Experienced budgie owner looking into getting a cockatiel - advice?

[reeb]

Hi there!

I am an experienced budgie owner (I have an outdoor aviary of 20 budgies as well as two hand-reared indoor show budgies who are strongly bonded to me), and have recently started to consider bringing a tame cockatiel into my bird family - however, I am wary of keeping different bird species together. From my research, it seems okay to keep budgies and cockatiels together since they interact in the wild, however I am very cautious. The cockatiel would live in large, separate cage from my two tame budgies, and I would like to be able to let the birds interact when they are out of the cage.

If this is risky, I'll definitely keep my house a budgie-only zone!

Thanks for any advice!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

As long as you keep them in separate cages, they should be fine. My birds all come out together at the same time, they might chase each other away from a perch but don't fight. Many people, including myself, have different species of parrots in the same house.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

I have a budgie with a lovebird and a cockatiel. Although no one gets along with my cockatiel they do have out of cage time together closely supervised. He's bigger then they are, so my budgie normally thinks twice before picking on him, but my Lovebird goes on the attack if my 'tiel gets to close to the budgie.


Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[clark_conure]

Parrotlover2001 that sounds awesome.


To OP if I had anything to recommend it would be try to get a female, they are sweeter and less aggressive then their male counterparts. Male cockatiels can be more aggressive especially during mating season.

 

[reeb]

Thank you, everyone!

I have decided to go ahead and get a cockatiel. I have found a reputable breeder who has a young female! I'm naming her Berry and can't wait to introduce her to her new home and feathered friends!