I have some questions before buying a grey.

[Buckyboy]

I am looking into buying a Grey for me and my family and before I do, I need to know some things. I hope you guys can help.

 

1. About how much time do i need to devote to my bird so its friendly?

 

2. Whats a good age to buy them at?

 

3. How much exercise do they need? (and best ways to go about it)

 

4. I heard they can be potty trained, But how do i do it?

 

5. I have 2 dogs so I have a room just for the parrot, So if I was gone, would it be fine for me to let if out of his cage (and will we chew stuff up?

 

I know its a lot of stuff to answer but I do want to know this before buying.

 

Thanks!

[judygram]

I am glad to hear you are doing some research before you plunge into grey ownership, many don't and that's why so many end up in rescues and rehomes.

Your bird needs to spend at least 4 to 5 hours a day outside the cage, they like to be with the rest of the flock, meaning the family and want to be a part of what is going on in the household. They should interact with every member of the flock as they tend to pick favorites but even if they do they can still have a good relationship with all members.

If you are going the baby grey route then he/she should be weaned, only people who have experience and know what they are doing should handfeed a baby bird so its best left to those who do it routinely. Of course you can go the route of taking in one that has been relinquished for whatever reason and needs a new home, we have members here who have taken in older greys and they can make excellent companions.

They usually get the exercise they need from playing with their toys and flying, I would hope you would want your grey to remain flighted as that is the way nature intended but some people cannot deal with a flighted bird due to children or people not being careful enough to ensure there is no escaping.

Some people have had much success in potty training a grey but it somewhat depends on the individual personality of the bird, some just do not like defacating in their cage and some can be trained to use a certain area or container but most of us deal with it for to live with birds you must learn to accept a little crap now and then.

Since you have dogs you will have to be careful of the time your grey is out of his/her cage and it is best to have the cage where the family spends the most time when home, they want to be a part of the family and would not like being in a room by themselves.

[VStar Mama]

I am also bird-less and have been in the information gathering stage for many years now.

 

Go to your local library and start checking out any book related to African Grey parrots they have. Borrow books from bird friends. Or go out and purchase some.

Although not academic or scientific, I enjoy books about people's life experiences with their birds. I enjoy Joanna Burgers "The parrot who owns me" and

we recently got into Georgi Abbott's books about her African Grey Pickles. I read them out loud to my kids in the evenings and Pickles has created some family meme's (namely "want a snack"; "want anudder snack"; and "WANT FRESHWATER?!?!"). I have scoured the internet reading people stories and watching videos. I don't limit myself to Greys only because I think that to an extent, there are useful bits of information everywhere.

 

If you have access to a parrot rescue, volunteer if possible. Most rescues can always use the help and it gives you hands on experience.

 

And I fully intend to abuse the helpful natures of the experienced members of this site and pluck them of their hard won knowledge and experience

[murfchck]

Wonderfully put Judygram! Gotta accept a little crap now and then! lol.

As a home provider and servent to now 2 rehomed parrots and 4 rescues, i too am happy that you are asking these questions. Getting a parrot is a wonderful thing and so heart warming but it is also just like having a little child that will never reach the age of 18 and move out! They require so much more than a cage and food. They need lots of exercise for both their bodies and their minds, when they get bored, baseboards and walls and, well, just about anything they can reach will begin to get smaller, lol.

Of my six, only two are potty trained and that took alot of time and consistancy, knowing their body language and the tell tale signs which can only come about by spending much time with them. As far as how much time to devote to them, alot and for the rest of your life. These guys are social buggers and need to be with you. You will find that when you start on your search for a grey, there will be one that when you see and interact with him, you will know thats the one for you. They choose us, 2 of ours hate me, lol, they choose my hubby. Gabby has just started letting me touch her and shes been with us over a year. I really have no baby experience so i can not say if just picking one out would truely bond. Someone else would need to chime in on that part. I can say that even having older ones, we have to think about there future because they will still outlive us. I have one that is 21 and that is like a teenager to us, so knowing who can and will care for them is a must.

Money is also something people need to think about. You can go to a bird show and drop an easy couple hundered dollars on toys and within a month be toyless. Vet bills from check ups and nail trims and in our house, beak trims. And by vet, i mean avian vet which in most cities is atleast double the cost of a regular dog vet. Then we move into the food, good seed mixture and pellets and then the fresh food, red palm oil and nuts of all shapes and sizes. lol

Now, with all this being said, i would never trade one day of scraping up poop, dodging fly bys, replacing dishes and arranging my life to keep them happy for one day of being without any of them! The joy they bring and the love they give is something else!

