Q's about a possiblly bonded pair.

[Xnevid]

I recently added a new green cheek to our little "flock" in hopes to keep my current GC company when I resume work. They are in a large cage together.

One is female and the newly acquired one is male. It was pretty much love at first sight! (They met several times before I brought him home) They mimic one another, preen each other, kiss, and are side by side frequently. Both are over 2 years so sexually mature. The male has attempted to mate with no success as far as I've seen.

Since this naughty behavior is beginning I was thinking about placing him in a separate cage. However I am worried he may be too "bonded" to her now since he's been here several weeks already. Also, I will have to move both cages to the downstairs living room where there is less traffic. My parents don't interact with the birds directly anyway, but most activity is upstairs so I worry they might be lonely down there as it is only occupied by myself.

Ahh any suggestions or comments welcome. Please help me sort this out. :>

 

[lene1949]

I take it you don't want to breed...?? Then you'll probably have to separate them, but if they're somewhat bonded place the cages close together... They might be noisy for a while...

Keeping them downstairs is fine, as long as you're there with them, and not spending all your time upstairs...

 

[chelseareeves]

Its always hard to get a bonded pair to seperate. keep them in cages right next to each other they may yell but its for the better. sometimes when birds become bonded with one another its hard to get them to be the "same bird" again because of how inlove with the other bird they are.

 

[Pedro]

To be honest i don't see why they can't be in the same cage together. I stop my Green Cheeks from breeding by taking the nest box away. Just don't offer them any little cubby holes they can turn into a nest. In any case even if they are in separate cages it's probably not going to stop the hen from laying it depends how desperate she is to breed. Also it's not unheard of a hen being fertilized by a male is the next cage.

If your not wanting to breed them & find down the track they have laid, just get each egg as it's laid & boil it, replace it in the nest, let the hen sit on the eggs for approx 3 weeks & them throw out the eggs. You may have to do that each breeding season.

Is there any reason why they have to be moved away from the main traffic area. But if that is how it has to be i wouldn't think they would get lonely since they would keep each other company.

 

[Xnevid]

Thanks for the comments!

They would be next to each other in separate cages, so I hope the transition won't be too hard on either one. They've only known each other for about 3 weeks now so I guess we'll see.

Pedro- The biggest reason of having to move them downstairs would just be the increasing limited amount of space upstairs. We're already stretched thin; at home we are getting ready to help babysit my brothers three kiddo's 4-5 days a week (twin 3 month olds and a 2 1/2 year old) so the play area, toys, and cribs are already taking up the limited amount of space we have left.

I do have a portable play top area I could keep upstairs so it's not like they would never be upstairs again.. ahh