African Congo Baby and 20 Year Old Timneh

[tally129]

I had an ACG for 8 years, raised him from a baby. He was stolen in January from my backyard. So Sad!! Looked for him everywhere since, but no luck. On Sunday I purchased a new baby grey and I will get him in one month, when he is on 2 hand feedings a day. I have hand fed before.
Now I have a possible opportunity to adopt a 20 year old Timneh grey from a dear lady who does not have enough time for her.
I am wondering about this mix. Still in the considering stage. Of course the baby will be kept separately for awhile while I continue hand feeding and accustom him to a perch.
But in the long run, I need to know a couple of things.
1. Can I keep them in the same cage. Since one is a Male (baby) and one a female (20 yrs) I don’t know for sure if they will take to each other, but if they do will they mate.
2. If they do not get along, the Timneh owner will take her back.
3. I have a very large cage with a playtop, and I plan to purchase some sort of outdoor aviary that I can lock, so no more stolen pets. They love to go outdoors.
4. Will having two birds take away from the bonding to me and learning to talk. My lost grey was a prolific speaker. He could say so many things. Wonderful.
5. The lady who has the Timneh would take him back if things did not work out.

Please some advice from you long time parrot owners. I plan to meet the lady, and her Timneh and see if she even takes to me first, but I promised to do some research on this to bring to her when we talk.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[DRB]

First and foremost IMO, do you trust the lady will take the TAG back if you cannot make it work? I would think a bird being sent back and forth between differing owners and gettign resettled would be a very stressed out and unhappy bird.

 

[tally129]

Well, this lady has had the bird, Ms Grey she calls her for 10 years so I don't think the bird has been back and forth with people. But she is very concerned that the new home fits, and she just made the comment that she would want to know that I would bring her back if things didn't work out.
But I am more concerned about my other questions, although I truly appreciate your response and help in this.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Just like humans..birds have their own "birdonality"..what works for one might not work with another. My Timneh Smokey could NOT stand Amy,even though Amy tried her best to be buddys with Smokes.

A 20 year old parrot,probably lived by herself all these years,might not be too keen on a "new kid" on the block!
Before even attempting to house them together I strongly suggest you see how they interact first,but even then,you don't really know.

JMO here...I would only consider it,if they were siblings and were raised together as babies..


Jim

 

[itzjbean]

Honestly it would porbably be best for you to focus on your new baby, bonding and training it and let the woman find a home for her older grey. You don't want to take on more than you can handle, and again, the birds may very likely not get along well, as the older bird has probably been an only bird for quite a few years, and may not like being in the new household with the baby. Also, I agree with the advice above, that the older grey may feel more stressed by being moved back and forth if it doesn't work out in your home. Take all advice into consideration on this, and as much as you love greys and your heart tells you to adopt both, think about this logically for a minute. I don't think it would really be fair to your new baby, and the older grey could end up seriously injuring your baby.

 

[EllenD]

I would not assume at all that they will get along, and I certainly wouldn't put them in the same cage together! That's a big no no, they need to be slowly introduced and need to interact with each other over time to see how they get along. There are several different outcomes that can happen, one being they hate each other and are aggressive and violent towards each other, but you don't dare just put them together and "see what happens".

I also agree that if you're bringing home an unweaned CAG baby that you really want to bond with yourself, you certainly don't want to mess that up with bringing a 20 year old bird that may have a lot of behavioural issues once he is rehomed. You have no idea how that rehomed Gray is going to act once it gets into a new house with new people and it's long-time owner is gone. You could have a nightmare on your hands, and this will do a couple of things, one being it will take a lot of time away from your new baby CAG. I don't know if you've ever rehomed a parrot before, let alone a Gray, but I volunteer at a bird rescue and I would say 70% of all birds rehomed have severe behavioral issues once they are rehomed and require a great amount of daily work. And Grays being as intelligent as they are make the job much more difficult. The second thing adopting this gray might cause to happen is that your new little baby CAG may just love the older bird, they bond closely with each other (another possible outcome of introducing them), and you lose your opportunity to bond closely with your baby. This happens at the rescue quite often, and then it's even more difficult to work with either of the birds because they are just wanting to be attached to each other and want nothing to do with any new people. Then when one of the birds is adopted to a new owner or moved to another rescue, the remaining bird develops even more aggression than it had.

I'm only saying this to you because it sounds like you miss your stolen CAG very much because you had a very close, special bond with him, and the entire reason you are bringing an unweaned baby CAG into your home to hand-feed is so you can bond just as closely with this new baby as you did with the bird you lost. You've already made a huge commitment to your baby CAG and you really do seem to desire a close relationship with this baby CAG, and you're executing a plan to hand-feed him in order to establish that type of bond. Adopting another adult bird that will at best require the same amount of attention as your new baby will and at worst will have a horrible reaction to being rehomed and require more attention and work than the baby will. And then after all of this it's very possible that the two birds will bond with each other and want nothing to do with you collectively, or at least neither will bond closely with you, not anywhere as closely like you were bonded with the bird you lost.

Long story short, for what you seem to want in a relationship with a parrot I would concentrate fully on developing a bond with your new baby and try to help your neighbor/friend find another home for her Gray. If in the future you want to rescue another bird that's fine, think about it then, but not simultaneously with bringing home an unweaned baby CAG that you wish to bond closely with.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[tally129]

Much thanks. YOu all are in agreement that I needs to concentrate on me new baby and that is what I will do. Thanks to all. Love this forum. Glad I found it.

 

[pjb]

I'm interested in the older African grey. Would it be possible to connect me with the other party?

Thanks

Pam

 

[tally129]

Pam, where do you live?

 

[itzjbean]

That's great you've decided to concentrate on the arrival of your new baby grey! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

That's great you've decided to concentrate on the arrival of your new baby grey! Can't wait to see pics!

YES!! BABY PICS!!! Baby Greys are awesome!! ( well....ALL babies are awesome!)



Jim

 

[pjb]

I live near Lubbock Texas