How to introduce a new parrot to flock

[SammyAndyAlex]

As some of you may know I will be getting an African Grey this spring.

A quarantine period will be carried out in addition to tests of the new bird (plus healthcheck on Sammy).

I don't know how to introduce them to each other once they've both been cleared by the vet.

I would love some tips!

 

[itzjbean]

This is a great question! Glad you are doing a quarantine and health testing.

I would start by having cages near each other. Not too close because they could fight through the bars. But close enough to see each other. You always want to be sure you don't forget that your old bird should be the first to get treats, pets and handling first, or there may be some jealousy. Spend some time with your other bird near your other bird while new bird is in their cage.

Only after making sure they can see each other and watch their body language, should they be introduced face to face, and even then it can be tricky. You want both birds to be on neutral ground (don't introduce them near old or new bird's cage) and try to have one person to handle each bird there should there be an incident.

I hope some others who are more experienced with greys will have a more in depth answer for you.

 

[Laurasea]

I've recently done a ton of introductions, as my flock boomed lol.
By far the method that worked for me was this. I set up a neutral location, I used my breakfast bar. Laid out chop, seed treats and other goodies over a wide area, abd had several perches. I got my first bird in a good happy mood and set her up on one end. Then I got the new bird all happy and set up on the other end. I sat in the middle reassuring everyone, occasionally having them step up and getting scritches, then putting them back on their side, abd did the same to the other. If anyone got huffy, I put everyone back and sweet talked them, abd tried again later. Usually one burd was ready to be friends before the other one was. So I tried to gently curb that till both had good body language. Took two weeks before Neptune and Ta-dah became best friends. Ta-dah was ready to be friends with Penny but Penny didn't know how to bird at first. I stepped away one time and they had a big fight. Now Ta-dah hates Penny, but they do great at group feeds, and if I'm right there. Left alone they fight. The parakeets were chased at first but now do group feeds, abd hang out together.
Good luck! Just never force, never out on a stand together, or in the same cage till you know they get along. I've used my bed, and the couch too. I always let them decide when to meet.

 

[Squeekmouse]

Congrats on the new baby boy!

I went through the same things when I brought Trigger home. We were worried about how the new boy would affect Yoda and how we could encourage them to get along. It was particularly critical because Yoda is so much smaller than Trigger.

So here's what we did and what we learned, what worked and what didn't.

When we first brought Trigger home, he had his cage upstairs in his own room while Yoda remained downstairs as he's always been. We got Trigger his own playgym and perch and did everything we could to give them separate spaces. We failed at maintaining a quarantine, and soon had them in the same room together though still on their own cage/playgym. If one flew to the other's space, we instantly jumped in to keep them apart, not trusting them. We'd read/been told that it is important to give the most attention and first attention to the original fid at all times, so that he wouldn't feel threatened by the new fid. After the second day, we moved Trigger's cage down to the living room to be closer to the family. Trigger was MUCH happier after this.

The hard part is that both are free flighted and our main living area has a large open ceiling with the upstairs loft open to the room. Both of our boys love flying up to the railing up there, and one of them going always triggered the other to follow. Then we'd have to RUN RUN RUN upstairs to get to them before they managed to close the distance to each other and potentially hurt each other. Sadly, it looked like Yoda was scared/angry of Trigger and would lunge at him whenever Trigger came close.

It didn't seem like we were making any progress on bringing them together. Gradually we would try bringing them near each other and giving both of them treats so they would relax and associate happy treats with the nearness of the other fid.

Then one morning, Yoda flew up to the loft railing and Trigger flew up after him, landing only a couple of feet from Yoda. I took off running, shouting in fear, and raced upstairs to intervene. As I entered the loft, I saw Trigger had approached Yoda and was only an inch away... Trigger lowered his head towards Yoda... I panicked and almost screamed...

...and then Trigger touched his beak to the railing, fluffed up his feathers on his neck, and Yoda began to preen his neck feathers. I just about cried for joy! Both of them got lots of treats!

Since then, we still watch them VERY closely and never let them get within a foot of each other without being really close by. Most of the time the interaction is positive or neutral, in which case both get treats and love. If one of them acts aggressive, both get put in their cages (after being checked carefully for any injuries), and they get a bit of quiet, alone time for ten minutes or so.

