A friend for Rhubarb?

[Tanya]

Hello all!
It's becoming more and more obvious that our birdy girl (RB2) is lonely during the parts of the day we're at work/school. This isn't much actually, since my husband and myself have very different schedules and at least one of us is home most of the time. She has plenty of toys and food and as much enrichment as I can contrive. Ultimately though, I know she's a flock bird. She seems happiest when our house is buzzing full of people (as it was last Christmas when all my family came and her flock swelled from 2 humans to 11).

So I'm wondering...
What are your thoughts on a second bird as a companion/company for an RB2?

In your experience, should it be another 'too or is a similar-sized species from Africa or the Americas ok?

I'm interested in adopting, but am worried about compatibility... is there a way to introduce two birds (say on opposite sides of a window at a rescue) to see if they immediately start aggressively displaying or are curious about one another?

What should I look for in a new-to-us rehomed bird? I'm willing to work with a new featherbaby, but it's critically important to me that the new bird can eventually be safe to have around Rhubarb. (There was a traumatized caique at a local shelter that had a nervous break and killed/injured more then 7 birds at it's previous home).

All thoughts and opinions are welcome!

 

[Monica]

What are your thoughts on a second bird as a companion/company for an RB2?
If you have the space, time and money to do it, and you think it may help, then go for it!

In your experience, should it be another 'too or is a similar-sized species from Africa or the Americas ok?
If you want the highest chance of two birds getting along, then get another cockatoo. If you don't care if they get along or not, doesn't matter! Just a word of caution... macaws, particularly B&G's, can be sensitive to cockatoo dander.

I'm interested in adopting, but am worried about compatibility... is there a way to introduce two birds (say on opposite sides of a window at a rescue) to see if they immediately start aggressively displaying or are curious about one another?
Not sure that there is, in that case.

What should I look for in a new-to-us rehomed bird? I'm willing to work with a new featherbaby, but it's critically important to me that the new bird can eventually be safe to have around Rhubarb. (There was a traumatized caique at a local shelter that had a nervous break and killed/injured more then 7 birds at it's previous home).
If you are getting a rehomed bird out of a situation where there are other birds, then it may help to be able to watch the bird around the others, both on the cage and off the cage. Some birds are ok with other birds regardless of where they are at, but some birds may be aggressive near their cages but not away from them. Other birds will go into attack mode, regardless of where they are at. It really varies! Both my conures will attack other birds while they are in their cages. Charlie will attack other birds if he's on a cage (or other favored spots) where-as Jayde will ignore other birds in the same scenario. Although the two don't get along, I can *generally* keep them in the same travel cage for a short period of time. Charlie generally ignores Jayde but Jayde tends to get fidgety and antsy, and has a tendency to annoy Charlie.

Caiques and lovebirds are known for having big britches. Caiques and lorikeets are also very high energy birds, always on the go, something that other species may find annoying. Budgies are always 'in your face' kind of birds. Conures are a hit or miss. (sometimes they get along with other birds, sometimes they don't) Same can be said for cockatoos - although male white cockatoos (including M2's) are said to be some of the most aggressive birds out there.


It's probably a good idea to figure out first what you want in a second bird, then look for those qualities.

 

[jmfleish]

It's hard to decide on whether or not to get a second bird and then what type of bird to get. I've always been of the thought that you should really add another bird to your flock more because you want the bird than because you want a companion for another bird. Having said that, after getting Kishka RB2 at 5 months of age, we fell in love with him and with RB2s and we really wanted another RB2 and he seemed like he was on a total mission to make friends with our D2 who was ok with it for a while but then finally decided that he absolutely did not want to be friends at all with him and actually even got very nasty about Kishka's advancements after a few years. We hemmed and hawed over what type of RB2 to add for a while when a breeding pair came up for adoption last December and we decided to go ahead and give them a home since they needed one and we could provide it and we had more bird experience to maybe work with them and possibly give them a home that could work out to give them a bit more freedom than that of a bonded pair stuck in a cage. Well, we got them home and Kishka was absolutely enthralled and they didn't seem to mind him either. I was blown away by the fact that they all got along like they had known each other forever. It was completely amazing! Of course, the bonded pair, Leo and Letti, were not handle-able at all and a year later, still aren't. They've gotten used to me coming around their cage and going in their cage to change out toys and such but every time we let them out, getting them back into their cage is still a major ordeal. Leaving them out for a while is fine, it's just getting them back in is a major heart attack for them. Kishka is very attached to Leo and Leo seems to really like Kishka as well but ever since we got the pair, we've seen unwanted behavior from Kishka. He will dive bomb me and attack my face on occasion and will try to fly and bite any part of me whenever the pair is out and I get too close and this behavior has transferred to my partner as well where he seems to think that my partner is his mate and when we're together, he will defend my partner against me too. Generally though if it's just me and Kishka, he tends to be his normal loving self. We're thinking this is a hormonal situation and are hoping that over time things will mellow out.

We also thought that maybe if we started with a female as a baby, Kishka could grow up with a mate of his own and that might make the situation a little better, so this summer, we got a female from the same breeder that Kishka came from. Unfortunately, Addison is incredibly filled with energy and very, very curious and kind of puts Kishka on edge! She's a sweet, sweet little thing but I think she irritates Kishka more than anything at this point. He will tolerate her if she will sit still for more than five seconds. She likes to try and get him to feed her which he hates and every time he has food, she will try and take some from him which really makes him mad! LOL! They will sit together if she will sit still but that isn't often and he will generally have big meltdowns when things don't go his way. She's just a happy little baby girl with a great deal of energy. Like I said, he will tolerate her for now. I think things will probably mellow out a bit when she does!

