Our traumatized african grey and wild cape parrot

[Nadinecasarin]

Hello There

My husband and I are new to owning a bird our first bird is Polly a beautiful male (I'm assuming) African Grey and then a few months ago we got Rio who is a Cape Grey Headed Parrot.

Unfortunately both our birds have had a tough life..

We took Polly from an man we knew, who had Polly for about 3 years, prior to that we don't know what happened to Polly. The reason we took Polly away was because he was secluded in this empty room all by himself, his only interaction with anything was when somebody remembered to feed him, a few days before we took him, somebody stole his mate out of the cage they shared which has left him traumatized when we first got him he would just shake and screech if we went near the cage, we have had him for about 18 months and since then he now takes apples and nuts from my hand he doesn't screech or shake when I go to his cage either which is a massive improvement he also makes beautiful sounds during the day and loves to watch tv with us often interrupting movies with his sounds which has made us believe he loves music. We still have a long way to go with Polly but I am determined to get there.

Rio, our very bright Cape Parrot, we bought him from the side of the road a few months ago as he was for sale and was kept in this tiny "cage" (in Zambia, Africa they catch birds and sell them on the side of the road, the cages are made with twigs and wire and are just big enough so that the bird can fit) when we got Rio out of his street cage we saw that he was injured they had cut his wings very badly. We got him a decent cage and made him a perch for when he comes out of his cage (in the evenings we let rio out and he flys around the house) Rio is a very difficult bird in the sense that I don't know what to do with him, do I keep him in his cage and let him out as we have been doing or do I release him as I am sure he was a wild bird before we bought him. I am very scared to let him go I case he has now being house trained and he won't be able to fend for himself in the wild.

Now that you know the background more or less, please help me with the following if you can:

Do I let Rio go? What will be better for him I really do love him but want what is best for him?
Rio chews every perch I put in his cage is this normal or is he trying to tell me something?
Rio splashes his water all over and plays with the toys in his cage I am assuming that he is happy with us.. Am I correct in assuming this?

Polly - how do I get Polly to trust us that we won't hurt him, I have picked up that Polly is a male and prefers me to my husband so I know it will be me he trusts but I don't know what to do.

How do I get Polly to like his toys instead of being petrified every time I put a toy in his cage?

thank you so much for any input you are able to provide I really do appreciate it.

[pennyandrocky]

don't try to force your attention on them wait for them to come to you. from my own experience and what I've heard from others birds get freaked out by new toys but then they come around to play with them once they see it's not some monster out to eat them. I don't know about letting a wild bird go after it's been caught but I would think if people wouldn't buy them off the side of the road it would stop happening. if it's wings are cut he wouldn't survive in the wild so I would try to find a wildlife rescue and ask them what you should do.

[Pajarita]

If Rio is not clipped, I would try leaving him out of his cage all the time in a safe room to see if he forages (you should be able to get some of his natural food -you are in Africa, right?). If he does, release him in an area where you know flocks of this species congregate or bring him over to a facility where they do captive-breeding for release in the wild (they would know how to make the transition) - zoos in South Africa have been doing this -or so I've read.

As to the grey, time, patience and never asking anything of them that they don't offer themselves first is the only sure way of getting him to relax but I might as well warn you that studies have shown us that birds that were traumatized while young will remain high-strung their entire lives so, if he never relaxes completely, most likely, it's due to this and not from your lack of trying.