I know i rambled but these are things to really think about for both you and your birds mental well being! Best of luck to you!

[Ray P]

Well said murfchck

[KevinD]

Make sure you don't buy a wild caught Grey, I did and found out later and feel badly in a way, and good in a way for rescuing him from that terrible place he was in. But as someone pointed out, if people quit buying wild caught greys and there is no market for them, then maybe they will stop the practice.

 

As long as there is a demand, someone is going to supply.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

VStar member LOL! LOVED your last line! Now stop sucking up my energy, when I knew nothing what I was doing, and get yourself a baby!!!! The only thing I knew about getting a grey when we adopted Sophie, at age two, was to put her in a carrier and bring her home. I didn't think what to do when she opened up the carrier, wagged her tail, and climbed on my shoulder. We were ALL screaming.... I'm sure she was thinking.... " this family is crazy!" The ride has been amazing for past decade.

My youngest off to college tomorrow. My youngest pup, age eight has seizures. She had several seizures yesterday, I called in sick. Zoey my dog, and Sophie are great friends. Sean was having fun, and pointed out, that if I was in a liferaft, and I could only choose two to save out of our family, I would pick Zoey and Sophie. I disagreed. Zoey weighs about eight pounds, Sophie only takes up airspace... I would save him too! LOL Nancy

[kitt4kaz]

1. About how much time do i need to devote to my bird so its friendly? Felix was hand raised and we got him at 10 weeks old (yes, way too young but that's another discussion) so he was very tame. Now at 15 months, he still has a very gentle, sweet disposition. We both work full time jobs and have 2 young children (3 and 10) so we live very busy lives. I wish we had more time to spend with Felix on a one on one basis. However, he fits into our family as is and things seem to be going well. He is out of his cage when we are home and goes around the house with us as we go about our daily activities, etc. He eats with us, watches TV with us, showers with us, etc.

 

2. Whats a good age to buy them at? We got Felix at 10 weeks. He was way too young to be weaned. Thank goodness I had done hours upon hours of research on babies and learned to hand feed him. Even though he was eating pellets he still needed formula feeds at least once a day.

 

3. How much exercise do they need? (and best ways to go about it). Felix has a large cage with many toys in it and a play stand. He spends 80 percent of his time on his play stand. I have a few ropes, chains, and many toys that he likes to swing from and play on. He is flighted and will fly around the house looking for us if he can't see us and knows we are home. If we are not home, he stays on his stand.

 

4. I heard they can be potty trained, But how do i do it? Felix isn't potty trained but he will not poop in his cage. As soon as we take him out of his cage we place him over the newspaper under his stand and he goes immediately. However, he will poop anywhere he sees fit as long as it's not in his cage.

 

5. I have 2 dogs so I have a room just for the parrot, So if I was gone, would it be fine for me to let if out of his cage (and will we chew stuff up? I also have two dogs. One is large and the other is small. My dogs are elderly and very low key. They sleep most of the day. We wouldn't even let Felix around them at first until we were sure they were Ok with a bird. When we realized the dogs could care less about Felix, we knew it was OK to let they dogs around him. Felix loves to jump on the big dog's back as he walks under his stand looking for dropped food. However, I know my dogs don't have very long to live as they are 15 and 10 now. We do want another dog when one/both die and I do shudder at the thought of bringing a strange dog around. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Felix due to my carelessness.

As far as him chewing on things while he is out of his cage, he generally stays on his play stand in our kitchen. If we are home, he will fly to the living room and we have to keep the lamps covered with towels because he has destroyed our lamp shades. He has a little basket on our bar that he likes to fly to and throw all of the toys out of and onto the floor. They quickly learn what's theirs and what's not. But they often want what they shouldn't have. If Felix does have something he knows he shouldn't, he will grab it and run to the opposite end of the bar hoping you don't see him. He is so funny.

 

Hope this helps and good luck on your journey!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Ten weeks is young. Sixteen weeks is better. BUT... Felix is doing great. You commit as much time as you can with him. He seems fine.Dogs aren't an issue.... but even if you go to work, safety is important! Dogs and birds should have no access to each other unless supervised.Adding a new dog to the mix, while you work full time is a definite red flag. Even little pups can kill when they just want to play Nancy