# Anyone with an African Grey Parrots



## tracie

Hi

do we have any African Grey owners on this site - would be great to chat with someone else who has one?


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## scosha37

Hi,
Yeah theres a few on here...

I used to own 2 chleo & floyd but had to rehome due to my asthma.. i miss them very very much... so now i cannot have any birds...well gutted..


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## tracie

What a shame, my african grey is almost three and I swear he thinks I am his mate. He even tries to feed me sometimes and I can more or less touch him anywhere but he won't let my husband anywhere near him. He picks things up so quickly and amazes us with how many words and sentences he remembers.
I would be lost without him.


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## scosha37

Yeah floyd was like that with me..he was my buddy i really really do miss him..but hes in a good home now
Or first grey was my OH she hated me ..untill i had a paket of cheese n onion crisps....yes i hear everyone say you cant let them eat anything like that!..but she would come to me then..even thou i was the one who cleaned her out and fed her ect ect...:scared: she nearly broke my pinky off although she didnt bite just pulled it... but it nearly broke!..

Yeah they can pick up anything...when i got floyd the lady said he only said 2 notty words.....more like 22!.. but we manages to kinda change them ..lol

How long have you had him??


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## tracie

We've had Freddie six months now our last one died at the age of 30 last year. Freddie came from a family of three teenage boys and they were getting too rough with him and teasing him, hence they put him up for sale and we now have him. I have just read been reading a thread of someone else's parrot behaviour and it sounds just like Freddie, I think he does think I'm his mate, which explains a lot about how he behaves around me.


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## scosha37

Yeah he will think he is your mate you are his love of his life!..lol

I had a Panama Amazon and he was really bad as in wouldnt let anyone near me, kids or hubby and even started on the dogs and he bite my youngest son on the ear when he came to ask a question really gave him a nasty one son is scared of them now but was fine when floyd cam along he would really go to them but he didnt bite them..

So what kind of word does he say then??


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## tracie

He says loads, from coughing really loudly and saying 'bad cough - get the vet!' to 'cheeky monkey', he tells our puppy billy to get down, stop barking, stop biting and that he's a bad boy! He shouts mummy - love you (which is soooooooo sweet and I love it!) he shouts my name in a really weird voice and he shouts 'mummy talk to me' he tells himself to stop squawking, shouts 'stop it Freddie' which is really funny.He also swears quite badly as we think the teenage boys taught him so as you can imagine he has a few choice words!

I love 'In the air tonight' by Phil Collins and Freddie sings the first part of the chorus but gets it a bit wrong and misses loads out so he sings' I can feel it - ohh Lord' 

He also says 'whatever' in such a voice that you can also imagine it coming from a teenager. He has been in stitches as you can say things to him. My husband is a great sulker and has been sulking for days now, so I am thinking of teaching Freddie to say 'sulky bu**er - That would be funny!


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## tracie

sorry has me in stitches I should have said - it sounds like Freddie has had stitches in my email above!


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## scosha37

OOh yeah they can be so sos funny can they...

Learn him Tickle tickle tickle..its so sweet,,floyd used to wistle the mcdonalds tune and when he used to see my Hubby he would copy a lot of what he said even the sound of him drinking out the cup and burbing!..was so funny
and hubby got him to wistle the close encounter tune he got it down to a T!

God even typing about him i really miss him i even had a dream about him that i got him back from the lady..:frown5: 

So what food and stuff does he like then??
Does he fly around the house?


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## tracie

funny as he does slurp and make burping noises which we presumed the lads had taught him. He comes out of his cage but not every day, as sometimes he will go in when I want him too and sometimes he is so stubborn I have to bride him with food - which can take time!

Funny you ask about food, as someone once told me to feed him pellets, but no one seems to sell pellets for parrots. he does seem to leave a lot of the parrot mix we get, which means loads get wasted. he probably gets much more in titbits than he should! He does have some of my toast in the morning and does have the occasional crisp!

Sorry about yours - he sounded a real character. I'd be lost without Freddie.

I am going to try the tickle tickle tickle and see how long it takes for him to learn it. I'll let you know!


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## scosha37

tracie said:


> funny as he does slurp and make burping noises which we presumed the lads had taught him. He comes out of his cage but not every day, as sometimes he will go in when I want him too and sometimes he is so stubborn I have to bride him with food - which can take time!
> 
> Funny you ask about food, as someone once told me to feed him pellets, but no one seems to sell pellets for parrots. he does seem to leave a lot of the parrot mix we get, which means loads get wasted. he probably gets much more in titbits than he should! He does have some of my toast in the morning and does have the occasional crisp!
> 
> Sorry about yours - he sounded a real character. I'd be lost without Freddie.
> 
> I am going to try the tickle tickle tickle and see how long it takes for him to learn it. I'll let you know!


