Pictures Should I get a second parakeet

[Pig]

I have had a parakeet for a couple months and am thinking about geting a second one. I go to school and am worried that he is lonely while I'm at school. He is mostly bonded with me and is still a baby. Also I have a huge cage and a small cage and he is in the big cage if I do get a second bird should I put them together while I am training the new bird?

 

[CeciliaZ]

I have heard that budgies/parakeets do well together...I do not have any - I just have tiels and a lovebird. Hopefully someone else can offer some advice. @gibsongrrrl ; she has adorable budgies!

 

[taxidermynerd]

I only have one budgie, but hopefully I can offer something useful!

I've had my parakeet for about... 7 or 8 months now? and he lives by himself in a big flight cage. Originally, I wanted to get a second budgie but then I got super stressed out about quarantine and bird illnesses (Long story there) and decided against it. He seems to be very happy, and he has lots to do (foraging toys, natural perches with bark to peel off, shedding toys, etc) whenever I'm not with him.

Now my situation is a little bit different than yours. I'm homeschooled, so I'm home almost all the time unless I'm off running errands with my dad or something. Since you're in school, I would think that you current budgie would probably like to have a friend while you're gone during the day. However, keep in mind that you'd have to quarantine the new one (in a separate cage, in a separate room (or preferably a different building. although that's not feasible for a lot of people, including myself) for at least 30 days, but ideally 90 days, with a vet visit at the end of the quarantine period to make sure the new bird is healthy. Then you'd probably need to go through a period of introducing the birds to one another, and then if they get along, introducing the new bird to the cage he'll be living in with your other budgie.

But in general, yes, budgies are birds who prefer to live in groups. In the wild, they live in huge groups, of hundreds or thousands. They're very social, and they love interacting with their human flock members (at least mine does!) I'm sure that if you got another budgie, they'd probably be very excited to be with another bird of their kind.

And on the training question, I don't see why you couldn't have them live together when you're training the second one. I haven't done a whole lot of training with my budgie, but I would think if anything the second budgie might pick up some things from the first budgie when you're working with him!

 

[Lady Jane]

Budgies are very much flock oriented birds. The more budgies together is seems the better they eat and thrive. So my answer to you is a big yes! If you get your next budgie from a pet store you must quarantine this new bird for about 30 days to be sure nothing passes from the new bird to your current bird. Its a good idea to get the new bird to a vet for a wellness check up before bringing the bird home. Its really great that you are thinking of your birds welfare. Two male budgies together are fine. Two female budgies together may get into squabbles. Please let us know what you decide.

 

[Pig]

I have not thought about the gender of the new bird but I will probably get a boy

 

[gibsongrrrl]

I would! I got my first one unexpectedly and toyed with the idea of keeping him a single bird so we could bond for about 5 minutes. They live in large flocks and are such social birds that I really wanted him to have a bird friend of his own after seeing videos of them in the wild, so went and found him a buddy about a month later when he came out of quarantine and went into the bird room. Mine are totally hands off but I haven't really made any attempts to tame them. They are really happy doing their own thing and that makes me happy. I have two other very needy, clingy, people raised birds anyway and that's enough for me, lol. The only downside I can think is that they may bond to each other and not too you, but I can't really say for sure how that might play out since I don't have experience with that. Bongo, my first one was very ill when I got him so I spent lots of time in the quarantine room with him trying to make up for having to medicate him and even though he is hands off he will still fly to the front perch to sing with me when I give him the whistle we do together to get the singing going and they both have eaten millet from my hand when I was trying that out. Beans, the second one ended up being a female and she is generally more suspicious of me even though I have never had to medicate her and that may just be because she is a hen. Not sure. If you do get a second, definitely quarantine for at least 30 days. If you haven't already had yours vetted, I would do that to make sure it's healthy and the new one as well when you get it. Would definitely at least test for avian gastric yeast and polyoma virus as those are common ones with budgies. I tested mine for paittacosis, beak and feather, and Borna virus as well, but I am a paranoid "better safe than sorry" kind of person. Mine game from petsmart who gets them from what is basically a bird mill and that scared me. If you want to bond with them separately you might consider having them next to each other in separate cages until you have them comfortably and reliably stepping up for you, then let them out together for play time. If all that goes well you may have a better shot at them keeping a relationship with you as well as each other when you cage them together. I was going to have mine. Ext to each other for awhile before putting them together but they were trying to get to each other so badly I put them in the big cage together the same day and they have been happy ever since. I had bongo stay in his quarantine cage until beans came out of quarantine so that the big cage was neutral and new territory to both of them when they went in together to prevent any territorial issues so that may be something to consider doing as well. Get a second smaller cage for the new one and have your current bird stay in the smaller one until the new Buddy is done with quarantine and redecorate the big cage so it's new to both when you introduce them if you want to go that route instead of putting a new one in the other's cage. hope some of that is helpful and that someone with tame multiples sees this and gives you some advice soon!

 

[Pig]

If you don't qourintine what will happen

 

[Lady Jane]

You are risking the life of your current bird if you do not quarantine. Budgies do tend to carry several diseases. I lost an English budgie to avian gastric disease. He was my heart bird. There are no shortcuts.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

If either bird is a carrier of something you risk passing it to the other. Quarantine allows time for obvious illness to manifest, but the reason you vet test is to check for hidden things.