I don't know if we're doing all the right things or not. I've asked advice from anyone and everyone, including here and our CAV. For the most part we've followed all the suggestions we've gotten. In any case, it does seem like we are slowly making progress. They mostly ignore or occasionally preen each other. Aggressive incidents still happen every 2 or 3 days though so we still watch them VERY very very closely.

That's about all I can offer. I hope some of it helps.

Good luck!!!

 

[EllenD]

I think that Itzjbean's post is a perfect explanation of how to properly introduce two birds to each other...

You want to do at least a 30-day quarantine with your new bird in a totally separate room that Sammy never has to go into, and if possible behind a latching door...Don't be surprised if Sammy starts acting very weird during the quarantine-period, because he's going to obviously know that there is another bird in the house, and they often display some very odd behavior, often with "attitude"...

What you need to keep in-mind the entire time you're going through this is that you've had Sammy as an only-bird for what, 5 years? So this is going to be very stressful for Sammy, while for the new CAG isn't going to have ANY jealousy, territoriality, dominance, etc. going on at all, and is just going to be a happy, loving, goofy little baby bird that will not know why Sammy doesn't like him (I'm assuming you're bringing home a newly-weaned baby since you're waiting for a certain time to get the bird). So it's going to be extremely important that you put aside some extra time every day for Sammy during the first few weeks/months, depending on how he handles a new bird being added to his flock...

I think sometimes when we bring home a new baby parrot we get so wrapped-up in our new baby that we forget about how effected our current flock-members are by the new addition. I'm totally guilty of this, when I brought Kane (Senegal) home he was only 12 weeks old and he was an adorable little baby bird that actually regressed a little and was crying at night for comfort feedings...So I got all wrapped-up in hand-feeding my new baby his nightly formula, and having Kane on me all the time to make him comfortable, as he was handled all day long by his breeder, so he was used to being with/on someone all day, and I just got all caught-up in my new baby...And the rest of my flock was not amused AT ALL with Kane...first of all he was larger than all of them as a newly-weaned baby, so that was intimidating for them (which will be the case with your new baby CAG as well, he's going to be much larger than an adult Lesser-Jardine)...And I think poor Bowie took it the worst, as he actually started making this new crying noise that he'd never made before, and he only did it at night before bedtime...My CAV told me that his guess was that Bowie was trying to mimic the crying at night that Kane was making because he wanted a comfort-feeding! So poor Bowie was trying to get my attention by crying like the new bird was crying at the same time of day the new bird was crying! I felt awful once I figured out what was going on, and from that point forward I made equal time for all of them, one-on-one...So just keep that in-mind...

After the quarantine is over, I would do exactly what Itzjbean described doing, putting their cages in the same area but not right next to each other, rather across the room from each other so they can see each other and talk to each other, but not so close they are intimidated or feel like their "territory" is being invaded...Again, Sammy may or may not express a lot of territoriality over his cage, his play stands, and his entire "home" in-general, so you have to be very careful that the new baby CAG doesn't get too close to Sammy's "area" until you figure-out what type of relationship they are going to have...

After they have been living in the same room in-sight of each other for a good amount of time, and they've both been out of their cages at different times but not yet together, then you can try to let them out together for the first time, but ON NEUTRAL TERRITORY, AND NOT ANYWHERE NEAR ANYTHING THAT BELONGS TO SAMMY...And no where near the CAG's cage either...It needs to be totally "Neutral" territory that neither bird is going to care about, so whatever part of your home that neither bird spends any time in and has no toys, no stands, nothing of theirs in...And just use your best judgement...

Keep in-mind that this may or may not work-out, meaning they may absolutely love each other and bond closely, they may like each other but not to the point that they snuggle together or share food, etc., they may not really like each other but they will simply "tolerate" each other as flockmates (most common situation that happens), or they may not like each other at all and fight/show aggression towards each other when they get close to one another but still be able to be out at the same time as long as their individual "territories" are kept across the room from each other, or they may absolutely hate each other and actually be purposely-aggressive and go after each other, in which case they can't be out of their cages in the same room at any time, even under supervision...

