Senegal breeders in nyc area

[booyeah]

Hi Guys,

im new to this thread.

im sure someone might have asked this already before but I would like to ask if a green cheek conure can get along with a senegal parrot.

me and my wife lives in a studio apartment and might be moving to a bigger place soon. Currently, we have a 10 month old green cheek conure. he has bonded to us very close already and we let him out everyday for more than hour hours.

we are planning to add another bird to our family and thinking of getting a senegal parrot.

I would like to ask if both birds can get along in the same apartment or in general. We plan to cage them separately so that they can have their own space.

Wanted to know the pros and cons of each and if its just better to stay with our current bird despite our disire to add one more bird to our house hold.

Thank you in advance

[Andromeda]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

As far as "can they live in the same apartment" yes, they definitely can although if they don't get along and are prone to attack each other you have to supervise them at all times and never leave them alone together (even for less than a minute) when they are out of their cages.

As far as "will they get along in general" the odds are very, very high that they will not. Yes, there is a chance they could be friends and preen each other, etc. but green cheek conures, even when they are sweet with humans, are known for being very bossy and aggressive with other animals, no matter how much larger the other animal is. My green cheek (who is a re-home) used to chase his first family's boxer dog so much that the dog was afraid of him! Other people here who have green cheeks can also tell you stories about their conures bullying other, larger birds or animals.

I have a green cheek conure and a brown-headed parrot (cousin to the Senegal parrot) and when I brought my conure home he bullied my Poi very badly. He would deliberately fly over to his cage or stand to run him off or physically attack him. Honestly I think if it were up to my Poi he would have been friends with my conure but my conure was having none of it. It was pretty bad for a short while but I used some techniques to help socialize them with each other and my conure stopped outright attacking my Poi.

However, even now they will attack each other if they are within maybe ~1 foot of each other, though, so I have to make sure that never happens! I can't carry them around at the same time. That's the "best" I could do was stop my conure from fly-attacking my Poi and get to him peacefully sit in the same room with him and tolerate his presence in general but they're not friends and they don't get along.

Another con of adding a second bird is that it can affect the bond you have with your first bird and create jealousy, etc. It can be pretty complicated introducing a second bird but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it if you think you have enough time to spend with both birds as you will have to spend time with them separately (meaning they can be out at the same time but it's unlikely a GCC and Senegal will "get along" well enough for you to handle both at once).

Even if they don't get along there is the "pro" that the bird still has company instead of being alone when you and your wife are not home. My conure and Poi are in separate cages in the same room and when I am upstairs I hear them "talking" to each other going back and forth with whistles and words so I know they must do it when I am not home as well and it makes me happy to know they can keep each other company since birds are not used to living solitary lives in the wild.

I noticed you put "no" for flight so I'm not sure if you clip your green cheek but if you do decide to get a second bird please, please keep them both flighted. There are many reasons to keep even a single bird flighted but with two birds of different sizes (a Senegal weighs 1 1/2 - 2 times as much as a green cheek) serious injury is a real concern if they were to attack each other and lacked the ability to fly away. If they are clipped and can't fly they can just sit there and attack each other but if both have the ability to fly the one who is being attacked will probably (but not always) fly away instead of stay and fight. If you have questions or concerns about keeping flighted birds there are lots of people here who can help you as most (probably?) of the forum members here don't clip their birds.

[booyeah]

Thank you for your reply.

Yes i did notice GCC are tough birds. Our GCC scarred away my grandma's cat, also when he saw my friends quaker and does not back down when he is confronting us.

Our GCC's wings was clipped already when we bought him and still waiting for the flight feathers to grow back. We do intend to let him grow back his wings because we would like to see his behavior if he has the ability to fly.

I guess it really is hard to introduce a new brid to our GCC since they can be territorial and agressive torwards other birds. Want to continue looking into this for curiousity sake.

[Andromeda]

If he chases the cat and your friend's Quaker he is a typical GCC and it's almost a certainty he would be aggressive with a Senegal.

