Got new African Grey Approx 1 year old

[Pajarita]

Your bird's cage is too small for PVC perches, they need to be tree branches but, aside from that, I would not use PVC for anything with parrots.

If you need to travel, you need to get somebody to come, at least, twice a day while you are out to feed, water and keep the bird company for a couple of hours. You can't leave birds alone, it's too risky and terribly stressful to them.

You don't need to clean the bird's beak, he will do it on its own. It doesn't help him at all... for one thing, you are just stressing him unnecessarily and, for another, he needs to do these things the way nature meant for them to do it: wipe against a rough branch.

[mustafarangoon]

Sometimes i am worried when he is trying to get down from his hanging perch to the middle perch...and when he get irritated, he starts hitting hanging perch...Is it ok ? I observed this for 2 o 3 times and then removed. Just let me know what to do in this case.

[Wolf]

Firstly, all parrots chew on wood, so other than replacing the wooden piece now and then it should not be an issue. Many times when a parrot is " playing" with a toy it appears to us as it they are trying to kill it and rip it limb from limb and it comes with all of the sound effects, again this is normal behavior, so I would give it back to him. Maybe, hang a couple more wooden things in the cage for him to chew and destroy.

[Pajarita]

Wolf, there is no room in that cage for the bird to even open his wings much less hang anything else in there... The swing is practically on top of the dowel perch that is in the middle of the cage as it is.

[mustafarangoon]

From last two days he is allowing me to pet his neck and whole back but sometimes even try to bite? its biting or something else i dont know. but now when i go near him he is not afraid of me. he fluffs up like anything at the same time he puts down his neck on my hand to pet. Even when cage is close he just comes around and ask for petting. Having said that sometimes he seems to be confused. I have bought clicker and chopsticks to train him.

Many a times when i try to feed him he just ignore it like anything...and then in next 2 mints he runs for the food. He is calm and usually quite but when he gets into notorious mood then OMG.

[Wolf]

I always dislike having to be the bad guy, but sometimes it is better than not. Please get this bird a larger cage than what you have him in. Something like this one would be appropriate. http://www.windycityparrot.com/play-top ... 20a&page=2

The minimum recommended size for a Congo African Grey would be 132cm square ( 52inches square) and 152.4cm tall ( 60inches tall)

It has been shown many times over that being confined in too small of an area is bad and stressful to our birds It affects how they react and respond to us with too small of an area decreasing trust in the bird towards us as well as increasing the birds aggressiveness. Aside from this Please consider how you would feel if you were locked in a room where you could barely spread your arms out to the sides. These are very intelligent creatures similar to a young child of 4 to 6 years of age, and they are well aware of how they are treated. The only way that I would use the cage that you have with my Grey is as a travel cage or as a sleeping cage only with the bird be free in my home the remainder of the time. I have a cage for my Grey similar to the one that I provided the link to and still my Grey is out of her cage the majority of the day.

I am not trying to be harsh or even rude, but I do know that the simple act of giving your Grey a larger cage will give you a better response from your Grey. I know that you do not have much experience with parrots and that what we are saying is in opposition to what you are hearing at the store that you purchased Alex from. Please consider the First Grey that you got from them and all that they told you then, and then go and ask them how many parrots that they have at home. I have 7 parrots living at home with me they range from an Amazon which is a little bigger than my Grey down to two parrotlets which are only 12.5cm long. The cage that you currently have Alex in is about the same size as I use for one of my parrotlets, and if I could afford a larger one for them I would buy it.

I know that you want to do what is best for Alex and that it is hard to do that when you receive different answers from different places. But I also want what is best for your Alex and can only share with you what I do with and for my own parrots. That is all that I can do. I do a lot of research as do many other people on this forum, all because we care so much about our birds and we are here to share that with you as well. Still, you are the one that has to decide what to do, but please consider what it is that we are sharing with you.

[Pajarita]

Besides, if you want to train the bird, you are going to start by training him inside his cage and there is no room in there for it. Please don't touch his back, the only places where you can touch a bird is on its head and neck. Period. And, I have to tell you that I keep on getting the impression that the bird has no food in his cage all day long. I hope I am 100% wrong and that you are not using food to get him to accept you because I might as well tell you that it doesn't work with parrots - they never learn to love you that way, they resent the hell out of you for it.

[mustafarangoon]

I am already looking for big cage here in Mumbai but its not available in here. I also looked out all the suburbs of Mumbai but no body has it. I went to amazon to get the one but its way too expensive and also many cages are not available for India.

[mustafarangoon]

Is this cage is good for Grey http://www.ebay.com/itm/Premium-61-Blac ... Sw3v5XItiv ?

[Wolf]

Except for being too small you have the right type of cage. It is 61 inches tall but it needs to be 2 or 3 times wider. This cage is just under 18 inches square and only about 30 inches tall, the rest of the height is the stand and the play top. If you are going to have your bird out of the gage most of the day then a cage like this one but double the width and depth would be workable. It is always best to get the largest cage that you can for your bird.

If you Grey's personality develops to be anything like my Grey's then it is going to want to spend the majority of its days either on you or hanging out nearby you. Grey's are kind of funny about being with you in that they really don't like being touched unless they ask for it, they have a strong independent streak to them, but at the same time they do not like to lose sight of you for even a minute. At least that is the way that my Grey is. Since they are all individuals and have their own personalities yours may be a bit different but some of these traits will still show.

I have been meaning to ask you if your new Grey has had its wings clipped or not. I am not in favor of clipping a birds wings but wanted to know as it has a major impact on the birds responses to you as well as on any advice that we share with you to help you with Alex.