Will an adult bird take to a baby bird?

[Marie20]

This may be a silly question, but will an adult bird get along much easier with a baby bird? I have an African grey around 7 months right now and I was thinking about some day in the future of getting another one. I was going to get one around 5 weeks so I could feed and ween him myself. My biggest concern is that my current one will not take to the new one and may be aggressive towards him. I know every bird is different so there wont be an exact answer, but how can I go about introducing them to prevent any aggression? My current grey is a male, so would a female be best to get?

 

[noodles123]

Just because 2 baby birds get along when they are babies, does not mean they will get along as adults. So even if you got 2 babies that appeared to hit it off, that could all change at puberty.


No 2 birds are ever guaranteed to get along (even if you do everything right). Your African Grey is not even close to being an adult and his behavior will also change a ton at sexual maturity....toward you and everything else (so your bird will not stay the way he is right now when he matures). It takes 3-5 years for an african gray to mature sexually/ develop its adult personality. That means that a lot will change between now and then.


NEVER buy an unweaned baby if you have an option. It is not helpful (despite the myth that it helps with bonding) and there is a ton that can go wrong. There is no reason to do this unless it is a necessity because you are breeding or something and have to remove a chick from its parents. Hand-feeding does not improve an individual's bond with a parrot long-term...Any baby will gravitate toward the feeder person initially, but that is all baby stuff and it can actually harm a long-term relationship with a bird in some cases, because, just as birds push away from their parents in the wild, they will often do so in captivity as they mature.


If you get 2 birds, you will always have to worry about them mating and getting hormonal. Of course, 2 birds of the same sex and species can also mate/become hormonal, but at least then the eggs aren't viable... If you establish a bond with your bird and then get a member of the opposite sex, they may: 1. hate each other (which could happen regardless of sex), 2. like each other TOO much (e.g., mate and reproduce), 3. become jealous of your attention to the other, 4. exclude you (3rd wheel sort of thing). I am not saying you cannot have 2 of the same species at the same time, but you will always have to worry about them mating if they are opposite sex and babies are very very tricky....It takes a few seconds for them to mate...and even if they are not allowed to mate (meaning they would have to have separate time out of their cages and the bird that was out would need to have no access to climbing the other bird's cage), they could still become hormonal and scream/ be anxious about not being able to get to the other bird (**if they get along TOO well*). They could also just want to fight all of the time...Whenever you get a 2nd bird (no matter what) there is always a risk that they could fight and injure each other.


You have to ask yourself if you have enough time to provide at least 3 hours of separate out of cage time to these birds (for a total of 6 hours collectively) each day. You should only ever get a bird for you--- never ever get a parrot for your parrot and only get one for yourself if you have the time to make it work in the event that they do not get along at all or are trying to mate all the time.



I would suggest that you wait to see what your current bird is like as an adult before you decide to take on another....I am not saying that will make any difference in terms of whether or not your bird likes a new bird etc, BUT, I am saying this because it seems you may be making this call under the assumption that your current bird's personality is going to stay this way (trust me when I say, it will not). You will not truly know your current bird's adult personality for 3 to 5 years....remember, they can live 80+, so your current bird is still a baby...Now think of a human infant vs a 16-year-old human and know that your current bird is the infant, but will change in similar ways....Babies are so much easier than adults..

 

[Marie20]

Thank you this helps quite a bit! I wasn't aware that hand feeding didnt create a good bond, I was told by a breeder it helps which is why I was wanting to get a younger one. I do have hand feeding experience so I am aware of the risks. I really appreciate the help and advise you gave.

 

[noodles123]

Thank you this helps quite a bit! I wasn't aware that hand feeding didnt create a good bond, I was told by a breeder it helps which is why I was wanting to get a younger one. I do have hand feeding experience so I am aware of the risks. I really appreciate the help and advise you gave.

People often really believe hand-feeding does but it is wrong-- you do tend to hear it a lot from breeders because it lightens their work load a lot lol! Also, lots of breeders apprenticed under old-school breeders who repeated a lot of out-of-date information to them (which they continue to repeat).