Thinking about adopting an African Grey

I have been wanting to add a new bird to my family, and have done extensive research on all sorts of species to find which best fits my lifestyle. I think an African Grey would be a perfect match. I take online classes and am home all day, everyday during the week. I have spent endless amounts of time researching them. I have found a 2 year old male Congo African Grey looking to be placed in a new home where someone is able to give him more attention. His current owner says he started plucking a few months ago since she was unable to be home as much as the bird needed. His feathers are starting to grow back, and he has a clean bill of health from the vet. She says he is shy and would take time getting comfortable with his new owner which I expect and am up to the challenge. I'd love to hear from others with personal experiences.

If I do get him, what should be done to help him bond with me? Are there any differences between a Congo and a Timneh? What do you feed your Grey? How are they in general with another bird? Thanks for any help and advice.

Well, with CAGs and TAGs, just let the bird lead in how you introduce themselves. Hope for much but expect little-sometimes they are very intimidated by new things and environments, and it takes them a while to feel comfortable enough to be themselves! In general, Timnehs are more outgoing, less paranoid about new things, more adventuresome physically, and less likely to be one person rules, but I can easily think of both TAGs and CAGs that deny those generalizations on both sides. Start by just talking to him and sitting by his cage. If he comes up to you and seems interested, progress to treats, then work on stepping up. Read his body language and see what he is comfortable with.

For diet I do a combo of pellets and fresh foods. Pepper loves her roudybush soaked in sugarfree applesauce and cinnamon, lettuce, grapes, spinach, bits of apples, almonds or unshelled unsalted sunflower seeds as treats, and little bits of whatever we eat throughout the day. I just gave her a bit of bagel with hummus on it. She is very adventuresome with food.

With other birds-its really a gamble with bird personalities. Since your little guy is so much smaller than a grey, you may want to do very limited introductions (after your quarantine period) to see how they react to one another with one being enclosed in a cage. Is your conure flighted? Is this grey? Others will probably chime in with more useful info, I haven't done this bit.

You also need to go carefully with toys-if he is not used to toys you may have to 'teach' him how to play with them. After he's used to it being in the same room and not eating him, play with it in front of him, bite it, pass it back and forth with somebody else with everybody making loud delighted noises. If he seems interested let him peck at it, then pull it away and play with it a bit, then let him at it again.

An excellent resource is the African Grey Parrot Handbook. It is a wonderful explanation of how greys tick and how to deal with behavior.

Your lifestyle may be conducive to a Grey now but you aren't always going to be taking online classes and being home all day. Eventually, your life will change. That particular bird seems to need extra attention and you can't predict if you will always be around a lot. If you want a grey, Id suggest one that doesn't already have a history of plucking....so that when and if your lifestyle changes, you won't have a strong chance of that happening. Remember...these things live 70 years.

Now to answer your questions

1) The bird will bond with you (if it's indeed you and not someone else in your house) on it's own time. You can't really help that along. Just give it plenty of love and attention.

2) Timnehs are smaller and generally less prone to being nervous and having anxiety.

3) Food... my grey and my ekkie have the same exact diet (for simplicity). Steamed mix veggies with an emphasis on carrots and brocoli. Steamed rice. High quality seed/nut mix. Higgins makes great stuff. Tikal is the mix my birds prefer. I always mix the Harrisons pellets in with the steamed veggies. They get that in their cage for 4 hours and 1 cup of that seed mix left in their cage the rest of the day. I also get the calcium sticks that mount to the cage on an occasional basis. For a treat, apples, blueberries, and bananas are good but not often because of the natural sugars.

4) Greys are prone to jealousy and can be a bit "mean" on occasion to another bird who may be perceived as stealing attention from them. I personally wouldn't have a grey with a smaller bird. Only birds of equal size. My ekkie doesn't take any bull from the grey and lets him know when he has crossed the line!

I recommend lots of research, and a "cooling off" period from the original idea of about 2 months. It's really sad to see the amount of young African grey's on Craigslist because people didn't know what they were getting into...