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Keeping a single bird versus a pair?

Fickle

Strolling the yard
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3/24/23
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93
Ok I sure hope folks aren’t tired of my questions yet lol. Because there is more than a bit of overthinking going on in my head about our upcoming visit to choose one or two baby cockatiels from a clutch of 4. I am just trying to figure out all potential possibilities. So that if there is a problem down the road nobody will say I didn’t research or “well if you’ld asked I could have told you not to do THAT”. We originally were going to get one cockatiel plus a budgie that it’s been raised with the whole time, breeder says they can stay in same cage but I’m more inclined not to do so to be safe. So we’re still definitely getting that budgie in any case whether we get one or two cockatiels. But still, there will be plenty of routine out of cage playtimes together most days.

My concerns are abundant of course ….. will that be enough companionship of other birds in same room but separate cages, with routine out of cage playtime daily, music on etc. , but acknowledging I am human and there could be days I can only have them out of cage minimally or maybe not all such as if I am sick. So right now we are considering two cockatiels as explained in my lengthy post last night. Because deep down I feel that is probably best for the birds. But I’m not sure …. so I’m asking.

But when it comes to hormones, what scenario is more likely to affect or make a male more hormonal and/or aggressive during hormone times; is it being alone and being frustrated at having no mate to fill that need and potentially turning to his human over-dependently, and getting my rejected which could cause hormonal aggression? Or is it having a hen partner and getting overly hormonal and overly protective of HIS girl his property and being aggressive with humans to buzz off??

I am an over thinker and I absolutely know and understand that. I’m just trying to do the very best I can to provide the best possible life for one ( or two?) cockatiels but also the best fit for us as a whole. So if there is any personal experience anecdotes or data to say whether it’s a single male versus a paired up male , as to which is more or less likely to get hormone aggressive, I’d dearly love to hear about it. I really value all input to help me make the best decision. I’d hate to have a male go crazy aggressive with me (I’ve read the stories in bird forums) to a point I’d potentially feel the need to ask the breeder to take it back. Sigh. Which I know he would do, but I don’t want to have to face such a decision. Sigh. :hmmm:

A3F3529F-95C0-4000-B031-9EFF56329B43.jpeg
Cute pic of one of the potential babies we might choose. :swoon:
 

Xoetix

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I have just one, but he's not yet a year (coming up soon though!). I've toyed with the idea of getting a second, but I don't know. He actually does really well as a single bird from what I can tell - but he's also out all day and fussing at me for everything under the sun :roflmao:

@Khizz has two, @Kiwi's Dad has one... I can't remember who has what. I really need to make that spreadsheet :confused:
 

Kiwi's Dad

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Ok I sure hope folks aren’t tired of my questions yet lol. Because there is more than a bit of overthinking going on in my head about our upcoming visit to choose one or two baby cockatiels from a clutch of 4. I am just trying to figure out all potential possibilities. So that if there is a problem down the road nobody will say I didn’t research or “well if you’ld asked I could have told you not to do THAT”. We originally were going to get one cockatiel plus a budgie that it’s been raised with the whole time, breeder says they can stay in same cage but I’m more inclined not to do so to be safe. So we’re still definitely getting that budgie in any case whether we get one or two cockatiels. But still, there will be plenty of routine out of cage playtimes together most days.

My concerns are abundant of course ….. will that be enough companionship of other birds in same room but separate cages, with routine out of cage playtime daily, music on etc. , but acknowledging I am human and there could be days I can only have them out of cage minimally or maybe not all such as if I am sick. So right now we are considering two cockatiels as explained in my lengthy post last night. Because deep down I feel that is probably best for the birds. But I’m not sure …. so I’m asking.

But when it comes to hormones, what scenario is more likely to affect or make a male more hormonal and/or aggressive during hormone times; is it being alone and being frustrated at having no mate to fill that need and potentially turning to his human over-dependently, and getting my rejected which could cause hormonal aggression? Or is it having a hen partner and getting overly hormonal and overly protective of HIS girl his property and being aggressive with humans to buzz off??

I am an over thinker and I absolutely know and understand that. I’m just trying to do the very best I can to provide the best possible life for one ( or two?) cockatiels but also the best fit for us as a whole. So if there is any personal experience anecdotes or data to say whether it’s a single male versus a paired up male , as to which is more or less likely to get hormone aggressive, I’d dearly love to hear about it. I really value all input to help me make the best decision. I’d hate to have a male go crazy aggressive with me (I’ve read the stories in bird forums) to a point I’d potentially feel the need to ask the breeder to take it back. Sigh. Which I know he would do, but I don’t want to have to face such a decision. Sigh. :hmmm:

View attachment 425718
Cute pic of one of the potential babies we might choose. :swoon:
Hey, I believe tiels don't need a companion (If you have enough time for the bird) but if two birds are an option I'd go for it.

I can't help too much with hormones as I don't have two but I've heard that females can be prolific layers once they start but I haven't had to deal with that. Kiwi is a little hormonal at the moment. She has been trying to nest in her food bowl and has become quite nippy :meh:. Thankfully, the nesting behavior cooled down when I re-arranged her cage.
 

Fickle

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Hey, I believe tiels don't need a companion (If you have enough time for the bird) but if two birds are an option I'd go for it.

