Bringing home a second grey....

[Bunchy]

We will be bringing in a 2nd CAG. It will be a baby hand reared,we will be visiting as much during the raising process till we can bring it home, We have a 4-6 y.o grey now. We have only had her for 3 months. We have brought in the new cage and set it across the room where the new bird will be. Any advice on when and how we can introduce the 2 to each other? +

[Wolf]

To be honest with you, the first thing that you will need to do is to quarantine your new bird for at least 30 days. This would be putting the new bird in a different room and feed the older bird before feeding the new one then washing thoroughly before touching your older bird or its things to prevent the possible spread of disease. Also handle and interact with the older bird before doing the same with the new bird and it would still be a good idea to thoroughly wash before handling the new bird.
This would also be a good time to begin adjusting the new birds diet to include fresh fruits, vegetables and leafy greens. It would also be a good idea to get some weaning formula for the new bird as even though it is supposed to be weaned it is not likely that it has been done right and the new bird will probably regress to needing the soft food at least twice a day for a while when you bring it home. This is a normal reaction to the stresses of moving the bird to a new home where it will be afraid for a while until it adjusts to its new environment and to you.
After quarantine don't expect too much form them as far as being friends. This is firstly due to the age differences between them. The older bird is an adult and will not have much use for the young bird until it has gone through puberty and become an adult. But after the quarantine period you can move them into the same room so that they can begin to get accustomed to each other. For a while after you put them in the same room you will want them to come out at separate times and gradually you may be able to let them out at the same time, but you will want to keep a close watch on them during both of these periods so as to protect them from harm or from fighting. Greys are not easy birds to introduce to another bird even if it is of the same species and of the opposite sex. If you are very lucky as well as very careful the worst reaction that you will get is that they ignore each other, but given the ages, I would not count on this. The young bird will want the older bird to be its new parent and the older bird will probably not want this and that will set the stage for fighting, so please go very slow and keep a very close watch on them and stay very close to them so that you can intervene in time if they do fight.

[Pajarita]

Yes, Wolf is correct. Grays are famous for not bonding with other birds. Just one more comment, if you work full time outside the house, you will have to get somebody to come over in the middle of the day to spend time with the baby because, otherwise, he can grow up disaffected -they are babies, just like human babies or puppies, they need company 24/7 to grow up without emotional issues. You will also have to make sure you spend, at the very least, 3 hours a day with the older one in one-to-one time as well as interact with the baby in a separate room until he is fully grow - grays can be extremely jealous birds and you don't want the older one resenting the baby for the rest of their lives.

[Bunchy]

Well thank goodness my wife does not work so she will be able to spend the time otherwise We would not even think of it!! Our older grey Bunchy was a rescue that came to us only 4 mos. ago and has been doing so much better, I know it takes time love and patience. Bunchy is now letting myself to handle her and starting to mimic our cat and dog, whistling and such. She is not yet too fond of my wife but I am sure one day hopefully. All in due time.. Thanks for the all your help +

[liz]

I would put the new one in quarantine out of sight of Bunchy but within hearing distance so It is not such a shock when the little one appears. Put the cages on opposite sides of the room so they can see each other and may communicate.
Even when they are in the same room always give Bunchy food before the new one. Always give Bunchy attention before the new one. Keep in mind that he is an only child and is used to getting all the attention. You don't want him to resent the new one.

[Wolf]

