African Grey Parrots are stunning and intelligent birds that can be great pets in the right home, but they require a great deal of love, attention, and exercise. To keep your African Grey Parrot healthy and happy, they should be examined by a qualified avian veterinarian once or twice a year.
Understanding the African Grey Parrot
Here are some essential facts about African Grey Parrots:
- Weight: 15 to 18 ounces
- Length: 13 inches
- Lifespan: Can live up to 80 years
- Physical Characteristics: Varying shades of grey on the body; with striking red tail feathers
The African Grey parrot is believed to be one of the smartest birds in the world and is capable of learning over 1000 words and speaking sentences in the correct context. These beautiful and intelligent birds tend to form a very strong bond with one individual and are often remarkably in tune with their handler's emotions.
These birds require a great deal of time with their owners, as well as plenty of puzzles and activities to keep their brains occupied, room to fly, and a reliable daily schedule. Because of their outsized intelligence, these parrots need 5 hours+ of stimulation every day to keep from falling into boredom or depression. They are easy to train once one is familiar with using positive reinforcement and operant conditioning as training methods, but inexperienced bird owners are going to need to educate themselves on training techniques in order for the process to go smoothly.
Essential Care for African Grey Parrots
Owning an African Grey parrot can be much like having a toddler to care for. These brilliant birds need hours of attention, plenty of out-of-cage exercise, social time with people and other pets, and mental stimulation to thrive.
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Housing
Birds need an enclosure wide enough for them to open and flap their wings without touching the sides. Enclosures require enough space for your African Grey parrot to fully spread their wings without touching the sides, and to move around from perch to perch comfortably. This is a minimum - the larger the better.
Your parrot's cage should be durable, clean, secure, and constructed with non-toxic materials. The enclosure needs to be free of accumulated feces and food. Be sure to place your Grey's enclosure in a warm safe place, clear of drafts, with indirect sunlight. Do not isolate your Grey, these social birds want to be involved in the day-to-day life of their handlers.
Perches
Perches should be of variable widths, heights, and textures. Sandpaper perches tend to create bald or sore spots on the feet. A cement perch may assist in keeping the nails short, but it can also cause sore feet if it is the only perch offered. A concrete perch can help to keep your Grey's toenails tidy. Never place perches over food or water (to prevent contamination).
Fresh branches from fruit, citrus, apple, eucalyptus, Australian pine, northern hardwoods, oak, melaleuca, aspen, or manzanita are good for birds’ feet.
Diet
In the wild, the natural diet of African Grey parrots consists of a variety of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. While seed-based diets may seem like an obvious choice these are not ideal since they permit birds to selectively pick out the seeds they like best, often leading to an imbalanced diet.
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High-quality formulated diets in pellet or crumble form should make up about 75% of your parrot's diet. These specially formulated foods prevent picking and can provide your pet with a more complete and nutritionally balanced diet. Dark leafy greens, vegetables, and fruits should make up about 20-25% of your Grey's diet, with treats being limited to 5% or less. Clean, fresh water should always be available to your parrot.
Calcium deficiency is typically caused by seed-heavy feeding that lacks fresh greens and other calcium-rich foods, leading to serious nutritional imbalance. Improve the parrot diet with greens like kale and broccoli and orange vegetables like carrots for vitamin A, which supports tissues alongside calcium. Vitamin D3 from controlled UVB exposure improves calcium absorption.
Controlled UVB exposure can support vitamin D3 and calcium use. They can help when used correctly. Use seeds only as occasional treats or in foraging toys.
Exercise and Enrichment
African Grey parrots require an hour or more each day of enrichment playtime with owners involving games, puzzles and lessons - but that's not all. As well as enrichment your Grey will also require 2-3 hours of exercise and out-of-cage time every day to help build muscle strength and prevent obesity.
Be sure to restrict your African Grey parrot to safe rooms whenever they are out of their cage and always supervise your Grey since they can get into mischief such as eating things they shouldn't, getting into fights with other pets, or knocking things over.
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Health and Disease Prevention
Routine preventive care, including fecal exams, blood tests, and vaccinations, play a vital role in giving your African Grey their best shot at a long, happy, and healthy life. Wing and nail trimming will also be required from time to time to keep your parrot looking and feeling great. A vet that has specialized training in the care of exotics and avians can help provide your African Grey parrot with the care they need and deserve, as well as provide you with the guidance and advice you need to become the best Grey owner you can be.
Without proper care at home and annual veterinary care African Greys are prone to a number of problematic behaviors and health problems including feather picking, fearfulness, aggression, respiratory illnesses, hypocalcemia syndrome, circovirus (PBFD virus), nasal blockages (bacterial, fungal, secondary to malnutrition), and proventricular dilatation disease (PDD)
Many birds in the early stages of illness (primarily involving the liver) show mild green in their urine (biliverdinuria) and urates (biliverdinurates); often this occurs months to years before clinical presentation of illness. Very ill birds show scant feces, pasting of the vent or diarrhea.
