Video Is my bird preening our baby bird?

[Kiwi&Mango]

We got a baby (8-9 weeks old) Sun Conure just yesterday, this is our first time getting a second bird and getting one so young. We have another bird at home, a Quaker parrot who's about 9 months old and has aggressive and territorial tendencies. We've tried to keep them apart from each other since our Quaker parrot can be aggressive and we don't want any accident with our newborn Sun Conure. However today we let them get closer to each other and it looks like our Quaker parrot was preening him. Our Sun Conure started yelping a little bit but my girlfriend said this is due to our Sun Conure having dried formula food stuck on his chest. However I am a bit more cautious since I know how territorial and aggressive our Quaker can get. What are your thoughts on this interaction?

For some reason I can't post the video here, so here is the youtube link instead

Youtube Link:

 

[Dartman]

Well, that looks promising and the Sun seemed to be loving it but always supervise like you are doing just in case. Somebody can suddenly get upset and now you have a hurt or dead bird. Hopefully they become best buds and can be trusted together and it helps that they will be similar sizes.

 

[Dona]

Oh my gosh, that was precious. I do think Kiwi just had a lot of work to do to get baby just right. Best of luck as they hopefully become buddies.

 

[Lady Jane]

Seems a bit excessive on the preening. Was the sun baby quarantined?

 

[Kiwi&Mango]

Seems a bit excessive on the preening. Was the sun baby quarantined?

No. We keep their cages on the opposite sides of the same room.

 

[Quakerlady]

That was cute, but I think your Quaker was trying to eat the formula off of the baby. So he's either preening the baby or eating him! LOL! It was cute either way!

 

[macawpower58]

IMO I'd not allow it.
The Quaker is way too rough, your baby does not seem to be enjoying it.
I'm not even sure it's a normal preening motions he's making.
Too much crying from the baby.

 

[Zara]

It´s not good that there was no quarantine for these birds. I just hope the baby has no underlying illnesses or diseases.

As for the preening, (I have only watched 50 seconds so far, but I will watch the rest now) The baby is yelping because they are still in the pin feather stage and those pins are very delicate. If the quaker puts just a smitch too much pressure while preening, it will hurt. If he does it too hard, the feather will break and the baby will bleed, a lot. I would hold of on the physical interactions for now until the baby is fully feathered and the pin feathers have grown and been preened (by the conure on their own).

 

[Zara]

Ok. So this is not really preening. Your girlfriend is right, Kiwi is just trying to nibble the dried formula off.

The dangers with that are as I mentioned before, breaking a feather, or pulling feathers out. A lot of people post on AA seeking help for dried formula on the chicks feathers, and I always say to hold a damp press, then gently wipe, then press, then wipe etc being super gentle to to pull or pick at the feathers because it will be painfull for the little bird. Here you have Kiwi, picking at those feathers and causing pain (unintentionally).

The other misleading factor of the video is Mangos eyes. A bird being preened closes their eyes a lot because they are relaxed and enjoying it. Mango is also closing his eyes... but this is because he is a very young bird and he is tired. He´s not closing them because he is enjoying the preening.

Last problem is that Kiwi is a little rough on Mangos beak, which is still hardening and developing, and again is sensitive. Biting the beak will be painful, and could cause damage.

So I stand by my pervious post, to wait until Mango is fully feathered before allowing some physical interactions. Hopefully they will grow to be good friends

As for Kiwi, if you have any leftover formula, offer it to him on a metal teaspoon sometimes as a treat. I´m sure he would love that!

Welcome to the Avenue!
Both your birds are beautiful