Adding a new baby?

[Tallis22]

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions about adding a new bird to my family. I currently own one bird, a green cheek conure, named Ollie. I live alone and work full time so I'm scared Ollie gets bored when I'm not home. Also, as I live out of town, I sometimes spend the night in town. He's never spent more than a day alone but I still think it would be very boring for him.

I have just purchased another baby green cheek and she will arrive on Monday. I have a seperate cage for her but would ultimately like them to end up in the same cage. Ollie is roughly six months old and the new bub is 11 weeks. Neither have been DNA sexed but I was shown a way to identify sex based on the position of the pelvic bone (males are closer together as they don't have to release eggs) I'm not sure if it's true but that's how I've come to the conclusion of Ollie's gender.

The new baby's hand raiser told me she can tell it's a girl by 'her face' so I'm not too confident! if bub turns out to be a boy, will the two males fight? If they are male and female, will they bond with each other and become aggressive towards me? I do not intend to breed them and wish to keep them as tame as possible.

Is it too early for ollie to have bonded to me? Do they have to reach maturity to bond? Because he follows me everywhere, has to know what I'm doing, and yells out for me when I leave the room. Will I have to keep the two seperated until baby has the same relationship with me too? I'd like her to be as loving as ollie, towards both me and him. Basically I want the three of us to be a little happy family

Any tips, suggestions or personal experiences would be VERY much appreciated. Thank you!

[Wolf]

I do not mean to be rude but this bird should never be left alone for the time that you describe when you stay in town and he is never left alone for more than one day. Eight to ten hours is hard enough for them especially when they are a single bird, this is due to the fact that they are flock animals and are hardwired to never be alone from hatching until death. Maybe you can find a good place to board the bird at when you are going to be gone longer than the normal time. So I do think that a companion bird would be beneficial for your current bird, but even then I would still suggest that you board the birds when you are going to remain in town.
I don't know how well this species of parrot gets along with others of its species that are of the same sex so I don't know which way other than the opposite sex that it might get along with, but you can't always count on that working either.

[Tallis22]

Thank you for your reply. Ollie's cage is very spacious and he has loads of toys, he's also near a window so he's always looking out and chatting to other birds. Still, I realise that he's left alone quite a lot and hopefully the new bird will help to keep him company, though I haven't seen any negative effects from leaving him alone. He's constantly out when I'm home and there's never a day where he doesn't get his out of cage time.

[Wolf]

It is always difficult when I read something that need improvement as my replies could be read as being negative although I don't mean for them to be. I also have several birds of my own that I am constantly watching and learning from and I do a lot of research on parrots as well, because I am fascinated about them and I really care for them and I care about yours as much as I care about my own birds. I've been smitten with parrotitis and it is incurable and the only treatment is parrots.
Parrots are quite adept at hiding illness and even moreso when it comes to stress and that is the issue with a lone bird, stress. It hide and it attacks and weakens a parrots immune system making it suseptable to things that it would not ordinarily catch and become ill from and it attacks the birds internal organs and we can't see these things. But if you think about it a little you can see what I mean about their being alone. They spend all of their time in the presence of other birds beginning with their parents and then the younger members of their flock and finally with their mates and their flock. They depend on the flock and each other for protection from predators and any other danger and so when they don't have a flock the are insecure and stressed and then it does not have at least a companion this situation is even worse for them.
This is why I am glad to see that you are planning on getting your bird at least a companion. Thank you for your consideration.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! Now, before I say anything else, please note that Wolf is the 'tactful' one while I am the 'straightforward borderline rude' one. I don't mean to be rude or critical but I tend not to adorn my replies or apologize in advance for saying something that I know it's not what you want to hear so, please, try not to read any other 'tone' in my replies but neutral because that is the way I mean them.

