Should I add an English Budgie?

I have Ollie my wonderful, brilliant, perfect love of my life Sun Conure but even after a year of having Ollie I find myself longing for a second bird. I am not really looking to get a bird bigger than Ollie or that will take as much time and attention as he does (if possible) because I want to spend lots of time with Ollie because I love him so much! I do have room in my heart and home for a second smaller bird. I would be able to spend a fair amount of time training the little guy and playing with him it they choose to want to be with me. I would happily accept the challenge of teaching the little one to step up and possibly talk. My questions are these: Has anyone ever had a conure or species of the like and then gotten a 2nd smaller bird and had their 1st bird totally change personalities on them? I would hate this to happen because Ollie is so wonderful and quiet even (not that being quiet is that important) and I would hate for the new little fellow to ruin Ollies life. Do you think Ollie might enjoy being a flock leader? Has that been your experience when getting a 2nd bird in a previously 1 bird home? Also, if Ollie is strongly bonded to me (he's 1 1/2) is it likely he'll ditch me for the new budgie as his mate? That would also be pretty sad. I want a second bird but these are the things holding me back. Please any help would be appreciated.

I too would love a second bird but sadly I don't think you can ever know for sure how they will act. It would be so cute if Timneh had a budgie or parrotlet buddy. Can't wait to see if you give it a go. I held a conure a while ago cause he was so cute. didn't realize how small the little fellow was.

Hi!

One can never be sure of how a larger bird will react to a smaller bird companion or vice versa - I would LOVE a green cheek conure, but I am always wary of how he/she might interact with my show (English) budgies. Budgies tend to be quite feisty, and this aspect of their personality might provoke a larger bird to attack them in defence when they spend time out of the cage together. While I love them dearly, budgies are known to be quite nasty sometimes - I've had a couple budgies in my VERY large aviary fight viciously, and I imagine a conure could do serious harm to a budgie if provoked due to being larger with a very sharp beak. Of course, there are many cases of people keeping budgies and conures together with no problems at all, and I'm sure there are plenty people here on Parrot Forums who can testify to that! It is just something to keep in mind when choosing a companion bird.

When I introduced my cockatiel Berry I was so worried of how they might react - luckily, she is such a mellow bird and is very relaxed around the budgies, even when they start pulling her wings or tail to annoy her! I cage them separately though, so they only get to be around each other during the day when I can supervise. Cockatiels have much smaller beaks than conures though, so in that sense they are more similar to budgies, despite being quite a bit larger.

In terms of bonding,in my own experience, it entirely depends on how strong the bond is between you and your bird that determines whether they will connect with a second bird more than you. It also helps if the second bird is as tame and as willing to interact with you - for instance, my two indoor show budgies live together and are bonded very strongly to one another AND bonded to me.

So I guess it is always a risky decision to make, as it is not only the personality of your current bird (who may interact differently with you than with other birds) but also the personality of the new bird, which you can't really determine before you bring him/her into your bird family. I think it may be useful to do some research on the most compatible birds to keep with sun conures, in terms of both size difference and personality.

I hope this helps in some way, and good luck - I hope you can bring more birds into your life, as having more than one is very rewarding!

I'd be more concerned for the budgies safety... I'm not saying it won't work, you could probably type that into youtube and see some best buddies 4 ever vids with a budgie and sun conure, but ...well I guess it all has to do with how much time you have to make sure the acclimate with no incidents.

I have the time! Hmmmm. All good points guys.

I've taken in to consideration a budgie might be a little small and delicate for Ollie considering he went head to head with a small dog once and came out the winner. No dogs or birds were hurt...just embarrassed. My husband and I are now leaning towards a green cheek...I kind of want a cockatiel but my my husband isn't convinced. We're also considering not getting another bird because Ollie is a precious treasure whom I love more than life itself and the last thing I want to do is make his life worse! Uggggggg. What to do!?

Cockatiels tend to be quite gentle and mellow (especially females) and often will adapt well to being introduced to a different species (and will at the very least tolerate another bird). My 'tiel is chill with my budgies, but isn't really best friends with them - and that's okay, because there is no aggression or bossiness from either side (despite my female budgie being SO feisty haha). However, conures tend to have quite big (and loud) personalities, and although they are approximately similar in size to cockatiels, they may be a bit bossy from my research. They also do still have larger beaks than 'tiels, which is also important to keep in mind.

Introducing a second conure like a green cheek would be much easier, simply because they are also conures, despite being a different breed. Green cheeks are as social (just not as loud) as sun conures, and quite easily get along with them from my knowledge and what I have seen - however, since I don't have personal experience owning conures, I can only speak from watching friends with their conures or my own personal research (I have considered getting a green cheek myself in the past), so I think others will have better advice about having green cheeks and sun conures together!

Hope this helps.

I have a budgie, cockatiel, and green cheek, and I got them in that order. Of all three, the green cheek is most aggressive. He doesn't actually fight with the other birds, but he often chases them off their perches and cages in order to get their food. Since my birds are flighted, they can easily get away from him, so fighting is not much of a risk. My budgie is the friendliest toward the other birds, but they always ignore her or chase her away. I think she wants a friend, and I've been considering getting another budgie for a long time. I have never owned a sun conure, but I'd assume they're similar to green cheeks. I don't think a budgie would actually provoke your sun conure, but a green cheek might. My cockatiel just kind of ignores the other birds, and flies away if Kermit, my green cheek, gets near him.