Q&A for How to Raise an African Grey Parrot

Provide an enriching habitat with lots of different toys and perches, which will help keep it occupied.

African grey parrots really enjoy shredding and foraging toys. You can also keep things interesting by rotating out their toys and switching the toy placements around in the cage.

No, a bird won't raise a chick that isn't its own. It is crucial for only the mother to take care of the egg, unless she can't for some reason. Also, an African grey parrot requires a lot more care than a cockatiel, so it is difficult to keep them together.

That's honestly really complicated. It really depends on the bird, the owner, etc. However, follow these tips and you should get results: 1. Find out what treats/toys/foods your parrot likes. Just do this by giving them food samples, having them test treats until they go for one right away, etc. This way, you can give it to them when you spend time together to make them like you. 2. Spend LOTS of time with your bird.The more time your bird spends out of the cage, the more social and loving they'll get. Take him/her out every single day. 3. Be prepared for some backlash - biting, screaming, refusal to come out, etc. Birds can be messy, needy animals. So just take them out a lot anyway.

It could be that the treat is not high value; if you feed a seed mix with sunflower seeds and you offer a sunflower seed as a treat, it is not of any value for the birds as he can just walk over to his bowl to eat that seed. Another reason could be that he simply doesn’t like the treat your offering. He could be full, if you’re offering a treat after a meal, most likely he’s not interested at that moment. Make sure your parrot’s diet consists of mostly vegetables and a high quality pellet. This way whatever the treat is, fruit, nut or seed, they all remain valuable to the bird for foraging and training.

Yes, they are loud but they calm down and sleep at night. Be prepared to talk to them a lot.

Maybe you have made the cage too crowded? Most birds get scared of toys easily if they haven't grown up with them.Try moving the toys out and placing them somewere the parrot can reach, pretend to play with the toys so that he/she gets interested and tries to figure out what the toy is.

Touch and play with it to grow a more social and less bite-prone parrot. However, you must be careful, as they get sick easily. And wash your hands before touching the baby.

Whenever the parrot bites you, stop giving it attention and ignore it as much as possible for a little while (like 10-20 minutes). And whenever you touch, interact or play with it and it doesn't bite you, then give it a treat or extra attention.

Whenever they bite, start ignoring them for a while (20-30 minutes). And whenever you do things that usually make them bite but they don't bite, reward them with extra affection/treats, etc.

Do you mean permanently or temporarily as in a vacation? Either way, African Greys are highly intelligent and their intelligence is compared to that of a toddler. They should be getting around 3 hours of play time with you every day. If you're leaving for something, you will still need to find some time to play with the bird, or to have someone come over and handle him for you. Without stimulation, birds can become stressed and prone to feather plucking and self-mutilation. If it is an emergency and he has adequate space and lots of toys, it could be stretched out to a day, but it is definitely not preferred.

Every time your parrot poops in a place you'd want it to poop, immediately reward him with a treat and praise. When it poops anywhere else, just clean it up and move on -- but do not yell at him! Soon he will learn that if he wants a reward, he should poop in the intended spot. However, this is not a guaranteed solution since birds cannot hold in a poop very well, so there will still be accidents.