Hey all!

[MichaelaK]

Hey all, Im a new owner to a Congo African Grey. He is a handsome boy. He is about 1 and a half as I adopted him. I might ask a lot of questions! My name is Michaela by the way. Ahhh not sure what else to write haha.

[Wolf]

I'll help. Please tell us all about your Grey and to add variety include pictures.
Welcome to the forum.

[Pajarita]

Wecome, Michaela and CAG boy! One of my grand-daughters is named Michaela, too! What's your new friend's name and how do you know it's a boy?

[MichaelaK]

Well I rescued him from this man who was obviously not taking care of him. I don't think they ever cleaned his cage once! Well the person I got him from says its a male, he still does not really have a name. Any suggestions? I'm just trying to pick one by his personality. He is still getting use to me but I love him to bits, he loves to come sit with me and watch some TV well cuddling and getting many kisses. Im trying to get him to step up, he is learning slowly. I will try and post as many pictures as I can!

[Wolf]

At a year and a half and with it being breeding season he may have just begun puberty or he will go through it next season. And this is when their personality changes from that of a baby to that of an adult. I think that the males tend to go through puberty earlier than the females do. I am not certain that this holds true with this species or not but I do know it is common with some of the species of the Poicephalus Family of parrots. Well, that is what I have read from several sources, though I doubt that any of the birds ever read any of these sources.

[Pajarita]

Well, just because his previous owner thinks it's a male, it doesn't really mean it is. I once read that more than 75% of unsexed parrots are thought to be males and have masculine names and, in my personal experience, this is true. I had an Elliot that ended up an Ellie, a Nathan that is now a Naida, a Randolph that is now Piquito (she chose the name), a Pretty Boy that is most likely a Pretty Girl, a Cody that is now Codee, etc. so I suggest you have the bird DNA'd when you take it for its first wellbeing exam because you need to know the gender in order to supplement calcium correctly (very important with all birds but a bit more so with grays) and to understand behaviors that could be gender-specific. As to a name, it must have had one in his previous home, do you know it? In my personal opinion, it's always best to either keep the same name or change it to something that sounds very similar to it because parrots not only understand the concept of name (in the wild, parents name their babies in the nest and these babies continue using the same name all their lives) but also use them to refer to themselves by it so, unless the bird came to us as a baby or we have no way of knowing what it was called before, it's always recommended to keep the name in order to ease the transition to a new home and new human which is so hard on them as it is (yes, even when the conditions are better in the new home) And, I always think it's also a matter of whether you view your parrot as an individual sentient being which happens to be your companion or just a pet for your own entertainment because one would not think of changing a friend's name even if we did not like it, right?

[MichaelaK]

He had an owner before the person I got him from and they called him something, then the person that I got him from called him something but he never responds or likes the name so I just say a few names to him sometimes and see what he likes best but If he does not them I will just call him his name from previous owners. Yes I will try and get him DNA tested. Do two boy African Greys get on? I have two friends one has a female and one has a male so I was wondering if I ever brought him by if he would get on with them, or is it a bad idea? What is a good diet for him, the previous owners just gave him seed which I don't think is very good. Thank you for all this advice so far!

[liz]

Don't try to socialize him to other birds or people until you are the moon and stars to him.

Rambo is 20+ but from this breeding season I believe he should be called Rainbow.

[Wolf]

To be quite honest with you since they are not living together where they would be part of the same flock it is highly unlikely that they would get along if they are of the same sex. If they are of opposite sexes you run the risk of them not getting along or that they will bond with each other which would be worse than if they did not get along. The other risk that you encounter is that of disease. Even if they do not meet it is a good idea to bathe and change clothes before handling your bird if you come into contact with these other birds or visit their owners and are in any area that their bird have access to.
Because of the possibility of this passive transmission of certain very lethal bird diseases I thoroughly clean and disinfect any item that I get from any pet store that ever has sold or sells birds.
You are quite correct that an all seed diet is bad for your bird as it will cause liver, kidney and heart disease. Greys have a tendency also to be deficient in vitamin A and calcium, so it is important to feed foods that are rich in beta carotene ( vitamin A precursor) and calcium. You don't want to supplement the vitamin A as it is a fat soluable vitamin that can build up in the birds system and then can become toxic, but it is safe to provide the precursor to this vitamin which is beta carotene. Look up Gloop in the Health, nutrition and diet section, this is what I feed my birds for breakfast and then give them a seed mix for dinner.

[MichaelaK]

Here is a picture.