MokiYoki wrote:Me and my boyfriend want to hand raise a african grey and a cockatoo together.
Why? I hope you don't mean hand-feed yourself. Hand-feeding, or parental deprivation, is bad enough as it is (as it may leave permanent psychological scars, especially among sensitive birds like toos and greys), but if it has to be done, it should only be done in the hands of experienced professionals.
Baby Dali's story:
http://www.missajc.com/dalibaby.htmlhttp://www.avianwelfare.org/issues/unweaned.htmAnd why a cockatoo and a grey?
We both value intelligence and cuddling! and we want a pair of birds that have close but long life spans (we would be very sad if one died and left the other alone) and with their life span being so long they may need each other for emotional support many many years down the road....
I am very glad you feel it is the best for the birds to have a bird friend. But a cockatoo and a grey is not the best combo - they are very different birds. Why not two greys? (Two cockatoos might work as well, but they are much more difficult in every way, and are much more aggressive with each other. Males often kill the female if she doesn't do as he wants when it comes to mating, and he doesn't care if his female is a cockatoo, a human or another type of bird.)
And cuddling - just no. Parrots are not for cuddling. If you get a bird that actually wants to be petted, then great, look at it as a bonus. If you just want a soft, cuddly bird - sorry for saying this, but a stuffed plush animal is your best choice.
Cockatoos are known for their cudliness - as well as their biting (with their specially formed beaks with two sharp points in the lower mandible), their incessant screaming (they are also the only psittacines to scream at night, in the dark), their unpredictable, aggressive behavior (you can have a cockatoo for ten years and it's a darling - then suddenly it's forever changed and hates you), their dust (the white cockatoos dust more than any other bird), and their sensitive, complex minds.
Greys are also very sensitive and these two are the most sensitive of psittacines, most prone to plucking. But like GlassOnion said, cockatoos sometimes go so far as to rip open their own flesh. They are EXTREMELY difficult birds.
any how we want to pick the best sub-species that will match best as the birds happiness together matters A LOT to us. However although babies would be cute I'm worried about finding homes for the offspring that will love and care for them as much as we would, which is why we decided picking species that won't produce offspring together would be best
I see your heart is in the right place here. But birds won't reproduce if you don't get them a nest, if you don't let them breed. And two females is completely alright with most parrots (not Poicephalus though...), two males can also be fine.
Again, I recommend you get two much more closely related species, or rather, the same species. They speak the same language and are much more likely to get along well.
we plan to buy our new family members from a breeder that pays attention to personality and breeds for the most affectionate, and non aggressive offspring but we still don't know what the best match would be because their are two african greys and many many types of cockatoos...
PLEASE don't buy from a breeder.
Rescues are overflowing with especially cockatoos and greys - there is a horrible situation going on with 2 000 000 pet birds being bred every year in the US alone, and the rescues and sanctuaries are so overflowed they even have to put down birds and can't accept any more. So there are millions and millions of unwanted birds in this world - why feed the breeders and encourage them to produce more?
Other than that, I have never heard of a breeder who actually breeds for temperament. Many breeder birds became breeders (especially male amazons and cockatoos) because they were impossible to keep as pets, just too aggressive and difficult to handle. Then they use those birds to produce more, throwing out birds with the exact same genetics on the market. They don't care about where the birds end up, they care about their money.
Buy from a breeder, and one more bird will be brought into this world, because you let a spot upen when you bought that chick.
Buy from a breeder, and one more bird in a rescue will have lost the chance of a home.
Buy from a breeder, and one more bird will have to be put down because there is no more room in rescues.
It's your choice.
And no, not all rehomed or rescued birds are "horrible" birds with behavior problems (you didn't say that but it's a common myth). Most of them are simply misunderstood creatures, bought by unknowing people who could not put up with the bird doing what it does best - being a wild animal. Hand-fed and bred in captivity, parrots are still very much wild animals.
and it would be very nice to hear from someone that has raised two together before and what kind of problems can arise? what are the best genders to get so that they get along well and a less likely to have problems around the time when they would normally mate, how do they bond to their human parents and in general what can we do to ensure they are happy and healthy? there is still a LONG time before we are going to get them but we are starting to research now
thank you for the help!
Like I said, I see your heart is in the right place but perhaps you are a little misinformed.
And again, like I said, you can keep two of the same species (or closely-related) still without risk of breeding. Either because you don't let them have a nest (that includes kitchen cabinets, boxes, digging under blankets etc. - this is what can cause hormonal, sexual behaviors in birds), or because you have two of the same gender.
If you want to know how to not encourage sexual/mating behavior, here's a nice article:
http://www.lafebercares.com/knowledge/learning_sex.htmlThere is a myth going on that a parent-raised bird can't be a pet and can't be tamed, at least not by someone who doesn't have a lot of experience. But think about it - parrots have been pets for thousands of years, and during all those years, except for the last few decades, those birds were wild-caught and parent-raised. Do you (I don't mean you personally since you didn't bring it up, but everyone) really think no one had a loving bond with a bird before hand-feeding for the pet industry was "invented"?
And I have proved that point with my macaw. I have had some birds of different kinds before, but never have I managed to tame a bird before, and never have I had a macaw before. He came here as an untame, aviary-dwelling three year-old, who did not like people. With time (about four months), patience, and a lot of observing his behavior, he's an extremely tame, pleasant bird, who does not bite (unlike my hand-fed Meyers, who lunges at you when you least expect it
).
And again, it's very good you want to have two that keeps each other company. Many people on these international parrot boards seem to be of the opinion that birds should only be kept singly, in cages rarely more than one meter wide (even large cockatoos and macaws
), and be
your pet and
your "baby"
only, and any such idea as keeping them in pairs is viewed as ridiculous.
But they are still very much wild animals with wild instincts, and humans can never give them what other birds can.
You can take the bird out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the bird.
About keeping parrots in pairs/flocks and how well they function as "pets" (it's a very interesting article):
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/feature ... tstudy.htmBTW, if you give us some criteria I would be glad to help you with what species fits best. Size, the size of the cage, noise, dust, temperament - what you can handle, so to speak.
Rambo is a rehome/rescue and 
Myrtle (a blue front amazon) is a 1.5 year old female rescued from a terrible situation.
i see birds in the rescues i'm in contact with on facebook that have bonded with eachother in the rescue or foster home. there are so many benifits to rescues in my opinion they are better than buying from a breeder who might sell you anything if you have the cash. the best thing being you know exactly what you're getting in personality,noise level, and most important for you whether they will get along with another bird. i have a cockatoo and she would like to be the only bird in the world.
