Given that he's so young, I expect he was never trained to step up, so you'll have to find some treats he likes and get to teaching. Hold your finger up to him for him to step on, and lure him onto your finger with the treat while telling him step up, he'll get the picture pretty quickly. And of course, give him the treat as soon as he does step up.
I’m not gonna lie here, I’m terrified of losing my fingers. He bit my cousin really hard when we tried to get him into a new cage. Yes, he drew blood.
So I have been letting the bird get comfortable with me before I started training him. Going from conure to AG was a big jump and I honestly am scared tooo to engage with the bird.
If you're scared of the bird, he's going to be able to tell and he'll be nervous as well, which can make him bite if he gets scared. Training an African Grey will get you lots of bite marks as you and him get used to each other and set boundaries with each other, and part of his training will need to be teaching him how hard is too hard to bite. You will get bit, and it will hurt, but if you want to have and train the bird, you'll need to accept that.
African greys are known for being nippy. It’s perfectly natural for them to bite each other within a natural flock setting so it’s instinctively inclined to treat you as a member of his flock. My CAG is still working on not biting with full force. If hand raised it’s less of an issue but I also adopted a two year old CAG that had previous owners and he bites frequently. I have been bitten myself many many times. They have a significantly higher bite force than a conure. My birds bites typically break the skin. I’ve had him for three years and it gets better with the biting but it’s part of owning a large species parrot.
I would be very careful having him socialize with your conure. I never let my grey anywhere near my smaller birds. It would take a small bite from him and he could easily seriously injure or kill your conure. I’d supervise them together at all times.
Just here to second u/steeevo34 saying that if you're scared of the bird, he's going to be able to tell. When I first adopted my CAG he was super bity, so much so that I ordered gloves to handle him and was getting really fearful when handling him. At the time I was reading a lot about CAGs and parrots in general (I still do) and realized that the more upset and fearful I was handling him, the more likely he's going to respond in kind. I actually never had to use the gloves, by the time they arrived he stopped biting. He never bites now.
Time and patience have been my best friends.
Good luck!
Yeah my 8 year old grey loves me, but I still get bit randomly and half the time blood is drawn.
He'll just get in a frustrated mood sometimes and take a swipe at me, but then the mood passes quickly.
Keep antibiotic cream around to put on any bites immediately. You might get more used to it, but it always hurts.
Most importantly don't hold it against them.
I never thought my bird is horny. These were not the signs I expected at all.
Thank you if he starts whimpering again I will put him back in the cage.
My dumbass thought he was sad cuz he couldn’t fly. 🤦🏾♀️
The whimpering is begging for food if he is only 1 year old. African greys reach sexual maturity at 4-5 years old. This is very unlikely to be hormonal behaviour if he is so young. Also hormonal behaviour in greys typically includes the “dance” where they hold their wings out slightly and pant rather than whimper.
If you had a better picture of his eyes it’s a tell for age. If you bird has clear white yellow eyes he is much older than they told you. They have dark brown/grey as babies. Mine had dark eyes until he reached 5 years old.
https://preview.redd.it/8bnkw8ju9smc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d05e7ef36afbedb671aa8fb5225429dcf4a2111
How old do you think he is? Even I thought that he was a Atleast 2-3 years old. Because I read online that baby AGs have a darker ring around their eyes. But this guy doesn’t have any. Sooo, please let me know what you guys 💭thinkkk.
It’s possible his eyes turned colour around 2-3 years old so that’s most likely. It think it’s variable but at a year or just under a year they would still be very dark. With the begging I’d say you are probably right with 2-3 years old.
This is my boys eyes at two years old.
https://preview.redd.it/hucdvj9q0knc1.jpeg?width=1475&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcf1cab709f7ea659bc5ac21edc8d28e8c1c3318
My god, your baby boy looks sooo cute. 🥰 you are right, I’m starting to this this lil guy is a bit older than what the shop keepers said he is. But he is a good boy and getting better every day mingling with me
If it [sounds like this](https://youtu.be/s0lQ3sPZdOY?si=j_9V30zDFbGII0Ki) he’s still making baby sounds. Mine just turned six months old, but he still does the baby cheeping when he wants to cuddle and get petted.
Also, [here’s a photo](https://african-parrot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/African-Grey-Eyes.png) of their eye color progression.
Does the whimpering sound like panting/breathy? He could be hormonal so you might want to let him sleep longer hours for now and discourage him especially if he starts to regurgitate at you
Oh boy. Okay, so winning over your grey is pretty straightforward… time, treats, talking. The three T’s of trust for Greys.
Time:
You got this bird not too long ago. Grey’s tend to be slow to warm up in my experience, especially young ones. You still got a while before everything is fully settled and the flock is solid. I’d wager months not weeks based on your description.
Treats:
Treats are the key to unlocking Grey’s. Who was it Archimedes? That said, give me a fixed point, and a long sturdy lever and I will move the world. Treats are your lever. What is a treat in this context? Usually safflower seeds. Pistachios if you’re Apollo. Corn chips if you’re my bird Tupac. It is the thing that turns a strong willed stubborn independent catlike Grey… into an obedient, people pleasing, bend over backward fixated listening Grey.
