Not a good start

Over the last few days i have tried to introduce my new baby cockatiel to Chunky. First off i had chunky on my shoulder and allowed Oswald out of his cage. For the first hour or so, it seemed they were totally ignoring each other. Oswald the cockatiel decided to fly onto a plant stand i have in front of a window. Chunky normally likes to sit there and watch the world go by. He took off and landed on it next to Oswald. I held my breath thinking Chunky would attack him through jealousy, BUT, it was the other way roung. Oswald lunged at Chunky hissing and pecking. All out war ensued, feathers flying and one hell of a ruckus. Thankfully my husband was home and separated them. It has now happened twice.

I am not sure what to do now. A friend said to let them fight it out to find a pecking order (excuse the pun) but i am not sure that idea works with birds does it? Do i just keep trying to get them to accept each other or resign myself to the notion that they will never form a friendship and only allow them out one at a time.

It's what you feel is best for the health and welfare of your fiids. I have a CAG (male 24yo) and a Military Macaw (female 25yo) who are fine cage by cage, even calling each other by name. But when out of cage, the CAG is always in fear mode, so I've elected to have individual out of cage times, and its wonderful. What made me even more appreciative of my decision was an incident reported to me about the same type birds I have, who had no problems with out of cage time together until maturity set in and the macaw snatched the grey's beak off.

Absolutely DO NOT let them fight it out. They may eventually accept each other, but until they do keep them separate. They could do serious damage to each other.

thekarens said:

Absolutely DO NOT let them fight it out. They may eventually accept each other, but until they do keep them separate. They could do serious damage to each other.

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Yes, thats exactly what i thought. I am perfectly happy to keep them apart. I may give it another try later on when they are both a bit older, but i am not going to force it upon them.