Floyd hated sunflower seeds or normal parrot food only eat a biscuit kind ooh god whats it name it smelt of fruit he loved it , i will try get the name of it...they said sunflowers seeds arent to good for them and you will know about chocolate and avacardos ?


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## susie

Yup another mad bird slave here as well  Alfie is 4yrs old and more like a naughty toddler than a flipping bird .

Mind you from being able to do anything with him he decided around 9 months ago that he's no longer my baby and now prefers my OH to me :confused5:


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## scosha37

susie said:


> Yup another mad bird slave here as well  Alfie is 4yrs old and more like a naughty toddler than a flipping bird .
> 
> Mind you from being able to do anything with him he decided around 9 months ago that he's no longer my baby and now prefers my OH to me :confused5:


Aww susie...you just need to get one for yourself...lol

I sure hes a male?? usealy male prefers Females and Males prefer us girls..hope you understood that...lol


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## susie

scosha37 said:


> Aww susie...you just need to get one for yourself...lol
> 
> I sure hes a male?? usealy male prefers Females and Males prefer us girls..hope you understood that...lol


I would not fit another animal in this house , we already have approx 30 chins 
( I run a chin rescue so numbers vary ) , a gsd and a rescue 'so called designer dog' , a mad bird , a bearded dragon ( thats sons though lol) and 2 ducks who thankfully live outside 

We have never bothered having him dna tested as have no intentions breeding , hes a little so and so, got to be male in my book


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## scosha37

susie said:


> I would not fit another animal in this house , we already have approx 30 chins
> ( I run a chin rescue so numbers vary ) , a gsd and a rescue 'so called designer dog' , a mad bird , a bearded dragon ( thats sons though lol) and 2 ducks who thankfully live outside
> 
> We have never bothered having him dna tested as have no intentions breeding , hes a little so and so, got to be male in my book


Oh i dont know about that..lol my female grey was a tomboy!...

:thumbup:Good for you for running a chin rescue!!


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## africangreys

African grey parrots are great, when I met my partner she had one and talked me into letting her breed them, which is what we do now, well she does ... we have 18 breeders 3 pets and 2 blue front amazons ... oh and four kids, you can imagine how noisy our house!!


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## xgemma86x

We've had our African Grey Casper for almost 12 years. I'm not sure of his/her sex as we have no intention at all of breeding him/her. He talks,screeches,makes daft noises and is soooo amusing. I darent repeat some of the stuff he says He eats anything and everything apart from fruit  He mainly enjoys pasta and meat! 

I would love to be able to chat to others with this type of parrot as I love sharing stories about Casper.


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## scosha37

Heres a couple of links for yous all...

It's A Grey's World! African Grey Parrot Information

Welcome to Africangreys.com


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## xgemma86x

I know people say not to feed Greys certain foods but Casper eats what we eat and has done pretty much since we got him almost 12 years ago and he's NEVER had any health problems


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## scosha37

xgemma86x said:


> I know people say not to feed Greys certain foods but Casper eats what we eat and has done pretty much since we got him almost 12 years ago and he's NEVER had any health problems


Yeah theres a few things i got told not to give ..like the Chcolate,oberzens..sorry for the spelling.. and to watch for ccoking smells as well...and certain pots and pans.....To many grapes...
theres was a guy around the corner he fed his grey what he eat he never gave it parrot food... and he 10 years old..but remember prrots can out live us..


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## toddy

I have a 5 year old grey called Fred.
He is a darling.
We can teach him something new and it will take him 3 days to learn it.
His latest is 'help sharks' lol


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## africangreys

scosha37 said:


> Yeah theres a few things i got told not to give ..like the Chcolate,oberzens..sorry for the spelling.. and to watch for ccoking smells as well...and certain pots and pans.....To many grapes...
> theres was a guy around the corner he fed his grey what he eat he never gave it parrot food... and he 10 years old..but remember prrots can out live us..


There's a number of foods that you should avoid giving your African grey, I wrote a blog post about this the other day called 10 toxic foods for parrots which discusses what the foods are and what they are likely to do to your parrot should they eat them.


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## scosha37

africangreys said:


> There's a number of foods that you should avoid giving your African grey, I wrote a blog post about this the other day called 10 toxic foods for parrots which discusses what the foods are and what they are likely to do to your parrot should they eat them.


