Conure - a good companion bird for my 6 year old male IRN?

Hi everyone,

I am new here and need some help deciding on whether I should get a companion for my 6 year old male IRN “Miss Lucy”.

I try and spend as much time as possible with Miss Lucy, give him out-of-cage-time (we have two dogs so unfortunately he cannot be outside the cage all the time), which he rather spends cuddling and "feeding" my feet than flying. He also does the cute little mating dance... He seems to hate everyone except for me. He wants to be with me all the time, which is obviously not possible, and screams as soon as I am out of sight…

I am now wondering if Miss Lucy would benefit from a companion. I love IRNs but also like Conures, Quakers and Senegal Parrots. I would love to hear from anyone keeping IRNs and Conures together.

I would be getting a chick (probably just weaned), and would initially keep the birds in separate cages, at the opposite ends of the room and slowly move the cages closer together and then let them meet each other outside their cages. I am not planning on housing them in the same cage.

Miss Lucy has not really had any contact with other birds. She can hear my cockatiels and whistles back to them but that’s a far as her exposure goes.

Thanks so much for your inputs and suggestions!
Sabine

I only have a single Green Cheek, so I don't know about keeping them together, but I'd reccomend a GCC to anyone. They're adorable birds, and full of personality. Mine loves The McGuire Sisters, and dances whenever I put them on. There's one thing to watch for: biting. I'm working on it with him, but my Watson it really nibbly around fingers. I don't know if it's just more of a problem for me because I adopted him from a parrot rescue, and didn't raise him as a baby, but be prepared to train yours out of biting because they use their beak a lot (chewing toys, feeling over objects to make sure they're ok, etc.)
Hope that helps!

Conures are great birds, but they are significantly smaller than IRN's. Plus if you bird only really likes you he, mqy not be such a fan of another bird. You could akways try introducing him to your cockatiels and see how he reacts to them in the same roo. First, just to see how he feels about other birds. Have you considered lories and lorikeets, they are larger than the conures and still colourful

@dramanea: I have heard and read great things about conures and GCCs in particular, that is one reason why I was considering them as a companion bird. Good luck with training Watson to stop biting!
@WhirlyBirdy: Miss Lucy is kept inside the house, the cockatiels are in a flight cage outside. I have taken Miss Lucy a few times to see them, he wasn't interested in them at all.

In the IRN forum a very valid point was raised and it was whether I wanted another bird more for me than for Miss Lucy. There is a chance that he would not get along with any other bird or get along so well that he would not be interested in me anymore at all.

So I am now rethinking the whole second bird idea...

Thanks for your inputs though!