***You just have to wait and see what type of relationship they have, and then you have to respect that relationship and not ever try to force them to have a different one, because not only does that not work at all, but whenever people attempt to "make" their birds get along and be out of their cages with each other when they know they show aggression 100% of the time, it usually ends in some kind of severe injury of one or both of the birds or of a person, or worse, a tragedy...So it's all about SLOWLY allowing them to get to know each other from "afar", across the room from each other, giving each of them their own "territory", and then slowly giving them more intimate contact to see how they are going to get along...

And keep in-mind that the Poicephalus parrots are all stubborn by nature, lol, and Sammy is probably going to be the one who is going to have an issue with the new bird joining the flock. Sammy was there first and had you all to himself for years, had his territory within your home to himself for years, and suddenly this new, big bird is going to show-up out of nowhere and take away a lot of his time with you...That's how Sammy is most-likely going to feel about this, that's how he's going to see it. Now maybe you'll be incredibly lucky and Sammy will the kind of bird that is really happy to have another bird added to the flock, and he'll accept the new CAG and love him to death...But that's probably not the way it's going to go....That's the point, you just aren't going to know until the new baby comes home. Just try to do your best to not become enthralled with the new baby CAG to the point that you end-up accidentally neglecting or ignoring Sammy without even realizing that you're doing it. it's not hard for that to happen, and usually you won't even be aware that you're doing it because you're so excited about the new baby CAG...Just try your best to let Sammy know that nothing is going to change as far as the flock-dynamic between him and you...

 

[SammyAndyAlex]

Thank you to everyone for your replies!

The birds will be in quarantine in different parts of town, so no need to worry about needing to lock the door!

The cages are an aviary type and they share a wall, so moving the cages around isnt really possible. Also due to their size, 1x1x2 meters, pet cage.BUT what I will do is keep Andy (the new one) in a large travel cage so that they can look at each other and see each other for the first week. (Note: It is a very large travel cage, approx. 80x60x50cm (ish), so not too small for about a week or two for a young CAG).

I know how important it is for Sammy to get to keep his #1 spot, and I have no intentions of letting Andy think that he is #1, he will always be bird #2. Sammys cage is also closer to the door meaning that I will automatically see and greet him before Andy (I have heard that this can be very important to birds).

One of the reasons that I opted for a baby parrot (Andy is going to be about 4 months old when he moves to his new, forever home, and Sammy will be just over 5 years old) is that I know that Andy wont take offence to being fid #2, and he wont be jealous, etc. It is still great to hear that others agree with this info!

I am fully prepared for Sammy to not like Andy at all in the beginning. Sammy does tend to soften up to people/pets after a while, but I am prepared for that they will never get along. This is okay. Andy is not being purchased as a friend for Sammy.


Once again, thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to answer my questions! I've had Sammy for almost 5 years (he was about 4 months old when I got him) but I've never had to introduce him to another parrot (that will live with "us" indefinitely), so getting this many replies is really reassuring.

I'm very excited but also a bit worried about how to introduction will go, not to mention the training and time that I'll have to put into Andy (harness training, general obedience, etc.). I know that I am prepared but I want to make sure that I get all of the help and tips I can. (I've also spoken to my vet multiple times about this, mainly from a disease standpoint (you know, because he is a vet)).

I have been preparing Sammy for the new arrival for about a year (new cage Sammy is not allowed in, toys in the cage that are not his, etc.)

 

[ParrotGenie]

This is a great question! Glad you are doing a quarantine and health testing.

I would start by having cages near each other. Not too close because they could fight through the bars. But close enough to see each other. You always want to be sure you don't forget that your old bird should be the first to get treats, pets and handling first, or there may be some jealousy. Spend some time with your other bird near your other bird while new bird is in their cage.

Only after making sure they can see each other and watch their body language, should they be introduced face to face, and even then it can be tricky. You want both birds to be on neutral ground (don't introduce them near old or new bird's cage) and try to have one person to handle each bird there should there be an incident.

I hope some others who are more experienced with greys will have a more in depth answer for you.

Was almost going to write this, you beat me to it. Agreed 100%