Advice about getting a second budgie

[amandacatherine]

I’ve had Teddy for almost five months now. We get along well; he happily eats out of my hand, but he’ll only step up on my finger if there’s a treat right there. I’ve known from the start I want to get him a friend, but I wanted to bond with him and train him first. It makes me sad when he hears a bird outside and gets so excited and calls out to them!

1. Should I wait until he’s finger trained to get a second budgie?
2. I was going to try to get a young male budgie as the second. Do young and older budgies get along okay? I don’t know Teddy’s age, but he’s over a year.
3. Will I be able to train and bond with the second budgie at all? I don’t have the capability to keep them in separate rooms right now, but I do have separate cages. I know I’m supposed to quarantine him for a bit.

I’d appreciate any answers and advice you have!

 

[SailBoat]

Very sorry that your Thread had gotten missed. Sadly, it happens from time to time! With this bump back up on the board, with luck more members may get a chance to see and respond.

We have always been a single Parrot home, which we believe allows us to concentrate our energies. It also assures that there is a solid bond in which adding another cannot assure. To that point, it sounds like you are still early in developing a bond with your budgie. So, likely way to early to be addressing stage two of your multi-bird plan...

 

[fiddlejen]

Is your budgie a hand-fed or otherwise pre-handled budgie, or is he a standard petstore parent-raised budgie? What about the potential budgie #2 ?

 

[Laurasea]

Budgie are flock driven, o believe they would get along... as always there are exceptions
But it can make taming harder. Tho we had a trucker who got two, from the pet store and really out in the time and did great.

I have two boys that were given to me, they are not tame , one will visit me.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

I currently have 3 budgies, two of them came home at the same time. Getting another bird is sometimes a risk, they might not get along. I've had budgies in the past not get along, didn't end well.

To answer your questions:
1. You don't necessarily have to wait, but it will be easier to train him when there isn't another bird to distract him.

2. I'd go with a younger one.

3. It would be a little more difficult to train the second bird, it will see or hear the other one and get distracted. It's not impossible though, just be persistent.

If they do get along they may want to spend more time with each other rather than with you. That's not always the case, but it has happened to me more times than not.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[noodles123]

Even 2 birds of the same species may not get along. They could, but unless YOU personally want another bird, I am always cautious about getting birds for other birds, as it sometimes doesn't succeed.

The other thing to consider is the age and sex of your birds. With a male and a female, you risk breeding and egg-laying laying (a female can lay even if the eggs aren't fertile if she is hormonal and that has health risks of its own, but fertile eggs are an even bigger ball of wax).

If he is a male, I would get another male if you are getting a bird (I would not get 2 females or a male and a female)...make sure that if they do not get along, you have the time and resources to care for them and allow them separate interaction time etc.

I WOULD personally wait until you have your current one trained, as they can sometimes bond together and want less to do with people when a new one is introduced. If you already have a bond, you might have slightly less difficulty training when the new one arrives.

Also, you will want to quarantine a new bird for 45 days in another room/air-space and pay very close attention to washing hands thoroughly in between and even changing clothes potentially. They can hide illness or carry and spread it without any symptoms, so your current bird could pose a risk to the new bird, and vice-versa. During quarantine, you will need to get them both to an avian vet (not in the same car, as that would violate quarantine).