If you have ever visited a bird sanctuary or a zoo, you might have seen different stainless steel wire mesh wherein the birds seem to happily flying around. Have you ever given it a thought how these stainless steel wire mesh is made and how do the birds remain safe inside? Let us find out different types of stainless steel wire mesh.

Different Types of Stainless Steel Wire Mesh

1. Powder coated wire mesh – Well, whether you find just one bird in a cage or plenty of birds in an aviary, the material used for both are the same. An aviary basically means a large cage where there are plenty of birds which fly from one place to another. Aviary is often known as ‘flight cages’. Nevertheless, it must be noted that these stainless steel wire mesh are made of pure steel and are glazed with powder coating.

The use of powder coating protects the birds from any untoward incident like rust. Powder coating protects the steel from rusting and the birds inside can enjoy flying without the fear of getting into any untoward incident. Moreover, one must note that if the stainless steel wire mesh is exposed directly without powder coating, the steel metal which is a combination of zinc, lead, tin etc. can lead to metal poisoning for the birds. The powder coating must be of good quality which in turn will protect the birds from any harmful illness.

2. Wire Rope – There is another stainless steel wire mesh which is hand woven commonly known as stainless steel wire rope. The steel rope can be woven to make bird cages or bird netting and is best suited for zoos and bird sanctuary. They are handmade and hand weaved wire rope.

3. Stainless steel wire mesh with crimp lock - This is another type of bird cage where powder coating is not used. These cages come with crimp lock which uses high grade stainless steel wire which will never rust, chip or corrode and do not accompany any toxic coatings. Parrots and other birds can easily use these cages for climbing without being injured.

Wire Mesh – Useful Tips

All the above mentioned bird cages come in different sizes specially meant for small and large birds. We will provide you with some of the important points to be noted while selecting stainless steel wire mesh.

1. Screws – While buying a stainless steel wire mesh from any manufacturer, care must be taken to note that there are no screws or wiring which is not powder coated that can affect the birds in the long run. Most birds prefer biting and pecking the wire mesh while inside the cage. This is done to sharpen their beaks which otherwise they do it on the branches of trees. And since they are kept in stainless steel wife mesh, the birds use the wire mesh to sharpen the beaks.

2. Weather resistant – This is another important point to be noted before planning to buy a stainless steel wire mesh. If it is meant for your home, then the weather resistant option does not take place, but if you plan to keep a bird aviary at home or have one in a bird sanctuary, than do ensure that these wire mesh are weather resistant so that the birds do not face any problem with the cage.

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1. Wire Mesh for your Bird Cage

Wire mesh is commonly used these days to construct all kinds of bird cages. In fact one of the most popular usages of meshes the world over is in building bird cages and animal pens. This is because meshes present us with a very cost effective way of building cages. One of the primary advantages of using meshes in the construction of bird cages is that much lesser material is required to build a unit volume of the cage. Significant cage strength and durability can always be achieved using a good frame and an appropriate grade of mesh.

There are many different kinds of Wire Mesh available in the market. They’re commonly classified according to their material, pattern, structure, gauge and application. Almost any material that can be drawn into a wire can be used to make meshes. Simply put, a mesh is a bunch of wires woven or molded into a fixed pattern in order to form a barrier that fulfills a certain purpose. They can be made from different kinds of material like metal, plastic, polymer coated wire, etc. The purpose usually defines the choice of material during the purchase of meshes.

Which Wire Mesh Size is Best to Use?

While building a bird cage, Wire Mesh offers a very convenient way of covering open spaces. Mesh comes in various sizes and patterns. What you need to buy totally depends on what you want to keep in and what you want to keep out. In the case of tiny birds, the mesh pattern has to be small enough to let the birds feel unrestricted while at the same time keeping out harmful insects and other creatures. In the case of larger birds, meshes with larger gauges and wider patterns are required most of the time. The larger gauge for bigger birds is to prevent them from biting their way out or injuring themselves on razor thin mesh.

