Should they be in separate cages?

[FieryPhoenix]

My Sun and Quaker have been housed together for 18 years. Is it too late to house them separately? I wonder if my having them housed together all these years has been the cause of my Sun's moodiness toward me at certain times of the year. It's all over the internet that housing two birds together makes them less tame and makes them more bonded to each other. I can see that, but my birds still interact with me, so I would say it was a total loss bonding them together.

If I could do it all over again, I would have never housed them together, but I wonder if it is best to leave things as they are.

 

[HeatherG]

I would leave two elderly birds together in their cage. I think separating them would be very stressful. But that’s just my opinion.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

I would leave two elderly birds together in their cage. I think separating them would be very stressful. But that’s just my opinion.

Yeah that's what I am leaning toward. I can't believe we are calling them elderly LOL!

 

[texsize]

I have had multiple parrot combinations.
Only one case I had to separate permanently.
Was Cheeky and Popeye (Father and Son). The lived together for 3/4 years but suddenly started fighting. And I mean seriously fighting.
I don't know what set them off but they can no longer be in the same cage for any amount of time.

Another case was Angle and Mango (Cockatiel sisters).
I separated Angle after her wing surgery just to make sure Mango would not pick on her during her recovery. They are back together now and getting along fine.

My oldest pair (both birds have passed on now) was Plumas and Pacho.
Plumas was a wild caught OWA and Patcho was a RLA. As a wild caught bird Plumas was not friendly but would step up and I could move him if necessary. Patcho was my special little darling.
She was a rescue and she really loved me (and I her).
She remained friendly even though she was bonded to Plumas.
The only real trouble was after handling Patcho and placing her back in the cage Plumas would be angry at her and lunge at her for paying attention to me.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

I have had multiple parrot combinations.
Only one case I had to separate permanently.
Was Cheeky and Popeye (Father and Son). The lived together for 3/4 years but suddenly started fighting. And I mean seriously fighting.
I don't know what set them off but they can no longer be in the same cage for any amount of time.

Another case was Angle and Mango (Cockatiel sisters).
I separated Angle after her wing surgery just to make sure Mango would not pick on her during her recovery. They are back together now and getting along fine.

My oldest pair (both birds have passed on now) was Plumas and Pacho.
Plumas was a wild caught OWA and Patcho was a RLA. As a wild caught bird Plumas was not friendly but would step up and I could move him if necessary. Patcho was my special little darling.
She was a rescue and she really loved me (and I her).
She remained friendly even though she was bonded to Plumas.
The only real trouble was after handling Patcho and placing her back in the cage Plumas would be angry at her and lunge at her for paying attention to me.

Thank you for sharing your story. I don't want to separate them. They have been housed for 18 years. Now they are housed in a larger cage during the day and a smaller one for dinner and sleep.

These guys get along great and I had to separate them temporarily when Quaker had surgery. It was hard on Sun.

Today, I got them both out of the cage first. I just moved my hand toward Quaker and they both came on - Quaker first immediately followed by the sun. I will just keep going that route.

When they are out, I can pick up Sun with no problem. She likes the attention. If I pick up Quaker, I give Sun a treat to reward her for staying there. I can pick up Quaker but not for too long because Sun starts to lightly move their wings as to say "pick me up too." wants to join in.

I train them together, but Sun really enjoys it when I work with her more, hahaha! She loves doing flight recall.

I guess with a human and two birds; you got different flock dynamics.

I am looking back on the progress I have made. I wasn't always able to pick up Sun conure by herself. Only when I would pick up Quaker. Now I can pick her up, and likes to make kiss sounds at me. She can fly and land on my hand instead of my shoulder. I can get her off my shoulder by having her step up onto my hand. She can do some tricks. She can follow a target around really well, much better than my Quaker. I can place that target anywhere, and she will go there whether she has to climb or step down from something.

 

[HeatherG]

i noticed that this change is since the Quaker had her wing amputated. Maybe the sun conure is somehow protecting her??

 

[FieryPhoenix]

i noticed that this change is since the Quaker had her wing amputated. Maybe the sun conure is somehow protecting her??

That could be it too. I do notice that she was very motherly to her during recovery. They have been in that cage for 12 years (I am looking to upgrade them to a bigger one). Their sleep cage is where the Quakers recuperated. That's where they sleep.

I do notice that Quaker does "police her". She kind of motions to her with her head not to do something. Maybe Quakers established the order in which they came out. It's either that or Sun just want tos to follow her lead.

Is it necessary for me to understand everything about their behavior? I know that varying factors regarding the biting for the last few days was whether the Quaker was leading or not leading. Quaker, so it has something. I often notice that they "assume the position when getting them out in the morning." Sun moves to Quaker, slightly behind her. I am guessing that's just how they roll. They have rolled like this for 18 years, so they might as well not rock the boat right.

I sometimes feel like the Quaker thinks she is large and in charge because she was the first one to come home with me.

I never had two birds that shared a cage. Is this a common practice for when they come in and out of the cage? It also could just be that they are just different species. Quakers tend to be bossier.

 

[texsize]

My current pair of Mexican red headed Amazons (the Twins) have their own special dynamics.
Merlin (assumed male) is hand tame and more outgoing.
Luna (assumed female) is much closer to a wild parrot

Right now I am forced to give them both antibiotics and I hate it but it only works one way.
I MUST take Merlin into a bedroom first. It’s impossible to take Luna first because she just flies away but when she knows Merlin is already in the bedroom she allows herself to be taken there.
has to be in the bedroom because in order to towel them I/we have to turn off the lights momentaril.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

My current pair of Mexican red headed Amazons (the Twins) have their own special dynamics.
Merlin (assumed male) is hand tame and more outgoing.
Luna (assumed female) is much closer to a wild parrot

Right now I am forced to give them both antibiotics and I hate it but it only works one way.
I MUST take Merlin into a bedroom first. It’s impossible to take Luna first because she just flies away but when she knows Merlin is already in the bedroom she allows herself to be taken there.
has to be in the bedroom because in order to towel them I/we have to turn off the lights momentaril.

Oh wow that's interesting. Are they housed together? Which bird did you acquire first?

Also, I want to add, I understand the struggle of administering antibiotics. I had to do that to my Quaker last year and she hated the taste and would fling much of it in my face!

 

[texsize]

Oh wow that's interesting. Are they housed together? Which bird did you acquire first?

Also, I want to add, I understand the struggle of administering antibiotics. I had to do that to my Quaker last year and she hated the taste and would fling much of it in my face!

Luna was first, a rescue.
I had lost my OWA the year before and then Pacho my RLA in the next calendar year but less than a year from losing the orange wing.

someone on the PF found Luna on a sidewalk in San Diego.
after vet visits and a month of trying to find original owners put her up for rehoming.
My gut feeling is this bird was poached from a wild breeding flock of parrots in the area. Original owner got her cheep and did not know what they were getting into.
Luna is a real screamer and they got tired of it and let her go to “rejoin the flock” .
of course this was a terrible idea and why she ended up on sidewalk malnourished and week and why no one claimed ownership.

I miss read her body language towards Bingo my Yellow nape. I thought she was attracted to him but in reality she was giving him that amazon “line of death” Bingo thinks of himself as a person not a parrot and putting them together would have been a disaster. This was in 2017 December we got Luna.

so because of her reaction and because I was still short 1 amazon I picked up Merlin from a breeder at a avian pet fair the next year 2018.
They got along fairly well at the beginning but Merlin being young was a little rough on Luna and caused me to make an unusual cage setup.
Two cages connected together through one of the feeding doors. This let Luna go of by herself when Merlin was being a jerk.