However, that's not a reason to completely rule out getting a second bird but just be aware that a) you can never leave them alone together while they are out and b) you will have to take steps to try to ensure your conure won't fly-attack your Senegal but you can work around it. There is "howdying" which is putting them in separate cages next to one another and seeing how they react. You can also put them near each other out of the cage on different perches and cue a simple trick over and over again (such as "wave" or "target") and give them food rewards for that and keep them distracted enough that they won't attack each other. That's actually how I got my conure to stop fly-attacking my Poi.

I can have them out together and it's fine, even though they are both flighted. I just can't carry them around at the same time and I never place them within ~1 foot of each other because they will attack each other at that distance. However, since I don't do either of those things I never have a problem with my conure attacking my Poi anymore.

Our GCC's wings was clipped already when we bought him and still waiting for the flight feathers to grow back. We do intend to let him grow back his wings because we would like to see his behavior if he has the ability to fly.

My green cheek loves to fly. I taught him to recall to my hand and a perch and I do flight recall with him every day and he loves it so much. I set up perches and "landing zones" in different rooms so when I walk around the house instead of carrying him around on my hand I just call him and he flies after me and usually past me and gets to where I'm going before I do!

Flight is so important for any bird but green cheeks in particular have all this crazy energy and can be biters (especially once they hit puberty) and practicing flight exercises helps to deal with those issues.

[Nir]

senegals really do prefer to be the only bird. I can finally say this because although my budgie will always try to go near him, my sennie completely ignores him or will move away making my job easier of maintaining them the little times that they will be out of cage at the same time.

[mrbowlerhat]

senegals really do prefer to be the only bird.

I don't think I agree. Sorry, this is way off topic, but I felt like I had to correct this statement.
While, yes, senegals (and especially handfed ones) can usually become quite bird aggressive if introduced to another bird "later on", I wouldn't say that's because they prefer to be the only bird. They are flock animals, and very social, so I don't see why they would prefer to be alone.
But, when handfed and used to being the only bird, they do tend to believe the humans in the household to be their flock. They think they're human, or that the people are birds. And then you bring another bird to the house and I suspect their natural reaction would be something like "whoa whoa, hold on - what the hell is this weird-looking creature that's trying to steal all my attention?" and that's when they might become aggressive towards the new bird. This doesn't mean they prefer being only birds, it simply means they usually need some time accepting new flock members, especially those of a species they're not used to interacting with. (Though I'm of course not saying they will ever accept the new flock member, that's certainly way individual )
Both of my senegals were handfed and Alaska was an only bird for five years, and Miley for six years. However, Alaska loved Miley from the beginning, though Miley wasn't so sure about Alaska. She is now! They're the best of friends most of the time, but still have their moments of disagreement.
I've noticed a huge change in Alaska since I brought Miley home, Alaska's waaay happier now, and more social with everyone and over all a much healthier bird than she was before she had a birdie friend.

I can finally say this because although my budgie will always try to go near him, my sennie completely ignores him or will move away

Well that is not the same thing as preferring to be the only bird. Your senegal simply doesn't care for your budgie. I assume your senegal grew up with other sennie babies and since he's still young I'd say he probably wouldn't mind a sennie friend.
While nobody should ever(!) expect two birds to get along because they're of the same species, I think the odds are way higher that two birds of the same species will eventually get along, than the odds of two birds of different species will, if you know what I mean?
Like, you wouldn't expect a bison and a goat to get along, though they're just as closely related as a senegal and a budgie. A bison and a goat could become friends, just like a senegal and a budgie could, and two bison could completely hate eachother, just like two senegals could.

I'm sorry, I'm rambling - my point was that senegals are flock animals and that they don't prefer to be only birds, and also that I personally think that if it's possible (it's not always possible of course), same-species friends for parrots are great. Nobody understands a senegal parrot like another senegal parrot, and that applies to other species as well. I'm not saying having a single parrot is bad, I'm sure they enjoy their human flocks too, but I'm all for same-species couples or flocks whenever that's possible.


I'm sorry again that I went off topic and interrupted this thread, I just had to share my thoughts on this

[Nir]

well i think another sennie would be the best case scenario for it to work. but from everything i read about sennies preferring to be the only bird, at least in my case its true so far to a degree. My sennie will go to my budgies cage and sit there so he does show some care to him. but honestly he is attached to me all the time. So its not that i am saying they cant get along with other birds but that they are not the type who NEEDS other birds unlike a budgie or cockatiel. He doesnt mind my budgie but if it was his choice, i THINK he would rather just be me and him. Again this is just my opinion from my short experience.

