Please Help

[Featherbird]

Hi There,

 

First of all, thanks to Grey Forums for having me!

My boyfriend and I live in a townhouse and have three little parrots. He has a yellow sided green cheecked- and a sun conure; and I have an Indian ringneck. Add to this mix my basset hound and dachshund and his min pin x, stir a few times and we have a wonderful family.

The thing is I have always wanted a big parrot, an Umbrella Cockatoo was high on the list. But I realized that maybe it is not such a wise choice, I do not want to put my boyfriend or other pets in harm's way. Now I have finally decided that I should rather get an African Grey. The question is would I be able to keep a Grey with the other birds (in a separate cage of course) and will it still learn to talk, do tricks and sing or would it just mimic the others (conures screaming)?

Also my boyfriend is a parrot magnet, if I want the Grey to like me best should I get a male or doesn't the gender of the parrot matter?

 

Thanks for your time.

Featherbird:confused:

[judygram]

Hello Featherbird and welcome to our family, so you want an african grey to add to your flock, great choice.

Many members here have more than just their grey, I also have a sun conure and a cockatiel, they each have their own cage but are placed beside each other, they do not get along but are company for each other when no one is home. If your grey is gonna talk it will no matter what other birds or pets you have, mind you a few greys choose not to ever talk but the odds are in your favor. My grey does mimic my conure's screams and the chirp that my tiel makes but that is par for the course.

Do your research to find out if a grey is a good fit for you for they are not exactly like other parrots, they have nutritional needs and require more attention than a lot of the birds do, they need to be kept busy or occupied for a bored bird tends to want to pluck and no one wants that.

It really doesn't matter about the gender, some think that males prefer female owners and vice versa but it is more of an individual bird preference for I have a female and mine is bonded to me, the bird will pick a favorite if he/she chooses and many will be equally fond of all members of the household so a lot depends on socialization.

[Featherbird]

Hi Judygram,

Thank you for your response!

I have the other 3 on 50% fruit and vegetable salad (this includes cooked rice and pasta sometimes) and 50% seed mix, the seed mix consists of half special budgie seed and half oats in the husk. I do NOT feed sunflower seed at all, I saw what sunflower seed did to an African Grey in a pet store once; fatty growths so bad the poor guy could barely breathe. I think that the seed mix might be too small for an AG, and decided on pellets. However I have had no luck with pellets with the IRN and the Conures.

What do you suggest?

Blessings,

Featherbird

Ps. Not important at all - what name would an African Grey find easy to say?