangers and will growl at them. He doesn't mind our rottweiler, but that dog is afraid of everything....so our dog doesn't really go near the bird(s) - i have a umbrella TOO as well. He takes a bit to warm up to most things, although, sometimes, he sees something he really wants and then there is no warming up period.

 

He's great. He talks, but not all the time...and mostly when the tv is on or you're not looking...closet talker...lol...

[jessdecutie18]

Hello, let me see if I can answer some of those questions!

 

The reason my husband and I chose a TAG over a CAG was this: My husband had never handled a bird before, unlike me, and was nervous about getting a big bird. He said he would rather go with the smaller TAG. I want one of both someday, but am still working on convincing my husband I've heard a lot of things male v.s. female, and in the end I think that it doesn't work that way. Individual behavior is a much bigger factor. Yoshi was still hand feeding when we found her. It was her or her brother. Her brother didn't want much to do with us but Yoshi darted for my shoulder as soon as I was close enough. I fell in love with her and it wasn't long before my husband did too. I still was leaning towards the bigger and in my opinion 'bolder' and more outgoing CAG when we found Yoshi, but changed my mind quickly. I'd say go interact with them yourself, see which strikes you as the best.

 

Yoshi is extremely special to me. She has such a little personality! She is starting to become more independent now (almost a year and a half old) yet almost every night she still gets all cuddly and wants scratches. She has adapted perfectly to our lifestyle, and really has her place in our family. She is friendly towards both me and my husband, but much more tolerant of me than him. I can file her toe nails and check under her wings and take her places, never worrying about actually getting bitten, where as my husband receives much more bites than I do, sometimes apparently for no reason, lol. Yoshi will make a funny noise, grip my fingers and push them away, and move away herself, but never does more than a grip on my finger, which I totally ignore. I'm much more of a calm person, and do not react to her nips, so I believe she learnt early on that I'm not going to freak out if she bites me. But while Yoshi seems to be more attached to me, demanding that when I get home from work she is stuck to me like glue, at night when Yoshi is wanting cuddles and scratches 9 outta 10 times she goes straight to Mike. She loves for him to sit there and scratch her forever, and moves under his hand for scratches. If he stops, she will try to find his hands demanding that she gets more loving. Mike says she is just using him

 

I could talk about her all day I finished hand feeding her, which was a nice new experience for me. She loves showers and is most talkative in the shower and with music on in the computer room with us in there. She is socialized but refuses to talk around others. She will play and listen and eat but in totally silent. My family wouldn't believe the noise she makes sometimes if I didn't have YouTube videos to prove it

 

I've had other birds, but Yoshi is definatly at the top of the scale for fun and smarts. She has learnt how to open her food bowl doors from the outside by putting her weight on the latches and lately will work at the latches and climb in the little food bowl entry to get inside her cage instead of going in her wide-open two front doors, lol. She has a double-macaw cage, big fun for her, and she loves it. She has so many toys and stuff to do in there She likes a challenge, and anything with nuts or animal crackers and such stuffed inside distracts her forever

 

I'll shut up now, lol.

[judygram]

I have a female Cag who is 4 years old, she prefers me over my hubby but that could be because I am the one who tends to her, he only asks for and gets kisses from her, she is not well socialized so she mainly goes to just me and she is very nervous prefering to stay in the area where her cage is but each grey is an individual whether they are a Tag or Cag and it is just the luck of the draw as to which personality you end up with in each species.

[Lambert58]

What you're going to find, I think, is that every bird is an individual. We have a female CAG who's super shy and she loves me to death, and a male TIMGO (TAG/CAG cross) that also loves me to death but isn't as shy.

 

As an extra data point: we have 3 conures of the sun/jenday/gold cap variety. The male Jenday is a cowboy and leads the 3 of them, he's fearless, and he prefers me to my wife. The other male, a gold cap, follows the Jenday wherever he goes, but is a bit more tempermental, and again, prefers me to my wife. The sun, a female, is super shy and cuddly, and just loves the other two boys but when they go off flying about the house she's content to chill in her cage and eat. She also prefers me to my wife.

 

Our green cheeks hate me. Two males, and they are very demanding. They only step up for my wife, even though I've spent about 5x the amount of time she has with them.

