Putting Two Greys in same room (open room)

[Linearis]

This isn't something I want to do anytime soon (or can do anytime soon), I just want to throw this idea out there because I'm curious on what you guys think. After my parrotlet passes away (hopefully not for another 10 years minimum... fingers crossed!) I'd ideally like to get a medium-sized bird (not as an upgrade, just because as I've come to find out, getting blood at vet from my smol bird is very stressful on everyone) and I was thinking... if I ever do get an African Grey, I'd maybe like to give him or her a whole room. Basically just a bird-proof room with no cage, just...like an indoor aviary I guess. I was wondering what you guys think of putting two African Greys in a bird-proof room, if it sounds feasible or not. Unless I worked from home I'd be a bit worried about leaving a single Grey alone for hours unless the one I got happened to love toys and playing alone... I am worried about if they don't like each other though. I wonder if a whole room would be enough so that if they don't like each other they can separate themselves. Maybe physically dividing the room into two is the only truly safe option though, because maybe a room isn't big enough for territorial individual birds.... :/

Again this isn't something I want to do for probably another 10 years or so, I'm just the type to plan things out way too far in advance lol. Gives me time to change my mind at least. I still won't be very old when that time comes, but another thing to consider is if I die earlier than I hope (again, fingers crossed on living a long life...) or if the birds I get live longer than average then maybe it'd be harder to rehome both bonded birds together.

Thanks for reading.

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[geff]

Personally as long as they can get away from one another then I think that would be fine. As Greys can be "energetic" chewers and dig out walls and doors given the chance, depends on your home construction. As embedded electrical wiring circuits and pipes could be a problem and even fatal or fire hazard.
But given a multitude of diversions they may enjoy there little lives. And not try and dig out of the room through either walls and door or both.
You possibly could take in a pair of older Greys from a rescue facility. Which would be good for them and for you.
Depending of course if they get along together.

 

[Linearis]

Hmm that's true... Haha it's like prison break. >< I think I would get rescues but I wouldn't want them to be too old because again I'm pretty young myself... It would just be sad for example if I got them and then they died not long after. That's one of the reasons I like the idea of African Greys, I want to delay when I'm going to have to face their eventual death. :/ For me, the 15 years my parrotlet is likely to live if all goes well is too little, I wish she could live much longer. But yeah, it'll depend when I get them. I was thinking of getting rescues that are around 10 years old ideally.

 

[NirAntae]

I would still 'have' separate cages, so they can have their own 'personal' space in the larger room. Personally, the way I would handle it, is start them out each in a cage, as in a normal situation, and only let them out under supervision until I was 100% sure they got along okay, then (assuming all goes well) slowly leave them out together longer and longer, with less and less supervision. By slowly, I mean over the course of months, not days.

You would have to make sure there were a lot of things to keep them entertained, both to prevent them squabbling over a particular toy, and to minimize their interest in chewing on walls, doors, etc. Perches of various sorts, lots of tempting and interesting toys, foraging opportunities, etc.

Obviously, you would have to do things like bird-proof wall outlets and the like - completely block them off so the birds couldn't even get at them. (Behind furniture or even attaching acrylic boxes to the wall come to mind.) Carpeting I think would be a total no-go thanks to the mess... tile would be ideal. I suppose you could potentially get a thick plastic cover - like the chair mats for home offices, but room-sized; it would probably need to be custom-made though.


TL;DR - I think it totally can work. It would take a lot of effort and patience to do it safely, though.

 

[Linearis]

Yeah I don't think I'd have carpet, or probably much of any human furniture in there... Or maybe just a few pieces of furniture so they can like perch on them, and a few bird-safe plants.... xD; Anyway, I have lots of time to think about it! But it would basically be just their room, maybe with some stuff for me to do in there while I'm inside but I can always just bring a laptop and my phone lol... It also depends on my living situation too...

 

[sunnysmom]

@BirdGuy21 ?

 

[Mizzely]

The rescue i got Bobber from has cage free greys sharing a room

 

[Mizzely]

Here's her article Flock Call - Removing the cage from your parrot lifestyle.

 

[Linearis]

Nice, love it! That's pretty much what I had in mind, just with less paper waste (hopefully) x.x

 

[birdlover123]

I would agree with making the room as sparse as possible except for grey-tolerant items. My grey, Pugwash shared a room with an Alexandrine Parakeet. There were no real problems apart from destruction of mosquito nets, curtain rings and even a wall fan electrical wire chewed through (I know...lesson learned). Oh and then there's the copious amounts of poo - ceramic tiled floor a must. Oh yeah and all the food thrown around on the floor and walls. Mind you, my bird wasn't tamed so maybe tamed ones have better habits lol.

Anyway, the message is that owning two birds like that is gonna demand a fair bit of your time and effort. They're intelligent, they need to be kept busy and they live long as you probably know. Good luck!