Male vs. Female CAG's, any opinions??

[bgenie]

Hi there, I just joined this forum, and have had a wonderful night reading through the last 50 or so threads. My husband and I have just put a deposit down with a very reputable breeder for a baby CAG that should be weaned and fledged out sometime in mid April, So I most certainly have some time to get things ready for the baby. Our current flock consists of Gracie, a 6 yr old B&G that was a rescue last Nov., a 1 1/2 yr old Red front/B&G hybrid Macaw who we got at 5 wks old and hand fed out (he was our first "big" bird, and I now know how incredibly irresponsible it was for this breeder to sell us Halyn at such a young age), Josie (3yr old Green-Cheek conure, who was one of Gracie's house mates that were all given up at the same time) and DaVinci (9yr old Cockatiel). Somebody mentioned to me today that there is a difference in male vs female bonding within a family with CAG's. Any opinions on that? The person said that 60% of male CAG's will bond with just one owner... Any truth to that, I haven't been able to find any research or support of that online. I realize that CAG's are typically "one" person birds, but we work really hard in our home to have well socialized birds that are happy with everybody. Gracie is my "husband's" bird, but she will step up and get scritches from me readily, she just prefers him. Halyn is a love sponge and will share his love equally between us, but isn't much into other people (which is okay with us). Josie is an absolute hippy bird, and will give love to anybody. Davinci is also Daddies bird, but he got her just after she weaned and was the only person to hold her for several years, she has never bitten anybody ever! She is doing much better with me now and will step up without trying to fly back to dad.

I guess the whole point of this is that I would like to continue with the same "free-love" type attitude in the house! Is there really a difference with Male and Female bonding? We don't really know, DNA wise, the sex of either of our Macaw's they are just who they are, and we just assigned them he/she pronouns to make things easier, so typically sex doesn't matter to us.

Enough of a ramble, thanks for any input!

~Melissa

[Lisa B]

hi melissa, welcome!

It was somewhere stated that there were a percentage of male greys tend to switch bonds at or about the terrible twos to the other person in the household. I dont remember the exact % that was said. However, it was also stated that only 16% of female greys switch.
This came from a behaviorist, or some book author. Someone who studied greys. Mighta been Maggie Wright. (forgive me, the brain is not working correctly as I am tryping this)

however, with that said, I have one 5 year old male, that HAS NOT switched from me to his daddy, and one Female grey who will be 5 in jan, who likes her daddy "better" , but is a very sweet docile little girl, who has no problem feeding me if daddy isnt available.

socialization is the key.
Either one of my younger greys will go willingly to either my husband or I.
The older one, has definitly decided he DOES NOT like his daddy one bit.
He was a rehome, and was in his late teens early 20's when we got him.

I will look and see if I can find the info you were looking for with the %.

[Lisa B]

It wasnt Maggie Wright, but it was on her site.


SWITCHING HUMAN BONDS............................................. ......By Jane Hallander


There is another difference between Congo and Timneh Greys: switching bonds from one human to another. Congo Greys have a reputation for deciding to change their bonded humans, usually from the primary caregiver to a spouse or older child. This can be heartbreaking for the persons who have grown to love the young Greys they care for. Therefore, I decided to run another survey, since I had not heard of as many instances where Timneh's switch allegiance from one person to another.

Again, these surveys rely on personal experiences of African Grey owners, which may not always be as objective as a controlled laboratory experiment. Therefore, they should be considered possible trends, rather than outright facts. In my survey, which included equal numbers of Congo and Timneh Greys, 63 percent of the male Congo Greys changed their preference from the primary caregiver to another family member. They did this between the ages of two and three years. Sixteen percent of the female Congo Greys in the survey changed their human bonds.

The trend indicates to me that if Congo Greys live in a family group or nursery situation, they may leave that family group to choose their mates as they become sexually mature, in order to keep the gene pool pure for the survival of the species. If male Congo Greys are the ones who select mates, that would account for the high percentage of males that change pair-bonds as they mature. In our human world, the primary caregiver may represent the family or nursery group to the young Grey, while the other human family member is the rest of the flock.