Thank you very much......:cornut:

But i havent got my grey now......due to my asthma..

But thanks anyways for the info should help others.....


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## africangreys

No problemo always glad to help, I suffer asthma too there's tricks to help you avoid suffering too much whilst still having a grey


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## scosha37

africangreys said:


> No problemo always glad to help, I suffer asthma too there's tricks to help you avoid suffering too much whilst still having a grey


Yeah i know i have been there...and the hospital to....i am gutted would do anything to have him back....ooh yeah buy iron lungs...:ihih:


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## africangreys

Iron lungs ... now there's an idea lol


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## toddy

The lady I bought my grey from suffered from asthma and still kept him fro 3 years but then a severe attatck which nearly killed her forced her to rehome him.


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## africangreys

I'm not a severe asthma sufferer by any means but particularly in the summer months when the pollen count is high I do suffer more for sure, my mother in law has chronic lung disease and has a grey in the house 'Eddie' she copes but then I'm convinced half the reason she suffers is because of the grey, some tips to help people with breathing problems are to not position your grey where you sit or spend the most time stationary and get some dust extraction equipment, it's pretty cheap these days, I think we got ours from ebay, we don't run it all the time just in the summer months or when we have loads of babies in the house.


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## scosha37

africangreys said:


> I'm not a severe asthma sufferer by any means but particularly in the summer months when the pollen count is high I do suffer more for sure, my mother in law has chronic lung disease and has a grey in the house 'Eddie' she copes but then I'm convinced half the reason she suffers is because of the grey, some tips to help people with breathing problems are to not position your grey where you sit or spend the most time stationary and get some dust extraction equipment, it's pretty cheap these days, I think we got ours from ebay, we don't run it all the time just in the summer months or when we have loads of babies in the house.


Its funny you say that as my grey was always next to me...we have a kinda small living room...i was always cleaning him out sometimes 3 times a day spraying him aswell to keep the dust down.. was ok but...dont work ..i was rushed into hozzy with bad asthma attack.. and they did tests and it was my grey...

But i seem to be ok with small birds...


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## toddy

Greys do give off a lot off dust.
There are some birds such as sun conures who would be better for asthmatics as they do not create so much dust.


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## Sarahnya

I have a Timneh Grey called "Timmy" (original huh). He loves me but is a complete nightmare with anyone else, my mum insists he goes back in his cage when she visits as he dive bombs her. 

I swear he thinks it's funny because he seems to make a beeline for her and when she walks past his cage he deliberately bashes the crap out of his toys lol


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## africangreys

toddy said:


> Greys do give off a lot off dust.
> There are some birds such as sun conures who would be better for asthmatics as they do not create so much dust.


do they give off dust!!! ... you wanna see our place especially out in the breeders ... dust city, I have to wear a mask when I go out there!!


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## scosha37

Sarahnya said:


> I have a Timneh Grey called "Timmy" (original huh). He loves me but is a complete nightmare with anyone else, my mum insists he goes back in his cage when she visits as he dive bombs her.
> 
> I swear he thinks it's funny because he seems to make a beeline for her and when she walks past his cage he deliberately bashes the crap out of his toys lol


when i got my fisrt grey she did this to me...my hubby gor her for me but didnt bound with me was him...but when i had food it was a differnt story...lol


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## TRACHELSTUD

I have just brought an african grey baby he is 13 weeks old now and an absolute gem we all love him to bits, i am wondering when do they start to be more vocal, my Charlie is so quiet he has the odd moment where he has a whistle outburts but nothing much, he whistles for 5 minutes then falls asleep lol.
Any info on behaviour and what not plz tell me.

xx


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## SeaThreePeeO

Trachelstud, you grey is still very much a baby, so will have active periods during the day followed by sudden and quick 'cat' naps.

He will become more vocal with time once he settles down to his new enviroment, but be careful what you wish for because unfortunately they do not come with a mute button or volume control lol. However not every parrot learns to talk.

I have a congo african grey called Izzy who will turn 3 on 16th of May. She's always chuntering during the day and can mimick both our phones at the same time


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## nickylowe40

We also have a grey, called Jazz, along with 3 conures, 2 hahns, a senegal, 2 celestes, 2 love birds, 5 budgies, 4 finches, 4 canaries and 6 quials PHEW!!

