Living with two parrots who HATE each other?

[Dancake]

So, I recently adopted a new sun conure into my life. The only big issue that's happened is that I can't have my amazon parrot and her out at the same time. I feel bad because Sahara (my sun conure) needs constant attention or else she starts plucking. While Titan (my amazon) actually is fairly content with being in his cage as long as I'm in eyesight. His cage is *very* large, I should add. But I still feel awful keeping him cooped up in his cage most of the day. I don't want them to fight and get Sahara hurt, but I really want to give them both the attention they need and deserve.

I see people on here with a pretty large flock, who must have some birds that just don't get along, right? So, TLDR; How do I give the proper amount of love and attention to two birds that hate and are aggressive towards each other? I really really don't want to have to rehome because I am already very attached to Sahara, and I obviously can't rehome my beloved boy who I've had for years now.

 

[wrench13]

No advice, but man I'd like to link this thread, to show folks how the crap shoot of adding a new parrot can go. It not the only outcome, of course, but certainly one of them.

 

[ravvlet]

You’ve only had the sun for a day or so right?

It’s normal for your resident bird to take umbrage with the new bird, and vice versa. They may settle down with time, but you’re correct in keeping them separate during out time - an Amazon can do serious damage to a bird who is that much smaller.

We are bringing home a conure soon also and have an Amazon at home. Fortunately we’ve had them meet each other several times before, and he’s met and been ok with other conures as well. We also have had her cage set up for over a month so that he has time to get used to it being in the room.

I would give them time and try letting them see each other in a neutral room, while they are kept separate in carriers or similar.

 

[saxguy64]

Yup, I live in that world. My case isn't all out aggressive, it's just my ekkie boy is super pushy about trying to be friends with my YNA and my grey. He annoys them by landing on their cages, so they get defensive and chase him off. He's gotten his feet bitten hard a couple times, so now it's a game to him and he flies off as soon as they're close enough to bite the toes. The other part of the mix is that Tucker (the ekkie) is very well flighted, and the other two really have no interest in flying, even with lots of opportunity/encouragement to do so. Flap flap practice on my arm for some exercise is as good as it gets. 🙄

Soooo, I take tums. Tucker has his time out, and Baxter and Avery have theirs. I would love to be able to have them all out at the same time, but it's just not safe.

Also, I have a very energetic young dalmatian girl who could snatch a flying bird out of the air, and would, given the chance. She goes to a different room, outside, or in her crate when the birds are out. My other two dogs have zero interest in the birds, but I still watch closely.

Is it ideal, no, but it works for us, and I do my best to be fair with the amount of time out and individual attention they get.

 

[onamom]

I’m sorry you have found yourself in this situation 😞 Looks like some good advice above and I would agree to give it more time. You never know - they might grow a little more accustomed to one another once they settle down. In the meantime try to manage the balancing act as best you can and remember to give yourself a break too.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I hope they don't hate each other forever! Some of my birds aren't keen on each other and I make sure that when they're out, they have space to get away from each other. I also tell them off if they're behaving aggressively to each other. They can tell you're not happy by the tone of your voice and it seems to work for mine. Occasionally I've had to separate the aggressive bird for around ten minutes, by putting them back in their cage and then leaving them for a few minutes. This seems to work well and I don't have to use it often.

Do they start fighting when they're out together? My conure can get a bit territorial with new birds but she doesn't attack them. She flies over to them and fluffs up and does the conure walk, scraping her beak and making all sorts of noises I think to let the new bird know she's the boss. But she doesn't attack them. Unless she starts attacking (which she's never done to a new bird, but I won't leave them unsupervised anyway) I let them work each other out, provided they can fly away if they're unhappy.

 

[Dancake]

I hope they don't hate each other forever! Some of my birds aren't keen on each other and I make sure that when they're out, they have space to get away from each other. I also tell them off if they're behaving aggressively to each other. They can tell you're not happy by the tone of your voice and it seems to work for mine. Occasionally I've had to separate the aggressive bird for around ten minutes, by putting them back in their cage and then leaving them for a few minutes. This seems to work well and I don't have to use it often.

Do they start fighting when they're out together? My conure can get a bit territorial with new birds but she doesn't attack them. She flies over to them and fluffs up and does the conure walk, scraping her beak and making all sorts of noises I think to let the new bird know she's the boss. But she doesn't attack them. Unless she starts attacking (which she's never done to a new bird, but I won't leave them unsupervised anyway) I let them work each other out, provided they can fly away if they're unhappy.