Also keep in mind that my sennie is not a 1 person bird (at least for now). He goes to anyone and will lay no his back and be handled anyway possible by anyone. So he does prefer people.

[mrbowlerhat]

well i think another sennie would be the best case scenario for it to work. but from everything i read about sennies preferring to be the only bird, at least in my case its true so far to a degree. My sennie will go to my budgies cage and sit there so he does show some care to him. but honestly he is attached to me all the time. So its not that i am saying they cant get along with other birds but that they are not the type who NEEDS other birds unlike a budgie or cockatiel. He doesnt mind my budgie but if it was his choice, i THINK he would rather just be me and him. Again this is just my opinion from my short experience.

Also keep in mind that my sennie is not a 1 person bird (at least for now). He goes to anyone and will lay no his back and be handled anyway possible by anyone. So he does prefer people.

Of course another sennie would be the best case scenario for it to work - that's the most natural scenario. Like I said, nobody understands a senegal like another senegal.
Of course your senegal seems to prefer people in a household where the only choices are humans vs. a budgie. I assume he grew up with other senegals, as well as people - so he's probably used to both. That doesn't mean he's used to all birds, budgies are way different than senegals - so it's natural that he prefers what's familiar to him.
This doesn't mean he would necessarily prefer (any) human over another senegal. That just means his social. I think he'd love a sennie buddy to play with! My sennies aren't one person birds either - they're social with people but also with eachother.
I'm not saying you should get another sennie of course, and I'm not saying I'm certain he'd like it, but the way you describe him makes me think/feel like he might.
You obviously know him better than I do, but it doesn't sound to me like he's the kind of bird who would dislike it with a same-species friend to play with.
Again, I'm definitely not saying that I think you should consider getting another one, I'm sure he's happy and healthy as it is now, I'm only saying that I interpret him not being a one person bird the complete opposite way than you do, that I think that could rather mean that he would get along with another sennie.

I don't think any bird actually prefers being the only bird - it's just that some birds believes that their humans are birds instead and some birds just don't get along with eachother - it's a matter of finding the right bird, just like people can dislike one person but like another.
I do believe all birds would be somewhat healthier with a same-species (or at least a closely related species) friend, since no human or animal of another species could understand and communicate with a bird the way one of their own species can. It's a whole new level of mental stimulation and I think that's very healthy.
Of course, that's not always possible, which is too bad - but allow me to make myself clear; I don't think a bird without same-species buddies is unhealthy. Not at all, you can obviously stimulate your bird mentally in other ways and it'll still be an over all healthy bird, but I do think having at least one same-species friend makes the bird one step closer to reaching its "full potential" in being a bird if you know what I mean? Since that's kind of an important thing for them to be able to act as "natural" as possible.
But then again, I don't think a bird in captivity is really able to reach the full mentality of a healthy wild bird, and that's why we have to stimulate this as good as we can, with a varied diet, freeflight, foraging, human interaction etc - so I don't think having a single bird is a bad thing, I just think having pairs or flocks is a better thing.
But that's just my opinion.

I'm sorry if I kept repeating myself or wrote something that didn't make any sense, I don't even know what I'm trying to say other than that I really really really strongly prefer birds (and every other flock-living animal/pet) to have same species-friends to interact with since it's SO NATURAL and really healthy - but that I also really don't mind people thinking differently
I'm sorry, I'm tired.

[booyeah]

Thanks for the reply.. Learning a lot from the feedbacks.. Its really hard to generalize since each bird is different. One of my friend is tempting me with a white caique but we heard stories of them being too needy and a little loud so we're moving forward with a baby senegal.

Cant wait to get a new baby..

My next question is, can u guys recomend a senegal breeder? Or how do i find one in my area. Hoping i can find locally. My area is nyc.

[booyeah]

Decided to move forwrd with a senegal. Wantd to ask if anybody can recomend a breeder in the nyc area. Thanks