Age difference for a lory pair

[eman]

Hello,
I want to ask if it?s possible to pair 5months male rainbow lory with 1month female rainbow lory?

 

[Scott]

Welcome aboard, can you define the goal of "pairing" two juvenile birds?

 

[eman]

Welcome aboard, can you define the goal of "pairing" two juvenile birds?

Thank you. Mathew, my parrot who is 5months old, does not like to be alone without me. He doesn’t even eat when I am not around. I put him the food, and leave to work for five hours, and when I come back I check his food, he just eat very little. Also, I am unable to focus on my work since I am always with him.Thus, I thought about getting him a mate so that they spend time together. I tried to find a female who her age is just as his age. But it is not easy. I find either elder parrots (which I think will make it harder for me to train) or (younger parrots, which I think will be easier to train)

 

[Scott]

Thanks for clarifying, I understand your dilemma. One month still rather young to be caged with even slightly older lory. Perhaps housing her separately in adjacent cages until she is fully weaned is best. Only potential issue is combining them once Matthew is about to enter puberty with female present.

 

[LaManuka]

I would have to add a note of caution to Scott's excellent advice above. As he mentioned, at only one month old a female lory is very young to be taken from her parents/breeder, regardless of the circumstances. Rainbow lorikeets have evolved to live in highly socially complex flocks and can be prone to territoriality and aggression, and this can occur in both males and females, all the more so when they reach sexual maturity which will occur around the 18-24 months of age mark. For the safety of your young hen in that case, if you do go ahead with the purchase, I strongly recommend a separate cage for her, both for her safety in the immediate term and into the future. That will also help to reduce the chances of future breeding which is fraught with it's own hazards. Perhaps you could consider a different species altogether, which would at least eliminate the chance of unwanted babies, but not necessarily guarantee that the two would get on. I cannot even trust my tiny purple-crowned lorikeet (think smaller than a budgie!) in the same cage as a much larger cockatiel because she can be SO aggressive that one or both of them could easily injure the other. Separate housing is definitely the way to go to help to assure safety of both your birds.

 

[eman]

Thanks for clarifying, I understand your dilemma. One month still rather young to be caged with even slightly older lory. Perhaps housing her separately in adjacent cages until she is fully weaned is best. Only potential issue is combining them once Matthew is about to enter puberty with female present.

Thank you Scott; your advice made me change my mind, will try to find a female that is at most 2 months younger. I actually got a one month elder lory while wasn't sure if it's a male or a female. I'm waiting for the DNA test result. However, Mathew and the new lory compete over everything including me. They even pull the food from each others' beaks. Yet, they don't like to be separated. Whenever I take one of them out of the cage to spend one-to-one time, they shout loudly. It's hard to take care of both since they need separate attention.

 

[eman]

I would have to add a note of caution to Scott's excellent advice above. As he mentioned, at only one month old a female lory is very young to be taken from her parents/breeder, regardless of the circumstances. Rainbow lorikeets have evolved to live in highly socially complex flocks and can be prone to territoriality and aggression, and this can occur in both males and females, all the more so when they reach sexual maturity which will occur around the 18-24 months of age mark. For the safety of your young hen in that case, if you do go ahead with the purchase, I strongly recommend a separate cage for her, both for her safety in the immediate term and into the future. That will also help to reduce the chances of future breeding which is fraught with it's own hazards. Perhaps you could consider a different species altogether, which would at least eliminate the chance of unwanted babies, but not necessarily guarantee that the two would get on. I cannot even trust my tiny purple-crowned lorikeet (think smaller than a budgie!) in the same cage as a much larger cockatiel because she can be SO aggressive that one or both of them could easily injure the other. Separate housing is definitely the way to go to help to assure safety of both your birds.

Thank You LaManuka for the great advice. Really it's a very useful one.

 

[eman]

Thank you Scott; your advice made me change my mind, will try to find a female that is at most 2 months younger. I actually got a one month elder lory while wasn't sure if it's a male or a female. I'm waiting for the DNA test result. However, Mathew and the new lory compete over everything including me. They even pull the food from each others' beaks. Yet, they don't like to be separated. Whenever I take one of them out of the cage to spend one-to-one time, they shout loudly. It's hard to take care of both since they need separate attention.

Just got the DNA test result. The new lory is a female. I don't understand the reason for their continues competing over everything. Mathew has a long tail with rounded ends, but the new one has a short tail with sharp ends. Can this be a reason, that they're from two different species?