IRN - Partner? Planes?

Dear IRN owner's community!
I am looking for some advice, thank you in advance!

In short: get a second IRN now, later, or not?

We have a 10-month-old Ringneck birdie, Alby, sharing the flat with my partner and me. We don't know its sex yet, since so far, it didn't matter to us whether it's a boy or girl, and time will tell anyway when he/she matures at around 2 years. So bear with me if I switch between he and she all the time
Alby has been hand-raised and apart from some bluffing (which is greatly improving lately) is very tame. She always steps up, allows us to pet everywhere, and loves to hang out on shoulders, so when I am at home, he is pretty much always sitting on me. The only time when he will bite is when he defends his cage - he is so territorial! But I guess that is normal. In general she is an absolute delight to have and she's our dear darling.

But lately I have been wondering if it isn't so selfish to keep him as a single bird. In nature they live in flocks and never alone. Since we are both working there are days when he is alone for long hours. His cage is always open, so actually his confines are the living room/ kitchen area, so he can move a lot and has lots of toys and windows to look out, but still he is alone. Sometimes he screams heartbreakingly when he realises that we are about to leave home.

If we get a partner for her, I think it should also be an IRN so they can possibly pair bond and stay together forever. If we would ever have to rehome them, we would make sure they stay together. Also I would DNA test Alby to make sure I get an opposite-sex parter for her, because I read that same-sex pairs don't always get along, is that right? And also I would look for someone roughly the same age as her.

On the other hand, she has been kept alone all her life. We knew her since she was a featherless baby being hand-fed by the people in the pet shop. Even then she was in her baby box alone, and later in a cage alone, even though she had some siblings. She was always separated from them - we don't know why. The only times when she met another bird were when we took her to meet our friend's IRN, but that was just a few hours each time. So would she even get along with a second bird in the house? Of course they would have separate cages at first, but still... What if they won't like each other?

The other problem is that we are living on an island and we are planning to move to the mainland later this year. This means Alby would have to travel with us on a plane. If we get a second bird now, he/she would also have to travel. I know that it's possible to do, but I still worry because it will be stressful for a bird. Has anyone ever travelled with an IRN on a plane?
Would it not be a better idea then to wait until we get to the mainland and look for a partner there?

Can anyone think of some other concerns that I should look out for? What is the most responsible thing to do here?

Sorry for the long text. I'm grateful for all advice from IRN-experienced people here

Hi. Universally true - neverget a second (or third etc) parrot to keep your first one company, because there is no garrantee that they will even like each other and could maybe hurt one or the other. Its 2x the mess, 2x the costs and now you have to split your intimate time with your IRN in half. The only reason to get a second parrot is because YOU want one and know all that goes with the second one.

Welcome to the forums! I am not familiar with IRNs so cannot give specific advice.

As far as air travel is concerned, riding with you in the cabin inside a carrier is vastly preferred to flying in the cargo pits. Much safer, and your bird will suffer less anxiety. Fortunately IRNs will comfortably fit in an under-seat carrier. You'll need to make request from the airline as many have limits in number of pets in cabin. Certain seats must be avoided such as bulkheads (solid wall or partition in front of you) and in many cases, exit rows. If the island and mainland are the same country, you still should check local import regulations to avoid a surprise at the airport. Check in is fairy easy, and most security agencies (TSA in the U.S.) have provisions for clearing animals.

Hi

As stated, never get a second bird for the first one. If YOU truly want a second bird then go for it. But here are some things to consider.


1) IRNs don’t pair bond. They switch mates all the time (I have a large irn flock and can attest to this from personal experience). They can also turn on and kill a “mate” that they have had for years just because they are sick of them and having to share a cage with them, so please always have a second cage so the birds can live apart if they choose, even if they seem like they want to at the moment.

2) plane travel is no big deal as long as you check the regulations ahead of time. My flock of over 30 traveled by plane when we moved from Hawaii to Georgia, and we utilize airplanes all the time to get birds to and from their new owners.


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Hello people, thank you for your time and advices!

Seems like flying on a plane with my IRN shouldn't be such a problem - amazing how you flew from Hawaii to Georgia with yours, SilverSage! Our journey will be much shorter, maximum 3 hours. Any tips how I can still reduce the bird's anxiety while travelling?

Also, your answers soothed me quite a bit. It definitely doesn't seem like I will look for a second bird now. Alby is really territorial (you can't put your hand into his cage when he's around, he will attack anything near to his food box) so I could imagine that he would see another bird as a rival, and not as a comrade.

