Companion for my Senegal Parrot !

[Rujvir_G]

Hi guys! Ive been thinking of getting a another parrot for my senegal Ollie . Could you guys tell me which parrot would be the best companion for my senegal? I was thinking about a Green Cheek Conure? Is that a good companion for Ollie?

[Michael]

None, no kidding.

[Rujvir_G]

Hi michael! None? But why, do senegals like to be alone? Haha isnt kili happy with kristina and Truman?

[Michael]

Nope, most Senegals can't stand other birds and are always scheming fights to kill the other birds. Its one thing to get another parrot as a companion for yourself, but a Senegal won't take kindly to an arranged marriage. A member of this forum had her conures killed by her Senegal Parrot when away.

[Wolf]

It is almost always a difficult thing to provide a friend for a companion bird. It works best for cockatiels, budgies and smaller birds, but not so well for medium sized parrots. It works even worse for Senegals, they are great birds, but they are also an aggressive bird and as a general rule they don't like any other bird, even when the other bird is another Senegal of the opposite sex.
If you want another companion bird for yourself, that is fine, but that is what you will probably get if you try to get a mate for Ollie, a new companion bird for yourself.
By the way, did you get Ollie in to see the vet yet ?

[Rujvir_G]

Thanks guys, I was thinking of getting a companion bird just because ive heard that birds live happier if they are more than one. And yeah vet says Ollie is jusf fine, but make a diet plan change, can u guys tell me a proper good diet for him, like pellets of bird food? Ive tried giving him home made recipes but he doesn't quite eat them. He started eating pellets now but not as much, how much are senegals suppose to eat? Can I give him seeds and bird food with pellets because he eats very less of the pellets, plus I give him fruits. Is that a okay diet?

[Wolf]

I feed A cooked mix, usually called gloop, for breakfast, I provide additionally a fresh fruit and fresh vegetable for them to nibble on throughout the day and a high quality seed mix for dinner. A big reason for feeding them the foods that I do at the times that I do is because all of them were on a poor diet and since they are naturally hungriest in the mornings when they first wake up, this is simply the easiest time to get them to consume more of the best foods for them.
Kind of look at it as good nutritious main course, followed by an appetizer, followed by dessert.
GLOOP FRESH FRUIT SEED MIX
FRESH VEGETABLE

By looking at it this way it is just one long meal all day long.

This is the best diet that you can feed your bird, based on current knowledge. You can substitute pellets for the seed mix and back, but you do not need both of them as they are formulated to fill the same purpose in their diet, this makes them interchangeable.
Most of us spend more time on getting our birds to eat a healthy diet than on any other area. This is due to the breeders choosing to wean their birds to a cheaper, but inadequate diet. And these birds are suspicious of new foods, so we have to teach them what is good to eat and what is not, it takes a lot of time and effort to do this.

[Rujvir_G]

Ill try my best to feed him, but sometimes he doesn't even eat a bit of the gloops, so I dont want him staying hungry, I gave him his pellets. But aren't pelletd healthy to? Should I give him pellets in the morning plus fruits, and seed mix at dinner?

[Wolf]

Try mixing a teaspoon of the seed mix into 1/4 cup of gloop, a fresh fruit and vegetable to nibble on and pellets for dinner. Then as he begins to eat his gloop reduce the seed mix.

[Pajarita]

Actually, high protein food should never be free-fed so it should be gloop or birdie bread accompanied by fresh, raw produce for breakfast and all day picking and either a good quality seed mix (a cockatiel one is just about right) or pellets for dinner (I don't like pellets, I feed seed).

As to a companion, it depends on the gender and age of the Senegal whether he will accept another Senegal of the opposite gender or not - but they hardly ever accept a bird of another species (my male bonded with a female nanday after his first mate, a female Senegal, died but I've never heard of another example). If you have a male which has been sexually mature for a few years and mildly neglected and then introduce an adult female Senegal, there is a chance he will like her and will work real hard at wooing her but resident females hardly ever take to a new bird even when they are sexually mature and introduced to an adult male.