HI I JUST READ YOUR POST AND IT WAS A GREAT HELP AS I AM GETTING AN AFRICAN GREY IN APRIL SO I AM A COMPLETE NOVICE AND NEED ALL THE ADVICE I CAN GET! WHAT IS THE BEST FOOD APART FROM FRESH VEG TO GIVE TO IT? ALSO CAN YOU RECOMMEND ANY GOOD USED USED CAGES I CAN BUY, I AM GRATEFUL FOR ANY HELP ANYONE CAN GIVE ME AS I NEED ALOT OF GUIDANCE.
I'm not sure what it's like where you are, but I purchased two very nice wrought iron cages off of ebay a couple of years ago for $99 U.S. each. Search for large parrot cage, though it may take a while to search through all the options you get. Just be careful of the shipping charges. Also, some Chinese merchants there are offering large cages for very cheap, perhaps to get sales starting again after they had trouble with their epidemic problem. Any disease worries can be dispatched by just washing down the cage with bleach or ammonia.
You can also use what are called 'cat homes', or 'small animal homes': basically they are a 48" high, 24"deep, 32" wide cage on a platform, which are usually relatively cheap for their size as well (there are many with two doors, I got ones with the doors that open downward like a drawbridge, which my birds use as a porch of sorts when I leave the cages open). But you may have to fashion a tray and bottom grate on your own out of something (I used sheet metal aluminum for the tray, and the sides of a junked and then sandblasted shopping trolley/cart as my grates. That's what I used when I wanted to give my birds a larger cage. Just remember, your bird probably isn't picky about what his 'house' will be made of, as long as it has good food and toys inside.
Foods I can't really say; there is so much opinion of what you can feed birds and what you can't. Before I bought my CAG, I read a lot of books and articles about them, and decided that my birds would eat people food. So that's what they have been eating for the past 30 years. So far, no adverse health issues. Just avoid anything in the onion family, anything with caffeine, chocolate, avocado, and you can find other food warnings elsewhere in this forum. However, FWIW, my birds have eaten little bits of all those things without any evidence of being harmed, so I'm guessing that like anything else, a tiny bit would be tolerated. But I wouldn't make any of that stuff a routine food.
What do they eat? Hamburger. Hot dogs. Chicken. Eggs like people eat for breakfast. Pancakes. Waffles. Bacon. Sausage. Orange juice. Grape juice. and of course, oranges, grapes (though my birds will only eat the green ones, and won't touch the red or purple ones!), pears, apples, pineapple, peach, banana, watermelon, lemons. They love pasta and pizza. meatballs. Soup. Bits of my sandwiches. Tuna salad. Broiled fish filet. Roast turkey and chicken. Raisins, peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, peanut butter cookies, mashed/fried/baked potatoes, cucumber, carrots, tomato, and general salad. Steamed veggies, also stir fried ones. I don't give them steak, because they don't have the teeth to chew it. Though, I have shredded roast beef into tiny bits and they seemed to enjoy that.
Oh, and get rid of your non stick cookware; when the non stick coatings get too hot, they give off fumes which can kill your bird. I use cast iron frying pans, and Visions brand clear ceramic pans and pots.
Moderation in all things.
30 years in, they're both healthy, as were the cockatiels and lovebirds that I had that passed away after a normal lifespan (20 to 25 years), having eaten people food as their primary diet.
Just don't give them a primarily seed diet! It's not complete nutritionally.
For non meal times, I leave some of Lafeber's 'nutriberries' in their bowls daytime and overnight, so they can munch whenever they're hungry if I'm not cooking. Supposedly, they are a complete nutritional diet, and they come in a half dozen different flavors.
JMHO.
Good luck with your new bird!