Cage & Nesting Box Size For Breeding African Grey

If you are trying to breed your African greys, providing a cage and nesting box for the birds can allow them to express themselves, especially when African greys breeding season comes. And as an owner, you must make the pair live without feeling confined in a small space and make it possible for them if any breeding is meant to happen by a provision of a suitable cage and nesting box.

However, doing this without knowing the optimum size can be useless and could prevent the pair from living normally. Apart from that, and even if you are just raising pet African greys without an intention of breeding them, a suitable cage is always recommended. And in this article, we will dive into the cages and nesting boxes you need to breed your pair successfully as this topic is a little tricky, especially for beginners.

And without further ado, let’s get into this…

parrots inside nesting box and cage

African Grey Nesting Box Size

African grey parrots need nesting boxes to breed successfully in captivity, and without a suitable nesting box, your pair won’t be able to breed whatever you provide for them and this is because the nesting box imitates their natural behavior in the wild where couples fly together until they find a cavity in a nearby tree to lay their eggs.

In the wild, the African grey pair will find a suitable tree cavity and this comes naturally for them, and they won’t settle in a cavity that won’t allow them to breed and lay eggs. And in captivity, the owner must play the role of mother nature, which can get tricky for the owners who don’t have the necessary experience and information.

For Breeding African Greys, there are 2 types of nesting boxes you can use. The first type is the cubic nesting box and this one’s size should be at least 16 inches in width, 16 inches in depth, and 24 inches in height, with an opening of 5.5 inches.

The other type is the L-shaped nesting box, and this type is preferable for breeding African greys, and this is the type I used when my pair bred successfully. The dimensions of this type should be close to the picture below:

African Grey Nesting Cage Size

The breeding cage is where the mating is going to happen, so the pair should have a good wide cage with plenty of space for them to spread their wings as they like. The bigger the cage, the better, and here are the specifications that you should never go under to provide the pair with what they need. The breeding cage should be at least 40 inches in height, 40 inches in depth, and 40 inches in width.

Yes, if you can provide a completely cubic cage, then it’s going to be ok, and if you couldn’t do this, it’s ok to use a less deep cage, and focusing on the height and depth will mostly suffice.

African Grey Nesting Material

African Greys are not a nest-building breed like Quakers or parrotlets. All that African greys do when breeding and nesting is to find a cavity in a tree and branch and use it for nesting and raising their hatchlings. However, using sawdust and putting it inside the nesting box will prevent the pair and their hatchling from getting diseases that their feces may cause, and it will make the nesting box dry after observing the moisture out of the stool.

Another thing is the breeding perch that the pair needs when breeding. Some beginners may use the metallic or plastic perches that come with the cage without knowing how important it is for the greys. And to make it short, African grey mate and breed when the male hump over the female, this move will put tremendous effort into the female to stay steady.

And if the female couldn’t stay still, the male parrot will feel like it will fall and will come off the female’s back even if the mating process didn’t end correctly. If the female was shaky, there are only 2 reasons for that:

  • The female is weak or sick
  • The perch is too thin and the female couldn’t hold strong to it

So, when you prepare the breeding cage for your pair, make sure you use a thick and coarse perch, and if you can find a tree branch, that would be even better.

Do African Greys Make Nests?

No, African greys don’t build their nests and they use the cavities in tree holes in the wild, and the captivity, nesting boxes are enough for them and they won’t need any extra materials to prepare the nesting box. Other breeds, like Quakers and parrotlets, do need nesting boxes to breed in captivity, and at the same time, they will need some wooden sticks and grass to prepare the nesting box for egg-laying.

Final Thoughts

The most important reason for using nesting boxes is to provide similar conditions to what African greys get in the wild and guess what, tree cavities in the wild don’t have a standard size, and every cavity has its own size. And by knowing this, we can conclude that the nesting box size doesn’t really matter, but the experience it gives is what’s really important for the African greys.

So, the specifications of the cage and the nesting box stated earlier are the minimum, and you can never go smaller than that. Larger nesting boxes and cages are totally ok as long as the pair won’t feel confined. And if you use big Aviaries, what is really important for you is only the nesting box.

Recommended Further Reading:

Breeding Parrots Basics
Breeding African Greys

And yup, that’s about it. I hope you found this article informative and easy to digest. Thank you for reading…