But, what about the Timneh's in my survey? A big surprise to me was that no Timneh's of either sex changed their pair bonds. Some even added the other human into a multiple bond at various times in the Grey’s development. There were no rejections of primary caregivers, as with the Congo Greys. The natural assumption here is that perhaps Timneh's don’t live for extended periods in family or nursery groups, so they do not have to reject that group (or human) in order to find suitable mates.

[bgenie]

Thanks so much for the information! I have added a signature line, so hopefully it will show up and show off my babies a bit, I am rather partial to them, but then again, I'm supposed to be :-)

~Melissa

[gilliegirl]

Please dont, with all that number of birds your grey will not be able to bond with you or for that matter you with it, they require undivided and give undivided loyalty.

[Virginia]

My bird who is a female Congo, started out preferring my husband, which broke my heart since she was my bird. But after a few months, she bonded to me.

[Lisa B]

Originally Posted by Virginia

My bird who is a female Congo, started out preferring my husband, which broke my heart since she was my bird. But after a few months, she bonded to me.

us girls have the right to change our minds

[Jackk]

I believe socializing the bird is the key. Let the bird meet lots of people male or female often. We have had our grey for 21 years now and his is bonded to both myself and my partner. I suspect maybe because I am home with him during the day,and my partner is at home with him in the evening,giving Kahlua time to bond to the both of us at different opportunity without the other person there.

[mollymarie]

Hi, In response to the bonding of CAG,s (especially in reference to Melissa) -
We are the 3rd owners of a formerly lost Grey, and whose rescuers had too many children & other animals to provide the attention our little bird required. He was well cared for but did not bond as far as we know those 5-7 months they had him. "Bindi" bonded with me instantly, and I loved it. But, happily he also took to my mildly disabled husband and they became buddies during the day. Then our Adult daughter, whose home it is and who has the second floor, would leave her Macaw and continually visit. He also took well to her as his playmate. As the situation is now, and he set the roles for each of us: At night I put him to bed, and he tells me when, which is about 8:15 nightly, I chat and play, love on him, etc. Then about 20 - 30 minutes later my husband (who once said he was not a bird person) will come in and tuck him in, along with Bindi ringing bells and my husband singing or chatting to him. Then, when our Grey thinks we are asleep, our Adult daughter will slip downstairs, love on him and sing him a lullaby. We each gained from the multiple roles and we are glad he is able to love each of us in the way he chose. I would be totally heart broken if he rejected me but sure don't mind sharing.

I need help in other areas as although he doesn't mind my stroking him all the way down his back, while caged but my hand inside, he refuses to let any of us hold him. We don't know his history so are letting him set the pace.

Any suggestions on that? I wish you all the best.

Mollymarie

[bgenie]

Thanks Jack and Mollymarie for the input! Jack, how does Kahlua do when both you and your partner are home? Do you see any aggression during those times or anything like that? Bindi seems to have started her adjustment period in your home quite well. My husband and I spend most of our evenings at the house with the birds, so the hope is that we are both able to bond equally well with the new baby. We have found that we each have our "roles" within our fids lives. With Halyn, I did most of the feeding during his last 2 months of formula, and I tend to be his cuddle partner. He goes to my husband to play and be more excited. With Gracie, we have our special time when Daddy is away, because she tends to be closer to him. So when he is checking his email or something, I make sure to seek out special time between the two of us. Our most recent fun bonding is dancing to "Gracie Doodle went to town" to the beat of "Yankie doodle went to town...". She is an absolute ham when we do this together and will vocalize with me as I sing to her, even though she doesn't quite have the words yet. My husband has tried to do this with her and she just stands there looking at him. It certainly is funny how different members of a family are able to interact together in harmony. These birds are in large groups in the wild and coexist peaceably...why can't that be a possibility in the home as well?

~Melissa