Advice for adding a second GCC

[cab124]

About a year and a half ago, I adopted a lonely green cheek conure, Mango, because I saw her living a sad, lonely life in a pet store and I could not stand to see her go on anymore without a home. She (I refer to her as "she" but I am not sure about that) is not tame and does not like direct human contact. I do not know anything about her past (breeder, age, etc). She has bands on both legs so I suspect that she was a breeder bird who was not hand-tamed. I was told that she is very young. During the time that I have had her, I have tried as hard as I can to help her to trust me and we have made great progress and are good friends. She is about as comfortable around me as I think she will ever be and seems to enjoy my company as long as I don't attempt to touch her. She follows me around and sits close to me and loves to interact.

At this point, I sense that she is very lonely and longs for the companionship of another conure. I feel like she will never be content with only human companionship. It's possible that she once had a companion who she was separated from.

I am entertaining the idea of finally getting a second bird companion for her. I would love to see her truly happy with another bird. I wish I could bring another conure into my home to see how she would respond to it.

Any advice on how to do this? If I get a second conure, I would like it to be hand-raised. With green cheeks, what sexes get along the best? M-M? F-F? I would really appreciate any input based on the experience of others.

Thank you!

 

[Monica]

The sexes that get along the best are the ones that get along.... and has nothing to do with what gender they are. You could have an entire group of girls that are close knit like a family, or it could be all boys, or it could be males and females.

That said, there's no guarantee that another bird and Mango *WILL* get along either.

This is just one of those situations that you wont know until you take the plunge. With that said, separate cage, perches, toys, everything! Quarantine and make sure your new birdy is healthy before introducing them.

 

[Zara]

That said, there's no guarantee that another bird and Mango *WILL* get along either.

Even if they don´t get along and are housed separately, they might still enjoy each others company and calls

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Is there any chance you can look into a rescue in your area and ask about fostering? That way you can do a sort of trial period to see if they'll get along before making the final decision

 

[Nobirby]

Our GCC did not like it at all when we brought another adult GCC into his house. However, he has loved the babies. Could be just him, but it has been that way with four babies. Got togo, g he us calling me.

 

[cab124]

The sexes that get along the best are the ones that get along.... and has nothing to do with what gender they are. You could have an entire group of girls that are close knit like a family, or it could be all boys, or it could be males and females.

Yes, I realize that they are all individuals and that they get along if they get along. But I heard that with budgies, for example, you should never try to keep two females together because the almost always fight. Two males are ok, but not two females. I was wondering if this type of thing is true for conures as well.

Thanks for the input!

 

[cab124]

Is there any chance you can look into a rescue in your area and ask about fostering? That way you can do a sort of trial period to see if they'll get along before making the final decision

Wow, that is an interesting idea. I didn't know that was a thing!

Thank you!!

 

[Monica]

When I had budgies, i often ended up with a bunch of females. The worst thing I saw was two females picking on one male. That was only a one time event though. They otherwise got along. Sure, there was bickering and such, but otherwise no issues. In budgies, males are certainly more easy going than females, generally speaking, but they are all individuals.

I believe the bigger concern is if you ever plan on breeding them, in which case it's recommended to have more males than females and more nest boxes than pairs. People rarely breed any of the medium or larger parrots in an aviary so it may be harder to determine the best gender ratio?