Getting another bird for my conure

[as31]

I have had my male green cheek conure for about 2 years now. I have upgraded his cage numerous times and I am ready for the commitment of getting him a friend. Based off of my other thread, I was told that a mini macaw may be best for him. Can anyone give me any feed back on this and tell me if this is a good idea? Please feel free to inform me and give me other options to consider getting for my bird.

 

[April]

Ah I thought you'd said in your other thread that you were looking for a friend for your Cherry headed Conure which is a larger species.
If your trying to find a friend for a Greenie than I'd recommend another Greenie which will be your best bet or a similar sized conure like a Painted,Rosifrons,Crimson Bellied or Black Capped Conure.

Green cheeks are known for being a bit difficult about making friends so you'll want to give them plenty of time to warm up to each other with separate cages first. I'll tag a few folks that have multiple greenies
@Emma&pico @webchirp

 

[Mizzely]

Oh yes I also thought you said a cherry headed conure. I 100% would not recommend a mini macaw with a green cheek. Green cheeks are a lot more territorial and do badly with larger birds as they will start fights...and often lose.

 

[Mizzely]

Eclectus and Conures

I have been considering getting an eclectus for quite a while now. I have had my conure for a year and he is a year and a half. If I get a baby eclectus and raise it with my conure, could I keep them in the same cage?

forums.avianavenue.com

 

[as31]

Ah I thought you'd said in your other thread that you were looking for a friend for your Cherry headed Conure which is a larger species.
If your trying to find a friend for a Greenie than I'd recommend another Greenie which will be your best bet or a similar sized conure like a Painted,Rosifrons,Crimson Bellied or Black Capped Conure.

Green cheeks are known for being a bit difficult about making friends so you'll want to give them plenty of time to warm up to each other with separate cages first. I'll tag a few folks that have multiple greenies
@Emma&pico @webchirp

Oh there was a mistake, I do have a cherry head it myst have auto corrected.

 

[as31]

Oh yes I also thought you said a cherry headed conure. I 100% would not recommend a mini macaw with a green cheek. Green cheeks are a lot more territorial and do badly with larger birds as they will start fights...and often lose.

Yes, My mistake, I do have a cherry head when I wrote it auto corrected.

 

[as31]

Eclectus and Conures

I have been considering getting an eclectus for quite a while now. I have had my conure for a year and he is a year and a half. If I get a baby eclectus and raise it with my conure, could I keep them in the same cage?

forums.avianavenue.com

This was my original thread where I was told that a mini macaw would be best.

 

[Mizzely]

This was my original thread where I was told that a mini macaw would be best.

Yes potentially good for a cherry headed conure. For a Green cheek conure absolutely not.

Remember to get a bird for YOU not your bird. Your birds might not ever be friends. Are you going to be good with two cages? What about the worst case scenario of having to rotate out of cage time?

Whether we think it is a good idea or not is largely invalid because we don't know your current setup, lifestyle, the personalities of the birds, etc etc.

 

[as31]

There is a real slim chance that I do get a second cage. I will do the best I can to make sure whether or not they like each other. Even if it comes doen to me having to bring the parrot back to the breeder if possible.

 

[Mizzely]

You still need to have a second cage to start out with. Putting two birds that don't know each other into one cage immediately is a recipe for disaster.

 

[as31]

I have my cherry head conures old cage. If they do end up getting along could I end up getting rid of the old cage?

 

[Mizzely]

It's anyone's guess. There's a huge range between hatred and being mates.

 

[as31]

Thanks for the help. If you have any other info on introducing birds and what not, please let me know.

 

[Parutti]

I personally would never make the decision for my birds to have them share a cage. Especially if they were different species.

If *they" decided to share, I'd still keep the second cage set up for times they needed space apart.

Imagine your landlord bringing a total stranger into your house and telling you that you have to share your bed with them. Not just your house and your bedroom, but your bed.

To me that's what we are doing when we try to make birds be friends/mates.

It's taken my current two birds a little over a year to be friends, and there is NO way they could safely share a cage.

I agree with others that have suggested it's healthiest for everyone if you do not assume the two birds will be cross-species cage mates, and prepare for separate housing for each of them.

I volunteer at a parrot sanctuary where quite a few of the birds are best friends, and preen each other all day long, but we still have them go to bed in separate cages. Only the same species pair-bonded birds get to share cages.

All that said, have fun finding and meeting a new addition! My two are very different from each other and it's been a lot of fun helping them become friends

 

[Deleted member 57370]

It is really best to quarantine a new bird , a minimum I use is 3 weeks.

You want to choose a species you really want while also taking in consideration the species you have .

Definitely you are going to want seperate cages and set ups , and plan on them never being able to share a cage . Possible also needing a lot of supervision to share time outside of cages together.

Taking introduction slow with new birds has worked best for me . Quarantine, then on opposite sides of room cages for a couple of weeks . Do not let an out bird climb on the cage while one is inside the cage . This almost always results in fights and possibly injuries, toes bitten off, hurt feet or beaks if one grabs the other beak

It took years of my sane species quaker to become so bonded they wanted to share a cage ...they absolutely couldn't have in the beginning...I think for mine it was 3 years ...the rest all have their own cages . And it took time for them to be ok out together

 

[Emma&pico]

People have given you brilliant advice
You should definitely only get another bird if you want one have the time for separate out of cage time this could also mean taking birds to different rooms if they are hell bent and trying to attack each other because I’ve had lovebirds go for my other lovebird through cage bars bully my other lovebird etc which lend to him plucking due to stress

as for my green cheeks conures there no way I would have put them in same cage together from one day they would have killed each other

it needs to be slow meetings watching each other from safety of their cages

my green cheeks love each other outside of cage I tried them sharing a cage but it end in a lot of squabbles they are definitely happy with their own space own food source own toys etc

I will say I tried to get a buddy for pico and after 4lovebirds he was happier on his own

I do think the massively benefit for having other birds in their area but that can look so different for each bird

 

[Emma&pico]

I will also say I think my green cheeks are young and I think if I left remi on his own for any longer he wouldn’t have accepted another gcc it could have definitely gone other way so easily at beginning and I am well aware they may not stay friends once hormones hit as they are both still babies

 

[webchirp]

Just my experiences and knowledge but please do not mix different beaky sizes if you intend to let them be friends. I highly recommend another cheekie or Pyrrhus…