AmyJas
Walking the driveway
As an update, Lilah the cockatiel was introduced to the budgies after three weeks of quarantine. We cut the quarantine a little shorter than planned because it turns out my S.O. is a bit allergic, so she needed to be moved from the living room. After a couple weeks, the budgies have been generally indifferent toward Lilah and vice versa. However, Lilah has been playing in the budgies' proximity more, on top of their cage next to them, and today inside their cage--all without any problems. They're not really directly interacting with each other yet, but they're showing no aggression even in close proximity, so I take it as a good sign.
The budgie pair are actually used to a trio. They were housed with my mother's budgie for years without problems while I lived back home. Archie and Sashi are six and have never demonstrated hormonal or breeding behavior, despite being the opposite sex. I've read that usually budgies try to dominate or bully the cockatiels or are overly playful, but that's not the case at all so far. My budgies are pretty mellow and low energy and just seem cheerfully curious from afar about Lilah's presence. I'm going to give it some time of course, but if they continue to get along, I'll get a larger flight cage that can comfortably accommodate all of them.
I'm sure not everyone agrees with this idea, but from what I've researched, I don't see the harm in housing cockatiels and budgies if they are shown to get along and have lots of space. It's not uncommon, and aggressive attacks without warning signs are unlikely within these two species. These two species also tend to be much happier in flocks, and they'll have plenty of room to get away from each other, since they will have free reign of a bird room.
As far as training, Lilah is not a very affectionate bird and continues to be reluctant to perch on me, usually only if she wants to get somewhere, since her wings are clipped. But some days are better than others and it could be a lot worse. I just try to continue to work with her (increasingly using food bribery) and accept her personality. Every bird is different. She is a cute and entertaining bird at the least, and I am happy to have her.
The budgie pair are actually used to a trio. They were housed with my mother's budgie for years without problems while I lived back home. Archie and Sashi are six and have never demonstrated hormonal or breeding behavior, despite being the opposite sex. I've read that usually budgies try to dominate or bully the cockatiels or are overly playful, but that's not the case at all so far. My budgies are pretty mellow and low energy and just seem cheerfully curious from afar about Lilah's presence. I'm going to give it some time of course, but if they continue to get along, I'll get a larger flight cage that can comfortably accommodate all of them.
I'm sure not everyone agrees with this idea, but from what I've researched, I don't see the harm in housing cockatiels and budgies if they are shown to get along and have lots of space. It's not uncommon, and aggressive attacks without warning signs are unlikely within these two species. These two species also tend to be much happier in flocks, and they'll have plenty of room to get away from each other, since they will have free reign of a bird room.
As far as training, Lilah is not a very affectionate bird and continues to be reluctant to perch on me, usually only if she wants to get somewhere, since her wings are clipped. But some days are better than others and it could be a lot worse. I just try to continue to work with her (increasingly using food bribery) and accept her personality. Every bird is different. She is a cute and entertaining bird at the least, and I am happy to have her.