Jazz is our baby, we had him at 16 weeks old, and hes know nearly 9 months old. He is so funny. he whistles the adams family, says hello, you alright, what ya doing, Alfie!! - my dog lol, give us a kiss - he learnt this off the hahns, and loads more, i can't think of at the mo.

We have been warned though, that greys don't normally start talking until 12 months, and if they do start early, you can't shut them up!

As for food, i bought a parrot mix where the sun flower was already shelled, it stop them from picking it first, but it was very expensive £22 per 9kg, but my local pet shop, makes a parrot mix for me, without sunflower, its till more expensive than the normal, run of the mill, parrot food, but they are worth it.

Mine all eat fruit, and veg, but do like theirs nice biscuits around 3ish! Naughty i know, but they don't have a lot.









this is jazz, and my son lewis


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## Midnight

My mother in law has adopted an african grey parrot she's had her for years now her name is Chaoes  she only likes the men though


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## Guest

tracie said:


> Hi
> 
> do we have any African Grey owners on this site - would be great to chat with someone else who has one?


my mate has an african grey he had to take it to the vets we put it in a small cage and took it on the bus it whistled at all the girls and swore at some people on the bus it shouted hi fatty as a large lady got on everyone on the bus was laughing


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## jilly40

weve just got a 7mth old african grey called mojo1 he says tickle,tickle,tickle.mojo!,mess!thats me when i clean him out!,hello,georgous.ive heard him say hello stockport pet warehouse once!! he whistles n mutters some other bits but not caught what they are ooh n sorry! weve not had him long he is still settleing in.got him some toys yest a bell n stuff  he loves fresh veg n fruit.just wondered what you fed yours on.complete or nuts etc? read somewhere complete is better with fruit n veg xx


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## dexter

we have one we inherited it when it was 10 had it for 10 years or so ourselves. It hates me LOL. been told its because its a female . is that right?


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## jilly40

dexter said:


> we have one we inherited it when it was 10 had it for 10 years or so ourselves. It hates me LOL. been told its because its a female . is that right?


sorry ive not got the foggyiest idea,dont know if our is male or female so would be interestin 2 find out.we say he but? x


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## scosha37

dexter said:


> we have one we inherited it when it was 10 had it for 10 years or so ourselves. It hates me LOL. been told its because its a female . is that right?


yeah prob...so annoying,,,i bet your one that looks after it and cleans it out,,,


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## scosha37

jilly40 said:


> weve just got a 7mth old african grey called mojo1 he says tickle,tickle,tickle.mojo!,mess!thats me when i clean him out!,hello,georgous.ive heard him say hello stockport pet warehouse once!! he whistles n mutters some other bits but not caught what they are ooh n sorry! weve not had him long he is still settleing in.got him some toys yest a bell n stuff  he loves fresh veg n fruit.just wondered what you fed yours on.complete or nuts etc? read somewhere complete is better with fruit n veg xx


OOh cool jilly!... you got any piccys...please...:thumbup:

you know not to give it chocolate and avacado's very poisonise (sp) & Lemon , grapefruits & Cabbage, and not a lot of grapes it gives them the runs..


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## dexter

scosha37 said:


> yeah prob...so annoying,,,i bet your one that looks after it and cleans it out,,,


lol yes you're right there. It even has a go at the dogs if they get too close to "him".


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## scosha37

dexter said:


> lol yes you're right there. It even has a go at the dogs if they get too close to "him".


We had a female like this.. she even growl'd at me..but i was the one who did everything for her..god she knew where her bread butter was..lol
she would go crazy if i had a packet of cheese n onoin crisps!...


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## saeedshe

yes I have an absolute horror eaten doors is working her way through dresser dare not elave alone at any time - what is yours like love to chat with u


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## saeedshe

yes thats right i have inherited my late Husbands bird she lvoed him tolerates me cos I am virtually the only person she sees now but never I can win her round. They are very intelligent - she has also lost a good friend of hers he died and she blames me I am sure it is very tricky


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## scosha37

saeedshe said:


> yes I have an absolute horror eaten doors is working her way through dresser dare not elave alone at any time - what is yours like love to chat with u





saeedshe said:


> yes thats right i have inherited my late Husbands bird she lvoed him tolerates me cos I am virtually the only person she sees now but never I can win her round. They are very intelligent - she has also lost a good friend of hers he died and she blames me I am sure it is very tricky


hi saeeshe...

ooh yeah doors were a fave on my first grey..:cryin:

yeah they are very very intelligent indeed sometimes better than us!...


