Urgent advise

[ACEPHONECHIC]

help African Grey experts a very good friend of mine is having a problem with one of his greys.
He has two handreared greys siblings that he hatched and reared from babies. They are about 14 years old now and just recently one of them has started to attack him when they come out of the cage evenings. The bird(they have never been dna to sex so do not know the sex of it) makes a bee line for him and attacks him to the point where it locks the beak and he has to shake the bird off it will not stop of its own accord. He is very upset about this and does not know where to go from here. I have said it sounds like sexual aggression as I have seen similar in my Sun Conure when he reached his breeding age.
He is thinking of separating the two as it has not shown agression to the sibling but he is afraid it may turn on it and cause injury. He is an older man and really does not need an extra cage as he also has four other african greys. Does he put the bird in an avairy, try to sell it for breeding. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

[Turquoise]

Goodness, does sound like bonding to the sibling is causing aggression to me. I had a Timneh Grey many years ago, but I never had any aggression from him. He was my only Grey, tho not my only bird. I have always kept mine birds singularly in their cages, so I really can't help much with keeping them in pair.

If it were me I'd have a DNA on both siblings. Since they have been together for so many years, it will be hard to separate them without causing much pain & heartbreak from the birds. Wished I could help more, but I don't have the experience to really give advice on this one.

[ConureGuy]

I'm with dee on this one sounds like the siblings have bonded to the point where aggression has come into play i'm no expert but i will say i have been around enough grey's to know that there not aggressive birds unless bonded to a mate or sibling but maybe a DNA test is in check as males do tend to be abit more nippy than the females.

[spiritbird]

This is very unusual for greys. Perhaps there are too many in one space.

[Blancaej]

It sounds like a bonding issue to me as well. Separating them may help. It seems odd though that after 14 years together that this just started. Has anything changed in his/her environment since this started? That is what I would look at to determine the cause.

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[ShellyBorg]

I would start with a vet visit. Any time one of our birds does something that is not normal it makes me wonder if something is wrong. If illness or pain is ruled out then I would separate them as soon as possible. With 4 Greys and no room for another cage I would look at rehoming if he can not spend the time or energy to turn this bird around. Also it will be loud separating two bonded birds. Would some one be willing to foster while the health tests are being done? That would also allow both birds mental states to be judged whether they can be separated.

[jules]

i wonder if he is male and the female is about to lay eggs? it has been known for greys to lay after many years, he could be protecting her. does the cage have a divider? i would consider if poss. getting a larger one with a divider, but if the other one's not aggressive to his/her sibling, mmm maybe jut in case? sorry i cant be of much help, but i hope your friend can sort something. what about being in the aviary permanently? i would definitely not just rehome the one or sell as a breeder, to me that would be out of the question x

[ACEPHONECHIC]

thanks everyone for their replies. You have confirmed what my friend and I were thinking the bird showing the agression is a male and defending his mate. My friend is not the type to give up on any bird so rehoming I don't think is going to come into it. I think he just has to ride the storm and think the acceptional heat in the UK at the moment trigged breeding hormones that had not been there before. I think parting them would be cruel as even though siblings they are bonded and greys are such sensitive birds. He has a large house so lack of room etc is not an issue either.
Thanks again .