Wire mesh can be found in various material combinations. For example, galvanized wire meshes are ideal for outdoor bird cages. They do not corrode easily in humid outdoor conditions. Some bird owners in the tropics also outfit their cages with an added layer of mosquito mesh. This is to keep birds safe from mosquitoes and other poisonous insects that are commonly found in the tropics. Galvanized wire, Stainless steel, PVC coated and Powder coated are some of the most common types of mesh used in building bird cages. These wire materials are popular because all of them are corrosion resistant, don’t rust easily and tend to look good for a longer time.

Wire mesh is manufactured in rolls. In case you’re building your own bird cage, you need to find what dimensions you need and carry a note along so you can ask the dealer to cut and crimp it for use. In case you possess the tools to do it yourself, you only need to know the length of mesh you’ll require versus the breadth it’s available in. That way, you’ll have exactly the right amount of bird mesh to build your cage. It pays to buy a little extra too in case you goof up while cutting the mesh or need to make repairs later on. Never paint the wire mesh on a bird cage. It might look pretty in the short run, but paint tends to peel off and fall on bird food. Birds are known to fall ill after consuming paint flakes from meshes.

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P. erithacus erithacus

Description: African Grey Parrot has a simple colour scheme: the body plumage is grey, but this varies in shade from region to region and males are usually darker than females. The feathers of the head and neck are margined with very pale grey: the rump is so pale a grey as to be almost white, and the tail and adjacent tail coverts are scarlet. The beak is black and the iris is pale yellow. The feet are dark grey and the bare skin surrounding the eye is white. Length: 33 cm (13 in). Weight: about 320 g (11 oz).

Immature birds have the tail darker red and the iris dark grey.

Several Albino Grey Parrots have been described, in which the tail is red, in brilliant contrast to the white plumage. The eyes are pinkish red and the feet and beak light coloured.

One occasionally sees Greys which have areas of pink feathering and very many birds have a few pink feathers scattered throughout the plumage. However, D. Seth-Smith (1921) noted that Jean Delacour had acquired a Grey which was entirely pink, apart from a few feathers in the body and the quills, which were grey. What must surely be the same bird was described in Avicultural Magazine (1922) as:

… like a flamingo, each feather being bright pink with a lighter pink edge. The tail is crimson, the head light pink and white, the eyes and feet dark. She laid five eggs while with me last year….

Some Grey Parrots with pink feathers in the plumage moult out normally.

Range/Habitat: The nominate race inhabits equatorial Africa from the south-eastern part of the Ivory Coast to western Kenya and northern Angola, the Congo and north-western Tanzania. Lowland forest is the major habitat of Grey Parrots. They are com­mon in some areas and are even said to be extending their range in eastern Africa, while in other areas their num­bers are decreasing due to habitat de­struction. They are wary, seldom al­lowing a close approach. Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, berries and nuts, palm nuts being a favorite item.

P. e. timneh

Description: This race is very distinct having the upper mandible reddish, tipped with black, is slightly smaller and has the tail dull dark red.

Range/Habitat: Sierra Leone, south­ern Guinea, Liberia and the Ivory Coast is the range of timneh.

P. e. princeps

Description: The race princeps was separated on account of its darker plumage. However, it is virtually indistinguishable from the nominate race.

Range/Habitat: It is found on only two islands, in the Gulf of Guinea: S. Tome and Principe. This race is classified as endangered and listed on Appendix I of CITES. However, Abbe R. de Naurois, who lived on Principe until 1973, did not consider it to be endangered. Much of the island had been deforested early in the twentieth century; deforestation had not been serious in recent years (de Naurois, pers. comm., 1983).

