how to introduce another bird to the family

[anuska]

Hi all earlier this year i got a baby amazon and I've been trying to get her acquainted with my 1 yr old orange winged amazon, they're both the same species and since i received her as a baby i've never really let her gone anywhere close to him because I was afraid he might attack her , however she is much older now and seems like she can handle herself ,i feel as though she might be able to defend herself more , I would really like to get them to be more attached ,they only have each other since they are my only parrots that i have .I've been slowly trying to bring her close to him while she's standing on my hand , so far so good , they seem to be playing with each other's beak and tongue lol ,i take that as a good sign considering my big boy hasnt tried to attack her or anything of that sort however he has been inquisitive and tried to open his mouth towards her feathers on her head when she bends her head forward looking forward to a scratch, but whenever i see he's about to open his mouth to do that i just rush in and block him from doing that which only leads to him biting on my hands pretty hard . he has tried many times flying over towards her cage to go near her but im worried he might hurt her, it would be nice to be able to get them accustomed to each other so that they can play together and what not. My big boy does not stay in a cage and spends most of his time on his play stand , she however i let her stay in her cage when im not in d room just to be safe that he doesnt interfere with her.Also i should mention that they both stay in my room so they see each other all the time and whenever they happen to get close to each other they run towards each other to bite on each other's beak , im a bit glad that they seem affectionate towards each other in this way but im scared since he's older he might be more aggressive and try to bite her , any advice on how i should deal with this situation lol really want them to be more of better friends

 

[ShellyBorg]

Sounds like you have the beginning of a bonded pair. I would look into how to deal with that. As they get older you may have some breeding issues. I would start some training now.

 

[anuska]

hi shelly thanks for you reply , what kind of training are you speaking of ? honestly i really have no clue about breeding issues , i will try my best to research it online but that's as far as i can think of ,any further advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[ShellyBorg]

I would start the clicker training now. There may be a time in breeding season that one protects the other to the point of not letting you near, You need to have them trained to return to their cage by voice command. I have seen with pairs you move chairs back to back with room between for you, then you can work both together. One on one chair back, one on the other.

 

[henpecked]

I've got to leave to go fishing for a few day, i'll try and respond more when i get back in Thursday PM. I think your fine, it doesn't sound like they have any aggressive issues at this time and they both are still so young, Your "Big Boy" is still a baby, young teen anyway, LOL.

 

[anuska]

hey shelly thanks for replying , i will try the chair thing although I'm not sure they will listen , in the past i've tried getting him to listen to me and do what i say but he only turns around and bites me when he doesnt get things his way,as for my little girl she bites all the time continuously they're so spoilt and no matter how hard i try to cut it out it doesn't seem to work,nevertheless i'll still work on it with them .Just curious though ,would they try to breed at such an young age apart from breeding season being early next year , should i be worried about that ?

 

[anuska]

LOL henpecked , yes i agree young teen indeed ,I noticed your an amazon breeder ,can you advice me how or in what way i can make them more acquainted with each other ,i know they're young so they shouldnt be too aggressive per say but i'm still worried about the little pickering ,what do you think i should do ?

 

[Pajarita]

I don't think you will have a problem. I've only got one amazon that took exception to another (a male that wanted to 'steal' the female from another one) and even that could not really be called a fight as there was A LOT of bluffing, lunging and snapping but no real bites (BTW, the younger one 'won', he did steal the hen and proceeded to prevent the other male from reaching anywhere near the 'nest' until the breeding season was over). Aside from that, I've never had an amazon that did not 'take' to another one, they all love the company of another zon.

 

[torrap]

I don't think you will have a problem. I've only got one amazon that took exception to another (a male that wanted to 'steal' the female from another one) and even that could not really be called a fight as there was A LOT of bluffing, lunging and snapping but no real bites (BTW, the younger one 'won', he did steal the hen and proceeded to prevent the other male from reaching anywhere near the 'nest' until the breeding season was over). Aside from that, I've never had an amazon that did not 'take' to another one, they all love the company of another zon.

Wow, so sorry to insert my situation here, but does this mean that when my Yellow Shouldered Amazon (7 years old) that I have for about 2 months is flying to the top of the cage of the new one DYHA I just adopted (she is 10 years old), I shouldn't totally freak out and shoosh her off???????????????
I am so scared that the DYHA will bite the YSA's little fingers! I am going to let them just look at each other for a week or so, and only then maybe let them out at the same time, unless you think it's OK to do it now..........:52: