African Grey Parrot

General

The African Grey is a gray bird with a short red tail, easily confused with the Timneh Grey Parrot, which has a maroon tail and is slightly smaller than the African Grey Parrot. African Greys and Timneh Greys are similar in intelligence as well as talking ability. (We do not breed Timneh Grey Parrots.)

The African Grey Parrot is considered the number one companion worldwide! This is most probably because it seems to have the ability to communicate with people. African Greys are excellent mimics and brilliant at learning to associate sounds with actions. This gives the impression that they actually communicate with you.

They are very rewarding pets and will give you hours of pleasure. They are not a great family pet, as they tend to accept one person as their owner. They might go to other members of the family, but will show definite preference for one family member. They are also very particular about the sex of their owner. (See Acceptance of their owner)

Also read the general information on African Greys on the Choose a parrot that suits you best page.

Fact File

Length: 33cm

Weight: 400g

Aging: 40 - 60 Years

Origin: Central and West Africa

Incubation: 28-30 days

Chicks in nest: 11 - 12 weeks

Characteristics: Plumage darker in males

Chicks Available: Chicks usually available throughout the year.

Price: R2 000.00

(All facts are approximate. Details like ’chicks in nest’ are according to birds in nature.)

Talking Ability

Because of their ability to use their vocabulary at quite appropriate times, African Grey Parrots are universally considered the best talking parrots! They can mimic quite a variety of accents and sounds. They have the ability to sing and could have an excellent repertoire of whistles.

African Grey Parrots have a quiet, pleasant natural voice, so when they do not mimic you, they are still pleasant to listen to, although some do have a habit screaming at times.

They generally start talking from about two years of age and older, although some may say a few words before then. Some refuse to speak in front of strangers, much to their owner’s disappointment. And some just never say more than hallo!

Acceptance of their owner

An African Grey Parrot will most likely accept an owner, of the sex, opposite to its own. In some cases we have seen that a parrot does not have a preference regarding the sex of it’s owner. We have also had parrots that did bond to an owner of the “wrong” sex, provided they got it as a chick and hand reared it themselves. It is even possible for an African Grey Parrot to come to love and accept more than one person in a household, but they tend to respond best to the person they regard as their owner.

Nervousness

African Grey Parrots are very sensitive birds and can be nervous birds, subject to stress. They could be scared of certain colors, big objects and loud noise, like a vacuum cleaner.

They generally do not like their cage and perch to be moved around the house. They do not really like to move house at all. They are quite happy to live in one spot in the house, so choose carefully where you want to keep your parrot BEFORE you bring it home. They settle quite quickly.

Again, this is a general rule, many African Grey Parrots travel with ease and are not nervous at all. It does help if you train them from a young age to travel with you.To make them more adaptable to change you could introduce your African Grey to various play areas in the house, take it with to the shops, introduce it to its travelling cage and take it with on holidays and short visits. This should be done from a very young age and could prevent nervousness of strange places. A parrot that gets a lot of attention from it’s owners, will more likely travel around with them, than one who is stuck in a cage or corner, only to be talked to on the odd occasion!

Choosing an African Grey Parrot

It is always best to choose an African Grey Parrot chick when it still eats hand rearing formula 3 times a day. It should be about 7 - 8 weeks old by then. If you must, you can leave your parrot with the breeder until it only eats hand rearing formula twice a day (approximately 10 - 12 weeks old), but any later than that is not advisable.

Feeding your chick hand rearing formula gives it time to bond with you. It is not difficult to feed a chick; it is the same as feeding purity to a baby. (Feeding your chick)

Parrots that are hand-reared are usually very tame. It is however very important to make sure the chicks are handled by the breeder, when they feed it. Spoon fed chicks are the tamest! There are other ways of feeding chicks, but if they are not handled when they are fed and they are not necessarily very tame! These chicks are also more difficult to feed and I would advice you to leave them with the breeder until weaned. This could result in more work for you to tame it though.

You could buy an older bird, but it will take much more time and effort to tame it and get it to bond with you.

Telling the age of your African Grey

An African Grey chick has black eyes. As they grow older their eyes become lighter, to a light blue-gray. A mature bird has yellow eyes. The yellow becomes darker as the bird matures. When a brown circle can be seen around the yellow, the bird is ten years or older.

Diet

Prescribed diet by Rosemary Low

Cooked beans and pulses, boiled maize; sunflower seed - dry, soaked or sprouted - but limited; fruit, especially apple, orange, grapes, banana; various fresh vegetables; dry or semi-sweet biscuits; spray millet; cooked chicken or chop bones.

Our basic diet

To make things easy, give the Basic Food Mix as it's daily food. Give a separate bowl of fresh fruit, raw vegetables and healthy treats as suggested by Rosemary Low.

Clean water on a daily basis and extreme hygiene is important for your parrot.

For a more detailed list on foods to give or avoid in general see Food in general.

Basic Food Mix

1 Heaped tablespoon cooking mix (cooked) - We use SAM Cooking Mix.
1 Heaped tablespoon of Avid-plus Complete Breeder pellets or Avi-plus Maintenance pellets
1 Teaspoon Sunflower seed
1 Teaspoon mixed fine seed

Mix together and feed 2x a day to your parrot. Adjust the measures to suit your parrot's dietary needs.

Accommodation

Their cage should be big enough for it to exercise its wings. I would suggest the Cockatoo play cage available from Beth-El House of Seed.

Make sure your parrot can reach the food and water with ease.

A perch is also a good idea! They love the freedom of a perch and if trained from a young age, they do learn to stay put on their perch.

It is advisable to let it sleep in it’s cage. They like to go to bed at a respectable time, so put it in the cage and cover the cage.

Most parrots are messy, so keep them on floor surfaces that are easy to clean.

Be sure to disinfect the cage on a regular basis and even the perch needs a good scrub regularly.