African Grey Breeders - San Francisco Area?

This is my first post although I've been reading posts extensively for the past few months. My wife and I currently own a green cheek conure (pineapple hybrid). We've only had her for 3 months or so and are very happy with her. We are both crazy about African Greys but probably will hold off on getting one till we own a house with a yard. I've always kept all my smaller birds (finches and budgies) flighted and in aviaries and I plan on building a large aviary before we ultimately purchase an African Grey.

I was just curious how to go about finding reputable breeders in my area. And I was also curious what your thoughts are on hand feeding babies during the weaning process in an attempt to make as large of an imprint on your new parrot as possible. Obviously before I ever attempted something like this I would go donate my time with a breeder or friend and get as much hands on practice as possible. When I google things like "African Grey Breeders....San Francisco" etc I just get generalized ebayclassified responses.

For anyone from the area I visit The Animal Company in Noe Valley periodically to play with their birds and talk with the owners. They seem to have a good reputation from Yelp and they have both been extremelly friendly to me. When I ultimately get a Grey, however, I want it to be from a breeder and I would like to bring my baby home during it's first few weeks if possible.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to any other advise Grey owners might have for my wife and I.

I do not know of any African grey breeders(I'm also in the bay area). Have you thought about having a bird shipped? Mirror lake exotics is a fantastic breeder and they have congo and tenmeh grays.

I also highly recommend you contact the mickaboo parrot rescue in San Jose, they are such a great organization and sadly they cannot accept any more parrots because so many are in need of homes. Here is their African gray adoption page

*edit*
I just looked online, they currently have 357 birds in need of homes.

Copper i checked that grey adoption website and I found that the grey named congo whose sub species is timenh, pure irony. Edit I read more about Congo's story kinda of sad.

Copper thanks for the reply, yes I am aware of Mickaboo, I have browsed their parrot profiles before. I have also read some of the rants on Yelp saying that they are horribly backlogged and cumbersome to deal with. I feel for the birds in shelters but at the same time I don't feel like my wife has the confidence to rehome a bird as intelligent and sensitive as a Grey at this point. My wife is skittish around parrots, particularly those with big beaks. She grew up in Turkey in a household with no pets around. Our little conure, who is completely non threatening, took her some time to get used to. I just can't see my wife being able to deal with a rehome Grey who will more than likely lunge, bluff or try to set her up with a bite before we gain its' complete trust. I would really prefer to start her off with a baby bird that she can cuddle and become comfortable with before any potential behavioral problems come up.

Do breeders just generally rely on word of mouth because I don't see any listings readily available online. I thought it would be a pretty easy task to track down some breeders in Northern California.

I have never bought from a breeder and only know what has been recommended and people who had good experiences with particular breeders. And older birds aren't that bad, I just recently adopted a 20 year old gray and he's wonderful. A older bird is already past puberty, one of the hardest parts of raising a bird and when most are rehomed.

There are a lot of backyard breeders in our area, very few, if any, give their birds better than average care and most feed a seed based diet. A good breeder can have a bird safety shipped to you.

I was going to recommend FOF Aviary, but their website appears to be down and they've also moved... they used to be located in the Davis area of California.

BirdBreeders.com :: Flights of Fantasy Aviary - Tacoma, WA 98444

I can recommend Birds of a Feather aviary for hand fed birds: Photos of our african grey parrots, and our facility

They are in Salinas. The specialize in Greys. They will not sell you an unweaned baby, however.

Copper thanks for your continued feedback, I am very curious what you have to say about your experiences with your rehomed Grey. I may just have the wrong perception about rescue birds. I tend to think that they have been unsocialized, undernourished and as a result come with baggage. I understand that some people may move or a child is born and they decide they can no longer keep their perfectly wonderful Grey any longer; but isn't that a small percentage of rescues? The single biggest factor thats drawn my wife to Greys is their talking ability.

We talk nonstop to our Pineapple Conure and even though she only says a few woods in a smokers voice its extremely funny and rewarding to get that vocal feedback. So call it selfish or just a silly newbie opinion but we figure a huge part of the fun with Greys is going from a little honking baby to a chatterbox adult who even speaks in context. And not only that but being able to encourage certain words, phrases and sounds that you think are funny or interesting. I know talking isn't a given with Greys but like I said before we talk to our Conure all the time and don't intend to keep a Grey just for decoration.

So that being said I think you have a really good point with adopting an older Grey and leap frogging over the whole sexual maturity, terrible twos phases. And of course giving a bird a second or third chance to have a good life. Can an older bird like yours generally still learn more words or are they pretty set in their ways vocally by that time? If they enjoy being handled are older Greys still cuddly i.e.. laying on their backs for scratches in your lap, or are they too dignified for that kind of thing?

Just know that not all greys talk. I have a 20 yr old TAG who does not talk but for once in awhile. Getting a older rescue who already talks is the only way to100% know if they will talk.

That's how it was with my grey, they had him for 20 years and felt they no longer had the time for him as well as their blue and gold who was also rehomed. He has had excellent care and is one of the best grays I have ever met. He knows over a 1,000 words and after having him since the 14th of last month he is already learning new words to my amazement. He also isn't freaked out by new things and isn't afraid of new toys. Many African grays I have met are phobic and do not do well with change. they need to be well socialized and introduced many different things through out their life. Kinji's only phobia is of boxes, caused by a bad experiance, and even that isn't too bad. I just have to move boxes around slowly, and let him know I have one before going into the room.

Keep in mind a rescue bird is not a rehomed bird. Rehomed birds are simply changing a home, a rescue bird came from a very bad environment and their life depends on a new home.

Rehome
Kinji came from a well rounded home with people who are educated about parrots. They took him to "for the birds vet" and fed him a high quality diet of fresh food and Harrison's pellets. They loved Kinji and always had his best care in mind.

Rescue
Rosie came to me with organ failure, calcium defiency, horribly weak legs that needed therapy, had no feather dust, feathers were discolored, was emaciated, plucked, and had learned hopelessness(acted catatonic). She only had a couple months to live if her life didn't change. It took a year and a half to completely rehabilitate her.

The couple I adopted him from tried to give Kinji and their macaw to Mickaboo but sadly mickaboo is unable to take in new birds. I feel very lucky that they chose me to be Kinji's new care taker. My galah cockatoo was also a adoption, I rescued her and she was a lot of work to rehabilitate but we have the most amazing bond now. I honestly think we have a closer bond than if I got her as a weaned baby because she knows her life is different with me.

A older bird can definitely learn new things, they never stop learning just as we never stop a older bird may or may not be cuddly. It depends on how they're raised, grays in general are less cuddly birds. But there are individuals who are. Many people raise a bird like they're fragile, because of that they will expect to be treated that way.

Your pinaple conure sounds very cute, he must love being talked to all day. If you end up adopting a grey you may want to buy a air filter. Greys have a lot of feather dust, while conures have oil. Some new world parrots don't do well when in exposed to the large quantities of feather dust that many old world parrots have. A high quality air filter, as well as open(screened) windows on nice days can help immensely.