When to consider another bird?

[echoskybound]

I'm not considering a second bird in the very near future, but I'd like to plan roughly when would be the right time. I'm mostly concerned about how it will impact my GCC, Wheatley, because I'm hoping that the next bird will be a mature rescue, and I don't know how he will react to another bird being brought home. I've heard that a younger bird (before sexual maturity) is more accepting of new flock members. Is this true?

To those with multiple birds: Did age matter when you introduced new flock members? If so, what age did you introduce the new birds?

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, I've done it 3 times now. The first time, my Nanday was still young (1.5 years old). That's when I brought home my baby Blue Crown conure. She was not happy and jealous as heck. I couldn't trust her not to hurt the other bird for a couple of years really. But, by then they were friends.

Then my BCC passed away unexpectedly and that same Nanday became depressed. By the time we got to 3 weeks without the BCC, I knew we needed another bird soon as Rowdy got more depressed each day. And I brought home Pete the amazon. He is 28 years old and Rowdy is almost 12. She was thrilled the moment I walked through the door with him. They are at about the same point through their lifepans though, so both are middle aged.

Then we added the Grey almost 3 weeks ago and they were both happy to accept her, and she is happy to be here. She is also about halfway through her lifespan.

So does it help if they are close in age when they come to live together? I don't actually know, but I suspect maybe it does.

 

[Anna]

I reckon so long as you keep Wheatley's routine and time out pretty much the same he shouldn't mind. Just make sure you have a room you can keep your new bird in for quarantine. Shrek is my oldest bird currently and he didn't seem to mind when I got the lovie. He was a little more demanding of attention for awhile. He just wanted to be very sure that I knew he was still my most awesome baby. He settled when he knew he was still gonna get his favourite noms and lots of attention.

 

[BillsBirds]

Birds are like children, and react much the same ways. Some accept others easily, some never do. There is no way to know when to bring another into the flock. Just remember to let the original one know it is still loved as much as always. Doing rescue & re-homing, many birds have passed through my home. And many live here forever. Eventually they all get to know each other, and accept each other. Though I have had a few that were rather unsociable or jealous. As flock leader, it is your job to monitor the situation. They have their own personalities, and you cannot know in advance how each will act with another.

 

[KBEquine]

My parakeets never mind when another bird arrives, but the larger birds often have an opinion.

My 1st big bird is my Pionus, and I tried to prepare him for the arrival of my husband's amazon, always handling the Pionus first & generally reminding him that he was my first bird.

He could have cared less & the amazon was happy to see another bird, too.

When I was going to add a Grey, I did the same routine. The amazon could have cared less; the Pionus tried to bully the Grey. I was surprised the Pionus reacted to the Grey, but not the amazon.

So when we added the macaw and 2nd amazon earlier this month, I didn't know WHAT to expect.

The Pionus could care less. The Grey is worried he won't get enough attention. The 1st amazon seems excited to see a 2nd amazon, so I need to keep an eye on the two when they are in the same room, until I know if excited is going to cause issues. And the new amazon & macaw are a bit confused to have left the house where they lived for 20 years & to have landed here.

[And the parakeets STILL don't care!]

You just never know, so you have to control the situation & hope for the best. I don't see age having anything to do with it, however.

 

[roxynoodle]

I do always feed Rowdy first, take her out of her cage first, cover her first at night, etc. Your first bird does seem to want to know it's still your first bird.

 

[echoskybound]

Thanks for all the great advice! It sounds totally unpredictable, but it also sounds like there doesn't need to be any rush on my part to consider the next bird.

Have you guys noticed if your birds responded differently to introducing birds who were bigger/smaller than them? I'm hoping the next bird will be either an Amazon or Caique, and both would be bigger than a little green cheek conure. I wonder if he would be more intimidated by a bigger bird than if it were smaller or equally sized.

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, my Nanday is pretty much convinced she's huge so no, she wasn't intimidated. I did, however, think she would intimidate a bird who was smaller than her. A lot of people said, oh just go get a budgie to keep her company. I was pretty sure the budgie would be scared to death of her.