Mixed Sex Companion Greys

[Dawne]

Hi All - need some sage advice.

I currently have one 43 year old CAG that I suspect is male I also have a confirmed 21 year old male that is a rescue. I am considering adding a third and the gender is unknown. Suspected male but to my limited experience certainly looks like a female and has bonded to its present owner who is a male. If it is a female is there issue with keeping them as companions (my companions lol). I do not want breeding or breeding activity. If they are kept in the same room but separate cages will we be ok. Would this cause heightened hormonal behavior at certain times of the year? I do not need extra aggression or biting. Thoughts?

 

[jax7271]

I have 2 CAGs (one female and one blind male) and a TAG (female). They all live in the same room, but in 3 separate cages. I haven't had any issues, but the male is never out with the females. This is partly due to his gender, but mostly due to his blindness. He was not well looked after when I took him in and he is very nervous. He calms down at the sound of my voice, but he is not very comfortable outside of his cage, which does make things easier for the girls. They chat together all day long....hope this helps a little

 

[Dawne]

Jax7271

Thank you so much for responding. And bless you for being the light in your little sightless guys life! Some of the tragedies these poor birds endure breaks my heart again and again. And this is how I’m potentially ending up with three - I seem to have a no parrot left behind mantra.

I intend on getting everyone DNA’d so I know exactly what I’m dealing with. The one of the two I have now that is not DNA’d was a none issue at the start as he was the first and I tended to be the only. Clearly that changed.

Thanks again. This has been a help for sure.

Dawne

 

[jax7271]

Dawne...you're welcome and thank you too!
Merlin was not a happy boy when he arrived; he was basically discarded by a breeder who wasn't interested in him any more because he was not "behaving normally" and apparently he bothered the other birds
After 2-3 years here, he is learning how to be a happy bird......lol

 

[TikiMyn]

@DQTimnehs might know!
I don’t think it Will be a problem, even with same sex pairs there can be sexual activity. Even with only birds lol! If they bond pair like and nest, you can replace the eggs and wait it out.

 

[jmfleish]

Male hand fed CAGs tend to not be very well known for their understanding of how the breeding process truly works. That's part of the reason why prices for babies has started to sky rocket. As we slowly lose our wild caught stock, finding domestically reared breeding male CAGs who can produce has not been easy.

I have three male CAGs, a male TAG and a male/female bonded CAG pair. I did buy a nestbox for the bonded pair but more so for their comfort than for the idea of ever getting babies from them. The male, Seymour, is very loving to the female, Chevey, who is demanding and pushy but just a riot. Seymour would rather mate with me I think though. He is very bonded with me even though I've only had the pair since last August. Both birds are very sweet and most definitely hand fed and pets, not breeders. All of my greys live in the same area together and chat with each other. I haven't seen any kind of true hormonal behavior from any of them and they range in age from 5 to 25.

 

[Dawne]

Tikimyn and Jmfliesh

Thank you so much for your input. This was very interesting and helpful.

These decisions are never easy as we never want to degrade our parrots lives but enhance them.

Thanks again.

Dawne