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## clark_denise

saeedshe said:


> yes thats right i have inherited my late Husbands bird she lvoed him tolerates me cos I am virtually the only person she sees now but never I can win her round. They are very intelligent - she has also lost a good friend of hers he died and she blames me I am sure it is very tricky


i brought one he is a treasure bites when he does not want to go back in cage


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## Animals548

what are these birds?


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## scosha37

Animals548 said:


> what are these birds?


Here you go Animal... click on the link below..

http://www.african-grey-parrots.co.uk/about-greys/


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## TRACHELSTUD

Touch wood....Ha Ha like the punch, my grey has not chewed anything as yet, i will not leave him unattended, if i leave the room he follows me everywhere so in theory he does not get the chance to chew, a friend of mine has been doing the pebbles in a plastic bottle and when ever he goes to chew she shakes the bottle at him and says dont chew, so far its working, i have only ever known that method in training dogs but its working so far with her boy.

I would cry my eyes out if my boys chews as we are in rented accomodation and thikn we would be evicted straight away lol.:cursing:


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## clark_denise

africangreys said:


> African grey parrots are great, when I met my partner she had one and talked me into letting her breed them, which is what we do now, well she does ... we have 18 breeders 3 pets and 2 blue front amazons ... oh and four kids, you can imagine how noisy our house!!


can u keep two greys together in one cage would it stop them from talki


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## sokeldachshunds

clark_denise said:


> can u keep two greys together in one cage would it stop them from talki


I have 2 in seperate cages but they are out of the cages all the time.
1 has never talked much and at over 30 yrs old he is unlikely to start now 
the younger one never stops talking.
My sister also has 2 greys they have 2 cages but they always share a cage on a night,both talk none stop and always have done.


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## scosha37

TRACHELSTUD said:


> Touch wood....Ha Ha like the punch, my grey has not chewed anything as yet, i will not leave him unattended, if i leave the room he follows me everywhere so in theory he does not get the chance to chew, a friend of mine has been doing the pebbles in a plastic bottle and when ever he goes to chew she shakes the bottle at him and says dont chew, so far its working, i have only ever known that method in training dogs but its working so far with her boy.
> 
> I would cry my eyes out if my boys chews as we are in rented accomodation and thikn we would be evicted straight away lol.:cursing:


You know i started to do that with an Panama Amazon i had he was a notty sod! turn your head he was at it..lol and i did this one day but it was a tin of marbles my son had and it stopped in his traks or should i say his beak!..good idea i for got about that one...


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## sapphire123

African grey parrots are great, when I met my partner she had one and talked me into letting her breed them, which is what we do now, well she does ... we have 18 breeders 3 pets and 2 blue front amazons ... oh and four kids, you can imagine how noisy our house!!


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## scosha37

sapphire123 said:


> African grey parrots are great, when I met my partner she had one and talked me into letting her breed them, which is what we do now, well she does ... we have 18 breeders 3 pets and 2 blue front amazons ... oh and four kids, you can imagine how noisy our house!!


ooh i can hear you just now..lol OJ..

Yeah but i bet you would want it any other way..


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## saeedshe

Having an African Grey in the house is the equivalent of a five year old child although they are more intlligent the parrot I mean


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## dagny0823

I have a 17 year old named Bingo. Unsure of sex, but we just call him a he. He is the most mischievous, intelligent pet ever--a regular home entertainment center. He makes upwards of 300 sounds, words and phrases. My favorites are "I'm naked" and "Got any food". He used to torture my former dog---I got them around the same time, and Bingo got all jealous, so he would tell Brodie he was a "bad dog" and try to bite him. He's mellowed with age and doesn't mind the new dog. Or the cats. In fact, he's quite tolerant of them and lets one hang out on top of his cage, so long as she doesn't try to play with his toys too much. He used to regurgitate for another cat I had---It was an inter-species love affair .

He also has what I call conversations with me. I suppose because he's learned what's appropriate as a response within conversations, he'll interject with "uh-huh" or "oh really". I doubt he understands what he's saying, but it's hilarious. He'll ring like a phone, say "hello", make some one-word responses, and then "ok, bye" and make the hang-up noise.

He'll eat pretty much anything you give him, so long as it's not sweet. He hates fruit, but loves anything salty, especially junk food like crisps and chips.

Oh, yeah, and like some other people mentioned, he burps. He tends to do that when he's happy--the Bingo Burp of Approval lol


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## dexter

ours is around 22 . hates me , i'm told its a female lol. even the dogs aren't safe from it.Hes always stalking them , the keep a wide berth of the cage now lol


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