Minimum cage size

[GingerDee]

What is the minimum cage size you would be comfortable with if your birds were free to fly a room morning to night, and usually the house?

I ask because my birds are free here. I feel I usually give bigger and better for each of them..because my pets are still held captive.

It seems like they have enormous cages for just bedtime. 4 birds have been together for a few months now but with 2 large cages.

Would the 4 sharing a cage be out of the question or wrong? Both cages are open during the day and they are all ok coming and going into the others cage. They all preen each other and those 4 rarely have any problems other than a quick "leave me alone" and done.. They all seem content and relaxed around each other.

I can't seem to find all my answers, and have yet to befriend a chatty bird lady.

 

[Feather]

Would the 4 sharing a cage be out of the question or wrong? Both cages are open during the day and they are all ok coming and going into the others cage. They all preen each other and those 4 rarely have any problems other than a quick "leave me alone" and done.. They all seem content and relaxed around each other.

No, I would not let four birds share a cage for sleeping. Even if they get along well outside the cage, I'd expect a lot of quarreling over who gets to sleep where, as well as territorial disputes between any bonded pairs. That quick "leave me alone" is fine outside the cage, but what happens when there are four birds sharing the space and they can't put the desired amount of space between themselves? I don't know how old your birds are, but you could also be asking for a lot of trouble once they hit maturity and hormones surge. If you really wanted to go completely cage free except nights, I would recommend getting a divided cage for that purpose, such as this one: Discounted Bird Cage

What works for one flock won't work for them all, but as for my birds and set up, what I have are five small-medium birds divided between two rooms, and three of these cages:
You & Me Standing Parrot Cage | Petco

I also have additional cages stored in case of emergencies or dynamic changes, but right now the two cockatiels and budgie "share" a cage in that there is only one between the three of them. The door to it is open 24/7 and the budgie is the only one who ever goes inside. The boys prefer to just hang out on the cage top, their tree, and playstand. I could conceivably go without a cage entirely since the room itself essentially is their cage, but it adds a nice sense of territory and gives the two species the option to avoid each other as much as they want.

In the other room, my pionus and poicephalus each have their own cages and are out and passively supervised throughout the day. They get into trouble and do need to be locked up any time there's not someone in the room with them. They get along fine and will preen and feed each other and occasionally go into each other's cages, but I would not trust housing them in the same one as they are an inter-species pair and do have the occasional misunderstanding between them. Spats that outside the cage are a non-issue escalate very quickly in an enclosed space.

I prefer to use bigger cages regardless of how much time is spent out of them because there will always be times when the birds need to be locked up more than usual, even if it's not a common occurrence.

 

[Jas]

My conures are in.a double flight cage that measures 85 h 165 l 64 d cm. They are both siblings and have been together since hatching, they are out from 2-10 hours a day depending on how busy I am with uni. They néed their own space and if they do squabble they can get away and break line of sight.

The cage should be as big as you can afford because each individual needs their own space and you may not have time to let them out. Or other factors.

I thought you had bullying problems with two of the birds? Even if these are different birds, Don't cage them together! Especially if you are breeding them! Pairs don't share space with other pairs! They will kill each other!

 

[GingerDee]

Thank you! You pretty much answered all my questions. This time... There should be a phone number.lol

I have 6 birds. 2 are caged all day and they stay there while we work on making him comfortable..so for this message, there are 4 birds.
2 bonded adults who are siblings male and female. My thought came from my knowledge of cats. Lol But the only info I find regarding..flock positions?? Seems to always be someone's opinion. If I do not personally know them I can't trust their opinion..and I can't have one of those yet! I've never had a selection of pets who aren't spayed or neutered...so that alone makes everything brand new.


With your details, I see huge, huge future problems. lol PLEASE correct me if I am wrong...but these are my thoughts.

A bird is a flock animal. There gotta be a boss, maybe a protector, maybe food finder. I don't know their positions and suck with words. I can't find how a flock works together.

Eliza is the boss, without a doubt. And Toby came with her. So he gets the alpha male position now with his sister and 2 babies...but I don't see him keeping it though...but what do I know! I hope he does..but he is "my friendly bird" and wants every bird to be his friend I see the 10month old male being "pushier" when he ages a little. The 5-month-old female, can't fly right now so she submits and runs if anything happens (even between the other birds or if they all fly away) she knows she's little and can't fly..but I also can't see confrontation being in her nature....yet maybe. Lol but I could see her developing "little man syndrome because she is small now, but different. Always a person bringing her to some perch..and the Alpha person of the house loves her...The other birds are going to know..but maybe they won't care because I am the human the flock has more trained and the Goddess of fruits and veggies? Million questions! But now..I'm not sure what I will do either.

If I can get smaller cages WITHOUT selling the big ones I might try that. I worry about the future (of everything) and I am always preparing for the worst. The worst would be rehoming and not everyone wants to deal with bird poop. They NEED the big cages..just in case they couldn't be with me.


