Breeding African Greys

The first step facing African Grey breeding is the age issue. If your pet starts laying eggs at approximately 3 years old and you start feeling guilty about tossing the infertile eggs. It's time to start shopping for a mate. Look for documentation of age. Research only the males that are proven to be at least one year older. Females will not accept younger males for breeding. They will accept younger males for company as well as other species.

These highly intelligent creatures are so sensitive to their environment, that it is not an easy task to make them comfortable enough to breed in captivity. It takes dedication and commitment or a real special staff. If you are exercising any intention of breeding your african grey pet be prepared to lose your best friend. Once they bond as couple the bond between you and your African grey pet is history! They have a primary bond and secondary bonds. If you are fortunate enough to have a bird that bonds equally with in your family, I'd advise strongly against converting to a breeder. That is a rare, special bird ...fulfilling a balance to your family. Of course as families grow up and evolve .... there may come a time when it is in the best interest of your African Grey pet to introduce them to a mate.

The last clutch of eggs had not hatched after 32 days. Cara, my hen, came out of her nest and gave me the I'm done look, so I took one egg from the nest and candled it. There are many techniques and expensive equipment to accomplish this, but a strong flash light held under the egg will shine through an infertile egg. None had any signs of dots or dark spots so they were removed. I guess she found her own form of birth control. Now I know why Dude, my male, is losing feathers about his neck.

Her vitamins, now go directly into her scrambled eggs as well as the egg shell. The shell is nuked for one minute before grinding, in order to remove the thin membrane inside the shell. This assures any chance that the hen will become interested in eating her own eggs. The supplements are offered to them twice a day in a variety bowl of fruits and nuts and egg mixtures. It is my belief they know more of what their bodies need than any bird doctor. The variety bowl is returned to the refrigerator until next feeding to prevent any bacterial growth if left in the regular breeder feeding bowl.

I'll keep you posted as to how this new method works. I know they have been making nicy nice in the nest for the past few mornings, so I hope they are over their spat and have good lucky soon.

Shocking news. One week after pulling and candling the infertile eggs. We've got another egg. Undoubtedly, the infertile eggs don't take as much out of the hen and /or the Nekton-S vitamins are working well. She looks good. I'll continue the post as events occur.

I took the daily Neckton S out of the scrabbled eggs. The odor was getting stronger each day even with daily cleaning. I feared the ammonia content may endanger the health of their tiny lungs. I will re- introduce every other day when the babies hatch and