Step up African Grey Parrot

[blackscell]

Hi guys, I am new for this forum and I've read quite a bit already.

So Saturday I bought an African Grey Parrot from a loving breeder who gave me all the information I needed. They had 5 youngsters, I had an enclosure and the breeder spend hours with me trying to find the right fit.

I ended up choosing the oldest one ( 9 months ) she stepped up, I could pet her and she was very sweet and kind.

Back at home I put her in her new cage and let her rest for a day while spending a little bit time and talking with her.

The thing is, I can put my hand in the cage and she will eat her foor and drink water, I can feed her through the bars, I can get close with my hand and after 30 seconds or so she will hesitate and move away.

She is unclipped, she has been hand fed by their owners. She does not bite at all, I can put my finger near her and she will nible really softly, not biting at all.

What is the best way I can learn her to step up early? The previous owner has let him get used to a lot of variety of things such as driving in a car, meeting new people etc.

Should I give her more time to adjust? She is playing/eating/drinking fine already.

[ParrotsForLife]

You should give her at least a week to settle down into her new home and maybe longer before you start any training.You shouldn't have a problem teaching her to step up so it will be easy for you.

[Wolf]

I agree that your new Grey needs some time to adjust to her new environment, but she also needs to adjust to and learn that you can be trusted. So although I would not get in any hurry to get her to step up, I would spend plenty of time talking to her while in the same room as she is in and offering her a treat every so often. If she will take the treat from you that is great, but if she does not then leave it in her food dish as it is very important that you establish with her that once you offer her a treat that you will not take it back. It is also a good idea to use her name often as well as to give her a lot of good bird type of praise at this time. In due time she will come to look forward to you approaching her cage and will move to be close to you while you are approaching. It is at this time that you can proceed with opening the door to the cage and giving her treats at the open door, but not by reaching inside of the cage. You want her to trust you and the best way to achieve this is to wait for her to come to you, Once she is comfortable with coming to you at the cage door then taking the offered treat, you will be able to begin working on her stepping up for you.

[blackscell]

I can open the cage door and she will come for a treat. I think I kinda ruined our relationship today.

So when I picked her up the owner put a blanket over her transport cage. It was already 11pm so I thought I'ma put a blanket over her cage so she could sleep. She was terrified of the blanket, I thought maybe it's because of the color it was blue. I did a white one and a black one, neither worked, she was so terrified her eyes were big and she started flapping en sometimes making squeaky noises.

I removed it all and left her alone. Did I just blew my chance? She was literally staring at me every time and when I came close she immediately ran away. So I thought I will leave her be for now but I am scared she is not getting any sleep at all like this.

[ParrotsForLife]

Turn the light off and she will sleep if she is tired.

[Wolf]

No, I do not think that you have ruined your chances with her. The blanket was new to her and so it scared her and you will find that this is a very normal response to any new item, It may just be a new toy or even a stick that is new to them. They normally require that you place a new item at a distance from the cage but where they can still keep an eye on it and then after a few days attempt to move it a little closer until you have moved it close to the cage with no reaction from the bird. Once you have it next to the cage without getting any reaction from your bird you will want to allow the bird to approach the new thing on its own. When the bird is moving on and around it with no fear you can try it out in their cage, but this can still scare them so be on the look out for fearful behavior from your bird anytime that you get a new item for your bird.

As for covering your birds cage, you did scare your bird but she will forgive you for this probably in just a day or so. But you need to observe haw much light gets into her room at night when she needs to be sleeping, if there is no light then you don't need to cover the cage, If there is any light in het room then tou may need to slowly acclimate her to the gage cover that you want to use so that you can cover the cage so that she can get a good nights sleep.

[blackscell]

Today I tried giving her food and thank God she was not scared at all, I even managed to pet her head and she seemed to enjoy it.

I think she is more attached to females, my mother can do everything with her inside the cage! She can pet her head for a half hour and she will still enjoy it.

[Pajarita]

If the breeder was a woman, she will be more trusting of women than men. But that doesn't mean that she won't come to trust men too. It will just take a bit of time, that's all.

Handfed birds don't need to learn to step up, they do it on their own when they trust you enough. They all want to be on a human they trust and often just fly over to our shoulders or 'climb aboard' as soon as any part of our body is close to where they are. So, take your time getting her/him to trust you and bond with you and he/she will step up without you having to do anything

[blackscell]

Thank you for the response guys.

I had a question that has been bothering me, so the bird is in our living room. However, I think it is too busy and crowded. We are a family of 4, we have a huge tv which is on 24/7 and alot of noise, my dad playing guitar and listening to music etc.

He also sleeps very late because of this, the lights go off at 1 am. Should I relocate her cage upstairs to my room where it is quiet? She won't be having as much activity during the day except for the toys in her cage, but it could settle her down more.

