Suki - African Grey
Next came an African Grey who we called Suki (dob:- 1/7/2005). She was subsequently sexed as a female (at least the name was appropriate!). She was a hand reared baby and we had great fun training her. However because I was at home and the rest of the family were out all day it was agreed that I would have less to do with Suki to give her a chance to bond with the rest of the family. Unfortunately Suki took offence at my seemingly ignoring her and now hates me with a passion! She relates very well to my wife and daughter but hates me and my son! That disproves the theory that they favour humans of the opposite sex to themselves. Suki has become an excellent talker but doesn’t learn the things we try to teach her – instead she picks up what she wants to learn. She regularly imitates the phone ringing, follows it with Hello; Yeah; yeah; yeah; Bye then! Also I would come down to dinner and call to my wife, “What’s for pudding?”. Suki now does this for me!!! She says Hello to most of the parrots by name and regularly calls the cats. When Adam was small, Suki used to call "Adam" but in Gill's voice! Adam used to come running to the Dining Room and got quite upset when his Mum (or food) wasn't there!!!
Aviary Time!
Suki isn't harness trained as, like many African Greys, they can get very nervous over silly things, e.g. new toys or surroundings. This makes it difficult for her to adjust to too many different outing experiences that we go on and wouldn't be fair for her. However, natural light is important for her and we ensure she gets this by giving her aviary time. We have specialist Rosemead Aviaries in our garden to allow for them to spend time outside. Even with being in a smaller garden space since moving, she will happily chat and whistle to all around and entertain the neughbours. I am sure some of her noises shouldn't be heard in public (She does farting sounds!) but, it makes people laugh and gives them some entertainment. She has plucked due to hormonal and overbonding issues but this doesn't stop her enjoying life and living it to her best. We did try her with Tahla, and in the aviary they are find so long as it is the big one, but in smaller aviaries or cages, they can only tollerate each other for short periods of time before they start their squabbles over nothing (Just like children!).