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Adding a Second Cockatiel

collyesta

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5/13/19
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Hello everyone!
My husband and I were blessed with a wonderful cockatiel, Arthur, about a month ago. This bird has completely turned our life around and has been amazing to us: tame, sweet, cuddly -- everything we could have hoped for and more.

Recently we were considering getting another cockatiel because of how good our experience has been so far. However we're concerned that our Arthur will take to the new bird and forget about us. We give Arthur a lot of attention and aren't looking for a friend for him. If they get on, that would be great, but, if they leave us, we would be somewhat heartbroken.. We wanted to ask:

-- Has anyone added cockatiels to their flock and what have your experiences been?

-- Would you recommend waiting about a year or more before adding more cockatiels, so that the bond with the current bird would be more established? Or does it not matter?

-- Are there any techniques that can be used to create a bond between us and the two birds? (For example, letting them out separately at first)

The birds will be housed in separate cages.

Our breeder said that they have a good match for us: another placid and gentle bird that likes to snuggle with people. It sounds wonderful, but we are still very nervous that we will lose our Arthur.
 

Monica

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My first cockatiel just turned 18 years old. A month after getting her, at 5 months old, I was given a cherry headed conure. She bonded strongly with the cherry head but was still enjoyed human interaction. Since the conure has passed on, she has never bonded as closely with another bird. That said, I have had other conures, cockatiels, and even other species of birds kept with her. (currently, mitred conure, green cheek conure, african ringneck, budgie, bourke and a couple of tiels - 5 cages in total though!) She recognizes the other birds as part of her flock, but she's not closely bonded with any of them.

A lot of people say that you need to interact with the birds separately, but I personally prefer interacting with them as a flock. Monkey see, monkey do!
 

Cloud

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I got my second cockatiel (Sky) after a month I got my first cockatiel (Cloud). They want nothing to do with each other, they mind their own business. But Cloud doesn't like it too much when Sky gets too close to him. He will open his beak and warn her to stay away from him or give him his personal space. When they are too far apart, they would call each other. They also seem to sleep together at night. So far, they both are more attached to me than to each other. I guess time will tell.
 

Tiel Feathers

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I have three cockatiels that I brought home at three different times, and they all enjoy human interaction. While they all seem to like people, they don’t all particularly enjoy each other, however they have learned to tolerate each other. While not bonded to each other, they still like having each other around when nobody is home. I don’t think you necessarily have to wait if you like this new bird, but I think caging them separately is a good idea. You can have them out together, but give them plenty of individual attention. I think a lot of it depends on how they were raised.
 

collyesta

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Thank you everyone for your informative replies! :) We are less worried about adding another cockatiel now and think it will do both us and our cockatiel a lot of good! We might wait a couple of months though just to be sure our bond with our cockatiel is solid.
 

Tari&Miguel

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I have two cockatiels. Tari I have had for five plus years. Guel I’ve had for just about a year. Tari loves me, guel loves tari. Tari is tolerant of guel...they have separate cages, separate food dish and water .... they hang out outside the cages together... guel isn’t tooo fond of me but is getting better. Moral of the story is two is harder than one, but worth it.
 

jh81

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I think all birds should be kept two minimum, if you do it right, this hardly effects their bond with you! But it greatly enhanches their lives!

I have two large parrots (an Amazon and a Grey) and two small parrots (Senegals) and they all love me in their own way :) two of them are tame, and two of them are not. But even the not tame birds are a sight to see!

So, you only gain something. You can never loose ;-)
 

JustJane

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Hello everyone!
My husband and I were blessed with a wonderful cockatiel, Arthur, about a month ago. This bird has completely turned our life around and has been amazing to us: tame, sweet, cuddly -- everything we could have hoped for and more.

Recently we were considering getting another cockatiel because of how good our experience has been so far. However we're concerned that our Arthur will take to the new bird and forget about us. We give Arthur a lot of attention and aren't looking for a friend for him. If they get on, that would be great, but, if they leave us, we would be somewhat heartbroken.. We wanted to ask:

-- Has anyone added cockatiels to their flock and what have your experiences been?

-- Would you recommend waiting about a year or more before adding more cockatiels, so that the bond with the current bird would be more established? Or does it not matter?

-- Are there any techniques that can be used to create a bond between us and the two birds? (For example, letting them out separately at first)

The birds will be housed in separate cages.

Our breeder said that they have a good match for us: another placid and gentle bird that likes to snuggle with people. It sounds wonderful, but we are still very nervous that we will lose our Arthur.
My first cockatiel Cheeky (parent-raised) has never been interested in forming a bond with me. After 6 months, I finally got a hand-raised bird buddy for him (Tofu) the other day. It seems to work out well for them so far. Tofu is being quarantined for 30 days, but they call to each other from the opposite sides of the house. I'm confident that they will get along well when I can finally introduce them in-person at the end of the quarantine period since they already seem to have formed a verbal "relationship" with each other. I was originally concerned that Cheeky would ignore me (even more than he already does), but I couldn't stand the fact that he was miserable without the companionship of other birds. He's just not that into me, ya know?

I'm not a bird expert, but I don't think you should wait another year to add another bird to your "flock." I'm guessing that your first bird might be set in his ways and find it difficult to adjust to this new "intruder" if you wait too long.

I'm trying to devote equal time to both birds so I can hopefully avoid any jealousy/territorial issues. As much as I would love for both birds to bond with me, I'm okay if they prefer to focus on each other. Of course, I'm hoping that the second bird will teach my first bird how to trust humans so we can finally be one big happy family (LOL) :rolleyes:.

Yes, they should be housed in separate cages, and then you can let them hang out in their separate cages near each other for a while. Then let one of them out of its cage at a time and see how they interact.

Sorry for the long reply!
 

collyesta

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Thank you everyone for your kind and thoughtful replies! After seeing all the responses and doing our research, we actually decided to add another cockatiel to our flock! :)

We're going through the quarantine period at the moment and will begin to slowly introduce them after.

Our first cockatiel is starting to become quite territorial and a lot more independent (he used to be a cuddle bug before). We think it's probably his hormones even though he is only 4 months old! So we are glad that we are going to introduce them sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 

Shezbug

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Congratulations on your new flock addition!
 

expressmailtome

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Congratulations!
 

Tiel Feathers

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Congratulations!!
 
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