A-viculture: The Grey Parrot is renown­ed for its talking ability; in mimicking the human voice, it has no rival among parrots. Not only can it acquire an extensive vocabulary of words, but it reproduces them with such accuracy of tone and accent that the teacher can be identified. The Grey Parrot, along with the Indian Hill Mynah (Gracula relig­iosa), and, to a lesser degree, certain members of the crow family, are the best known talking birds. Mynahs, which speak with great clarity, have the edge over Grey Parrots as talking birds, because they exhibit no signs of shyness, showing off their repertoire in strange places and for unknown people. A Grey Parrot will rarely oblige under such circumstances, being at its best when it is completely relaxed and in its own home.

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1. African Grey Parrot – Part 3
2. African Grey Parrot – Part 2
3. Senegal Parrots – Part 1
4. Cape Parrot or Brown-necked
5. Yellow faced Parrot

Africa is the largest continent in which parrots are found but contains the smallest numbers of species and from only four genera. In terms of numbers kept by aviculturists, only the Lovebirds are numerous and these warrant a separate chapter. Of the remainder, the Grey Parrot, the only member of the genus Psittacus, has the distinction of being the best known of all parrots (except in Australia and New Zealand where it is almost un­known). All the other species discussed in this chapter belong to the genus Poicephalus. The African Ringneck Parrakeet is the only Psittacula found in Africa and, as its needs are exactly the same as those of the Indian Ring­neck, it is included in the chapter on Asiatic Parrakeets.

With the exception of the largest Poicephalus (the Cape Parrot), which is in certain aspects of voice and behaviour reminiscent of the Grey, in appearance Psittacus and Poicephalus are very different. The care and feeding of both genera are, however, the same.

Feeding African Parrots: All these birds should be of­fered sunflower seed, peanuts and pine nuts, also hemp in moderation. The Cape Parrot, unlike most parrots other than macaws, is capable of cracking walnuts; large nuts given to the other species must, of course, be cracked first. Jardines and Cape Parrots also enjoy cracking the stones of plums, cherries and peaches and removing the kernel to eat. Poicephalus and Greys like millet sprays and should also be offered the usual small seeds in loose form; however, the larger species may ignore these. Canary seed and white or panicum millet should be offered daily to small birds such as Senegal Parrots.

Many Greys are most reluctant to eat greenfood and fruit but one must persevere with them. This is especially true when birds are rearing young, when they may suddenly develop a taste for foods previously refused. A pair of Meyer’s Parrots, for example, developed an insatiable appetite for peanuts. They were also provided with sprouting seed and bread and milk. Another pair took soaked oats, sweet apple, greenfood, peanuts and whole­wheat bread while rearing young. A varied diet of boiled potato and carrot, stale bread soaked in sweetened milk and spinach beet and apple were taken by one pair of Senegal Parrots with young. Similarly, a pair of Greys con­sumed a bucketful of greenfood, chick­weed and groundsel daily. All seed offered was soaked; safflower and hemp were favoured and sunflower, millet, wheat and oats were also eaten. Little interest was shown in apple or peanuts after the chicks hatched.

Another pair refused soaked seed after their chick was four weeks old. Hemp was their favourite seed and lettuce was eaten ravenously, a whole lettuce being devoured every two or three days. Chicken bones were rel­ished and a little white fish was eaten.

Accommodation: Even the small species of African parrots can prove very de­structive to wood; it is therefore ad­visable to cover the aviary framework with metal strips and to build the shel­ter of an indestructible material such as concrete blocks or reconstituted stone. Their need to gnaw should not be thwarted and fresh branches from trees should be provided as often as possible.

2″ x 1″ in welded mesh is ideal for all species; in no circumstances should 1″ x 1/2″ in mesh wire netting be used; birds the size of Jardines Parrot and above can crush this as easily as paper and the smaller species could destroy it if so inclined.

While they will undoubtedly breed in smaller aviaries, the minimum sizes suggested, including an enclosed shel­ter, are as follows:

Meyers, Ruppells and Senegal:

300 x 90 cm (10 x 3 ft) x 180 cm (6 ft) high.

