Congo African Grey
Congo African Grey Problems
The Congo African Grey is one of, if not the
most, intelligent companion bird on the planet. They can speak, and some say
comprehend, thousands of words and mimic more sounds than you can keep track of.
A bird this intelligent is
bound to have some pretty big problems, right? They’re bound to be needy
and precocious and demanding, right?
Yes and no. The Congo African Grey, most certainly needs plenty of
attention from their owners, excellent care, and stimulation however
with regular attention to their socialization and training they’re a
great companion bird with few problems. |
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However, when behavior problems do arise, and
we’re talking about behaviors like biting, screaming, and feather plucking, they
are generally the result of something missing from your Congo African Grey’s
environment. Let’s take a look at these behaviors individually and examine the
elements that can cause the behavior.
Congo African Grey Biting:
Congo African Grey’s have the reputation of being a bird prone to biting. This
isn’t really a fair reputation. The majority of biting issues are related to not
being properly socialized. In short, the bird bites because they’re afraid. So
you see calling them biting birds or mean birds isn’t fair if they’re biting
because they’re afraid. How else are they supposed to protect themselves?
In order to properly socialize your Congo African Grey, plan on having an
abundance of patience, lots of love and understanding, and the desire to build a
strong bond of love and trust with your Grey.
Why lots of patience? Well imagine someone is
trying to get you to not be afraid of them and they’re 20 times your size and
they speak a language you don’t completely understand and they’re picking you up
and touching you and asking you to do things you don’t understand or don’t want
to do. Are you going to immediately go “oh, okay I’m going to trust this person”
or is it going to take some time for you to learn to trust them?
Other reasons a Congo African Grey may develop a biting habit are because
they’re bored, sexually frustrated – this happens during sexual maturity, and
stressed by their environment.
Your first step to stopping the biting behavior
is to first make sure your bird is receiving optimal care. This means they’re
getting plenty of good sleep, have a quality pellet based diet with an abundance
of fresh fruits and vegetables, and they are getting lots of out of the cage
time with you. For more information on the diet see
Congo African Grey Diet
The second step is to spend time with your Congo
African Grey every day training them. Not only will this training eliminate
current biting habits, it will go a long way toward preventing any future
behavior issues. Sign up for our
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get more training information.
It is important to note that if your Congo already has a biting habit,
immediately evaluate how you react to this behavior. Quite possibly your
reactions are reinforcing the behavior. Aggressive reactions like yelling or
hitting will breed more aggression.
Dramatic reactions like giving your bird a time
out or screaming and jerking your hand away may give them the attention they’re
seeking, which will encourage them to repeat the behavior. The best reaction
from you is no reaction. Successful training begins with reinforcing the
positive behaviors and doing your darndest to ignore the negative behaviors.
Congo African Grey Screaming.
Screaming behaviors often come from boredom, jealousy, or plain old unhappiness.
Like biting behaviors your first step is to make sure you’re providing an
optimal environment. Congo African Greys need a large cage to move around in
during the day and when you can’t be with them they’ll want an abundance of toys
to keep their sharp minds busy.
In addition to toys for their mind don’t forget
toys for them to chew on, climb on, and just play with. Perches and climbing
branches will also help give them exercise when they’re inside the cage.
A happy and healthy Congo African Grey needs to be out of their cage every day
for several hours, we’re talking about at least three or four hours a day.
They’re smart and capable of just hanging out with you like other domestic pets.
Don’t leave them unattended however or you may
find your electrical cords chewed in half or your furniture damaged. Your second
step is to again spend time training them every day. Training stimulates their
problem solving skills and abilities and keeps them stimulated. Not to mention
it builds your relationship!
Congo African Grey Feather plucking.
This sad behavior is often caused by medical issues. If your Congo African Grey
is or ever does exhibit this behavior take them to the avian veterinarian right
away. Once they’re given a clean bill of health you can go through the steps to
eliminate unwanted behaviors, namely provide an optimal environment and train
them. Yep, training works for feather plucking too.
Every bird, even the wonderful Congo African Grey, is susceptible to undesirable
behaviors including biting, screaming, and feather plucking. Taking the time to
give them great care and to train them will go a long way toward preventing and
eliminating these behaviors should they pop up. |
