The Breeding Method's Influance on Adult African Grey Parrots’ Behaviour.
In addition, the hand-raised parrots were divided into different categories to examine the impact of the different hand-rearing methods on the birds’ behaviour. A questionnaire containing 199 multiple-choice questions about the breeding method, care, housing, health, origin, previous owners, behaviour and social interactions was administered to owners of 103 grey parrots which were at least 3 years old and whose origins were known. The breeders of the captive-bred birds were also interviewed and were asked 11 questions regarding the incorporated hand-rearing method. To avoid bias, all subjective responses were checked and adjusted using objective components.
The results show that hand-reared parrots were more aggressive and more selective (p = 0.008, X2 = 9.72) towards humans than the naturally reared birds. Moreover, the adult hand-reared parrots besought to have food more often (OR = 3.93, R2 = 0.46). The hand-reared chicks which were below 5 weeks old when removed from the nest developed stereotypies more often than the chicks that remained longer with their parents (OR = 8.98, R2 = 0.54). The hand-fed using tubes chicks were more aggressive (OR = 5.09, R2 = 0.77) and were in poorer health (p = 0.027, X2 = 5.82) than the birds which were fed using syringes or spoons.
Wild-caught parrots picked their feathers more often (OR = 2.59) had poorer health (p = 0.006, X2 = 7.51) and had usually developed phobic behaviours more (OR = 2.90, R2 = 0.29) than parent-reared or hand-raised birds. To sum up, the results show that the breeding method has a significant impact on grey parrots’ behaviour.
Hand-reared parrots tended to turn out more problematic once adult than parent-bred and wild-caught birds.