You are doing the right thing by getting your bird a companion because GCCs are as needy as cockatoos and one that spends so many hours on its own is bound to be intensely unhappy and stressed out. When it comes to parrots and 24/7/365 company, it's not a luxury, an accommodation or even something that, given enough time, they get used to not having. They can't because the necessity of it is hardwired into their brains. Nature evolved them to NEED a flock around them, it's their safety net, their support system and their source of happiness and wellbeing and your not seeing any negative effects doesn't really signify at all. This is not meant as a put down to you. It's a fact that they don't show their unhappiness in any way that we can read it...until they start screaming, biting or plucking that is but that always happens a couple of years down the road and not when they are still babies (yours is borderline juvenile, not even an adult yet). I would have preferred that you had gotten opposite genders (the pelvic bone and looks sexing is BS, you need to DNA) but GCCs are so needy that they would bond with one of their same gender. It's not as satisfying to them and, as time goes by, they will feel the lack of an actual mate (you need to remember that, to animals, procreation IS the driving force of their lives).

Now, once they are both grown and bonded, you will have two little birds that can stay by themselves all day long (although I don't know how you are going to keep them at a solar schedule and feed them right if you are not there for the sunset...) but you can't leave a baby on its own all day long. It will need soft food twice a day (and, most likely, one handfeeding a day at the beginning) and many, many hours of company or it will not wean/socialize properly -and, please, don't tell me that the breeder says the bird will be weaned before it comes to you because it's NOT something you can count on. Do you have anybody that can come over and spend a few hours with the baby until it's older?

[Tallis22]

Again, thank you for the detailed replies. I'd like to clear up that the staying in town is a once a week occurance, not an every other day thing. Ollie spends at least 2
Hours out with me every morning before I go to work and then for as long as he would like at night before he decides he wants to climb into bed, usually about 3 hours. I know that he shouldn't be left alone for extended periods of time but he really does get oodles of attention when I'm home.

As for him being alone while I'm working there's really not much I can do besides find him a friend. I live an hour out of town and to try and find him a sitter and then take him to that sitter each day would shorten my day considerably.

If anyone has any information or experiences of introducing 2 tame birds and keeping them tame that would be great. Thanks again

[Wolf]

In the interests of brevity as well as providing a detailed report of my experiences with the issue please read this viewtopic.php?f=25&t=14369 There are links to the stories of my acquiring each of the birds involved as well as everything that has transpired so far with them together. I may even need to post an update in the topic as I haven't posted there in several days.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is directing you to a thread about introducing two adult birds but you will have a baby and a juvenile so they can't be put together until they are both adults and bonded so that means another year or year and a half in separate cages. You actually would have been much better off adopting a young adult of the opposite gender to the one you already have because the baby cannot be left alone for longer than 3 or 4 hours at a time and, if you work full time and live 1 hour out of town, we are talking 10 hours a day which is way too long... You can't even leave a puppy or a kitten alone for so long, much less a baby bird.

[Tallis22]

I really appreciate all the help you're both providing. The baby bird arrived last night and I have been observing her eating habits and she is eating seed, fruit and nuts and pooping regularly. Ollie (my older bird) seems a bit stressed out at the new comer and I haven't allowed them out together yet.

I'm concerned though because baby (so stuck on a name) is VERY clingy. She's been pacing and squawking when she's in her cage but as soon as I let her out she snuggles up on me and falls asleep or sits quietly. I don't want her to feel lonely or rejected but then I've got Ollie who's used to being out all the time and I don't want to shun him either. At the moment I'm just trying to give them equal time out of the cage, and also giving them time in their cages (situated next to each other) to get used to one another.

One question I do have is regarding their 'flock'. The first comment said that Ollie is probably intensely unhappy because he needs a flock. And then later it's stated that the baby can't be alone for over 4 hours. But the last comment says they cannot be housed together for over a year. I've been told by multiple breeders that gcc are community birds and will likely be fine together. So I'm curious as to why they need to be bonded to live together. Why is it different to multiple aviary birds housed together?

I know some of these comments are probably a little frustrating, especially as you're both so experienced, but I am doing my best, I did do loads of of research before buying Ollie, and I did speak to at least 5 breeders and bird owners personally regarding buying another bird. I only want what's best for them and appreciate any help at all.

[liz]

You got yourself between a rock and a hard place.
The baby is a baby and needs physical contact. At the same time Ollie should not have to give up a minute of his time with you.
They may eventually become friends but it is up to you to make sure Ollie and the baby get the attention they need. Ollie might become jelus an not want the baby in the house.