Finally, one of the members on AA recently decided to rehome her RB2 who also just happened to be Kishka's clutchmate and brother. We had known this for a few years now, so when she decided to rehome him, she asked me first if I would take him. We couldn't say no because I had too much history with this bird, so we took Fozzie in. He's been with us for about a month now and he's kind of got the same problems that Kishka was showing, he bites and flies at people who aren't his chosen people. He immediately chose me as his chosen person and my SO, Jon, has already gotten bit by him once because Jon wasn't paying attention and was trying to pet him when he was clearly sending out messages that he did not want to be pet. Jon is too used to being able to do anything he wants with Kishka that he wasn't reading Fozzie's signs. Anyway, I was really hoping that Fozzie and Kishka would have some memory of each other, but so far, nothing. Once again, they will tolerate each other, but they don't really want to have anything to do with each other but that could change. I did talk to our breeder who raised all three of our pets, Kishka, Fozzie, and Addison, and she said that RB2s in general tend to be a pretty easy going bird who flock very well together and she was of the idea that they should get along fine together. We haven't had any problems even with all five of the birds out together except for when Fozzie tries to join Kishka and Leo, then there is a little bit of upset, but nothing major.

If I were you, I would probably try for at least another female RB2. I think your chances might increase on them getting along if you start with a baby but it's not absolutely necessary. The RB2 rehomes are hard to find though. I will also tell you that I've heard over and over and over again that these guys do seem to do better in at least pairs.

There's my knowledge and I'm sticking to my story so far!

 

[jmfleish]

Oh, and if you're interested, the breeder that we got Kishka, Addison, and Fozzie from has two adult females available. I just went and took a peek to see if she had anything available. I don't know what the story on them is other than it says she never set them up for breeding and they are seven years old. You may want to email her and see if they are suitable as pets. Great price! Here's the link if you're interested:

BirdBreeders.com

 

[Bokkapooh]

I wonder if Pinky would enjoy a female galah. I know he's a hybrid, but he has many galah quirks. If galahs tend to like eachother, maybe Pinky would like a girlie?

 

[jmfleish]

I wonder if Pinky would enjoy a female galah. I know he's a hybrid, but he has many galah quirks. If galahs tend to like eachother, maybe Pinky would like a girlie?

He might, or he might like another boy Pinky! LOL! Who knows, they're a weird bunch for sure!

 

[Bokkapooh]

Or he may try and kill another bird. I was told when I first got him that he dislikes other small cockatoos. So I dont know.

What I do know is that im not sure I want another one if they end up not getting along. I have too much hormones flying around as it is. I plan on getting another U2 girlie in the future. 6 birds is my max. Id make that 7 or 8, if they got along. 8 being another Mac for Mera.

 

[jmfleish]

Well, my experience so far has been that they don't "hate" each other...but they don't "love" each other yet either...except for that weird thing going on between Kishka and Leo and Leo has a girlfriend so I really don't get that! LOL!

 

[Tanya]

This is encouraging. I always knew I wanted to be a more-than-one-bird house. We were thinking about a G2, since I think they are very cute and there are a lot of them in our area up for adoption. Also, the G2 is similarly sized to our Rhubarb and from what I hear have an outgoing temperament that's a bit less spooky than an RB2. We actually chose Rhubarb because she was the only one of five RB2s that didn't completely freak out at the bright orange shirt my husband happened to be wearing the day we first visited the RB2s. There was another who didn't try to fly away immediately, but was in a stone-still panic hunch and wouldn't interact at all. Rhubarb pretty much instantly loved my husband and that was very important to both of us.

The other bird I'm considering is a caique. When I talked to the Galah lady at the bird supply store (she's kept Galah's since the 70's), she said that "would be an awful lot of silly for one house." Rhubarb's antics are one of the reasons we enjoy her so much. The other day she got so engrossed in chewing a leather chunk she was holding in her right foot, that she forgot she needed her left for standing and grabbed the strip with both feet. She rolled right off her perch and fell, swinging down under the toy. Not the least bit upset, she gave a chirp of triumph and climbed up the toy to her perch! Buit I digress...

The question of a caique seems a bit more tricky than another 'too. Especially with adoption. I'd spent most of my life with cockatiels and lovebirds. RB2 body language had it's own unique signals (the rapid head bobbing of excitement, the crazy-eagle bird that I still don't quite understand). I don't know much about caiques. All the to-be-rescued caiques I've been around are extremely attuned to human body language. One was a little devil bird unless you were positively gushing with sweet things to say, and then he was an angel. Any hesitation was an invitation for a mauling. Another (the one that hurt/killed 7 birds) was visibly afraid of nearly all adults but loved children. Perhaps it's a matter of the individual bird and observing how they interact with other birds?

 

[jmfleish]

I wouldn't suggest a Caique for a whole different set of reasons. They are a very, very difficult bird and do not tend to do well with other species of birds. Do a search on them on this forum and do a lot of research on them before you even consider going down that road.