Conure meeting lovebird

My green cheek conure is almost 7 months old now and I recently got a violet pied lovebird, this lovebird has all of its feathers but it's tail is very short. Not really sure how old it is, but I think it's probably younger than my green cheek conure.
Today is the second day I've gotten it.
These two parrot breeds dont seem to really like each other at all.
Upon meeting yesterday, my green cheek conure kept biting the lovebird. My lovebird got scared and didn't fight back.
Last night they spent their night in two different cages next to each other,
Today, my green cheek conure didn't attack the lovebird anymore. Instead, it became the lovebird's turn to aggressively bite the green cheek conure. However, my GCC didn't fight back at all.

Is it possible to actually be able to house these two parrots together without fighting one day?
If they do actually be able to live together, I'm thinking of adding another GCC. Total I'll have about 3 parrots. Is it possible for all of them to live in one cage? (The cage should be big enough to house them three)

No, it is imposibble to have them in one cage. GCCs are territorial and may attack weaker species (parrots don't have any breeds). Lovebirds are agressive and never should be in one cage with other parrot types (in this case GCC seems to be more dangerous 'cause is bigger and stronger).
Lovebirds have short talis (age doesn't matter)


Maybe there sometimes are some exceptions - once time I've seen a crimson bellied conure feeding a lovebird but they had own room not cage

Definitely not a good idea to house them together -- you're just asking for dead birds!

Get them all separate cages and living spaces, that way they can all live safely in their own cage. They should be able to sleep, eat and relax in their cage without being terrorized, bitten or in harm of any kind, and that means from other birds!

I have 4 cockatiels -- 2 pairs. As same species they should be able to be kept together, but it would be a disaster if I did this! The 2 males would go nuts attacking each other to keep their females to themselves,... it just would never work. And that's OK. It's important to put their needs above what you want to do. So, as much as you want your birds to all lvoe each other and be best friends, they simply won't. You can put their cages side-by side to encourage them to get to know each other better, but I would not let them interact one-on-one again if one is biting the other. Just enjoy them and respect their need for safety by keeping them separated.

itzjbean said:

Definitely not a good idea to house them together -- you're just asking for dead birds!

Get them all separate cages and living spaces, that way they can all live safely in their own cage. They should be able to sleep, eat and relax in their cage without being terrorized, bitten or in harm of any kind, and that means from other birds!

I have 4 cockatiels -- 2 pairs. As same species they should be able to be kept together, but it would be a disaster if I did this! The 2 males would go nuts attacking each other to keep their females to themselves,... it just would never work. And that's OK. It's important to put their needs above what you want to do. So, as much as you want your birds to all lvoe each other and be best friends, they simply won't. You can put their cages side-by side to encourage them to get to know each other better, but I would not let them interact one-on-one again if one is biting the other. Just enjoy them and respect their need for safety by keeping them separated.

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Thank you everyone! It's really unfortunate that I can't get them to be together Really wished for them to get along. I had a pair of conures but one of them flew away. I just wish for them to stay together.

Your heart is in the right place, but please don't for all the above reasons. It may be possible to have different sized birds out of the cage in neutral territory such as a playstand. You'd have to supervise 100% of the time to ensure their safety.

Adding any additional bird to your flock is a very serious undertaking. Sometimes no matter how hard you try two birds are just never going to get along. Even two birds of the same species. My two conures will attack each other on sight even in neutral areas. My two Kakariki ,male and female, are fine together unless there is food. Then it is all out war. I had a pair of cockatiels that got along OK until one got so jealous he would constantly attack the other. Eventually I had no choice but to rehome him as he was grabbing the others leg in his beak and dropping of the perch to pull her off.

Others have been luckier than I have and their birds get along fine so it does work but it really is the flip of a coin. You just never know what will happen.

In my opinion NEVER house birds of different parrot species together. Especially if the size difference is significant. The larger birds will potentially bully the smaller. The chance of something going wrong is too high. NEVER house lovebirds with anything but lovebirds in my opinion. They are not well behaved with other birds. Always research as much as you can before getting another bird so you have some idea of what to expect.

Well, sure. I'm trying something out with these two parrots. I may want to take out all the food from their cages and only handfeed both of them. Put them close together then if anyone of then starts to bite the other one I'll feed the other one right infront of them. Is this a good idea or are they eventually going to hate me?

Doing that will cause more fights than it prevents. They will both want the food and attack the other to get it. Hand feeding won't help at all. Better to keep them in separate cages where they can see each other and gradually over a few weeks move the cages closer. If they are able to be next to each other and stay calm bring them out together in a neutral area and supervise. It's not something that can be done quickly and to try and force it could end up with a badly injured bird. It only takes one bite in the right place and that's the end of your bird. They are equipped with a strong bite and fragile bones.

Hello Calorious. Sorry about your other GCC that flew away. We do have a mixed family of conures, with three GCC and one black capped in a very large cage. These were all babies, though, within weeks of each other hatching. They get along fine and we had another black capped, but those of you who read the feed, Kylo passed away.

Trying to get these two very different species to stay together, though, is a bad idea. Maybe if they grew up as hand fed babies at the same exact time it would have worked. Now they are older and both species are very different.

Do what is best for the bird please Calorious. I know you want them to be together. But let them decide that. And accept it if they don’t want it. I am in the process of getting a female eclectus, and I know there is a good chance she may not want to be with my male. And already have arrangements if they don’t like staying with each other.


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Hey Alembic, sorry about Kylo. I'm sure you miss it alot!
Thank you Talven and Alembic. Their cages are right next to each other and they either give each other death stares or ignore each other, so I'm planning to just cover both their cages for them to sleep better instead.

It's been 10 minutes since this happened, but I think I can finally take it as my GCC cannot be with my lovebird. Though my GCC is older than the lovebird, he seems more scared of the lovebird than the lovebird being scared of the GCC.
My parrot accidentally lost 3 of his tail feathers because of this. He got so scared of the lovebird he actually randomly flew, hit the ground and his 3 tail feathers just seemed to boop.

How long does his tail feathers usually take to recover? I can really tell how painful having a crucial part of him just disappear but I just want to know how long it takes him to recover these feathers?

You are probably looking up to 6 months for the tail feathers to regrow. They may replace themselves now, or you may have to wait to your parrots molt cycle. This is also a valuable lesson on letting the birds decide.

I have a male solomon island eclectus (Basil), who is 22 years old and approximately 380 grams. River, our turqiouse green cheek conure, wants to run up to Basil and try to play with him. River is 64 grams. Basil is six times the weight of River, and what does Basil do when River comes near him? He jumps and flies away. He doesn't attack River, he just doesn't want to be bothered. So we try to keep them apart, since we don't want Basil to become aggressive, as one bite from him would kill the conure.

Enjoy your birds. Spend time with them yourself, individually. If they want to learn to tolerate each other, they might, but it will take time or maybe never happen. But keep them apart when they are out, so no more accidents occur.