I'll just jump in and agree, actually STRONGLY AGREE, with what everyone else has already told you about 'bringing home a "friend" for your first bird, and that it's a horrible idea, though it's a common thought and totally well-meant. Birds/Parrots are not at all like other animals in the way they form bonds with other birds, they are more like people in that they may love each other, tolerate each other, hate each other, or hate each other with violence. And it is never "selfish" to keep a parrot as an only-bird as long as it has a "flock" and at least one 'friend": YOU! That's what they're thinking, that you and the others in the house are their flock and their friends/family, and as long as you provide them with enough interaction and attention every day then that's all they need. If YOU want to add other parrots to your flock as more companions/family members for YOU, then that's awesome as long as you can provide them with equal love, time, and attention as you give to your current IRN, and as long as you are totally prepared to have to keep them totally separate and give them separate and equal out-of-cage-time each day by themselves if they happen to be aggressive with each other and have to be separate at all times.

Just to make a point, I currently have a Senegal, a Quaker, a Green Cheek, a Cockatiel, a Ringneck Dove, and 8 English/American Hybrid Budgies...And only the 8 Budgies live together in a walk-in aviary, the rest all have their own cages and stands all over the house, none of them really get along well except for my Green Cheek and my Quaker, and then my Cockatiel and my Dove (they're weirdos, don't ask, I think they're currently trying to make "Cockoves", uhg..)...So my time is ALL split up between them except during mealtimes when they manage to be nice to one another. As long as they are all on top of their own, individual cages and/or T-stands then they're fine and they leave each other alone for the most part, but it can be trying at time. And I certainly would never even think about buying any one of them a "friend" because the odds are quite against them even liking each other well enough to be out with me at the same time...So they're MY kids and they are siblings, but they are siblings that can easily hurt each other, especially with a Senegal who has a beak that is larger than the other 3 parrot's beaks combined...

And as SilverSage mentioned (I had read this before but SilverSage is the expert on IRN's here, so now I know it's true), IRN's do not "Pair-Bond" as most other parrot species do, so that really throws a huge wrench into the works...As long as you're giving him/her enough of your time, attention, love, and affection then that's all he/she needs...Well, that and a large assortment of different types of toys inside of his/her cage at all times, like one for chewing (wooden), one for shredding (paper/cardboard/chinese finger-trap material toys), one for beaking/banging around, one that makes noise, etc. This will ensure he/she always has something to occupy them when you're not at home and while they are inside of their cages...

In addition to making sure that your IRN has a large assortment of different types of toys inside of his/her cage, the other thing that is great to provide them with are "Active-Foraging" toys and activities...These can keep them occupied for hours and hours because they actually give them a "job" to do, which is extremely important because of their intelligence and to keep busy. In the wild parrots spend 8-10 hours a day, every day flying miles and miles and foraging for their food for just that day. In captivity they have a bowl of nutrient-dense food 3 steps away from them at all times, so most captive/pet parrots lose that component of their daily activity completely...So hiding treats and even their regular food (pellets and/or seed-mix) inside of containers, boxes filled with crumpled-up newspaper, stuffed inbetween the diffrerent pages of an old phonebook (works great), etc. will keep them busy and working at a job for hours. They actually make and sell a lot of different types of foraging toys for parrots that are meant to put treats/food inside and they have to work at them to get the food out...And I always like to take a thick, paperback book and put a metal skewer through it, and hang it from their cage-bars...They will spend hours and hours shredding the pages. I've actually put a new paperback book in my Senegal's cage first thing in the morning before work, and when I come home at around 1 for lunch he's still working on it and won't hardly even look-up at me when I walk in the door because he's busy, and then when I come home from work that same evening he's still working on the thing!!! That's probably the best hand-made toy/activity/parrot-job I've ever come-up with, they all love them and get excited as soon as they see me walk through the front door with a bag of new books, lol...I buy those really thick, cheap paperback romance-novels you can buy at the grocery store or at Walmart, they also sell them at the DollarTree for $1 each! They're really thick, strongly bound so they have to work at them, and even though I would normally NEVER destroy a book purposely, I could care less about destroying those, lol...I bought a bunch of metal skewers at Petco, they sell them in the bird toy section and they're meant to put pieces of fruits/veggies on them and then hang in their cages (they come with some wooden veggies for them to chew on between the real veggis and fruit, I just take them off and then string them together on a separate chain and hang them as another totally separate chew toy for them in their cages, and then put the metal skewer through the books)...