They do start lunging at each other if they're out together, but only if they get kind of close to each other, but that happens a lot since they're both "velcro" birds who won't stay off of me for long. Sahara also likes to land on Titans cage and has almost got her feet nipped multiple times because of it. Thank god she has fast reflexes! Since Sahara is so much smaller than Titan I've just been keeping them out separately for the time being so she doesn't get hurt- or worse. They always have space to get away from each other but they always want to crowd around me, which is causing most of the problem. I also think Titan is territorial over me! I am the only person he even likes after all.

 

[budgie choir]

So, I recently adopted a new sun conure into my life. The only big issue that's happened is that I can't have my amazon parrot and her out at the same time. I feel bad because Sahara (my sun conure) needs constant attention or else she starts plucking. While Titan (my amazon) actually is fairly content with being in his cage as long as I'm in eyesight. His cage is *very* large, I should add. But I still feel awful keeping him cooped up in his cage most of the day. I don't want them to fight and get Sahara hurt, but I really want to give them both the attention they need and deserve.

I see people on here with a pretty large flock, who must have some birds that just don't get along, right? So, TLDR; How do I give the proper amount of love and attention to two birds that hate and are aggressive towards each other? I really really don't want to have to rehome because I am already very attached to Sahara, and I obviously can't rehome my beloved boy who I've had for years now.

Hello Matey,

So I have Parakeets ok so what do i know...lol this is what I would do......

i would rearrange my house so that they can live in separate rooms. Birds in the wild dont first see each other they hear each other.....they need to talk some shit through the walls, and develop their own flirtation and be confident in their own spaces and territory in order for this to work. once they hear each other and develop some report then one day when you let them out to play they will fly to each other on their own.....

i know this will happen for sure because they want to know each other they are bored with humans but they need to do it on their own terms....first calling out to see if there is another bird....oh wait there is,
what are they saying? is it my mate? one of the things birds stress about is finding a mate...they like to hunt for food and for each other...

my guess is:
you will either re-home or rearrange your life to make it work....cuz the birds need to be allowed to have bird behavior to attract the bird ....or they will fight for space especially if they already feel crowed in your home. they love to do the mating dance ...the ritual...get all puffed out make sounds,, act crazy , so much fun.....they need time and space...


so much bird love~

cricket and the flock

 

[texsize]

I have 2 cases of birds that hate each other.

The simple situation.
Cheeky and Popeye.
Cheeky is the father of Popeye (and Angle and Mango).
They lived in the same cage for 3/4 years and got along ok.
They had occasional arguments over location to perch.

For some unknown reason one day they really started going after each other. I now keep them in separate cages.
Popeye can't fly due to a damaged wing and because of this I can't let him out. He will try to fly and hurt himself. When Cheeky is out of cage he can't climb or land on Popeyes cage or Popeye will go wild trying to bite his feet.

The more complicated case is Bingo and Luna.
This is partly due to several factors.
It's complicated cuz Bingo hates other birds with only one exception, he Likes Merlin Luna's partner.
So it's a bit of a three way affair.
Both Luna and Merlin are the same species and look nearly identical (that's why I call them the Twins).

Bingo let's Merlin climb all over his cage (except when Bingo is in his box, he will defend his box against everyone except me).But if Luna tries to climb across his cage they both try to bite each other.
For the most part Luna gives Bingo a wide berth and stays away from him but I have to stay vigilant when the Twins are out of there cage.

It's been very interesting to watch the difference in body language between Luna and Merlin.
The body language Luna displays is the Amazon Line Of Death.
Wings slightly spread, tail fully faired and eyes down to pinpricks.

Merlin on the other hand.
When on Bingos cage his approach is more cautious. like a person sticking their toe in the water to check the temp.
He sticks his head down from the top of the cage and into Bingo's line of sight. Then he kind of flairs the feathers around his head and pins his eyes while vocalizing to him.
Once Bingo has given Merlin a non verbal ok to proceed he climbs down the side of the cage and watches Bingo closely, like he want's to learn how to be a Yellow Nape Amazon when he grows up,

 

[kme3388]

Hi there, I just added a sun conure to my flock last year at this time. I don’t have experience with amazons.

I can say my 2 conures had a rougher start when I first introduced them. I gave them 2 separate seed bowls (yes, in this circumstance I used seed). I let them out together, and put the 2 seed bowls side by side that way they eat together. I also put the cages side by side. Little by little my sun conure stopped being sassy to my jenday. Now when I have my jenday out, and I’m training with her my sun screams the whole time contact calling for her I’m assuming. They are doing much better than they were.