wild gray

[amori]

hey guys, I already have a hand fed baby gray he is amazing and got me to love this breed of birds so I went to buy another one and I chosen to buy wild one for the challenge and fun of taming him as well as the reputation of them being more confident than the hand feed ones due to having some real live experience and family which gives them some more knowledge and personality. anyway I saw one in the auction which was in no perfect condition and I got him because of the amazing price on him. he is under year and a half, his health looks good and of course sooo scared of humans when too close with eye-contact. I guess i'm doing good distressing him with 3/4 covered cage placed in high spot and not too close to the action but my concern is should i clean him with this psycho condition of him (he has blood stain on his forehead from previous cage mate and some dropping on him!!!) i'm not planing to touch him before 2 weeks so he takes his time adjusting and relaxing but this hygiene issue is serious. please guys guide me through this because I have no intention of abusing a young bird who was smuggled through couple of countries ) ya birds importation is illegal where I live) and treated like non-living thing. the last thing is wing clipping before taming is it recommended or bad?!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I'm actually very heart broken to hear that you knowingly bought a wild caught African Gray. When parrots are wild caught and smuggled less than 25% of the birds even survive, and you supported this trade that may eventually cause the extinction of already endangered grays in the wild.

What done is done though. We have a lot of fantastic African gray parrots who will be able to give you a lot of information.

 

[OOwl]

I've actually never heard of anyone acquiring a wild-caught Grey these days (especially when so many hand-tame ones are available; and there ARE good breeders that co-parent and allow fledging and other confidence-building behaviors in their babies). Where do you live? How do you know he's only a little over a year old?

Good luck. It sounds like quite the project. Be careful. When I was a kid (in the '70s), a likely wild-caught Grey bit me clear to the bone. I still wear the scar.