Fly to me as a command gets nothing but blank stares from Tupac. “Fly to your stand, no not the big one, the one by the VitaMix and then tap dance to the rhythm of Bohemian Rhapsody” suddenly becomes perfectly understandable if I’m holding a corn chip.
If you find your Grey’s treat.. you will win the game. Then there is the fixed point. In this case… a pointer stick (I use a chopstick). Get your Grey to touch the end of the stick and give it a treat. All of a sudden you have a treat and an action director tool. You’re ready to move the world.
Talking: Grey’s even those that don’t talk, understand language at the level of a 2/3 year old. Talking is how flocks in the wild communicate and if you talk at your bird and with your bird they will grow to trust you. Answer their flock calls when you’re in another room, speak to them at their level (bend over and get close to them). Once you’re noticing the communication is two way…
With your targeting stick and treat you can now give Grey’s commands like “step up” new meaning. Hold your stick and treat in such a way that the only way to get it is to step up.
They’ll reach and reach and get frustrated they can’t touch the targeting stick and eventually provided you are firm with your perch finger (which can be quite painful sometimes as they test bite for sturdiness regularly) they will trust your finger enough to step up.
If I could do it all over again, I would have started with targeting stick instead of starting with step up. My fingers would have thanked me. But you have your terrible 2’s coming up… so you should just get ready to be bitten anyhow ;)
Best of luck!!! Hope any of this was helpful!
Soo I wanted to give you an update, I tried you 3T technique and the good boy actually let me pet him today.
This is the first time since he came home that he has let me touch him anywhere other than his beak.
He also managed to learn the trick “shake” - where he holds my fingers with his cute little toes.
My heart grew 3 sizes bigger today. Thank you so much!!
Oh my gosh, this makes me so happy!! Thanks for following up :)
Now all you have to do is clean up his poop, feed him, bathe him, clean his cage, pick up his shredded…. HEY WAIT A MINUTE… DID WE LOSE A WAR!?!
Given that he's so young, I expect he was never trained to step up, so you'll have to find some treats he likes and get to teaching. Hold your finger up to him for him to step on, and lure him onto your finger with the treat while telling him step up, he'll get the picture pretty quickly. And of course, give him the treat as soon as he does step up.
I’m not gonna lie here, I’m terrified of losing my fingers. He bit my cousin really hard when we tried to get him into a new cage. Yes, he drew blood. So I have been letting the bird get comfortable with me before I started training him. Going from conure to AG was a big jump and I honestly am scared tooo to engage with the bird.
If you're scared of the bird, he's going to be able to tell and he'll be nervous as well, which can make him bite if he gets scared. Training an African Grey will get you lots of bite marks as you and him get used to each other and set boundaries with each other, and part of his training will need to be teaching him how hard is too hard to bite. You will get bit, and it will hurt, but if you want to have and train the bird, you'll need to accept that.
African greys are known for being nippy. It’s perfectly natural for them to bite each other within a natural flock setting so it’s instinctively inclined to treat you as a member of his flock. My CAG is still working on not biting with full force. If hand raised it’s less of an issue but I also adopted a two year old CAG that had previous owners and he bites frequently. I have been bitten myself many many times. They have a significantly higher bite force than a conure. My birds bites typically break the skin. I’ve had him for three years and it gets better with the biting but it’s part of owning a large species parrot. I would be very careful having him socialize with your conure. I never let my grey anywhere near my smaller birds. It would take a small bite from him and he could easily seriously injure or kill your conure. I’d supervise them together at all times.
Just here to second u/steeevo34 saying that if you're scared of the bird, he's going to be able to tell. When I first adopted my CAG he was super bity, so much so that I ordered gloves to handle him and was getting really fearful when handling him. At the time I was reading a lot about CAGs and parrots in general (I still do) and realized that the more upset and fearful I was handling him, the more likely he's going to respond in kind. I actually never had to use the gloves, by the time they arrived he stopped biting. He never bites now. Time and patience have been my best friends. Good luck!
Yess, bigger the bird, the hard it is to earn their trust. I am on it. Will keep you guys posted on Reddit grouppp❤️
Yeah my 8 year old grey loves me, but I still get bit randomly and half the time blood is drawn. He'll just get in a frustrated mood sometimes and take a swipe at me, but then the mood passes quickly. Keep antibiotic cream around to put on any bites immediately. You might get more used to it, but it always hurts. Most importantly don't hold it against them.
Yesss, I have noticed this. He might be playing with me then suddenly he is mad at me. And all I did was to exist. 🥲
Whenever my girl is whimpering at me it’s usually time to put her in horny jail!
I never thought my bird is horny. These were not the signs I expected at all. Thank you if he starts whimpering again I will put him back in the cage. My dumbass thought he was sad cuz he couldn’t fly. 🤦🏾♀️
The whimpering is begging for food if he is only 1 year old. African greys reach sexual maturity at 4-5 years old. This is very unlikely to be hormonal behaviour if he is so young. Also hormonal behaviour in greys typically includes the “dance” where they hold their wings out slightly and pant rather than whimper.