What do you guys think? Also if she is in my room, I will be able to spend 3 full days with her. The other 4 days I will be with her in the morning for 1 hour and in the evening for 4-5 hours.

Edit: I also have a sleeping cage, but I do not feel comfortable yet to let her hop out of her cage on her own and put her in a whole new environment which she isn't used to yet.

[Wolf]

This is really the wrong environment for this type of bird. While the bird could get used to it being crowded and busy, she simply could not physically adjust to a TV that is on 24/7, nor to all of the noise until 1 am when she needs it to be quiet so that she can get a good nights sleep. Even moving her to your room might not lower the noise level enough for her to sleep comfortably. Then there is the problem of time. This is referring to the time spent physically with the bird, and we have not even began to talk about the time out of the cage that the bird requires.

Now that I have said what I see is wrong, please allow me to explain.

First of all, all parrots are photoperiodic which is just a big word to say that their reproductive cycle is controlled mostly by light. I know that this does not sound to you like a big deal, but it is major. Birds have an internal biological clock that is set and reset but the bird being exposed to the two twilight periods of dawn and dusk. For this to work properly this exposure needs to be without the interference of artificial lights of any type. In addition to this these twilight periods work much like the start and stop button on a stopwatch, so that the internal clock can measure the length of the day, every day which in addition to the type of light during the day keeps the bird in tune with the seasons and the time of the year so that the bird goes into it reproductive cycle only when it should do so. When the bird is forced into a human light schedule under artificial lights none of this happens the way it is supposed to and the birds system runs amok and ends up with the bird remaining in its reproductive cycle all year long.

Now before the bird goes into its breeding cycle and after it leaves it, the birds internal sexual organs or gonads are about the size of a pea, but during the breeding cycle they swell up and grow up to over 100 times this resting size and if the bird remains in breeding condition they continue to grow producing intense pain. Imagine your gonads placed in a vise which just keeps getting tighter. Eventually the bird starts plucking its feathers out and then begins to tear holes in its own body in the attempt to relieve the pressure and pain. Then there is the matter of the sexual hormones that build up in the birds body and bloodstream, these hormones make the bird more aggressive and when you add to this heightened aggressiveness the pressure and pain that causes it to self mutilate, you have a bird that you can not longer touch and that will attack you whenever it gets the chance to do so. This is not the birds fault, but this is what happens to them when they must live in a human light environment without proper exposure to the proper lighting.

Lets look specifically at the African Grey Parrot. There are two types of this parrot mine is a Congo African Grey and the other is the Timneh African Grey. They are very similar With the Congo African Grey ( CAG ) being larger, lighter in color with red tail feathers, While the Timneh African Grey ( TAG ) is smaller, darker with a dark burgundy wine colored tail. They are both very similar as far as personality goes, however the Congo is said to be more sensitive and more excitable than the Timneh. I don't know as I only have experience with the Congo or CAG.

Greys are normally pretty laid back bird and while they do have an independent streak in them, they don't do well in an excitable, crowded and noisey environment. They much prefer a quieter place where they can perch comfortably and watch everything that is going on around them. Where they can choose whether to interact or not. They are very loving birds, but really do not like to be touched very much and then that is normally reserved for their very special human or their mate. This is most definitely a one person bird, so if it allows you to touch it you are probably its special human or it is still a juvenile because once it matures into an adult and chooses it human it will protect and defend this person with its life and will bite anyone who tries to remove it from this person. My Grey is fine with people sitting next to me but tries to bite anyone who attempts to touch me while she is on me. They are very touchy birds who do not handle changes very well and like to have a simple steady routine where they know what to expect next and when it is supposed to happen and they get upset when it does not happen as it is supposed to happen. They bond with one person and although they may accept another person this other person is only satisfactory when the person they bonded with is not there. My Grey is bonded with me and she is aware of my moods and how I am feeling almost before I know these things myself. They want and expect that if you are there that you will spend all of your time with them and may get mad at you if you ignore them for any reason, they require a huge commitment in your time both in allowing them to perch on you and in just hanging out with and near then they also require a minimum of 4 hours of out of cage time (supervised) to fly and explore or to just hang out.

If these needs and these are just the basics, are not met the bird will resort to biting you and to plucking its own feathers out and may even self mutilate due to its extreme unhappiness. If this bird is kept without other birds for any real length of time it will probably not accept another bird in its area, even if the other bird is of the same species and of the opposite sex.

To be totally honest with you if you are unwilling or unable to provide this minimum level of commitment to this bird for the next 50 to 60 years, both you and this bird would be better off for you to return it to the breeder.

All of the birds that I have are very needy, and hands on type of birds except my pair of budgies, all of them came from places that were not good for them, with some of them devoid of feathers or with mental and emotional problems from their previous homes. My Grey was plucked and self mutilated from her previous home and as much as I love this bird she is by far the most needy and the most difficult of them all to keep happy.