Where to start......

Question
Firstly i apologise for the length of this mail.

I was planning to get an african grey parrot and went for it when i saw a poor litle fellow in  small cage in a terrible pet store. He is a very aggressive Timneh parrot but in the past 4 months that i have him i believe we have made some steps foreword. At first when he/she would see a human he would demonstrate an extremely aggressive behaviour.Now 4 months later he will let me feed him from my hand (my finger outside the cage of course) but still when i sit next to him he will start yelling.After 1-2 minutes he stops. This is preety much the background. My questions are:

I took the liberty few times to let him out of his cage.He was quite happy to go out but not very happy at all to go back in. I had to "force" him in by grabbing him.I was hoping that after a 6 hour walk he would go back in on his own but i was wrong.Do I have to take him out causing some stress to take him back in until he gets used to it or I better leave that for later.

I believe by judging from the eye color variation that he is around 16-18 months old. Around the center of his eyes the color is sort of yellow-white. Is my age approximation correct?

To be honest I am not particularly intersted whether he speaks or not. i like him as a parrot and not like a mime. However i read somewhere that immitating is part of his nature. Is there anything I can do to imrpove this ability?

Do I have to keep his feeding cup feeled at all times or I should put a certain amount a day and restrict his diet on that.

I have to say that i am quite happy that his bird is not pulling his feathers out since it has been so stressed in his life.

Please note that I leave in Greece and parrots are not very popular at all. Therefore it is quite hard to find information.

Thanks a lot for any help
Best regards
Eas

Answer
Hi Eas-

This is wonderful that you have taking this poor parrot in and really given him a second chance at life! :)  You seem to have quite a bit of empathy for this parrot and that is terrific!

You have asked so many questions- honestly I don't know where to begin! :) (I don't mind at all though! I think it is wonderful that you care so much about your little parrot)

1) It is important to let him out of the cage- and without letting him out of the cage... it will be difficult for you to teach him to step up onto your hand (eventually).  Have you tried getting him to step up onto a hand-held perch instead of your hand?? That way, if he bites... he is only biting the stick. Some birds who are not hand-tame will step up easily onto a stick. Others will not. But for those parrots that will- it makes life SO much easier for their caregiver.

You can also try putting favorite treats in his cage, so that he will go back in there to get them. :)  This tends to work well to. Some favorite treats are sunflower seeds, almonds or peanuts. (All unsalted of course)

2) Once a Grey reaches about a year or two... their pupil will be black and the coloring around their eye will be a yellow coloration. (just like you described). However, they will keep this coloration in their eyes until they pass away. So... I would say that your bird is at least a year and 1/2 or so, but he could be older than that too. (African greys have potential lifespans of 60 to 80 years though... so he could be 5 or 6 and still be considered a young bird). :)

3) it is true that african greys are known for their talking ability. I have listed an article (later on in my response) that will give you lots of details on talking and intelligence in african greys.

4) Always have food available to your bird. However- while converting him to a better diet... you might limit the amounts of seeds he gets for example. However, there should always be a bowl of pellets available. I don't know what the availablity is like in Greece for pellets. But- if pellets are hard to come by, always make sure there are fresh veggies, whole grain breads, etc.... available for your grey.


Here are some online articles that should help you with the care (and understanding) of your new parrot:

http://www.companionparrot.com/articles/tribute.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/articles/greytalk.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/articles/ahealthy.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/articles/betterdiet.html

http://www.companionparrot.com/articles/hobbes.html


I hope this helps!  Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

-Maggie