Hello from France

[leoniefranklin]

Hello,

I'm leaving in France and always wanted a parrot. I documented myself for years and last week, I had the opportunity to rescue an African Grey: he is 25 years old, wild-caught, his wings are not only clipped but the tipp of the wing have been removed (like poeple do for duck or geese). So... I think I will need all your help in order that this little guy feel confortable and safe in my house!

[Wolf]

Welcome o the forum and thank you for rescuing the Grey, some people can be so cruel and even worse don't even understand that it is cruelty, Do you know if it is a Congo or a Timneh? Regardless I will be happy to assist in whatever way that I can.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and thank you so much for taking him in! What was done to him is called pinioning because you cut off the 'pinion joint' (aka 'hand wing' because it's the equivalent to our hand in wings - the other portion, the one that has the joints that go into the body are called 'arm wing'). Pinions are the outermost remiges (primary -long- feathers in the wings) because they can rotate to adjust for flight maneuvering. A terrible, terrible, terrible cruel practice that, believe it or not, it was still done not too many years ago to small birds like cockatiels (I have two that are pinioned).

The first thing you need to do is take him to an avian vet for a complete physical (exam, CBC, avian chem panel, bile acids and full body Xray -I would also suggest blood pressure but not all avian vets do it or even have the tool for it). Then, a good diet is in order as well as a specially fitted cage and playground for him with lots of ladders, ropes and branches for him to climb. Exercise flapping his wings twice a day for as long as you can make it would also be beneficial. Please let us know if there are any particulars you need for us to elaborate.

[leoniefranklin]

Thank you Wolf and Pajarita for your nice reply.
Norman is an Congo African Grey.
Thank you Pajarita for your explanation about pinioning: I wasn't able to find this word in Internet... Thanks for the detailled description of this "method"...
I founded an avian vet, I have to drive quite far but I will bring him for a check up.

[Pajarita]

Great! Make sure he does a bile acids test because the avian chem panel only measures liver enzymes and those can be at a normal level even if the liver is malfunctioning (it needs to be working at less than 25% capacity for the enzyme levels to be off) while the bile acids test measures liver function and it will show if anything is going wrong in there (the liver is the most affected organ by captivity's unnatural diet).

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum leoniefranklin and Norman! Enjoy your stay!