African Grey Parrot Breeding

African Grey Parrot Breeders

Breeding African Greys can be a very rewarding and learning experience, but it also requires dedication. The breeding pairs, the babies, and your customers deserve a knowledgeable breeder.

You need healthy, fit birds, the right environment and diet to breed successfully. Chicks must be properly hand fed, weaned and socailised in order to develop into good pet birds. All of this takes time, knowledge and commitment and should not be thought of as making a quick buck.

Start up expenses will be considerable. Social engagements will be planned around your feeding schedule, holidays will be very rare, birthdays and anniversaries are just another day in the life of a breeder. Feeding and watering the breeding pairs, cleaning cages, tidying up the aviary, routine maintenance, and hand feeding the babies comes before pleasure.

More is known today than ever before to help us meet the challenge of hand rearing healthy well-socialised pet birds. Given their intelligence (5 year old child) perhaps breeding and raising African Greys is the most challenging of all.

Finding Breeding Stock

One of the most important first steps to successful breeding is a healthy pair of adult birds. Learn and understand the physical signs of healthy birds. Calm birds in good feather are much better then terrified feather pluckers.

Other signs of ill health are a fluffed bird, a bird sitting low on the perch, respiratory sounds, swelling or discharge from the eyes or nares, a soiled vent, feces containing undigested food. Although some foods can cause discoloration of the urine or the feces, the cause of any and all abnormalities should be investigated. You should buy birds from a trusted source that you can be sure of a clean bill of health.

Get as much history on the birds as possible. Previous diet, approximate age. If the pair is proven, the breeding history regarding the number of eggs per clutch can assist you in determining if the pair is comfortable with the way you have them set up. Find out what style of nest box and cage size they were accustomed to before purchase.

African Grey Feeding

If the birds were on a seed diet previous to purchase, begin the change from seeds to pellets and offer a varied diet of soft foods. Pellets and soft foods are a much more nutritious diet than seeds for the pair to feed the babies. If a new pair is on a seed diet, offer soft foods and the birds normal ration of seeds in the morning. Pellets should be available at all times. Remove the soft foods and the seed in the afternoon. The birds will have pellets and water until the next morning. Eventually, from boredom or hunger they will begin to eat the pellets. It is very important to continue giving them seeds until they accept a varied and nutritious diet even if it takes several weeks, months or even years. They are in a stressful situation initially and seeds are familiar food. Familiarity of any sort reduces stress.

Cage & Nestbox

The cage I use is a 4x4x4 suspended cage constructed from 1×1 inch wire . The boot nest box is best. Most African Greys will will scramble into the box when you enter the aviary. To cut down on panic, knock twice on the door, waiting between each knock, and then pause again after you open the door. The birds quickly learn they have enough time to get safely into the nest box before you enter.

The hens will lay in the farthest corner of the ‘toe’ of the boot, so there is little concern about the males diving into an egg-laden nest or onto the babies. The basic shape is 36×24 inches x 12 inches squareL shape nest box made out of 3/4 inch ply wood.

An interior wire ladder is required from the cage side bottom of the nest box entry hole to the floor of the nest box. It should be securely fastened at the top and bottom to avoid seperation from the nest box and so the birds don’t get trapped inside or prevented from entering the box. Four inches of pine shavings can be used as nest box substrate and should be replaced after each clutch is removed from the nest box. A dilute solution of a bird safe disinfectant can be sprayed on and wiped from the surface of the now empty box.

Disturbance

Disturb the African Greys as little as possible. Pairs should feel that the nest box is theirs alone-a safe place to raise a family. Pairs who are protective or who feel that vulnerable will feel more secure if the nest box isn’t inspected at all. CCTV can be installed to keep an eye on breeding activity, inside the nest box with night vision cameras, and in the cage area with normal colour cameras if preferred.

If the female spends the night in the nest box, she may have laid an egg. Watch the next morning when the lights come on. If she spends two nights in the nest box, she will have laid an egg, If the pair will tolerate nest box inspection, you can check the nest box once a week until you find the first egg, otherwise rely on watching via the cameras. The cameras can be very useful with pairs that are very anxious.

