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Possibility for future flock growth, advice needed.

Beebleburb

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Id like to preface this by saying the only 'communal' area my parrots share is the playroom. Their cages are positioned so they dont even have to look at eachother, they have a ton of privacy and each have specific play areas catered to their needs where they hang out 90% of the time. All play is supervised.

The Preface-
Right now, I have my little flock of three. A Red Belly Parrot (female) A GCC (idk gender, we assume male), and a cockatiel (male). They all used to be great friends for about a year, the cockatiel is the oldest then the Gcc, then the RBP. When I got RBP she was a baby, and when she hit maturity the cockatiel went absolutely buck wild trying to mate her, it was honestly insane, and she finally snapped one day after being very patient with it for a long time and attempted murder as Pois will do. Tiel is fine as I was right there with them and up on my feet coming towards them before the tussel even started, she only got one bite in on it, nothing broken. This did not deter the tiel. He was a man on a mission and he was in love. I have to keep them separated now because the tiel will absolutely try to do it again and the red belly could definetly kill him if given 1/2 the chance. RBP and GCC get along just fine. they basically social distance from eachother. occasionally steal eachothers toys and food. Occasionally play together. Most that happens is GCC chases RBP off his fav perch. RBP was socially raised with a mixed flock of diffrent species. I know its rare for RBPs not to be agressive/territorial, but honestly the GCC is more aggressive than she is.

The Problem-
One day, far in the future when my GCC passes away, id like to get another bird. It will be female no matter what species. I'd really love to get another Poi, but I worry being such a similar species to the RBP would make her aggressive, but I also wonder if a similar species would make her more inclined to bond with it since they would have similar body language and be able to communicate more effectivley. Thoughts? Im still unsure I will even add to the flock, hopefully this is far off in the future.

Attatched is a picture of the RBP and GCC doing what we call 'social distancing' lol lady and cecil.jpg
 

expressmailtome

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Shezbug

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iamwhoiam

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Depends on the individual bird/s.
None of my Pois are caged together but the red-bellied brothers can be together outside of their cages with
supervision. Outside cage time together does not generally work with the red-bellied sisters. My Senegal doesn't
bother the red-bellies but the reverse is not true so I never have the Senegal and red-bellies out together.
The red-bellies used to all get along with one another but this changed as they matured. In fact I even had
to separate my red-bellied babies' parents because the male started to be aggressive towards the female.
They are now divorced. ;)
 
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Beebleburb

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Thanks very much. I dont ever plan on caging together, i'm of the opinion that birds can almost always only be caged together if they were raised together from babies. All my birds have private cages and I have no plans on making changes to that.
Do you or anyone else
have an opinion if adding another poi to the flock would be more or less risky than adding a different species of a similar size?
 

Mizzely

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I would think it would be potentially less risky. Even though parrots do share similar body language, species families definitely have their own unique ways of saying things. They would also be more equally matched if they did get into a dispute.

Sadly for every success story I think you'll find a story of failure. There's just no guarantees.
 

Beebleburb

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Thanks very much, that was the kind of information I was looking for I really appreciate it. I've had both success and failure in matching up parrots myself, im hoping to be able to work with an adoption agency with my next bird and arrange a foster period of at least a few months to see how they get along. Equal matching in a dispute is also somthing I was taking into account. (also omg i love lil monsters bird toys i get bongo box every month im a huge fan hiiiiiii!!)
 

iamwhoiam

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Thanks very much. I dont ever plan on caging together, i'm of the opinion that birds can almost always only be caged together if they were raised together from babies. All my birds have private cages and I have no plans on making changes to that.
Do you or anyone else
have an opinion if adding another poi to the flock would be more or less risky than adding a different species of a similar size?
Except for mom & dad rb, each of my clutches were raised together from day one. Each clutch was caged together but wound being separated due to health issues or fighting. When health issues were resolved was unable to put them back together. As I wrote in previous post the brothers can hang out together outside of their cages but it doesn't generally work with the sisters. Sophie & Claudé seem to be jealous of each other and I have to try to be sure to give each of them the same amount of attention.
Adding another Poi rather than a different species may be less risky but it does depend on the individual bird. At least they would be approximately the same size unless you get one of the larger Pois. Are you considering getting a different type of Poi rather than another rb? I'm a big fan of Pois and, if I had the space , I would probably get another one.
 

Beebleburb

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Are you considering getting a different type of Poi rather than another rb? I'm a big fan of Pois and, if I had the space , I would probably get another one.
I was considering getting another type of Poi rather than an RB so that they are easier to tell apart. I know this is a bit weird but I have these recurring nightmares where there is like 10 versions of my bird in the bird cage and im trying to figure out wich one is the 'real' one? and all RB females look the same, so I just dont want to do that.
I have this little pro/con list of diffrent pois- just compiled from stuff i've read around the internet. Idk how accurate it really is but I just noted down three common pros and three common cons I saw about each species. Ill paste it below.

Honestly, I'm leaning towards a brown headed if I can find one. They seem to have the most similar nature to my particular RB- My RB is only demanding of attention occasionally, not jealous, and can entertain herself quite happily and she's not territorial at all, she even lets other birds go in her cage and eat from her dish when she's out playing and could not care less. She was raised socially with many other birds and has only ever showed aggression towards one other bird because it repeatedly tried to mate with her, at which point she attempted murder and has held the grudge to this day and cannot be near that bird. So the brownheaded's more independent and less jealous tendencies might make it a better match for her. My dream is for them to just peacefully ignore each other like my current birds do lol. Mabey i'll get super lucky and they'll even stand socially distanced on opposite ends of the shower rod like my red belly and Gcc do now! lol

here's my poi pros and cons list- im super open to critique on this btw



Sengal pro-
tons for adoption
good eaters
very interactive
expressive
Sengal con-
Jealousy
One person bird
Possessive

Meyers pro-
not one person bird
Good eater
very interactive
Meyers Con-
stubborn
Jealousy
can develop resentments

Red Belly pro-
Very trainable
expressive
good eater
Red Belly con-
can develop resentments
Agression
possible mating behaviour issues becuase of species match

Jardines pro-
do not seem prone to hormonal behavior
not seeing as much about agression towards other birds
funny
Jardines con-
stubborn
prone to plucking
sensitive

Cape Parrot pro-
gentle giant reputation
i love their goober face
trainable
Cape Parrot Con-
that's a big beak (size diffrence)
Doubt id be able to adopt one (uncommon)
less expressive/quicker mood change

Brown Headed pro-
quiet
not generally demanding of attention
Socialize well
Brown headed con-
prone to calcuim defficency?
not much info about them?
 
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