Need help on giving a home to a pineapple-cheeked conure..

[Faxolotl]

Hi, I'm new here. I have had a bird for a month now (I'm a first time bird owner), he is a dusky conure named Loki and he is doing amazingly! He has been with other conures his whole life (rescue from Irma hurricane in Florida, used to be with a breeder) but I was wondering if he would adjust to a pineapple-cheeked conure? Since they are smaller than him I am afraid he would have dominance issues and hurt the bird. He used to live in a tank with a green cheek, sun conure, red sun conure and an electus if this helps at all. He is 6 months old currently, and the pineapple will be 5 months old when we get him in the summer. If you have any experience with dusky conures or conures related to him that are housed with smaller conures, please tell me!

 

[Jen5200]

Welcome! I’ll share my experience and I’m sure that others will add theirs. I have Suns and a GCC. My suns are both bigger than my GCC. Baby (sun) and Tango (GCC) do share a cage, but Bindi (sun) is housed separately. I think there’s no guarantees that any two birds will get along, or be able to share a cage, or that they’ll get along forever. Baby and Tango have lived together for years, but I am prepared that if the day ever comes they don’t get along - to provide separate cage spaces for each of them.

If it were me adding another conure, I would provide them individual cages and perhaps try them together later once they are both comfortable. I would watch carefully, and if there’s any signs of aggression I would keep them in separate cages. Being in separate cages doesn’t mean that they aren’t able to keep each other company, and have out of cage time together.

 

[wrench13]

2X the birds= 2X the mess, 2x the cost for food and toys, 2x the vet bills, and only 1/2 the the time you can spend with them. I would wait quite a while until I considered a second parrot. We LOVE Salty but adding a second parrot is not in the cards for us.

 

[LordTriggs]

are you prepared for another bird is the question? Being you have 3 already you know about the extra care and time involved

ask yourself if you are ready for another and make sure you want one

maybe set up looking after them temporarily to see if your current flock accept the newcomer. My mum recently had to let a dog be adopted as it stressed the dogs she already had to the point they started being aggressive. You never know how they'll react

 

[Faxolotl]

I guess I forgot to mention the pineapple is going to my brother. We have an extra cage ready in case they don't get along, and we will have all the needed materials for him. Before I got Loki my dusky, I checked up on him 4 out of 7 days of the week as it is a long term responsibility so I made sure he was the one, I will do the same to the pineapple conure.

I believe some signs of aggression shows the conures plucking feathers, biting at feet, and trying to scare off the other one? I am aware of the workload, and am quite used to the mess. Loki is shy to other birds, so we will have to see how the pineapple reacts first.