Do those who have multiple birds have boundary issues?

[Mimsy01]

Foofanny and Zekie keep going into each others cages. I was under the (mis)impression that they would have respect enough not to do that. Both are territorial of their cages, however they seem mostly ok with another bird coming in. Both will let me clean their cages and don't give me grief, Zekie only gets upset if I touch his favorite toys. Foo doesn't like the millet holder messed with. Foo also doesn't let my husband near her cage.

Does this happen in your household? Do you allow it or do you discourage it in some way?

Concerns I have:
Their diets are very different and Zekie is stealing Foo's pellets and eating them.

They will get resentful of the other because of the invasion of space. I might be over worrying or not?

Should I just let them be and watch for signs of anger? Should i try and put a stop to it?

 

[Taw5106]

I discourage it. I have a female ekkie and a male GCA. THE ekkie, Venus, would go into Buddy's cage, attack/boss him and run him out of his cage. Once that started, I don't allow Venus in his cage. Well she learned how to open his cage door and his food doors, so I had to lock those too. Buddy doesn't roam like Venus but she gets feisty, mean and demanding so she is not allowed in his cage. It's locked when she's out lol.

 

[OOwl]

Yeah, I do, and, unfortunately, it's between a very large Congo Grey and a PF Lovebird, both males. They HATE each other, and I mean they really, really do. For obvious reasons, I cannot let them interact even with supervision. They are just too devoted to doing harm to one another. My LB will fly all the way to the other side of the room to attempt to pick a fight with my Grey, even when he's caged. (I always cage the Grey when that particular LB is out of his cage.) So, sadly, I've resorted to clipping the LB's wings. I hated to do it, but it's for his own safety. The Grey can and would take off a foot if I wasn't quick enough to grab him off his cage. They are also caged in completely different rooms (they cuss at each other all day anyway). And they never, ever come out at the same time. You have my sympathies for managing that.

 

[RavensGryf]

Well, sometimes it works out fine depending on who the birds are and what the dynamic there is, and what individual tendencies are. Other times, not so much...

Griffin has permanently lost 2 toenails from his unwelcomed trips into Robin's house.
Also, I used to think 'aw how cute' when Raven and Griffin would behave like bff's, but now that they're getting older, their closeness and bond is causing hormonal flare ups in Raven, and some other issues in Griffin I believe. I cannot separate them for the time being unfortunately, and my boys are clipped now but it doesn't stop them when they have to be in the same room.

With your Foofany and Zekie, I'd be especially careful with them being entirely different types of birds. Foo can really injure a softbill too if he wanted. I know Zekie is young, and I think Foo is also? You'll really have to watch around the time hormones start coming up, and might have to take measures to change things then. Zekie must like parrot pellets!

 

[Mimsy01]

Thank you all!

Zekie can't have his wings clipped because he can't climb like a parrot, so that is not an option.

Zekie is a baby still, only a few months old. Foo is fairly young, she is about 4 we think. We got her in 2012 and they didn't know how old she was, but we think she wasn't much older than a year then.

Julie-yes I worry about Foo injuring Zekie if she gets in one of her moods. So far she seems to like his company, but she can be a bit bi-polar so ya know. He out weighs her a bit. Foo is a petite 66 grams and Zekie is 79 and probably still growing a bit. I worry about toes or beaks being bitten off...freaks me out. On Foo's behave, normally if she has a bad mood she nipps first and then lays in. Zekie is way faster than Foo so I hope he will cruise if she gets moody.

They are both out all day and it's an open space of living room/dining room and kitchen, so hard to confine anyone.

 

[Taw5106]

Well, sometimes it works out fine depending on who the birds are and what the dynamic there is, and what individual tendencies are. Other times, not so much...

Griffin has permanently lost 2 toenails from his unwelcomed trips into Robin's house.
Also, I used to think 'aw how cute' when Raven and Griffin would behave like bff's, but now that they're getting older, their closeness and bond is causing hormonal flare ups in Raven, and some other issues in Griffin I believe. I cannot separate them for the time being unfortunately, and my boys are clipped now but it doesn't stop them when they have to be in the same room.

With your Foofany and Zekie, I'd be especially careful with them being entirely different types of birds. Foo can really injure a softbill too if he wanted. I know Zekie is young, and I think Foo is also? You'll really have to watch around the time hormones start coming up, and might have to take measures to change things then. Zekie must like parrot pellets!