Jardines, Cape and Grey:

360 x 120 cm (12 x 4 ft) x 180 cm (6 ft) high.

If space and finances allow, 4.2 m (14 ft) flights will be appreciated by all these species.

Senegal Parrots have been bred in cages indoors; one cage used with success measured 45 x 60 cm (18 x 24 in) x 120 cm (48 in) high. In another instance, a pair of Senegal Parrots reared young in a London flat next to a television set and yet another pair reared a chick in an indoor cage measuring only 33 cm (12 in) square and 56 cm (22 in) high.

Unless the birds are reasonably tame and many adults are not, generous aviaries 6 m (20 ft) long are not to be recommended, as the birds are less likely to become steady than when housed in a smaller aviary. Each pair should have an enclosure to itself and although a number of pairs will live together perfectly amicably out of the breeding season, they cannot be ex­pected to do so when they have eggs or young.

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1. African Grey Parrot – Part 2
2. Senegal Parrots – Part 2
3. African Grey Parrot – Part 3
4. Senegal Parrots – Part 1
5. Ruppells Parrot

Room Aviaries

When one keeps parrots, one would also like to observe them. This is not easily possible in the bird room described, because one must normally enter the room, thus intruding into the territory of the birds. (If the doings of the parrots can be observed through a glass door or a glass wall, this is naturally simpler. A. Gemein uses a video surveillance installation; other parrot lovers simply put an old easy chair in the bird room and let the animals get used to the observer.)

With a room aviary, one does not have these problems. The parrots are accustomed to more intensive contact with humans. They let themselves be observed unself-consciously, yet are among their own kind. One can order room aviaries, shipped unassembled, by mail order or bird aviary plan. Pet shops furnish room aviaries made to measure. These have wire on all sides. In practice, aviary are like large cages. If one would like to construct a room aviary, one can construct it in a corner of the room, thereby saving two sides. As material, one should use spot-welded, galvanized iron mesh, which is welded to a framework of square tubes. For parrots, one should use a wire 2 mm. in diameter and a mesh size of 25 mm. The door should be at most 1 m. tall, so that the birds cannot easily get out when one enters the aviary. The floor should consist of sheet metal which is folded up 20 cm. on each side and then covered with sand. The walls of the room should be covered with plywood paneling.

Balcony Aviaries

Balcony aviaries are constructed in exactly the same way, being topped in addition with a wire roof and having an open passageway into the interior of the house, through which the parrots, doves can enter the room aviary during bad weather. When one enters the balcony aviary through the door (1 m. high at most) for feeding or cleaning, added care is needed to keep one’s wards from getting away. Security is offered only by a “lock” [a vestibule and a second door].

Outdoor Aviaries

It is not sufficient to set a wire mesh structure on the bare ground. This is not recommended for hygienic reasons, because the excretions pollute the soil. Unwelcome visitors like mice, rats, cats, weasels, polecats, and other vermin can get in too easily. A foundation made of concrete or bricks will prevent this. In order to keep the mice from digging underneath, the foundation must extend into the ground for 50 cm., or even 1 m., according to Pinter. A concrete floor is safest, but wire mesh, set into the earth to a depth of 50 cm., then horizontally extended, will also keep the rodents out. Wilker recommends putting in a horizontal layer of cinderblocks. He describes a foundation of edging stones (99 x 8 x 30 cm.) which has the advantage of letting rain water drain through open side joints. One sees that there are no limits to the imagination of the aviary builder. Naturally, mice must also be prevented from above-the-ground access to food dishes and food remnants strewn about. A strip of small-mesh netting 20 cm wide is placed around the aviary. Cats and owls can be kept out only by a double layer of mesh; but they haven’t much chance with the parrots, as these birds know how to defend themselves.

