Male vs. Female

[ZivaDiva]

Does anyone have a preference? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the baby I am adopting is male since egg binding really, really scares me. Not just in greys, but in all parrots.

 

Is there any behavior difference between them? My female cockatiel and lovebird become untouchable/psycho and I have to provide nesting boxes for both of them or they lay continuously. I'm wondering if greys are the same way?

[lino]

i have preferance for a male pet. i dont know why. it is since the i started to keep pet.

but actually, gender doesnt make a alot of difference in the pet quality. its really depend on the owner, especially in parrot keeping.

I have just adopted female grey now and i totally love her....

 

usually female will get a bit aggressive during breeding season or when stimulated to breed. but during he off season, we can train and bond with them. this will be very useful during breeding period.

 

like for example, the other threat i read here say: tick train amazon, so we can handle them during hormonal breeding season.

 

i think usually grey will have this hormonal issue after 5 year old. is it correct ? i am not too sure about this, but definately member here can help.

[judygram]

My understanding is that most female greys kept as pets will not lay eggs as they are one species of bird that usually requires the presence of a mate to be so inclined to do so but I have a female who is going on 5 years of age and I will be watching to see if she does ever lay an egg but likely she never will.

Dave007 will be able to tell us more about the possibility of our female pet greys laying eggs.

[lino]

For this I have a question

 

I have a fren who has kept her female grey for 30 years

She got it at 2yr old, so the grey is 32 yr old

 

17 yr ago, the grey have changed from a lovely pet become a bird that always hide in a dark corner of the cage. If hiding spot is not provided, she will start to pluck. She can pluck her cheat bare in 2hours and it's really scary.

The bird just want to spent her time all day long in the dark. She have been doing that for 17 yr.

 

She become super aggressive and will grown very loudly if you put your hand near the "nest"

She will lay eggs and incubate it for about 4 time a year.

 

Vet was invited to check on the bird and it is confirm that the bird have ginetic issue that cause hormone imbalance.

Is there any way the grey can live as per normal ever again?

[Mawnee]

My understanding is that most female greys kept as pets will not lay eggs as they are one species of bird that usually requires the presence of a mate to be so inclined to do so but I have a female who is going on 5 years of age and I will be watching to see if she does ever lay an egg but likely she never will.

Dave007 will be able to tell us more about the possibility of our female pet greys laying eggs.

 

Looking forward to some educated input on this one. I lost a cockatiel to egg binding

 

We dont know whether Cosmo is a boy or a girl. We just dont have the heart to have blood drawn to find out. We have taken to calling cosmo a boy though, since my wife couldnt follow the rule of calling him "good bird" not "good boy". So now that "he" says "Good boy!" we are just going with it until we find out otherwise

[Ray P]

Our female grey we have had from 14 weeks old(We bought her at 9 weeks and she came home at 14 weeks) and she is over 10 years old and we have never had a hormonal problem. Our amazon you know when she is in season but she is very good about it and just wants to be with me.

[thenabrd]

my conure athena, is really a boy. she was so cuddly and loving when i got her, i was sure she was a girl, wrong, lol!! we finally had dna done when she was 2 and plucked some feathers that spring. the vet thought it was time to find out, just in case we had a girl and needed to watch for egg binding. well by that time, she knew and said big girl, good girl, pretty girl, etc! so we decided that he would remain a she, we just shortened her name to thena from athena. we know she's a he, but she doesn't know and if she did, i doubt she'd care! now it makes for a funny story, since we love her regardless of she or he (although it gets confusing sometimes at the vet, hahaha)!!

 

when we rehomed kallie, i had the testing done right away. she is a girl and there will be no "confusion", lol!!

[Birdnut]

My female cockatiel and lovebird become untouchable/psycho and I have to provide nesting boxes for both of them or they lay continuously. I'm wondering if greys are the same way?

 

I don't have any input on what mature female greys are like. But I do know that cockatiels and lovebirds are both known for having this egg laying problem, so they may not be a good model for what a female of a different species might be like.

[ZivaDiva]

Thanks for the replies. I feel a tad more at ease. If the bird is a she, she won't have a mate but I do have a male CAG and they will both be in my bedroom. I hope that's not enough to get her going. Hopefully, the DNA sexing will be done in the next 2 weeks or so.

 

A woman I know who owns a bird store lost her CAG to egg binding and she said she'd never have a female again. That must be an unusual case.

 

I've had an Amazon and a B&G macaw who were very hormonal and now the lovebirds and cockatiels who are. I'd prefer to not deal with emergency surgeries because of being egg bound again if possible.