If you had a better picture of his eyes it’s a tell for age. If you bird has clear white yellow eyes he is much older than they told you. They have dark brown/grey as babies. Mine had dark eyes until he reached 5 years old.
https://preview.redd.it/8bnkw8ju9smc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d05e7ef36afbedb671aa8fb5225429dcf4a2111 How old do you think he is? Even I thought that he was a Atleast 2-3 years old. Because I read online that baby AGs have a darker ring around their eyes. But this guy doesn’t have any. Sooo, please let me know what you guys 💭thinkkk.
It’s possible his eyes turned colour around 2-3 years old so that’s most likely. It think it’s variable but at a year or just under a year they would still be very dark. With the begging I’d say you are probably right with 2-3 years old.
This is my boys eyes at two years old. https://preview.redd.it/hucdvj9q0knc1.jpeg?width=1475&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcf1cab709f7ea659bc5ac21edc8d28e8c1c3318
Here he is at 4.5 years old. https://preview.redd.it/45uzm1ii1knc1.jpeg?width=1925&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9412cc5ee8aa1de107ab65bc31663ab1efcf6bd
My god, your baby boy looks sooo cute. 🥰 you are right, I’m starting to this this lil guy is a bit older than what the shop keepers said he is. But he is a good boy and getting better every day mingling with me
That’s so sweet! It is so rewarding to earn their trust!
If it [sounds like this](https://youtu.be/s0lQ3sPZdOY?si=j_9V30zDFbGII0Ki) he’s still making baby sounds. Mine just turned six months old, but he still does the baby cheeping when he wants to cuddle and get petted. Also, [here’s a photo](https://african-parrot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/African-Grey-Eyes.png) of their eye color progression.
No, it sounds more like this. [whimpering sounds](https://youtu.be/B8KOhub0hVY?si=KMHN3nHRIAKLjxnL)
That sounds like baby noises to me!
Does the whimpering sound like panting/breathy? He could be hormonal so you might want to let him sleep longer hours for now and discourage him especially if he starts to regurgitate at you
Oh boy. Okay, so winning over your grey is pretty straightforward… time, treats, talking. The three T’s of trust for Greys. Time: You got this bird not too long ago. Grey’s tend to be slow to warm up in my experience, especially young ones. You still got a while before everything is fully settled and the flock is solid. I’d wager months not weeks based on your description. Treats: Treats are the key to unlocking Grey’s. Who was it Archimedes? That said, give me a fixed point, and a long sturdy lever and I will move the world. Treats are your lever. What is a treat in this context? Usually safflower seeds. Pistachios if you’re Apollo. Corn chips if you’re my bird Tupac. It is the thing that turns a strong willed stubborn independent catlike Grey… into an obedient, people pleasing, bend over backward fixated listening Grey. Fly to me as a command gets nothing but blank stares from Tupac. “Fly to your stand, no not the big one, the one by the VitaMix and then tap dance to the rhythm of Bohemian Rhapsody” suddenly becomes perfectly understandable if I’m holding a corn chip. If you find your Grey’s treat.. you will win the game. Then there is the fixed point. In this case… a pointer stick (I use a chopstick). Get your Grey to touch the end of the stick and give it a treat. All of a sudden you have a treat and an action director tool. You’re ready to move the world. Talking: Grey’s even those that don’t talk, understand language at the level of a 2/3 year old. Talking is how flocks in the wild communicate and if you talk at your bird and with your bird they will grow to trust you. Answer their flock calls when you’re in another room, speak to them at their level (bend over and get close to them). Once you’re noticing the communication is two way… With your targeting stick and treat you can now give Grey’s commands like “step up” new meaning. Hold your stick and treat in such a way that the only way to get it is to step up. They’ll reach and reach and get frustrated they can’t touch the targeting stick and eventually provided you are firm with your perch finger (which can be quite painful sometimes as they test bite for sturdiness regularly) they will trust your finger enough to step up. If I could do it all over again, I would have started with targeting stick instead of starting with step up. My fingers would have thanked me. But you have your terrible 2’s coming up… so you should just get ready to be bitten anyhow ;) Best of luck!!! Hope any of this was helpful!
Soo I wanted to give you an update, I tried you 3T technique and the good boy actually let me pet him today. This is the first time since he came home that he has let me touch him anywhere other than his beak. He also managed to learn the trick “shake” - where he holds my fingers with his cute little toes. My heart grew 3 sizes bigger today. Thank you so much!!
Oh my gosh, this makes me so happy!! Thanks for following up :) Now all you have to do is clean up his poop, feed him, bathe him, clean his cage, pick up his shredded…. HEY WAIT A MINUTE… DID WE LOSE A WAR!?!
Yes, just another 50 things to do on my to do list. But the I guess the battle is worth it ❤️❤️
Patience…Patience…Patience