What??? Robin has lost TWO TOES now????? I was still on one! Ouch!!! Did he get the message yet?

 

[RavensGryf]

Tracey, it was Griffin who lost the toenails FROM Robin . No, the guy didn't learn but hopefully he has now . It happened in the blink of an eye too. The first one was really bad and needed the E-vet, but the second one somehow cauterized on it's own and skinned over, but no nail grew back. One front left and one back right.

 

[Taw5106]

See I was so befuddled and shocked I said Robin, lol. You may have to rename him to Nubs!

 

[RavensGryf]

See I was so befuddled and shocked I said Robin, lol. You may have to rename him to Nubs!

Haha! Noo not Nubs ! Thank goodness it was right at the end of the toes, not literally nubs! At least he can still grip. That would be terrible if his toes were so short he had trouble gripping! I would feel so bad, he's so young... and they only have 8 to begin with LOL!

 

[veimar]

I'm owned by seven fids, and all of them think that other bird has a better cage and nuch better food and even water. LOL I try to discourage that behavior, but not really successfully. They don't care too much about the "guests", and their food is all the same, so it's not much of an issue. I guess birds like to visit other's cages.

 

[Kiwibird]

My moms amazons have side by side, identical cages physically connected by a big branch across the top they share. They frequently go in each others cages, and always have. They like to eat each others food and take afternoon naps in each others snuggle huts, because you know, OBVIOUSLY it's better over there It never causes any issues, in fact if they'd accept a new cage, they could probably be housed together. However, if they were to go over to the cockatoos cage, toes would be missing The amazons also don't appreciate when the cockatoo comes over to their area. In fact, both Lucy and Alfie are each missing a toenail from venturing onto each others turf. As with everything, it boils down to the individual birds and how they react to each other. Even birds who like another bird in the home can have a serious vendetta against another.

I say, IF there isn't any issues from either side, I wouldn't worry about it. Theres really no reason they can't go into each others space if they don't mind it. Of course, if any aggression or jealousy issues ever crop up, then you'd need to put a stop to it. Until then, why not? How'd you feel if you couldn't have your friends over

 

[riddick07]

I let my female cockatiels, my sun conure, and my two gccs out downstairs (my room) unsupervised. Everyone knows not to go into the gccs cage though occasionally my female tiels will ignore this rule. The gccs don't seem to mind overly much but if they are in a mood they will kick anyone else out. Otherwise they can go in and out of each others cages no problem. No one bothers Folger, my cockatoo, and Folger won't bother anyone else. They can climb all over his cage and he doesn't get territorial. Occasionally he will act like he is about to be eaten but that is about it for him. My amazon on the other hand I take out of his cage and bring upstairs. He hasn't shown a huge amount of aggression towards the little ones but he can get iffy about his cage sometimes with other birds.

One time I let everyone out minus Folger, he stays locked up, and took Kelly upstairs. I usually close his door so I don't have to check for wayward birds in his cage. Well I forget one day and when I went to put Kelly away I gave a quick glance in his cage to check and didn't see anyone. I threw him in and went to lock up everyone else... I was missing cockatiels... They had gotten up high in his cage where I couldn't spot them easily luckily Kelly hadn't gotten around to eating them. I had to grab them bodily to get them out real fast because Kelly wasn't looking overly happy once he spotted them

 

[Birdman666]

They squable from time to time. But the birds themselves are pretty good about setting boundaries.

If one of them has a favorite spot, or his cage, or what have you, and another bird is trying to take it, then you remove the aggressor and reinforce "That's not yours, and you know it."

They'll always attempt to push the boundaries to see what they can get away with. If the boundaries remain intact when they push, they stop pushing them so much.

"Nice try. Didn't work though. That's still not yours."

 

[Kyoto]

Oh man. When I had budgies along with lovebirds and cockatiels, I had one little budgie in particular who was always getting herself into trouble with taking over other cages. I had to stop letting the lovebirds out with the others because she would get her nails but off for invading the lovebirds' homes. Poor Luna just never learned. I was lucky she was so good about being handled, as there were a few times that the corn starch had to be brought out to mend a lost toenail.

This makes me a bit happy to only have one bird to worry about right now :3 but if (well, more like when haha) I eventually do get another im sure it will be fun and games like this again

 

[Birdman666]

My two instigators are my CAG and my Red Front... sometimes causing trouble with other birds is a game to them.

Isn't that right Zoe?! How out of character for one of those mid sized macs!