I can't help too much with hormones as I don't have two but I've heard that females can be prolific layers once they start but I haven't had to deal with that. Kiwi is a little hormonal at the moment. She has been trying to nest in her food bowl and has become quite nippy :meh:. Thankfully, the nesting behavior cooled down when I re-arranged her cage.
What would be a reasonable daily goal considered “enough time for the bird?” It is impossible for it to be a 7-8 hours a day kind of thing here because we have 4 small dogs, who can be shut into the master suite which is the opposite end of the home to the bird room if needed. They are all 7 years and older and have always lived with multiple birds and we are super careful just myself and hubby nearing senior days lol, no kids to worry about opening doors etc. We’ve always been very careful and never ever had any pet accidents with our birds.

So I am home 24/7 most days except for doggie walks , grocery runs and that sort of thing. So I really need to spilt up my time between normal house cleaning cooking etc, and time to chill with the dogs, and time to chill with the birds , some with a human just being in the room and also some supervised out of cage time for them to play with me and each other, and to explore etc. they also get extra attention and time with hubby evenings and weekends.
I’ve seem some owners they have an hour a day which I don’t feel is enough, and others 24/7 which I can never do. So what is reasonable amount of time daily if you have only one cockatiel in a cage by itself? We do have other birds in separate cages they’ll all be in same bird room after quarantine periods. ( canary and one current budgie, with more budgies coming soon)
 

AussieBird

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sunnysmom

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I really think that if you have a budgie and a tiel that would be enough company for each other unless YOU want two tiels and then that's fine too. I personally like to see flocks in even numbers. That way there's no odd man out so to speak. I would still keep the tiel and budgie in separate cages. Believe it ot not, you have to worry more about the budgie bullying the tiel than the other way around. I really wouldn't worry too much about hormones. Even a cockatiel on its worst day is not that bad. Birds should have a minimum of 2 hours out of cage time a day. More of course is better. That is also why it's important to have a proper cage size for each species. So on the days that can't get out of some reason that they still have sufficient room to play, etc.
 

MnGuy

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I think if you can get two baby cockatiels of the same gender that would be ideal.

I adopted my first bird, a Meyer's, alone bc she was came into a rescue without a bird friend. I adopted my grey a year later hoping they would at least get along. They did not.

Many years after my Meyer's passed, I adopted a ringneck in hopes his company from a separate cage would at least benefit my grey.

I work from home 3 days of the week, and it still feels like my birds don't get enough attention or stimulation.

I think you'll eventually feel sad about the quality of your bird's life if he/she is a lone bird. Mixed-species pairs can work out, but I think same-species pairs are ideal, especially if you can get them both from day 1 as babies that don't already have habits, routines or expectations that will be impacted by the introduction of a new bird later in life. It is much harder to introduce a second bird later on.

Good luck.
 
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Fickle

Strolling the yard
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93
I think if you can get two baby cockatiels of the same gender that would be ideal.

I adopted my first bird, a Meyer's, alone bc she was came into a rescue without a bird friend. I adopted my grey a year later hoping they would at least get along. They did not.

Many years after my Meyer's passed, I adopted a ringneck in hopes his company from a separate cage would at least benefit my grey.

I work from home 3 days of the week, and it still feels like my birds don't get enough attention or stimulation.

I think you'll eventually feel sad about the quality of your bird's life if he/she is a lone bird. Mixed-species pairs can work out, but I think same-species pairs are ideal, especially if you can get them both from day 1 as babies that don't already have habits, routines or expectations that will be impacted by the introduction of a new bird later in life. It is much harder to introduce a second bird later on.

Good luck.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. And I agree with you about having pairs of same species. Two days ago we brought home a male Zephyr and female Zuzu sibling cockatiel pair plus a budgie that was raised and handfed together with the clutch of 4 cockatiels as a group. I don’t keep the budgie in the cage with them but they’ll have lots of out of cage playtime visits together as shown in pic taken today, for as long as they continue to get along. The budgie is a character for sure and the tiels are the sweetest babies ever and all are settling in beautifully we simply couldn’t be happier. We already have a budgie buddie (Fickle) to be with new budgie Pickle :swoon:

D6A189F7-82CC-4259-BB40-DC2D01E89D1D.jpeg
 

Wally&Eva

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single bird from what I can tell - but he's also out all day and fussing at me for everything under the sun :roflmao:
I have a pair and they fuss at me all day too! But double the fussing :joyful: I have to keep reminding them, hey your friend is right over there.
 

Wally&Eva

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Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. And I agree with you about having pairs of same species. Two days ago we brought home a male Zephyr and female Zuzu sibling cockatiel pair plus a budgie that was raised and handfed together with the clutch of 4 cockatiels as a group. I don’t keep the budgie in the cage with them but they’ll have lots of out of cage playtime visits together as shown in pic taken today, for as long as they continue to get along. The budgie is a character for sure and the tiels are the sweetest babies ever and all are settling in beautifully we simply couldn’t be happier. We already have a budgie buddie (Fickle) to be with new budgie Pickle :swoon:

View attachment 426141
Oh they are so cute! And I’m sure very sweet. Nice that fickle, now has pickle and the 2 tiels have each other.
 

Jaspersmum

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Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. And I agree with you about having pairs of same species. Two days ago we brought home a male Zephyr and female Zuzu sibling cockatiel pair plus a budgie that was raised and handfed together with the clutch of 4 cockatiels as a group. I don’t keep the budgie in the cage with them but they’ll have lots of out of cage playtime visits together as shown in pic taken today, for as long as they continue to get along. The budgie is a character for sure and the tiels are the sweetest babies ever and all are settling in beautifully we simply couldn’t be happier. We already have a budgie buddie (Fickle) to be with new budgie Pickle :swoon:

View attachment 426141
Omg that picture could not be cuter. The little pickle looking up all wise and loving. Z and Z are posed perfect. Such an adorable group!
 
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