 

The answer to your question is: it depends on the fid

[MzMoxie]

Thank you all for your answers, I really do appreciate reading them all! =) My friend who has worked with a bunch of parrots told me not to get a CAG because they are anti-social and also because they like to pluck themselves a lot, but I have a hard time believing every CAG is that way. I do hear more stories about TAGs being less timid, but I myself believe it depends on the bird, and what sort of time you put into them. I'm still undecided about what type to get, but I found a place rather close that has a bunch of CAGs and TAGs, so I can meet both birds in person.

 

I also hear he has a Hyacinth right from the amazon, just for breeding or something like that, and I heard it is big and beautiful and I would give anything to see a Hyacinth in person! What a beautiful bird!

[danmcq]

There are a ton of CAG's on this forum. Very few of those are pluckers or phobic. Those types of issues are normally related to abuse or health issues.

 

This breeder has a wild caught Hyacinth Macaw? He must have had it for a long time, due to bringing wild caught birds into the USA illegal several years ago. They are certainly beautiful, as they are rare and a protected species.

[judygram]

I also hear he has a Hyacinth right from the amazon, just for breeding or something like that, and I heard it is big and beautiful and I would give anything to see a Hyacinth in person! What a beautiful bird!

 

I have had the priviledge of seeing not one but two hyacinth macaws at the same time, we have a bird club member who had one of her own and she knew someone else who had one and they got together from time to time and she had both for periods of time, they are magnificent creatures and she always referred to them as the gentle giants.

 

Edited July 9, 2010 by judygram

[MzMoxie]

Yeah, I thought that plucking only happened when a bird was really miserable, like birdee-pression. I know a Cockatoo who plucks and was a rescue bird, and still hasn't gotten over his plucking. It's awful thinking about how miserable inside they must be to do that to themselves. =/ I never want to make an animal that sad. As for the Hyacinth, He didn't tell me when he got him so I don't know for sure.

[MzMoxie]

I have had the priviledge of seeing not one but two hyacinth macaws at the same time, we have a bird club member who had one of her own and she knew someone else who had one and they got together from time to time and she had both for periods of time, they are magnificent creatures and she always referred to them as the gentle giants.

 

That sounds absolutely breath taking! They are one of the most beautiful parrots out there for sure. They might not have all the different colors, but they don't need them to be gorgeous. I pretty much love any sort of macaw, but they are too big for me right now. Maybe in a few years or so. Harlequin Macaws are super pretty too, along with Catalinas. They're like if a rainbow was reincarnated into a bird.

[MzMoxie]

welcome to our family! I would highly recommend buying your grey from Bird of Paradise in New Jersey! All their birds are vet checked, hand raised and handled daily. They come fronm the best of breeders and they are very careful as to who they allow to buy their birds. Great care is given to their birds and they are the best!

 

Thank you so much for the thought, to drive there from where I live is about a three hour drive, but I'm very willing to make that for the bird of my dreams. I found a place about 30 minutes away, but I don't know if I will buy there. I am going tomorrow to meet the birds in person.

[MzMoxie]

 

Here is where I bought my little girl

parrotville.com

 

They are located in Brunswick, OH. It was an 8 hour drive for me from Virginia.

 

This is another good suggestion, It is a five and a half hour drive for me, but I have family semi-near the Ohio/PA border on the south side so I might be able to kill two birds with one stone. (That seems like a very threatening expression on this forum lol) Because I never get to see my family much. So I can hit up the family and then move on to the store.

[judygram]

Just a short video I took of those two hyacinth macaws.

 

 

http://vid162.photobucket.com/albums/t241/judygram/MVI_1721.mp4

Edited July 9, 2010 by judygram

[JJsHoney]

Judy why didnt you share this with us sooner??? i think your holding out on us LOL!!!

[MzMoxie]

Just a short video I took of those two hyacinth macaws.

 

 

http://vid162.photobucket.com/albums/t241/judygram/MVI_1721.mp4

 

This is so cute, I love how the one in the back is like so cute!!! Wow, they are sooo intimidating, with their size and the power of those huuuge beaks. But it is so worth it, look at them. How could anyone want to hurt them, or see them go extinct? I don't get it. I only want to see them in my living room, hahaha.

[Lambert58]

Our TAG (TIMGO) is a cowboy and nothing you could call shy, by any stretch. Willow, our CAG, is a bit shy, but lovable and I wouldn't trade her for the world. She's not as playful as Leo, and a lot less outgoing, and takes a bit more work, but she's an angel and I love her to death. Don't become a companion to a breed of grey based on what other people say. Find a good breeder, get a weaned fid, be a good parront, and regardless if it's a TAG or CAG you'll fall in love. Trust me.