Cagemates

[hiriki]

Hey all. I know that different parrot owners have different philosophies regarding cages and caging birds together, from "I never cage birds together" to "birds of the same species only" to "eh, any birds that get along." I am willing to hear input from anyone, although for context, I have kept my bird, Birdie, with cockatiels since very early on, so make of that what you will regarding my own philosophy lol.

I have an adult jenday (at least 10ish yrs old, she's a rescue so I don't know her actual age but she's solidly adult) and a juvenile GCC (less than a year). They get along well, although Kiwi has a perpetual desire for cuddles whereas Birdie has an appreciation for cuddles sometimes and this difference of opinion has caused minor squabbles (lol). I have a feeling this insatiable desire for cuddles is an age thing.

Anyway, I don't plan to put them together right now because of this boundary issue. I don't anticipate any dangerous fights but I also don't want Birdie to feel like she has to run away from a cuddle monster in her own home. But, I am curious what people think specifically about puberty? My instinct is that Kiwi should be housed alone during puberty but I've never had a pubescent bird before, Kiwi is my first breeder bird and the rest have been adult rescues. Are birds just as aggressive with other birds during puberty as they are with their people?

 

[Jexnell]

My Sun Conure Phoenix lived with two parakeets, I had no issues

Phoenix was a baby when introduced to the parakeets, so maybe that helped.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I had my crimson bellied conure and cockatiel together for about two and a half years without any problems. The conure was 4 and the tiel was three months old when I got them and they bonded almost instantly. I rescued a second cockatiel and for around 6 months the three of them shared a cage without any issues.
Then I got a green cheek conure and I separated them so the conures share and the cockatiels share and that's been a year and a half without issues.
If I didn't rescue the second cockatiel I would have probably kept the conure and cockatiel together. Even with the second tiel they all got along but I didn't think it would work long term as the conure and one of the tiels were male and though they got on, I didn't want to risk anything happening.

 

[hiriki]

Thanks to both of you!

So you never experienced the younger bird becoming aggressive and lashing out in the cage during puberty? That's interesting--I still feel like I might wait, just out of an abundance of caution, but my cage is a flight cage with a divider so maybe I'll take the divider out for short periods every once in a while so they can visit each other.

 

[Jexnell]

My birds were out all day, as soon as I woke up I would open the door. Rarely did they ever have to be locked up all day, maybe this helped.
I had two cages and they put themselves to bed at night I just shut the doors. Sometimes all in one cage, sometimes split up how ever they wanted.