I have already given my opinion on what to do when you bring your new Grey home as far as in relation to your present Grey, and I really can't think of much to add to that at this time. However, you mentioned the bonding situation with Bunchy and I thought that I would make a comment or so in relation to that.
Please understand that I am not some sort of authority on Greys and my experience is limited to my one female Grey and research only. My Grey, Kookooloo, is about 16 years of age and was abused before she came to me and she loved me from the first time that she saw me. That was very likely an unusual behavior for a Grey, but is none the less the way that it went. She is bonded to me now and she will not allow any other creature to touch me if she is on me and has always been that way since I brought her home. She will not associate with anyone other than me and will bite anyone other than me that tries to touch her. She has recently agreed to play ball with our neighbors 9 year old boy, but she will bite him if he gets close enough to her. I am right there when he is here and she is willing to play ball with him, which is not a lot. This is shared in hopes of helping you to understand more about the nature of the Grey parrot.
Greys are highly intelligent, but they are eccentric ( that is a fancy word usually applied to the rich and famous instead of saying they are nuts) Ha ha. They usually bond to one person and want nothing to do with anyone else and they are very jealous of their person as well as protective. They appear to have a very strong sense of how they should be treated and although they will forgive in time an infraction they have long memories and will make sure that you understand what you did wrong in their way of thinking. Kookooloo will not forgive any infraction until she is first assured that I know what I did wrong, even if it takes days, but then her forgiveness is instant.
There are others on here that have Greys and hopefully they will chime in with more on life with their Greys.
I might be wrong, but it appears that you are moving a bit fast in getting your second Grey at least as far as your relationship with Bunchy is concerned. Bunchy appears to be leaning towards bonding with you, but it does not seem to me that he is sure of that just yet. To me this means that you are at a touchy point in your relationship with him and that his bonding could easily go in any direction. He may decide to go ahead and make a bond with you or he may do an about face and drop you and choose your wife over you or, hopefully not, he may decide to not bond with either of you. This is only based on what little you have told us about your relationship with him, so please be aware that I don't have all of the information to be certain of any of this and could easily be talking out of the wrong side of my face. But I could also be right about where your relationship stands at this time. I just want you to be aware of what may be about to happen when your new bird arrives as far as how Bunchy may react to this.
You are still very new to him and it does not sound as if his mind is yet settled as to how your relationship should develop so this may or may not influence his choices on this matter. Things do not appear to be settled in his mind as of yet as sometimes it does take them a while to decide and then to start to bond. Be aware of how this may affect the dynamics in your home and be careful of your interactions with the new bird when he can see them.

[Bunchy]

I am (as always) thankful to all of you for your insight and knowledge as to our situation. We understand all birds are different and can present themselves and their eccentricities in many forms.That being said, We can only do the best we can by taking in all this valuable info and experience from others who have " been there and done that". Both my wife and I accept these challenges because the payoff from these wonderful birds is second to none. Unfortunetly due to health issues my wife is unable to have children and that's ok for us now. So these fine feathered friends are our children and we will love and cherish them. So, back to the main subject we won"t be bringing home the new bird for about 6 mos. So we still have bonding time w/ Bunchy. not that 6 mos, is a long time but hopefully it will be O.K.

[Wolf]

With overpopulation, health issues in my Lady's family and the generally negative attitudes of people we opted to not have children as we did not feel that we could be the parents that we would have wanted to be. Our animals are our children as well.
As far as bonding with Bunchy goes 6 months could be more than enough time or it could take longer, it all depends on them. As I noted in my last post although bonding takes time, for all practical purposes, Kookooloo bonded with me at first sight and has never changed in the way that she responds to me since we first saw each other. That is very unusual, but it has worked for us. Kiki on the other hand took about 3 months to begin bonding with me as she first wanted my Lady, but changed her mind and then I underwent a solid year of getting bitten without any warnings before she learned that it was not necessary nor really appreciated. She was the first parrot here and that was a very long and painful year for me.

[Pajarita]

Well, one can only hope for the best and try real hard for it... Let's hope that one of them bonds to you and the other to your wife because, if they both bond to the same person, there will be trouble and no amount of your loving them and trying real hard will make them happy. Grays are very difficult birds to make happy and, to make matters worse for us, they are highly intelligent as well as high-strung and super sensitive. A real bad combination for them and us! I have two, both females, one a CAG and the other a Timneh -neither came to me as a baby because I only rescue, rehome or adopt. Sophie CAG loves me while Pookey TAG loves my husband but it's only now that my husband has been spending any time with her (he is not a parrot person so it took years of guilt trips on my part for this to happen) and not anywhere near enough IMPO. Thankfully, she was raised by a man who, obviously, neglected her and must not have treated her too good so I hope that the fact that she lives cage-free in the birdroom with other parrots kind of makes up for her not getting enough attention...