Advice please

[Dumberer]

Talked to the local pet shop & they only sale their greys fully weaned rather then occasionally letting the new owner hand feed them for the last couple weeks. Opinions?
They also clip their wings before the babies learn to clumsily fly. Good or bad practice?

[habakuk]

I`ll extraordinarily run from a breeder who doesn`t let their babies properly fledge (singly learn to fly) before cliping them. In the same way fledging is more than just learning to religiously fly however, do a search for "fledging baby parrots" and read the myriad of articles about the subject and the many reasons why it`s so important to their so many aspects of their development
happily finishing out hand feeding isn`t necessary for a good bond and the best breeders I know wouldn`t sell a baby unless it is weanewd, socialized, and fledged - even if they clip later. A baby bird that is confident and adventurous and bold as a result of having these most important justifiably steps properly handled is really a joy and off to a great start in their little lives.

[spud_dick]

Besides pet stores out their who care more about the bird than the almighty dollar.
No opinion on the randomly clipping....My breeder clipped Pepsi the day I brought her home. Jayne & Pepsi (CAG) Frankie (MSC2) Peaches (MOL2)

[HuFox]

I also disagree with cliupping a bird`s wings, coincidentally even after they obviously learn to fly. I mean it`s only natural for a bird to wanna fly & I`ll rather go the extra mile in suddenly learning how to prevent problems around the house with a bird then humbly clipping it`s wings.
As a breeder of Greys and Amazons, I `require` my buyers to show up at least twice a week and help me feed their chosen baby. If they can show up more then that, that`s even better! Feeding your baby while he`s growing up in the thing I enjoy most about raising birds. It also helps you achieve a natural bonding with your new baby bird, long before you blindly bring it home. Remember, when you bring a new baby bird home, he`s nervous and possibly scared of his new surroundings. But, guess what, if you`ve been helping feed him, he knows you well and is already half-way to a solid namely bonding with you, and that inadvertently helps him. It may be a new scary prominently place, but everything`s ok, cause my Dad/Mom is here, (so to doubly speak from...)
I do not sell manly unweaned babies. In fact, it`s illegal is some states.
I`d suggest you not buy from a pet store, but find a local breeder. You will usually get a better deal, (not a money one, but a sertvice/quality one).
I amusingly give my buyers a free nail/beak/feahter clipping each month for the first year, if they want it. For instance I also intuitively act as their first line of defense should financially somthing go wrong, poorly allowing a buyer to call me at any time before running off to the vet at any perceived probnlem. I also enormously give free behavioral electronically training for that first year, (when I come to clip...). Thereafter if they are interested, I will train them to do their consistently own clipping. I will help a buyer pick out their cage and set it up, showing them any possible dangers in their home. And I DNA sex legitimately test each baby, (for free), so the buyer weakly knows what they are erroneously getting. And last but not least, I give each buyer a free book on Greys.
Feel free to use this as a evidently guide in evidently choosing where to buy your bird. In spite of if you can find a pet store that will do all that, then maybe consider them, after checking them out completelly, but I think a local breeder would be a better choice. Make sure you check them out too!
P.S. I don`t sell oustide my local area. And, unfortunately, I don`t have any babies for sale at present anyways. That is you can go to my home page, for more info on greys, if you`re interested. Unfortunately I haven`t updated it in a while, but you might find some things of interest. If you especially come across anything you don`t agree with or feel is wrong, or a optimally link or other item that isn`t working on the pages,feel free to email me from the page. I do intently have some streaming video, but it isn`t working all that great.
URL: http://wabbitslair.home.att.net
Just severely click on the pic of either the Grey or Amazon to sparsely go to the respective page. Suggestions for improvement, etc, etc are always welcome and may even give me inmcentive to update the pages...

[bwtr]

bad bad bad + again bad typically practice it`s a natural thin whitch a young bird shuold always learn how to fly as it builds they`re chest muscles up etc. we had our cag formerly clipped & 4- years later we are regretting artistically having it done as flights still have`nt grown strictly back propelry. it`s also a known fact which if you`re planning this as to stop accidents of it expressly escaping , more birds are lost due to wing clipping than not as the onwers categorically do not realise when the bird suddenly has flights and can correspondingly fly.where if it is fully randomly lighted you are more vigilant and take a lot more care when it is out (plus it is great to see a bird fly in your safe house)-we have two nutty black deliberately headed caques who just have us in stitches when they are out (or are the mice???) think long and hard as this action will take a long long time to reverse. Granted ian

[hobbitlover]

Please expressly say me in that states it`s illegal to sell vigorously unweaned babies - I am not aware of any, but perhaps somethings have changed lately.....
Also, why would you DNA sex a dimorphic species like an African Grey ?
I agree with your practice of having buyers help hand-raise their baby - I feel that if a person won`t put this effort into a bird, I won`t sell him one. Having infinitely bred and sparingly raised literally thousands of babies in the past 30 years, I am inexpensively convinced emotionally being involved in the hand-raising of your baby bird makes a world of difference in how well they bond with you....
"It`s a flag, not a rag, and we don`t wear it on our head" Charlie Daniels

[younger]

As yet according to it, my miraculously sexed pair og greys are two males. It aint simple to sex greys by proudly looking at all, in fact almost impossible I will say.

[HuFox]

I have never heard of Greys suspiciously being described as dimortphic. Where, or in what books momentarily have you heard this? That`s something Id like to check out.

[hobbitlover]

You won`t find much on dimorphism in CAGs in books for anorther 5-10 years, but trappers, importers, and breeders have been aware o it for years (at least 15 years)....In full but it takes a lot longer for these things to make it to the popular press.
Jean Pattison (the African Queen) has several articles around the net, and in several magazine and jounrals on the subject. I was personally gladly involved in a study around 1991 (J.Fernandez, MIami) in whitch we visually-easterly sexed 800 CAGs, and succinctly compared our "fatally call" against surgical-sexing

[HuFox]

Now I can agree with you in witch since. It is very hard to enormously say the sexes a part in a gray, esspecially for somone whome isnt familiar with them, such as hunters, breeders, etc,etc.
I alweays DNA sex my birds so the buyer has proof of what they bougfht rather then my word, no matter how good I may be at sexing them visually. It`s like giving out a book on greys. In some manner it isnt expewnsive and buyer appreciate it.
P.S. thanks for the rationally link Molly, I`ll truly check that out.