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African Grey
AFRICAN GREY PARROT
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| The
African Grey Parrot, Psittacus erithacus erithacus, is about 33cm (13
inches) when adult size. Their weight is between 450 and 550 grams.
African Greys have a very simple color scheme: but this varies in shade
from region to region and males are usually darker than females. The
feathers of the head and neck are margined with very pale grey. And
their rump is such a pale color of grey that almost white. The tail and
adjacent tail coverts are scarlet. The beak is black and the iris is
pale yellow. On rare occasions you will find an African Grey
that has some or even alot of red within its gray feathering.
This is a coloring that the parent birds will sometimes
through. It is natural in some of the birds, and most often
will grow out within 1-2 years. Although I had a breeding
pair that had alot of red and were about 25plus years old. They would
give me babies with the red feathering that never grew out.
Immature
birds will look the same except babies will always have jet black eyes.
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HABITAT:
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| The grey
inhabits equatorial Africa from
the south-eastern part of the Ivory Coast to western Kenya and northern
Angola, the Congo and north-western Tanzania. Lowland forest is the
major habitat of Grey Parrots. They are common in some areas and are
even extending their range in eastern Africa, but in other areas they
are decreasing due to habitat destruction. They are wary in their
natural habitat and will seldom allow a close approach. |
NOISE:
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The
African grey is very well known for
being the best talking parrot that you can buy, and has no rival among
parrots. Not only will they acquire an extensive vocabulary of words,
but they can also reproduce them with total accuracy of tone so well
that you can’t tell the difference from the real thing. Their
mimic
ability is uncanny, learning to imitate every sound around them (such
as even a squeaky door). Many greys will also whistle beautiful songs
that you may teach them.
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SOCIAL HABITS:
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| An
African grey is probably one of the most cherished pets among their
owners. They are one of the most perceptive and intelligent bird, but
yet they are also sensitive. Their intelligence is a constant source of
wonder and will only thrive with the time spent with them. They are
quite commonly a one person bird-but will be the love of their life.
When choosing toys, there are 2 that I know they particularly love.
A boing toy (which is a rope that is spiraled, or
any type of spiraled toy) and they also love chains that hang down that
they can hanging upside down from. |
CAGES:
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| African greys need a
roomy cage. 32" x 24"
would be a good size and they will make good use of the space provide,
although Greys don't usually use the bottom part of a cage.
So a cage this is tall from floor to top isn't always
the better choice. They will mostly use the cage
space that is from the perch and above.
But getting a cage that is as wide as possible and as deep as possible
would give them their best needed space. That way you have lots of room
to hang those toys, and swings that they
love to hang on. Remember, with these highly intelligent creatures, you
need to be sure to give them lots of stimulating toys. Rotating them
weekly would be excellent. They are not hard on a cage, but a good
quality powder-coated cage would be excellent. Suitable bar spacing
would be 3/4 inch to 1 inch. Be sure that it is a heavy bar cage. |
DIET INFORMATION
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| The best diet for any
parrot such as the grey would be pellets
and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Greys are not fussy eaters and
are fond of sunflower seeds, but be sure not to give them but 1 or 2 a
day or they will try to convince you that they can’t live
life without them.
With a good pellet diet, additional vitamins are not necessary except
maybe spirulina. Spirulina
will enhance the color on your Parrot, plus it is very healthy. There
are a lot of mixes on the market today which will broadened a vegetable
and fruit diet. Seed should be fed only in small portions by hand,
maybe when doing trick training or “good-bird”
offerings. Take advance of many of the excellent pre-packed
foods that are now on the bird market. Goldenfeast is most
excellent, but there is also Crazy Corn and others. This ensures that
your bird will get excellent nutrition even when you are too
tired to cook.
A must with
any parrot is a water bottle system. This will provide
fresh, clean water to your bird at all times, even when you
aren’t home
for a couple of days.
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MATURING:
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| They will usually
reach maturity between 2 and 4 years of age. |
BREEDING:
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| Be sure that you have
unrelated birds if
you decide to breed. They can only be sexed either by blood DNA sexing
or surgically by a qualified vet and also when mature they can
sometimes be sexed by the color grey that their feathers are. A nest
box in the shape of an “L’ works excellent with and
an ABS plastic nest
box should be considered since it is black and they like their nest
dark. With an "L" box they will go down to the dark bottom and it makes
them feel secure. If you happen to have pets that become
breeders, don't be too surprised if they begin to hide in their nest
box, and away from sight. This hiding doesn't mean they are
breeding, it is just what they do. African greys to my
knowledge are never aggressive in a breeding
situation. A female will lay 3-4 eggs about 2-3 days apart, and quite
commonly will hatch all of them. They generally will make very good
parents
and will easily raise their babies to 2-3 weeks at which time, they
should be pulled for hand feeding. African greys that are not hand feed
do not make good pets, so be sure to pull they entire
clutch before the oldest one has it's eyes open.
They open their eyes at about 12 days and remember that the
eggs will probably hatch 2 days apart, so you will have a variety of
age differences within that clutch. If you don't pull them before they
open their eyes they will not eat well for you and will growl
at you and are very hard to work with. The eggs are usually
incubated for 28-30 days. |
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Animal & Insect Deterrents (6) 
