The Grey Parrot has undoubtedly become the most popular pet parrot in the UK . The demand for hand reared African Grey babies seems insatiable.

One of the reasons must be their legendary talking abilities, with many Grey Parrots' vocabularies containing hundreds of words and phrases. However, it is important to understand that not every Grey can or will talk. Hand reared babies are of course friendly towards humans from the outset and craving their attention often drives the youngsters to talk. In many cases, however, hand reared Grey babies don't start to talk until they are about one year old. However, these birds have so much more to offer, from the way they interact with their human flock, their intelligence to their characters. The ability to talk should really be considered a potential bonus, not a requirement. Macaws and cockatoos can also learn to talk and often start at a very early age. However, more often than not, these kinds of parrots only learn a few words and phrases.

When kept and cared for properly African Greys make amazing pets. Professor Irene Pepperberg has shown in her studies in the US that these parrots are able to understand the meaning of words and to use these in context. Professor Pepperberg  has been working with several Greys for a number of years now. Alex was the first Grey she has worked with in this research, which was started some twenty years ago. Alex sadly passed away, however, he leaves a tremendous legacy. He was able to count to six, name objects by their shape, colour or size, he understood the concept of same and different, he could spell and request the items he wanted to play with or eat by name. Irene's work continues and new and amazing facts about a Grey's cognitive and communicative abilities emerge all the time.

This illustrates that adding an African Grey to a family is about more than just simple pet ownership – it is a case of adding a new member to the family. Of course, parrots do behave very differently to humans but if you do treat a pet parrot with the same respect as you would a child you will have an amazing relationship with the bird.

(Sonny Stollenmaier had the opportunity to interview Professor Pepperberg about her work with Alex. You can read the interview in the February 2005 issue of Parrots magazine. Click here  for the Parrots magazine website.)

About Parrot Babies,

All parrot babies are emotionally very sensitive and require a lot of attention, love, socialisation (interaction with humans and their own kind) and to be weaned gently. Weaning is the baby's transition from being fed by humans, or their natural parents, to becoming independent and feeding itself. This is a very sensitive period for young parrots and can have long-lasting, detrimental effects if rushed. Many breeders offer their babies for sale too soon. Although the youngster may feed itself and its physical requirements are met to a large degree the baby is not necessarily emotionally independent enough to do without any warm baby formula.

At 'Grey Parrots' all our baby birds are lovingly hand reared in our home. None of our babies leave until we are absolutely sure that they are fully weaned and independent. We offer fresh foods, from fruits and vegetables to seeds to our babies even before the “official” weaning period begins so that they can play with and get to know different food items from an early age. We then let the babies wean at their own pace. We offer hand rearing formula several times a day right up to the moment of absolute independence. We allow our baby parrots to decide for themselves just how much they want at this stage. A baby is only truly weaned when it refuses the hand rearing formula completely and maintains its body weight on a daily basis.

This provides a gentle and gradual move to independence and creates happy and well-adjusted baby parrots.

Parrot behaviour!