The aviary requires a shelter room and a wire-glass shelter wall. These are oriented toward the weather side, i.e., toward north or east. The shelter room must be well insulated and electrically heated. An infrared heater or two carbon-filament lamps, covered with wire mesh and coupled with a thermostat, will keep the temperature at a minimum of about 15 C  even in winter. In the shelter room, there should be a small vestibule, which serves as a lock. This is also where tools and food can be stored. Through another door from the shelter room, one reaches the actual aviary. It is partially roofed with wire glass, so that the animals sitting outdoors do not have to retreat to the inside because of a rain shower. The wire mesh is galvanized, spot-welded iron mesh 2 mm thick with a mesh size of 25 mm or, as recommended by Gemein, so-called corrugated wire with a mesh size of 40 mm., which will withstand even the beaks of macaws and cockatoos. As protective paint for the wire, de Grahl recommends a bitumen lacquer which does not splinter off as easily as iron lacquer and has to be renewed only every two years.

The interior is furnished with climbing trees and perches. With sloping perches, parrots can get to the ground and up again without flying. Nest boxes should be offered both inside and outside the shelter. (If there are several parrots together, no breeding attempts should be made before the breeding pair is separated from the others.) Any plantings inside aviary will soon be destroyed by the parrots; however, it is important that the aviary be surrounded by greenery. For breeding parrots especially, it is important that they can feel undisturbed and safe.

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1. How to Decorate Parrot Cage – Part 2

Cage Bottom

Most cages have a plastic base with a wire grate. The function of the latter is to keep the parrot from stepping in its own droppings on the floor, but some of the droppings always stick to the grate so it might as well be taken out right away. One good use for the wire grate is as a separator when two incompatible parrots which normally have their own cages must be in one cage for a short time during transport. For a long period, naturally, this is not a solution.

The plastic base gradually becomes worn by the sprinkled sand, and the material itself becomes brittle in time. When purchasing the cage one should ask whether the shop will be able to supply a replacement base should the first one break or become unusable. Cages that have a pull-out tray are more practical. It is easier to clean the floor without having to cet the wire top aside. On the other hand, there is no possibility of putting only the top over a bird which does not return to the cage willingly.

Location

The stand offered with the cage is usually 50-60 cm. high. This is too low, because the parrot should be at eye level with the observer. It is disturbing to the parrot if one looks into the cage from above. Consider hanging the cage on a wall; this gives the animal cover on one side. The location should not be exposed to full sunlight. Drafts are to be avoided, as is the immediate proximity of a radiator. The room itself should receive sunlight once a day. Since parrots always want to be one of the party, it is recommended that space be reserved for the cage in several places throughout the house. In the appropriate rooms two hooks should be fastened to the wall, where the cage can be hung as needed. This way, the parrot can be brought along, without one worrying that it will damage something with its beak. The kitchen and the bedroom are no place for an parrot; this must be mentioned to keep the reader from drawing the wrong conclusion. With a recently purchased animal, a certain reticence in this respect is normally exercised. However, as the years pass, one becomes more intimate with an parrot, but this should not be at the cost of hygiene.

Stand and Climbing Tree

To keep an parrot on a parrot stand all day long, chained by one foot, is simply mistreatment of the animal. When a parrot stand is mentioned here, it must be understood that it is to be used in addition to the cage. The tray catches droppings and other debris produced by the parrot. Naturally, a single perch offers few climbing possibilities, so one should provide a climbing tree as well. This can easily be constructed by trimming branches to the desired size and then screwing or nailing them together. The whole is set into a Christmas-tree stand or an outdoor umbrella stand. First, the branches must be brushed while wet, so that neither dirt nor possible insecticides continue to adhere to them. In addition, the leaves should be checked for “little beasties” which are not wanted in the house. The branches should be arranged so that the parrot does not expel its droppings onto the lower ones. In actuality this can be difficult, because they always hit something. Another possibility is an artificial climbing tree; its design will allow the problem of the droppings to be taken into consideration. A flat, ladderlike structure has proven itself. It is held vertical by a rectangular umbrella stand.

