Budgie flock?

[Neoandme]

Hey guys I have a question for all of you experienced owners? I am looking to get my budgie another budgie friend for when I cannot be at home so he isn't too lonely, but I am not sure of what it will be like or how it will affect our bond... So, I was wondering If I got another budgie will me and my other budgie still have a strong bond and will it be possible to form a bond with the new one? Also, will it be okay to putt the new budgie in the same cage as my old one after a while? I would really appreciate some advice and cannot wait to hear more from you guys

 

[LozBin]

My experience
I had my first budgie, Mr Hibs for around five months before he was given a friend. In those months, a strong bond between him & myself grew. Hibsy was about two months old when we were introduced so he was a youngster.

After five months and having introduced another budgie, Mr Hibs started to spend much more time with his new friend than he did with me. However, he has never forgotten me - no matter how many budgies I added to his flock (currently fifteen in total). Most days I will get at least one visit from Hibsy even though he is a busy member of the Flock.
I spend a great deal of time with the Flock every day. If I was out of the house for many hours per week, I couldn't say how that would affect things. The bond might well have loosened somewhat.

Budgies vary from individual to individual as much as human beings do so there is no predicting what will happen but it is possible to maintain a bond that has been strong even in the face of newcomers arriving on the scene.

I strongly recommend having at least two budgies in order to ensure the budgies are happy & healthy. Other folk say that they have looked after a singleton budgie who has been very happy having only humans as flock mates - this might well be true but it's not what I would do.

 

[Neoandme]

Ok thanx a lot for your help I appreciate it will look into getting Neo a friend

 

[HelenVanessaDavies]

My experience
I had my first budgie, Mr Hibs for around five months before he was given a friend. In those months, a strong bond between him & myself grew. Hibsy was about two months old when we were introduced so he was a youngster.

After five months and having introduced another budgie, Mr Hibs started to spend much more time with his new friend than he did with me. However, he has never forgotten me - no matter how many budgies I added to his flock (currently fifteen in total). Most days I will get at least one visit from Hibsy even though he is a busy member of the Flock.
I spend a great deal of time with the Flock every day. If I was out of the house for many hours per week, I couldn't say how that would affect things. The bond might well have loosened somewhat.

Budgies vary from individual to individual as much as human beings do so there is no predicting what will happen but it is possible to maintain a bond that has been strong even in the face of newcomers arriving on the scene.

I strongly recommend having at least two budgies in order to ensure the budgies are happy & healthy. Other folk say that they have looked after a singleton budgie who has been very happy having only humans as flock mates - this might well be true but it's not what I would do.

I second what Loz has said, the only other thing I'll add is give them time to adjust to each other. It might be they like being friends but not live together, other times I've had it where immediately after quarantine they've wanted to move in but I think going in with the expectation it could take time / they may not live together is safest and it prevents trying to rush them. Also when introducing try to do it on neutral ground but I appreciate that's not always possible in homes but I always think budgies are happiest when with other budgies.

 

[Neoandme]

Ok thanx a lot guys! Also do you think I should start taming the new one before or after I put them together?

 

[LozBin]

Training of the new budgie ought to be started during the quarantine period, but after the bird has begun to settle in it's new surroundings (a couple of days at least in my experience).

Some might argue that you shouldn't end the quarantine & introduce the new bird until you have it consistently stepping-up but I'm not one of them. I prefer to end the isolation of a singleton budgie as soon as it's safe to do so.

If your original budgie is tame, the new budgie will soon learn to mimic that tameness, in part by example but also from FOMO!

 

[Neoandme]

Thanx a lot I appreciate all of your help!

 

[Finchbreed]

All good advice above. Budgies are very much flock birds, so two or more is much better than one.
Budgies like people vary in personality, so how they react to each other is not predictable.
Might be besties at 1st sight or very cautious.