The conure and the cockatiel

[Justpuppy]

Hello! When I adopted my nanday Yago two years ago they said he liked other birds and he had played with cockatiels before. So we tried to introduce him to our four cockatiels. He almost hit it off with one but the others were afraid of him. We didn't even try to introduce him to Holly, our special needs bird. Then today I was sitting with her on the floor, Yago was locked up, as we were cleaning. He chirped, and Holly chirped back, then she walked off my hand and walked all the way over to his cage, on the other end of the room. I held her up and she seemed interested. I'm hesitant to let them meet outside the cage as I'm afraid Yago will see her as competition and hurt or even kill her, but I think it would do Yago good to have a bird friend. How should they get to know each other safely?

 

[everdusk]

Hi there! I actually have gone through the process of introducing my "special needs" (missing a few toes and has trouble with mobitility/breathing) cockatiel Pip to Prim (my Conure).

It's kind of a long story but originally Pip was with my two other cockatiels and the other male became extremely territorial and physically attacked Pip. Pip all ready has a hard time getting a round and is very timid so it was a big scare for us. I separated him to a smaller cage but he hated being a lone. I kept his cage near to Prim's for a couple weeks, allowed monitored visits outside of the cage, and then short monitored visits in Prim's cage that I slowly extended until I was certain it was safe. Well for me it worked out beautifully because Prim takes very good care of Pip (all though I think she gets a little too hyper for him now and then). She clears his scarred nostrils and grooms him, she also likes to snuggle up with him which is adorable. Most of the day they just ignore each other but they are much happier than when alone.

So to summarize, it can work! But you have to go through a long period of trial and error to see if the birds are compatible. Conures have much larger/stronger beaks and are known to be very playful/rough house so you need to see how they will behave together.

I hope it works out! Good luck!

 

[Bradari]

DONT KNOW IF IT COUNTS CAUSE MINE ARE STILL YOUNG BUT my 8 week old yellow sided green cheek conure and 12 week cockatiel are stuck to each other like glue. do everything together. dunno how i will seperate them when i get my sun conure.

 

[Justpuppy]

I'll give it a shot. Shes physically healthy, I think, its just shes a bit... odd? I mean she refuses to grow a tail and clings to the front of her cage.

 

[MonicaMc]

My first cockatiel, Casey, and my first conure (special needs, RIP, Noel) actually got along. It was against my wishes as I knew that Noel could seriously hurt Casey, but Casey had other ideas! Noel did live with a cockatiel prior to getting him (and prior to the tiel being given away) but I don't know if they really were buddies or not. At first, Noel wanted nothing to do with Casey, but Casey was nuts over Noel!

Over time, and watching their behavior, Casey finally wormed her way next to Noel! She would preen Noel, and if Noel was eating food from his foot, Casey would nibble from it... and occasionally they would snuggle together at night. Noel never really returned the affections, but it was easy to tell that Noel enjoyed Casey's company! And if Casey *really* wanted scritches, all she had to do was go visit a human!

Generally speaking, I don't recommend mixing different species together of different sizes because of the potential problems that can occur (usually injury to the smaller/more introverted species), but there are exceptions!