Introducing new parrot?

We've decided that we like having our macaw so much that we want to add another parrot to our family. #1 so Rio will have a feathered friend, and #2 because we love birds! I found a goffin cockatoo for a great deal on craigslist. The owner wants $250 for him and his cage! :11: He's 9 years old, and does chew at his feathers a little but does NOT pluck them. His name is Peanut, and he's used to being around other birds. Apparently he's a great bird, never bit hard enough to draw blood, but can get nippy with strangers (which we can work with). The reason for re-homing is lack of time due to other birds.

My question is, how have your experiences been with introducing a bird of a different species? I'd really like Rio to have a pal and be able to communicate in HIS language with another member of the family. Do your birds of different species get along? DO they seem to communicate, or no because they're not both macaws? Thanks!

You need to keep them separate to begin with and take her to the vet making sure she's got a clean bill of health and wait at least 30 days before introducing them together. There is no guarantee they will like each other and you must be real careful about placing two big birds together cause Rio can easily hurt the Goffin! Our LSC too Dixie love to be around little birds and the ekkies until JoJo got jealous of her and pecked at her, so they don't get to play together anymore. I don't trust my macaw with any of the birds cause he's tried to attack them numerous times so that's a no. Java is not trustworthy with other birds as well. Malachai is a Lory so he don't play well with others. It can be done but need to be real careful! For me, it don't matter if they don't like each other, it don't bother me any cause they come out individually with us anyways.

I'm kinda in the same boat as you skylavaulter. I already have a U2, 4yrs. now, and just brought home, today, a goffins. It's been sort of tricky keeping Amigo at a distance when he KNOWS there is someone new in the house. They happen to be the same species, but are grossing each other out, none the less.

I guess we're luckier than most. We had zero problems bringing Chewbaca onboard. Both have always been uncaged, so free to interact without our interference, but under a watchful eye as needed. They preen each other and sleep together in the same open cage we cover. She squawks when my wife takes him downstairs while fixing breakfast for them. My breakfast is their leftovers....

Mikey- we will definitely be taking the goffin (Peanut) in for a check up if we decide to get him, and keep their cages in different rooms for a quarantine period. How should we introduce them? In a neutral area like the living room with both birds out, or should we bring Rio down to check out the new addition while Peanut is in the cage? Since Rio's cage is so big, it takes up the only corner of our bedroom not occupied by furniture. It's be impossible to place both bird cages in our room, or I'd start off that way. I definitely don't want to risk any bird getting hurt, but I'm stumped on how to introduce them.

And if they get along initially and things seem to go well, could I leave them both out on the java tree, or the aviary outside together without supervision? I'm wondering if we'd be better off holding out for another macaw...at least they'd be the same size and perhaps mesh well more easily?

PortaPerch- too cute!!!!

hi PortaPerch, I've never tried to introduce birds. Did you just put them in the same room and hope for the best? When the time comes, for Amigo and Sassy to integrate, I'm scared that one might get hurt if things don't go well, I think I would be tempted to put a leash on one or the other.

I was thinking the same thing Mare. We have a harness and lead for Rio that could come in handy.

Hi Skylavaulter , Good to hear from you again !
My advice is to go slow with the introductions. Especially since Peanut is basically a peanut next to Rio and can get hurt and worse very quickly.
Please , please use separate cages and always supervise them when our together .
Never let Peanut get ontop of Rio's cage or even near it if he is inside .
Rio can get possessive like most birds are of their homes and grab Peanut before he even knows what happened , and this can get ugly .
Listen to the previous posters , especially MikeyTN who has experience with the larger and smaller parrots.
Good luck and please post pictures of Peanut or whoever you choose to adopt

skylavaulter said:

Mikey- we will definitely be taking the goffin (Peanut) in for a check up if we decide to get him, and keep their cages in different rooms for a quarantine period. How should we introduce them? In a neutral area like the living room with both birds out, or should we bring Rio down to check out the new addition while Peanut is in the cage? Since Rio's cage is so big, it takes up the only corner of our bedroom not occupied by furniture. It's be impossible to place both bird cages in our room, or I'd start off that way. I definitely don't want to risk any bird getting hurt, but I'm stumped on how to introduce them.

And if they get along initially and things seem to go well, could I leave them both out on the java tree, or the aviary outside together without supervision? I'm wondering if we'd be better off holding out for another macaw...at least they'd be the same size and perhaps mesh well more easily?

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Bringing them into a neutral area is the way to go!!! That way no one takes possessions of anything. It won't matter the cage won't fit together in the same room, two play stand works wonderful too. Or if you only have one, hold the new bird on your hand and let them observe each other. They either like each other or they don't. They can also learn to tolerate each other where they don't mind the other one's presence or they can get jealous of you touching the other bird and go full on attack. That's why you don't leave them unsupervised. It really all depends on the birds themselves. Since you do have the aviary outside, is it big enough for them to fly around? The Goffin can fly off easily if he doesn't want to be bothered by the Macaw. But I still would have a watchful eye on them both. Don't settle for another macaw just because you want them to play together. You might regret that during hormone time.....

I would not advise you to put these birds together, The Goffin puts out a lot of dust and is very harmful to Macaws and at times can be fatal. Please be careful. Thanks Joe

At first, I would keep them in separate rooms until I know the goffin doesn't have any health problems. After that, I would keep them in separate cages but close enough that they can see each other but not be able to touch. When I notice that they are okay with being near each other, I'd take one out and leave the other in the cage. I'd do this for maybe a week or two, alternating between birds. When you notice that they are okay with maybe being on top of each others cages or communicating, try taking them out together. Make sure they have their own space though! Give them the choice of being close or being far apart. They might not get along but you can probably have them BOTH out if there is enough space and they set their boundaries. I hope this helped.

I'm probably going to be a one bird guy. I read that bringing a second bird into a family can adversely affect the first bird. I wouldn't want to risk hurting my relationship with Mardy and I certainly wouldn't want to cause a personality change in Mardy.

We have two other birds in the family (my daughter's birds), but never let the birds interact. They're all kept in separate rooms and other than calling out to each other, the birds never interact.

JJones1719 said:

I would not advise you to put these birds together, The Goffin puts out a lot of dust and is very harmful to Macaws and at times can be fatal. Please be careful. Thanks Joe

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Although this is very true, playing together in a neutral spot is fine. Cause they're not there constantly. The smaller toos aren't as bad as the big toos, my god does Java puts off A LOT of dust, I can wipe the cages down one day and it's covered the next. I've been giving him spray baths and it's helping, can't take him to the tub as he absolutely despise the shower....He loves being sprayed for some reason....