Bird Rooms

A bird room must be heatable and should receive some sunlight daily. In winter, the photoperiod must be lengthened artificially to twelve hours, for which it is best to use “truelite” tubes. The light they produce approximates natural daylight. With a timer, they can be turned on at 4:00 AM, so the end of the twelve-hour “day” will coincide with the time of sunset. Even at night, the room should not be pitch dark. If there is no light entering from outside, an 8-watt bulb should remain burning.

A window allows direct contact with the outside air. A grating which can be set into the window opening as needed permits air flow without giving the birds an opportunity to get away. The interior furnishings must be such that neither they nor the parrots can be injured. If the heat source becomes so hot that the birds could burn their feet, it must be enclosed with a grating. The unpapered walls should be provided with a coating of whitewash, with roofer’s tin or Resopal, or with a washable paint of the kind used for bathrooms. The floor must be such that it can be kept clean. It should be caulked and then covered with sand.

A. Gemein renovated a massive brick house for keeping parrots, covering the interior rooms with a layer of unpolluted earth from the forest, 30 cm. thick. On this he piled tree roots, rotted tree parts, and large, room-high tree trunks. Such bird rooms are optimal, but not everyone can recreate the primeval forest as perfectly as Gemein has described in his book. Anyone who lives in a rented dwelling must exercise restraint. The use of sand as a floor covering is not possible; one must compromise. Bird rooms can look very different, depending on circumstances. The comments in this site are intended only as examples; this is also true for the next section on aviaries.

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1. How to decorate a Parrot cage – Part 1

Shape and Dimensions

The cage should be rectangular, to keep the bird from getting the so-called turning disease, a nervous turning and twisting of the head caused by the lack of orientation within the wire circle. There are some very nice-looking cages whose four walls are bent and come together at the top. The dimensions should not be less than 40 x 40 x 60 cm. If the parrot is taken out frequently, it will not require a much larger cage. Since a tame and talking parrot should be taken along when visiting friends or going on trips by car, the cage should fit into the car. Having both a large room cage and a small travel cage is optimal. The cage wires should run horizontally so the parrot can climb around more easily.

Perches

The perches that come with the cage are too smooth and do not offer a variety of diameters for the parrot’s foot. They should be roughened up with a file or rasp and made thinner in several spots. The two or three perches must be placed parallel to each other, not crosswise. Droppings should not fall on the lower perch. The top perch should be located so that the bird in an upright position has at least 1 cm headroom. Furthermore, its tail feathers should not touch the wire when it bends forward. When sleeping, birds prefer to sit on an upper perch because this location gives them the greatest feeling of security. If the space beneath the cage roof is too small, the bird will still sit up there, but in a bent position. If the space is too great, the interior of the cage is not being used fully. The lower perch is used mainly for reaching the feeding dishes, which are usually lower than the door. Another perch belongs outside, on top of the cage; if possible, it should extend out beyond one side. The parrot needs room for its tail feathers. If it sits on the end of this perch, then its droppings will not fall on the cage wires or into the dishes.

Dishes and Door

Dishes for parrots must be fastened very securely. It must be impossible for the bird to push the dishes out from the inside and perhaps even squeeze through the opening itself. Upon removal of the dishes, it must be possible to close off the resultant openings with a fastening device. The openings for the dishes should not be below the door opening.

If one wants to install an automatic food dispenser, it will have to be fastened to the wires above the dish with a clamp. It is best to ask for a demonstration of the fastening procedure when buying the food dispenser. R. Low writes that these food dispensers are not for real bird lovers. Whoever cares for an animal should take the time to feed it daily. Besides, the food supply can block up in the neck, and the bird then sits in front of the dish, unable to get to the food. On the bottom of the dish of the dispenser an unappetizing layer of dust forms. Therefore, the dispenser should be used only exceptionally, for a short period of time. Moreover, the typical commercial dispensers are easily pushed away by the parrots when they hang on the outside of the cage, and the contents are spilled all over the floor.

