CAG Question

[Penguin]

Hello!

I am new to this forum and am in need of some advice about our CAG pair. First, here's some background:

 

Our male is 15 years old and was handfed and raised by us. We gave him lots of personal love and time with us. Plenty of time to flap his wings. He will let us pick him up and pet him, sometimes lowering his head, but you never know when he's going to turn feisty and try to nip. He seems to have chosen our eldest daughter and I as the "Chosen Ones". We get the whole regurgitate/dance/lowered wings show.

 

Our female is also 15 years old and handfed, but was not raised by us. We acquired her 2 months ago in hopes of breeding with our male CAG from a bird loving family a few cities away from us. She had been

laying eggs and sitting on them at the bottom of her cage and as to be expected, turned aggressive in defense of her eggs. The owners were sad to part with her, but they were concerned about their children getting bit after the CAG bit and pinched a nerve on one of the owner's hands. Since she's been with us, we have observed her as a gentle bird who will let all of us (including the children) pick her

up. She does seem to be timid about new things, but eventually becomes comfortable with them.

 

We introduced them to each other fairly quickly, putting their cages next to each other for awhile and letting them come out and hang out together at the tops of their cages for a few hours. We put them in the same cage when the female was dragging her vent up and down on the perch. The male has been doing the "dance" when alone in the cage. We have the cage in a room of it's own, along with a nest box attached.

We give them 12 hours of daylight and bring them out of their cage for human social interaction for 4 hours everyday. The female seems like she wants to be friendly with the male, occasionally trying to get

close to him. The male will occasionally come over to the female out of the blue and snap at her.

She has also been spending a lot of time in the nest box lately, sometimes on the bottom amongst the nesting wood blocks we put in there, and sometimes on the loft part of the nest. She does spend some time on the perch in the cage and eats/drinks well.

The female tries to come out of the nest to say hi to us and the male will immediately dash over and lurch and snap at her as though to keep her away.

 

My questions are: Is this normal behavior for a male? Do we need to be concerned for the safety of our female?

 

Thank you in advance for any insight anyone here and provide for us.

[Dave007]

It's not abnormal. You don't need to worry about the female in what you describe but there are other areas where you should be extremely worried.. It's not abnormal that he's snapping at her either. He may not wanna mate with her simply because he doesn't know how and there's no guarantee that he ever will because he's a pet. Both of these birds were raised as pets and should remain that way. She was laying eggs in her previous house with no male around? That's not good because if she's overproducing eggs, more than likely, any fertile or infertile eggs she may have in the future may very likely be thin skinned and will easily crack. There's also a chance that if that happens, it'll happen near her vent when the eggs are exiting. Every time a female lays eggs, she uses up much needed calcium which has to be replenished before laying another clutch. Females who are overproductive egg layers aren't used as breeders. Having a nestbox around is only stimulating the female to lay eggs, not necessarily mate.

Males will perform sexual movements/dances with other birds whether they're male or female.

My opinion is that these 2 birds shouldn't be used as breeders for a few reans..

1--Both had attachments to human owners and that type of bond shouldn't be interfered with.

2--The female is not a prime candidate to be a breeder because she produces eggs without a mate around.

3--The female needs to be taken to a vet to make sure her internal system isn't injured from the excessive egg laying.

4--Your male is showing signs of something that's been discussed over and over---the loss of a relationship and bond to the human owner by putting one pet bird in with another pet bird for breeding . Another bird is in there with him and he's starting to nip when you get too close. Those are the beginning signs. If this action gets worse( which it will) by keeping them together than you can say goodbye to your relationship with your bird.

 

 

Concerning the breeding of greys after the chicks are born, if they're born..

Do you know how to handfeed baby birds?

Do you know what to do if the female rejects the babies immediately after birth?

Do you have an incubator to take care of the eggs in case she decides not to sit on them from the beginning?

Do you know how to test eggs in order to check for fertility?

Do you have a brooder which is also needed?

You'll need about $2000 dollars to start off with concerning Vet visits, equipment, extra small sized cages etc etc.

Think about what you're taking on. It might be overwhelming and also bad for the birds personality wise.

[BMustee]

I agree with what Dave has posted. I do not breed greys myself so I won't add anything but Dave has been breeding greys for some time now and really knows what he is talking about.

[Penguin]

Dave -

I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to my question about CAG male aggression.

I should clarify a few things, our male CAG has always been on the wild and unpredictable side, even long before the female came into the picture. Prior to acquiring the female CAG, she laid only two clutches, one in July and one in August of this year. Since then, she hasn't had any other egg laying incidents.

Coming from a family who has been raising birds ever since I can remember, I understand what you are saying about the cost, time and effort it takes to care for and breed birds. I agree that there really is LOTS to consider before getting into bird breeding and it's not for someone who isn't ready to dedicate their life to the love of birds. At this time, we are not interested in breeding the CAGs for business. We just truly LOVE birds. We understand that these two may or may not ever hook up and that's okay with us. We are prepared for which ever way they go. We've bred and cared for many types of birds over the years: pheasants, doves, various species of quail, canaries, various species of finches, grasskeets, and cockatoos as well. I've just never encountered the sort of aggression that our male CAG shows our female and that's why I posted my message to see if it was normal or not for that particular species of birds.

I appreciate your concern and that you have put those questions out there to strongly consider before jumping into something like this.

 

Thank you again for sharing your expertise! <br><br>Post edited by: Penguin, at: 2008/11/19 20:55