Recognizing Signs of a Healthy African Grey
It's essential to know the signs of a healthy and happy African Grey parrot:
- Activity Level: African Greys have a pretty consistent activity level on a daily basis. There tend to be times during the day for playing, talking, napping, and affection.
- Eyes: Clear, bright eyes (no discharge)
- Nares: Dry, clean, open nares
- Beak: Smooth beak
- Posture: Standing erect on perch
- Body: Free of lumps and bumps
- Feathers: In order, smooth, bright without color breaks, transparency, or ragged edges
- Respiration: Smooth and even
- Feet: Smooth and soft, not flaking, even reptilian pattern on the feet
- Droppings ("poop"): Moist, and consist of dark green or brownish fecal matter with white or off-white urine. Note: African Grey Parrot people do spend a lot of time looking and talking about their bird's "poop" as this is a good health indicator!
- Nails: Of appropriate length
Identifying Potential Health Issues
Be alert to the following signs that may indicate your African Grey is unwell:
- Green, black, or yellow droppings - indicates bird is not eating or sick.
- Runny/loose droppings - may indicate bacterial/disease problem.
- Not perching and going to the bottom of the cage are general signs of your grey not feeling well.
- Diarrhoea - Shows up as undigested food, droppings that don't have the three distinct parts (green/brown, white and liquid urine), and weight loss. If you think your grey has diarrhea, contact your vet immediately.
- Weight loss - Your bird feels "light" when you pick it up, keel bone becomes more prominent
- Feathers - Abnormal looking feathers including things such as a prolonged molt or continuous presence of pinfeathers; unusual or dull color; broken, bent, picked or chewed feathers; fluffed up feathers all the time.
- Sneezing - What you're looking for is "their" sneeze with a possible discharge.
Common Health Problems
Many common disease conditions in African grey parrots are the result of malnutrition. Supplementing the parrots' diet with calcium and Vitamin D, and providing access to natural light are important factors in preventing this problem.
Here are some health issues that African Grey parrots are prone to:
- Chlamydiosis: Also known as psittacosis, is a disease that affects a wide range of bird species. It is transmissible from birds to humans.
- Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD): The virus attacks the feather follicles and the beak and claws-growing cells of the bird, causing progressive feather malformation and necrosis.
- Hypocalcemia Syndrome: Seizures caused by Hypocalcaemia syndrome associated with low calcium levels in the blood.
- Vitamin D / Calcium Deficiency: can also be a result of a malfunctioning uropygial gland, as the uropygial or oil gland produces vitamin D3 precursors that are spread into the feathers as the birds preen themselves.
- Aspergillosis: Many African species seem to have problems fighting off this fungal disease.
Even those situated by a window will not benefit from the sun because the window blocks the UVA and UVB rays needed to synthesize vitamin D necessary for bone health. Birds use sunlight by preening their feathers. The substance on the feathers will undergo a chemical reaction from the sunlight producing Vitamin D3 which the bird ingests with further preening of the feathers. The indoor bird does not have the benefit of this reaction.
The most common health problems associated with vitamin D deficiency are: weakened immune systems / susceptibility to diseases, soft bones, bent keels, splayed legs, abnormal beak development, reproductive problems (egg binding, soft-shell eggs, dying chicks) as well as seizures and, to a lesser extend, Stargazing (twisted back).
In areas where access to natural sunlight is limited (such as in the northern hemisphere during the winter months), full-spectrum lamps can be used to provide UVA and UVB rays.
Therefore, it is important to also make sure that the gland is working properly.
Feather Picking
Feather Picking / Plucking / Mutilation - can be caused by physical and behaviorial problems. The African Grey is a highly intelligent parrot species that predisposes them to boredom potentially leading to behavioral problems, such as feather plucking.
Changes in Feather Coloration - African Greys with red feathers scattered throughout the plumage are occasionally seen. Such red feathers scattered in areas where you wouldn't expect to see them could be an indication of damaged feather follicles (usually because of feather plucking), medication (for example administration of antibiotics at the time a bird is molting has caused changes in feather coloration - however, this is not a permanent change and subsequent molts produce normal feather coloration).
There is also a good possibility of sickness, malnutrition (please refer to african grey nutrition), liver disease or kidney problems.
| Condition | Description | Preventive Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Hypocalcemia | Low calcium levels, leading to seizures and bone weakness. | Calcium-rich diet, UVB exposure, veterinary guidance. |
| PBFD | Avian circovirus attacking feathers and beak. | Cage sanitation, immune support, veterinary care. |
| Aspergillosis | Fungal infection affecting the respiratory system. | Clean environment, proper ventilation. |
| Feather Plucking | Behavioral or physical issue leading to feather removal. | Enrichment, veterinary check-up, stress reduction. |
Always avoid toxins-chocolate toxicity, avocado poisoning, alcohol hazard, and caffeine danger.
With a varied diet, clean housing, smart enrichment, and routine vet care, most health threats to African greys can be prevented or detected early. Focus on calcium and vitamin A, protect the lungs from dust and mold, avoid toxins, and watch behavior and weight closely.
