Multiple parrots

[Trueeast]

I was just curious if anyone has noticed happier parrots when adding a feathered friend of a different species(might not be correct wording)? To make a long story short we will be acquiring a male eclectus in a few months to add to our Timneh. Obviously this "happiness" would be contingent with them getting along. So to all of you owners with multiple parrots did you notice a change in your birds after adding more to the flock? Gandalf is already awesome and from what we've seen with Teddy he seems great as well. I've lucked in that I now own both dream parrots of mine even though I was only supposed to have 1. Even though the shop that we frequent and trust just got this awesome baby Catalina x BNG but we will just have to admire him because we don't have room for a macaw, we're just as happy to get to watch him grow up though. I'm just a little nervous that things won't work out with our two feathered buddies. Either way we will make things work just wanted to hear some of your experiences.

 

[Terry57]

All of my bigger birds have been added one at a time. When we add someone to the flock, everyone else seems a little put out and curious at the same time for a couple of days. Even though my birds are out at the same time, they do not really interact with each other. Each stays in their own space. I do notice they squawk & talk to each other, and a couple really came out of their shell who had been only birds in their previous home. I have an ekkie, but do not have a grey, so I can't speak to how your grey may react to the newbie. Hopefully someone else will know more about that

 

[veimar]

I'm not sure about bigger birds, but my green cheek conure was extremely interested in other birds. He just loved sitting outside and interacting with wild birds and watching parrot videos. So I decided to get him a "friend" (not a mate) of a different kind. I wasn't sure, but one lady offered me a lovebird, and I took her. She also gave me 2 budgies. Right now they are on quarantine, but scream to each other through the closed doors and get very excited. Parry screamed so bad yesterday that I even had to open the door and show him his future buddies from the far. I hope it works out.

 

[Birdman666]

Well, this depends on the species...

Sometimes, pair bond birds, especially amazons, and occasionally macaws do not wish that THIRD WHEEL bird to come between them, and their person, and try to drive the other bird out of the house.

As luck would have it, TAGS and Eckies are both Flock birds, not pair bond birds. And twice as lucky, male Eckies are hardwired to be more docile to other birds than most. (The females are dominant, bossing around the males.)

The question will be how nervous you TAG is around him at first. But chances are they will become best buds in no time.

I have a 41 year old lilac crowned that is best buds with my CAG. The amazon follows the CAG around every where he goes, and does not like it when you pick up one, and the other doesn't get to come.

So, yeah, they bond with each other.

At one point, between fosters and non fosters, I had 11 birds. No two of the same species. Everything from conures, to amazons, to macaws, to cags, and even a too...

 

[Trueeast]

We're really excited for Teddy to come home(I'm really impatient!). Obviously there is no way to tell if they will get along until he comes home, even if they do get along well I don't really expect them to play together. Gandalf always wants to be around us and from what I've read eclectus can be pretty independent. I know my girlfriend really wants Teddy to bond to her because Gandalf can be my little Velcro bird sometimes. Either way we are just super excited!

 

[Trueeast]

That's what I was hoping birdman, I have read that they are both social/flock birds. Gandalf does respond well to other animals so that looks promising but we will have to wait and see. Thanks for everyone's input/experiences so far.

 

[RavensGryf]

It depends on the species as was mentioned...

For example, Poicephalus (Senegal family) like my Red Bellied parrot, tend to NOT welcome another bird. They will show much upset when adding to the flock.
They are generally only in family groups or pairs in the wild, not flocks... so the natural behavior of a species and how they flock (or not) in the wild will 'generally' give a clue as to how social they are as a species. Then again, as Terry said, though she has some flock species they still don't play with each other.

 

[Birdman666]

I've fostered Sennie's though, that did just fine in large flock settings and hung out with both my conures, and my large macaws. (My amazons, however, didn't care much for Sennie-Tude. I had four at the time. He made the mistake of charging them to take a prime amazon spot. They didn't run! So, my zon's have more 'tude.)

This is kind of an individual bird thing. It's not all of them.

Zons often require more "space" from each other.

I've always seen both TAGS and Eckies as a bit on the shy side. So personality wise, they might just mesh from the get go.