The door should close in a way that is parrot­ proof. This is true if a human has to exert a certain force to open in. A bolt should not be within reach from inside. A door that opens downward ensures the least danger of injury to the bird. But it could be hit by droppings. This can be prevented by directing the bird in its choice of a perch; a natural branch fastened to the top on the appropriate side usually works. If the door is hinged on the side, one should watch for protruding wire ends. They are dangerous, but they can be bent away with pliers. Doors which are pulled up or hinged at the top must be fastened to be kept open, so that the bird cannot lock itself out. An excellent solution is the following: The entire front of the cage is hinged as a door, and in this is an additional, small door. Thus, the parrot can fly directly to its perch. Recalcitrant animals can be put back into the cage more easily, since the opening is so wide. A cage with an opening front is an added advantage during taming. An entrance perch can be fastened in the door opening to facilitate the parrot’s getting in and out, at least in the beginning.

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One of the problems in introducing two Grey Parrots as a potential breeding pair is that, even though they may be of the opposite sex, they will not necessarily prove compatible. Some of the larger parrots are extremely discriminating over the choice of a mate.

A guide to sexing these birds was offered by E. J. Boosey, who received the Avicultural Society’s medal for the first breeding of this species in Britain, in 1945. He suggested that in the female the head feathers are usually ruffled, whereas they are usually sleek and flat in the male; that the male’s eyes appear round and wide open and the female’s are slit-eyed; that the female’s beak leaves the skull at a slightly outward angle.

Courtship behavior  in Grey Parrots consists mainly of head pumping; sometimes they will run along the perch with wings lowered, to display the red tail, and head down. When they come into breeding condition, the temperament of tame birds in aviaries can alter drastically towards their owner.

Greys lay three or four, more rarely five, eggs, with an interval of two or three days between the laying of each egg. The incubation period is 28 or 30 days.

The earliest breeding record for this species is quoted by Buffon (Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, Vol VI). A pair belonging to a M. de la Pigeoniere in France had reared young for five or six consecutive years in the early 1770s. Four eggs were invariably laid, one of which would be infertile.

The first success described in Britain took place in 1843. A nest of flannel was made for the female and put in a copper near a fireplace. She incubated for exactly four weeks and one chick was hatched and reared. Since then Grey Parrots have been bred in many countries through­out the world but very, very few avi­culturists have established aviary-bred strains. Females lay readily in captivity and this applies equally to caged pet birds as to those in aviaries.

The subspecies timneh has been bred, at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida, and by Tony Silva in Illinois, USA. K. W. Dalton of Worcestershire, in England, reared a youngster from a timneh male paired to a female of the nominate race. When it left the nest at the age of 13 weeks it had the reddish brown tail of the male parent. This race has also been bred at Vogelpark Walsrode, Germany. In 1977 a pair reared two young in a large mixed aviary of African parrots in the parrot house. Young have also been reared in Rostock Zoo, in East Germany.

The affection of Grey Parrot pairs is demonstrated by an incident concern­ing a pair of Greys which were regu­larly offered one or two sugar-coated chocolate drops each. The owner would call the incubating female out of the nest so that she did not miss this treat. However, when a chick hatched, a female failed to appear for her chocolate. Rather than eat his mate’s share, the male carried one to the nest hole and passed it to the female.

The Grey Parrots has never hybridized with another species. Poicephalus appears to be its nearest relative and the Cape Parrot the only one which approaches it in size. It would be interesting to pair a Cape Parrot with a Grey Parrot. Fertile eggs from such a mating might show that the two genera are more closely related than is apparent at first.

