Timneh Greys and a career

Question
Hello there.  I was so excited to see someone who can answer questions with such detail and depth.  My husband and I are looking to purchase a baby (fully weaned) baby Timneh African Grey.  We have found a very reputable breeder whome we are very confident in.  Our only concern is our full time jobs that we currently hold.  We work aprox 45 hours a week MAXIMUM and are prepared to handle our grey as much as possible and take him on outings on the weekends as well.  We also understand that because of this our Grey may need a larger than normal cage with lots of toys to keep him thinking.  Will our full time jobs lead to much negative behavior from the bird?  

Answer
Hi, Samantha.  Thanks for posting.

It's hard to answer your question because it depends on the personality of the individual bird.  However, if you purchase a just-weaned baby from a breeder, chances are great that the grey will become used to your routine from the beginning and not exhibit the negative behaviors seen in parrots who are purchased when they are older and have become accustomed to one routine and changed to a different routine when they move to their new environment (not to mention the change in human companions).  I believe the QUALITY of the time you spend with your bird is often more important than HOW MUCH time you spend together on a daily basis.

It's a known fact that greys are extremely intelligent.  As such, they need much mental stimulation daily in order to keep them from being bored, which results in negative behaviors.  A large cage with enough mentally stimulating things to do is essential.  Also, a larger cage provides the room for a parrot to exercise, which is very important.  When you are home, allowing the grey to come out of it's cage to play (on its own or with you), allowing your grey to sit with you as you watch TV, taking its play stand with you from room to room as you do household chores, letting s/he sit with you as you surf the internet, etc., is ideal.  

Some things to keep in mind to help prevent the onset of negative behaviors is ALWAYS reward positive behavior, and ALWAYS ignore negative behavior.  This teaches your parrot right from wrong.  In purchasing a just-weaned baby, you can raise the parrot the way you want the parrot to be as an adult.  Avoid conflicting signals to your parrot.  In order to accomplish this, you have to think like a parrot!  And you have to be consistent.  Parrots usually like a daily routine, however, they do just as well without daily routine if they are raised in this manner.  For example, I try to feed my parrots at about 6:00 PM every day, but sometimes I have to work late and/or something unexpected occurs resulting in the need to feed earlier or later.  My parrots are used to this varied schedule because I raised them this way purposely (they don't stress out because their schedule changed).

Be sure to raise your parrot on a varied diet (the more variety, the better, for your parrot's health).  

I've raised hundreds of parrots while working full-time and I'm their only caregiver.  My parrots don't exhibit behavior problems as a result of my working or being away from home for long periods of time during the day.  They are used to me being gone, but they sure enjoy seeing me when I get home!

Visit my website if you like for additional information on raising parrots:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Have you heard of Alex, the african grey, and Dr. Pepperberg's work with greys?  Here's the website:  http://www.alexfoundation.org/

Come back if you need to.  Good luck with your grey...they are great parrots!  Thanks.

Chrys