Loves me, is aggressive with my wife and children

[Branden Cohen]

We have two CAGs that are four and half months old. Prem is the female and is very open to the whole family and likes being petted, enjoys shoulder sitting. Jyoti, the male, same age and brother to Prem, is very affectionate with me but on some occasions, has lunged and bitten my wife and has been aggressive towards the children. We have had them 5 weeks and would appreciate some tips to help Jyoti bond with the whole family, as opposed to just me. Another note, I spend the most time with the birds and they seem to have bonded with me but we want the whole family to feel comfortable with the parrots and be able to interact without fear of being bitten. Second note, our birds are flighted, they have a larger cage (4w x 8w x 6h) and they get lots of time out of the cage in our living room and kitchen. Finally, Jyoti seems to be most aggressive when I am not home and my wife, Deva, tries to interact with them. When I am present the birds are both more open to the others but Jyoti can still be stand offish to the others.

 

We are very open to the support. Thank you

[Dave007]

As far as children, greys are known to not like children quickly. The greys have to be around kids for a longer time in order for them to like kids. The basic reason is because kids move around birds quickly and greys watch them intently. Not to disapoint you but there may be a chance that the birds won't ever really warm up to the kids. Greys are known for that. Now, you've only had those greys for only a little over a month. That is not a long time for greys to get used to all members of a family. All the family can do is share chores separately, feed treats separately, talk to them separately and be around them separately. Unfortunately, you've decided to keep both of them in the same cage which slows down the connections with families. Greys will warm up to people in different ways. They'll like certain members more so than other members of the family. Usually greys are kept in separate cages so that each bird's personality shows through and each bird can be treated differently according to their personality. No 2 greys are alike. Greys are also known to take to one person quickly and not so much with the rest of the family.That has to be worked on. Having greys for only 5 wks and letting them fly all over the place in different areas isn't really good when training them. The house and people are new to the birds and they're getting used to all things around them and after only 5 weeks that isn't gonna work. If you're the one that the birds like, you need to let other members get more involved with the birds but that doesn't necessarily mean touching them. And as far as keeping them in separate cages, just read around and you'll see that most grey owners understand the importance of separating them. Some people have learned that the hard way.

You'll need to understand that all the different species of birds have different traits but you'll need to concentrate on african grey species. I can name off different species of birds that are totally different than greys as far as as their peronality towards people goes..

. It's always wise to study the species completely. Even in the grey species, there'a another one called timneh african grey( cousin) that has different habits and attitudes thanthe congo african grey. Hope this helps. There's work to be done for the future.

 

PS--concerning the size of your cage, It's bordering on being a flight cage and they're used for birds that are completely trained or totally untrained such as with breeder greys.

I realize that you were only trying to do the rght thing but smaller cages are needed especially when the birds are flying all around the house. Pictures can be provided to show what a normal sized cage is.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Dave007