A new buddy for my sun conure, your thoughts?

[Beamesg]

Hey guys I've got my beautiful boy rocky who is about 8 months old, he's very well behaved and I'm looking to get him a buddy!
Im thinking of getting a female conure so down the track they can breed,
I am experienced in hand raising birds and I would love to do it down the track again but I don't know if it is a good idea to have my pets as breeders aswell.
I love my rocky he's out with me whenever I'm home he gets lots of attention.
But I'm concerned if I get a second conure we might loose our bond?
And I do want my second conure to have a bond with me too! Like 3 best friends .
Does anyone have an opinion or experience in what I want to do?


Thanks guys!

 

[Nakiska]

With birds...you just never know...You just can't force them to be friends. They may take to a buddy, they may not...they might bond with each other and turn on you, or they might just "go with the flow" and you all can be the happy 3 some. It's a coin toss really.

I recently adopted a sun conure from an elderly woman who had to let him go because of her failing health. It was a total spur of the moment thing...I saw the ad, got overwhelmed with emotion, responded immediately and without putting any thought into it...we now have Sunny. (I posted some pictures of him in a different thread...titled Pics of Sunny)

For US...this union has so far been successful. She had raised Sunny from 3 1/2 weeks old. (he was the only bird in the home) We've had our gcc from 10 weeks old, they are both turning 3 this year. I also have 3 cockatiels and a pigeon.

In our home, everyone resides in their own cages and most of the time I let everyone out a the same time for supervised "play" time. This has worked very well...if one of them is having a bad day or is cranky and wanting to be a jerk...he/she get's put back in their cage and everyone else get's to be out.

Since bringing Sunny home, I've made sure to spend the same "quality" time with Franklin that I always did, and separate quality time with Sunny as we've been getting to know each other.

Just the last few days I've allowed Sunny and Franklin to "hang out" with me together and there hasn't yet been a problem.

Franklin treats us all the same way he always has before bringing another conure into the home. And Sunny has been an absolute sweetheart!

I was certainly hoping things would work out this well...and I'm relieved that they have...so far.

However, I know this isn't necessarily "the norm" and each situation is unique.

What ever you decide to do...good luck!

Toni

 

[Beamesg]

Thanks Toni
Sounds like you have quite the mix of birds!

I think I will just do it make the plung and hope it all works out!

 

[MonicaMc]

If you are planning on purchasing another conure to breed with your conure, especially a conure of another species, I'd say don't do it!

Generally speaking, pets don't make good breeders and breeders don't make good pets. Yes, there are exceptions to this, however generally speaking pets can make bad parents. They were not raised to be breeder birds, they were raised to be pet birds. In the event that they do become successful breeders, more often than not you'll lose the pet bond with them. It's not very common that you get the best of both worlds.

You can breed dogs and cats and they'll remain tame and friendly as parents! You do that with a bird and all of a sudden the bird wants nothing to do with you!



I do have two conures and they are believed to be of opposite sex. They are also different species. I started out with one conure that didn't seem very "conure" like and wasn't quite what I wanted in a bird but I loved him all the same. I was kind of jealous of the bond that other conure owners have with their birds. Although my first conure and I had a special relationship, it was not what you often read about and hear. I got a second conure for myself as well as for my first conure. My second conure was exactly what I wanted and more! Three years later, my first conure died due to his health problems, and I spent 3 years with a single conure. Truth be honest, my flock felt incomplete. I do have a great fascination with the red and green conures (my second conure was supposed to be same species as my first conure, but he wasn't) and I eventually adopted a 3rd species.

The two conures I have now don't get along (nor did my first and 2nd conure for that matter!). They can tolerate each other with some minor squabbling, but they are not buddies. This is fine by me because I have no intentions of breeding! If they get along someday, that would be awesome! But I'm ok if they never get along, too!