Must Sell!!! Proven Timehe African Grey Breeder Pair
Older breeder Timehe african grey pair. 20 plus years old (open banded) They are partially blind, but throw beautiful babies, and care for them well. When they have babies you must offer soft foods like boild eggs and flax seed, veggies, excetra. as it dose take a toll on them.
I have left the spelling intact. Something possessed me and I called to tell the guy that I would take them. He told me he had them for 5 years and had gotten several chicks out of them. He purchased them from a breeder in central Minnesota for $1500 as they were rare "pink-factor"Timnehs, and their chicks could be sold for more money than the normal Timneh. This breeder had had them for 15 years and the guy didn't know any history beyond that. They were skinny, but the vet in Garrison (?) said that was how older parrots were. When asked if they were fully feathered he said "yes", then paused and said they were a little plucked on their heads. When they had chicks, you needed to feed them a lot of extra soft foods in order for them to keep up with the growing chicks and you needed to rest them a lot between clutches. He only let them have one clutch a year. He hadn't set them up for the last 1.5 years as his life had been busy so he decided to sell them. I arranged to meet him the next day to pick them up.
I got off the phone and wondered "What have I gotten myself into?" I hurried to set up a cage in my bedroom for "partially blind" birds, and booted Bingo's sleeping cage out into the living room. Poor guy. All I could think of was that I couldn't let them fall into the hands of someone who would try to breed them and kill them in the process.
I drove about an hour the next day to meet the guy. The birds were in a cat carrier, with food and water dishes, no perches, and no towel over the cage to keep them warm on a 20 degree day. They were obviously blind, one had a completely bald head and the other was mostly bald on the head. They were both very quiet and a distinct smell was coming from the cage. I recognized the smell immediately - Clostridium diarrhea. He then proudly proclaimed they were on Pretty Bird seed mix and pellets. I talked him down a little on the price, but he stated that even though they were older, for the cheap price he was selling them for, if someone could get even one chick out of them they would be ahead. He was pretty much telling me I was lucky to get them. I gave him the cash, wrapped them in the blanket I had brought and took them to my warm car.
I had "ransomed" them. Not rescued...but ransomed. I was now the proud owner of a geriatric pair of Timneh greys and my emergency cash fund was gone.