A previous post of mine was about my 5th and 6th conures. One fits in nicely..and .apparely the other is Satans spawn..but he's not accepted. If I could guess. I bet Eliza ends up loving him later. I'll be posting in the spring again about them I'm sure. For the sake of the 6th bird, those 2 I'm " ok" caging. I hope in the future he will come out..but I've got time to wait. They were/are breeder birds so they are used to it and he wants it. He does NOT want to come out and gets so scared. I don't want the trauma of trying to get him back in the cage later. She does want out...because she wants Toby and they screech to each other when they aren't in the same room. Then Toby kicks away his daily friends for her when she has been out. She's ok with us. Still figuring out who we are...but she's following the crowd. So those 2 troublemakers can stay caged for while. Lol

If she, Kate the 5th bird, is a breeder bird and her mate Ben is always caged, without eggs or babies, can she go and socialize with everyone else? It ends up her and Toby together, so she's kinda cheatingBen...nd that's no good!

This post is about me. I'd like smaller cages to make the room better as their area with more perches and such..but I already pissed EVERYONE off bringing Ben and Kate home. Completely didn't think ANYTHING about adult birds and territories
Everything is always spayed or neutered or a baby.

 

[GingerDee]

My conures are in. a double flight cage that measures 85 h 165 l 64 d cm. They are both siblings and have been together since hatching, they are out from 2-10 hours a day depending on how busy I am with uni. They need their own space and if they do squabble they can get away and break line of sight.

The cage should be as big as you can afford because each individual needs their own space and you may not have time to let them out. Or other factors.

I thought you had bullying problems with two of the birds? Even if these are different birds, Don't cage them together! Especially if you are breeding them! Pairs don't share space with other pairs! They will kill each other!

Ben and Kate are new ones and caged alone. 24/7
The other 4 have been together for a while and do very well. It's their cages I thought of downgrading.

Someone else had previously suggested moving my old adults (Toby and Eliza) closer to the new adults (Ben and Kate) to make them more comfortable with each other...so then it became an issue trying to place 3 large cages in the room together without blocking the window...and also my clothes live in their room. Lmao, it was supposed it be MY room cause storage sucks here...and just like that the birds got it!

I'm trying to make everyone happy! Mostly everyone is. The cage fights between the adults have settled DRASTICALLY..and rarely happen since I moved the new ones to another wall. So, inside... I don't want to change anything. But was told they should be beside each other.

Eventually, I will be in the group of best Conure owners ...but I don't have all the in yet, or where to find it.

These replies usually answer my question, but also bring up thoughts that I didn't have before. I research this stuff like crazy. Just still only have the basics. I am 100% confident I can figure out each bird and who they are. It would just be easier if I had all the info right now!

 

[GingerDee]

Just for the record. Realizing I brought 2 adults home and they didn't mix with the other adults was so...embarrassing to say the least. I just thought of them like every other animal in my life. Spay or neutered. Everything always is! Even me! Lol

Such preventable issues...had I known...so until I am an expert, I am asking and posting BEFORE I do anything new.
Guilt, is my nemesis. I caused so much stress for them..just because I didn't know.I consider myself in that group of the best of the best regarding animal care. Conures are just new, and I messed up. I paid for it, but so did they...so I will ask someone who knows more.

 

[Jas]

To answer your questions about flock dynamics is that they don't work like mammalian herds, pods, flocks or groups etc.

How can one bird be dominant over 100s or 1000s or even ten of thousands of individuals? They don't really have a hierarchy system like us mammals do. You may have individuals who appear 'dominant' but are more curious, assertive, bold etc. For example pickles really likes his food and has a tendency to hog it all or pick his favourite bits out. While Peanut is very affectionate so likes to have lots of attention. This might be seen as dominant behaviour but it's really not.

Birds flock together for many reasons, Saftey in numbers. The more birds there are the less likely you are going to get eaten by a predator. More eyes and ears to spot predators as well as food and water. The ease of mating, all members are here, no searching. Migration is safer in larger groups.

What birds see us as are usually flock members, hence why they scream when we leave a room, it's a contact call. Or sometimes a predator, you're big, scary and have front facing eyes must be dangerous?

 

[Mizzely]

For a pair of conures I would do no less than a flight cage, 32x21 ish. You never know when circumstances will change. Even if you only have to cage them for a week due to a hospital visit, illness in the family, vacation etc, it is always easier to work with a larger cage in those situations.

Birds don't have a leader exactly. Some species do have a pecking order that has been observed, specifically with quaker parrots, regarding fighting and aggression Social Feedback and the Emergence of Rank in Animal Society

Other studies with pigeons have shown that the flock leader changes based on the situation

When Pigeons Flock, Who's in Command? | Science | AAAS

We still have a lot of learn about parrots!