You may also like:

1. African Grey Parrot – Part 2
2. Senegal Parrots – Part 2
3. Ruppells Parrot
4. Red bellied Parrot (Abyssinian or Red-breasted)
5. Niam Niam Parrot

Food Values

It would be very wrong to allow any bird to exist on only one kind of seed as most seeds are deficient in some respect. Their food values are given below. It should be remembered that protein is a very important item of the diet and that different seeds have vary­ing amino acid constituents. Those of peanuts are superior and those of mil­lets are especially poor.

Seed Food Values (in percentages)

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African Grey Parrots  also learn to imitate the sounds around them, sometimes to the annoyance of members of the house­hold who cannot distinguish between the ring of the telephone and the Grey’s imitation. A Grey Parrots in my pos­session would imitate to perfection the radio time signals and the squeaking of the door of a cooker. Many Greys Parrots are adept at whistling tunes, for whistling is part of their natural range of calls.

The Duke of Bedford (1930) re­corded an instance of mimicry of sound and action. His aviaries were being dismantled for removal, involv­ing `much hammering on wood, wire and corrugated iron constantly going on, as the carpenters engage in their work’. He was surprised to hear, issu­ing from the aviary containing his Grey Parrots:

… the typical sounds of carpentering proceeding therefrom, though no human agent was in view. Looking inside I saw the Parrot with her head bent right over, giving her perch five or six hard taps with the culmen of her beak, then turn­ing to one side and repeating the action on the wire and iron to produce the necessary variation in sound. The time and rhythm were perfect in each case!

Grey Parrots are among the most perceptive and intelligent of birds but many are also rather sensitive and highly strung and a relatively small proportion become very tame. However, this is in many cases the fault of the owner as much depends on his or her patience and the amount of time devoted to the bird, as well as its age on acquisition. Nevertheless, there can never have been so many cherished pets among parrots as Greys. They can be the most delightful companions imaginable and their intelligence is a constant source of wonder.

No one should consider keeping one of these birds unless he or she is able to devote much time to it every day. This, of course, applies to all tame parrots but a bored or neglected Grey will soon resort to feather plucking  which is extremely difficult or impossible to cure. Under the same circumstances, Amazon Parrots, for example, rarely remove their feathers. The vast major­ity of parrots which remove their feathers are Greys, macaws and cocka­toos and I feel it is significant that this problem occurs most frequently in the most intelligent species.

Until comparatively recently, most of the Greys exported from Africa were destined to become pets, only those which proved impossible to tame going to aviculturists. In the latter category are birds known as ‘growlers’. Their fear of people is so great that whenever someone approaches their cage, they make a continuous growling sound. It is almost impossible to tame adult birds which are growlers and as it causes such birds great stress to be closely confined, they are suitable only for aviaries. Young growlers can be tamed but it is a long process and one which requires long suffering patience. The average person does not have the ability or patience to tame such a bird and should not allow a dealer to per­suade him or her otherwise.

From the mid-1970s the number of Greys and other parrots exported from their native countries decreased great­ly, so that the demand for young Greys as pets could not be met, with the inevitable result that the prices of these birds and other parrots reached record peaks.

The aviculturist with several birds has a fair chance of eventually being able to supply the pet market with a useful number of birds annually. The record produced by one pair of Greys must surely be that held by the late Mrs Velma Hart of Long Beach, Cali­fornia, a renowned breeder of parrots. Her pair produced 87 chicks between 1962 and 1974. This number was, of course, achieved by removing the young for hand-rearing, thus inducing the female to lay again.

Breeders should note the advice which Mrs Hart wrote:

Those who intend to breed parrots must have patience. The birds must be given good food and privacy – and nature seems to take care of the rest. For African Grey Parrots, I provide nest-boxes 31 cm (12 in) square and 61 cm (2 ft) deep.

Many people cannot wait for the birds to breed. They move them or change the nest. They try to improve things but only upset the birds and delay them nesting.

I feel that this is especially good advice where Grey Parrots are concerned because these birds are very suspicious and dislike change of any kind.

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