Supplimental Foods

The addition of one-quater teaspoon of calglucon calcium syrup ~(calcium without D3) to the soft foods after the first egg is discovered will replace the calcium drawn from the hens body for the formation of the cuticle of the egg. Supplementation should be continued until two weeks after the last egg is laid. A laying hen ‘s blood calcium can rise to over 3 times what it should be during egg laying for African Greys. This indicates the massive amount of calcium that is withdrawn from the organs and the bones. Keeping accurate records for each pair can give you an idea of how many eggs you can expect. This enables you to determine when to discontinue the the calcium supplementation. Since calcium syrup is so safe, it is of little consequence if the pair gets it for several extra days. When the pair is feeding babies , extra calcium added to the soft foods could be hazardous to the babies. If your hen has chronically low blood calcium levels, consult your avian vet.

The majority of soft foods, grains, sprouts and sweet corn is well loved and eagerly consumed. African Grey breeding birds should be fed a pelleted bird diet. No supplemental vitamins/minerals should be offered if birds are on a pellet-based diet. Birds that are on pellets and a varied soft food diet are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need unless a bird has low blood calcium. A small quantity of seeds can be offered twice a week as a treat.

Mating & Egg Hatching

African Greys usually copulate in the morning for about ten days before the hen lays. Once they start copulating in the evening as well, laying is imminent.

Steady and sturdy perches are important as mating often occurs over an extended period of time, on average for more than 10 minutes. Perches should be the right diameter. if they are too large or to small, the hen may be unable to sustain her balance during mating. Perches ranging in diameter from one and a half inches to three inches along the length will provide the hen with a choice for secure footing. Some hens will benefit from a second perch positioned four inches away from the first. She will be able to lean forward and brace herself for balance and footing during mating. Breeding African Greys are most comfortable if their perches are above their caretakers head. When limited by the height of the room, lower perches will not adversely affect the birds that are otherwise secure in their cage and secure in their nest box.

If you know your birds or watch them on camera, you will have a pretty good idea of when incubation has begun and be able to calculate hatch dates within two or three days. Some hens begin incubating with the first egg, others may wait until the second  egg. If the first two babies are the same age, based on development, the hen begins incubating with the second egg. If the babies are three days apart  in age, based on development, the hen begins incubation with the first egg. If incubation begins with the second egg rather than the first, this can be a significant advantage if the clutch is large. The age difference between the first and last baby is not as great and there is less chance of youngest getting lost in the shuffle. Most African Greys are good parents, how they manage to feed their lazy babies I can’t even guess, as its not unusual for the hand feeder to have to wake the babies up betwwen spoonfuls of hand rearing food.

Feeding Parents & Babies

Giving the parents an over abundance of soft foods will help them feel secure that there is plenty of food for even the largest clutch. The parents and the babies in the nest box will consume an amazing amount of food. Parent birds, provided with an abundance of nutritious foods will produce  healthy fat babies. Provide unlimited pellets and the babies will sprout the most beautiful fire engine red red tails. The birds will gorge themselves shortly before lights out and feed the babies during the night. In the early morning, they will finish off the bowl of food given the night before.

Don’t be concerned if the hen is seen outside the nest box infrequently. She will come out only to relive herself, have a drink of water, or to be fed by the male when the babies are very young. When the babies are a little older, the hen may eat for herself rather than depend on the male for all of the food for her and the growing clutch. The male will typically feed the hen in the box or at the entrance. If she comes out of the box for any reason, the male will often feed her also. It is so strange to see an adult female, or any adult , with a bulging crop.

You should reward the parents with dry seeds and pomegranates after pulling the babies. Pairs aren’t offered seeds or pomegranates while they are feeding babies. Since the breeding birds love dry seeds and pomegranates, they would fill the babies up with them instead of the nourishing soft foods and pellets.

Removing Babies From Nests

Leaving the babies with the parents until the oldest chick is around 3 weeks old will produce heftier babies than pulling them earlier. A study shows that African Grey babies showed clearly and conclusively , the longer the babies are fed by the parents, the better their weights were at three weeks (maximum days fed by the parents) when compared to same-age weights of babies who were pulled earlier then three weeks of age.

This length of time is also very advantageous for hand feeding purposes, if the clutch is three or four, because you aren’t feeding very young babies.

A size V closed ring will fit on the legs of most three week old chicks. If ringing is not a consideration, the babies can be left with the parents for a month.