Housing for breeding Congo african greys?

[Dms86]

Marie yes i have an these people are ment to be the experts? My intention was to re-home a bonded breeding pair in a purpose built aivary (with heated box's). Give them a healthy varied diet as i do with my grey now. A bonded breeding pair will want privacy and tend not to want human contact i have read and also best to keep to a set routine.
Im not doing this for money i want to do this to produce some healthy, happy, socialized birds that will have the best chance when they do go to a vetted home thats suitable.

[Michael]

If you want to adopt an unwanted breeding pair and let them live it out, it's one thing. However, there really is no good reason for you to provide them nesting and breed them. Seriously. You are not going to be breeding better parrots than well established expert breeders (not talking about mills here). I still don't see what makes you think breeding Greys would be a good idea. You're not going to make money on it, you're not going to be breeding outstanding parrots (because a small breeder with just a few pairs has neither the experience nor genetic variety to be doing anything great). All you'd be doing is contributing to the overpopulation of poorly bred, genetically unhealthy, unwanted parrots that overfill the rescues and suffer for it. Look at how no one thinks this is a good idea. Have a bit of sense and compassion and forget breeding. Start a parrot sanctuary if you have loads of money to blow and want to do something good for some parrots.

[ginger]

It would be FANTASTIC to give those guys a home where they could live out their lives WITHOUT breeding! No need for them to continue breeding. If you're not in it for money then were your intentions to give the offspring away? Somehow I don't get that impression from you.

I took in two Blue and Gold macaws that were former breeders. They were great fun to have around until I found them a suitable home. They were totally fine not breeding and I think they actually were healthier because they weren't forced to produce constantly. I found them a loving home where they could live out the rest of their lives kept as pets and not used as a "baby bird mill" for profit.

[marie83]

Really though I don't think you are getting the point at all. I don't think any of us can persuade you it is not a good idea because I think you have already made your mind up, which is quite sad really. Even vetting homes does not guarentee a good home + parrots are so long lived you won't know what happens when the owners can no longer look after the bird.

As for the genetics argument I really suggest you consider watching pedigree dogs exposed and the follow up program pedigree dogs 3 years on. Google it.
Sadly I can see parrots ending up in a similar state, all through ignorance and greed there is also a hell of alot of other independant research available on other species if your interested. I really believe that the ONLY reason parrots do not have all these problems is because parrots are not too far removed from their wild counterparts (yet) as they have only really been recently domesticated. Since the wild bird trade has been banned parrots are going to end up as inbred as dogs are (eventually, and probably sooner rather than later).

People on the whole are not as clever as we think we are.

[Dms86]

Okay well thanks for the advice be it negative but i can see every one has strong oppinions on this but if no one bred parrots then we wouldnt have the beautiful birds we call pets today or more would be imported on black market maybe. I might not have the all experiance but im sure they didnt no it all when they did it. Perhaps they got some usefull/positive advice aswell

[marie83]

Okay well thanks for the advice be it negative but i can see every one has strong oppinions on this but if no one bred parrots then we wouldnt have the beautiful birds we call pets today or more would be imported on black market maybe. I might not have the all experiance but im sure they didnt no it all when they did it. Perhaps they got some usefull/positive advice aswell

Nobody argued with the fact that we wouldn't have pet parrots if there were not breeders in the world. The point is there are already TOO MANY breeders in the world and the rescues are chock a block of unwanted, stressed out, unhealthy birds because there are not enough good homes for them......

[ginger]

It seems to me that you are only seeking advice by people that agree with you about breeding. If you truly want advice then you should take ALL advice into consideration. There is not a risk of running out of breeders. The pet trade is not in risk of running out of parrots just because YOU don't breed.

[Michael]

Marie put it brilliantly. The issue isn't breeders but the over abundance of them. Having more breeders not only means poorer quality birds but also makes the prices too low. This might sound like a good thing until you realize what this really means. People buy them for a short time without much thought and then get rid of them. Look at budgies as a prime example of why cheap parrots are doomed. If you have any regard for anyone but yourself, forget breeding. There's really nothing more to say. Just don't do it.

[Grey_Moon]

Well...the truth is we should NOT have birds as pets.

Parrots suffer in captivity and it is extremely difficult to care for them in a way they would want and need---evidenced by the huge amount of them that are neglected, unwanted or abandoned. Not to mention the large amount of them that demonstrate behaviour problems.

The problem with you breeding this pair is just that---you are continuing a practice that is to the detriment of the birds.
I DO NOT support or think any parrot should be a pet---however I think there must be qualified homes for the birds we have already crippled and damaged that we could not return to their natural states.
IF you breed you continue the problem, promote their purchase as pets and take away a home for a parrot in desperate need of it.

It is a lie that a baby parrot will not succumb to any of the problems that the 'broken or imperfect' rescue birds have that put people off of them. These problems are caused by captivity, not quirks of a few out-of-the-norm birds.