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New Parrot Gender?

duari91

Sitting on the front steps
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Hello All!

I have a question in regards to introducing a 2nd Parrot to my family.

I currently have a 1 year old Female Meyers parrot, and we are about to add a Pionus to our family. The question is, do we go with the Male or Female that is available?

I was wondering if there were any strict recommendations on which Gender to go with, or if it really even matters?

Thanks!
 

BeeBop

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I've never had either of those breeds, so there's probably someone who can give you better advice. Here's my advice though.. Your female is already established with you, which is in someways better but in other ways worse. The good news is she will likely have the same bond with you (if she has a good bond with you now, it also helps if she takes new things reasonably well), the bad news is she might not accept the new bird. I'm not really sure what gender would be better. Sometimes same-gender flocks get along better, sometimes the other way around. I know that at least in budgies many same-gender flocks get along quite well. So that's my two cents.
 

Peachfaced

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I would go with whichever bird steals your heart. If you allow them to be out at the same time, keep very close watch. They can "enjoy" eachother's company at a distance even if they aren't physically compatible.
 

MnGuy

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I've only introduced two birds once, so what do I know? From all I've read, it sounds like a crapshoot with few good/reliable preemptive moves available at your disposal.

This was my experience: Adopted a 17-year-old female Meyer's. A year later, adopted an 8-year-old female CAG. The Meyer's did not like the CAG at all. The CAG tried to play nice and was confused when she was rebuffed.

Meyer's was mostly OK for a long time, but would also get jealous when I spent time with my CAG.

Meyer's eventually grew more and more aggressive with my CAG, and would swoop down at her from time to time. Had to start alternating their time out of their cages. They each had their own play tree in dining room.

Meyer's died of old age. CAG still going strong, and will likely stay a single bird for very long, if not forever.

I wonder if my Meyer's would have preferred a friend of the same species. She arrived at a rescue with other Meyer's who were paired off, and she was desperate to be near them, but they did not like it. Had I known she would hate my CAG, I would have likely remained a one-bird household.

I say, if it's possible, foster and see if your Meyer's takes to another bird and then adopt that one. I know a lot of second or subsequent birds are mostly for the person and not the first bird, which was true in my case, but two warring birds make life less pleasant for everyone involved. Having two happy birds who like each other and can be out at the same time and don't want to kill each other really sounds awesome to me.

I know a lot of people here make it work with birds who don't get along, but for me, the conflict took some of the joy out of living with my parrots, because there was a constant underlying stress for all of us.

I've read that it's not unusual for Meyer's to be bird-aggressive. Yours is still young and this may be a great time to introduce a second bird.

Good luck!
 
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cosmolove

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Personally I don't go for a specific gender. I usually go for a bird that picks me or a bird that needs me the most (last two birds did NOT pick me at first :lol:)
 
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