Pajarita's update

[Bird woman]

Okay little miss I need a dose of my own medicine! got your hands real full for the start of the new year. My little love bug { LSC } loomie was hotly pursued by Nigel in the beginning and she absolutely refused his advances and now he is not nice towards her but shifting his attention to big girl Riki . Sounds like what you got going on. well you have 9 cages inside 1 more and you've caught me . Next we will do a gram for gram inventory , you keep going and you'll get me there tooooo ! Happy new year Patti

[liz]

Though I have quite a few single Cockatiels they don't seem to be wanting mates. They all get along bust don't seem to want mates.
Maggie was a breeder bird who lost her mate and would not take another. She was a loner but would also hang with the other single females. Andy has worn her down and she will now let him sit by her.
They just do not seem to care about taking a mate but enjoy being in the flock.

[Pajarita]

Okay little miss I need a dose of my own medicine! got your hands real full for the start of the new year. My little love bug { LSC } loomie was hotly pursued by Nigel in the beginning and she absolutely refused his advances and now he is not nice towards her but shifting his attention to big girl Riki . Sounds like what you got going on. well you have 9 cages inside 1 more and you've caught me . Next we will do a gram for gram inventory , you keep going and you'll get me there tooooo ! Happy new year Patti

No, no, I have nine cages in the living and dining rooms but I have eight cages more in the canary room (there were 13 in there but I found homes for 5 males -2 redfactors, 1 Gloster and 2 Classic Timbrados) AND four more in the birdroom but there will be five soon because I want to get one for Sophie CAG so nianianianiania to you, I win!

[Pajarita]

Though I have quite a few single Cockatiels they don't seem to be wanting mates. They all get along bust don't seem to want mates.
Maggie was a breeder bird who lost her mate and would not take another. She was a loner but would also hang with the other single females. Andy has worn her down and she will now let him sit by her.
They just do not seem to care about taking a mate but enjoy being in the flock.

Yes, sometimes, they simply do not like the potential mates that are available to them. In the wild, they have a large pool to choose from but, in captivity, sometimes there is only a single individual and they happen not to like it... But I think that, as long as they get along, even if it's only for perching side by side and/or flying together, they are still benefitting.

[Bird woman]

Well this is one battle you can gladly win. I don't know how your still sane , this winter is presenting more challenges than I was antisapating Next year there WILL be an outdoor heated space they can go into. I knew after finishing the outside avairys this past year and the fids getting to spend a lot of time out there was going to back fire on me and boy has it. Like having a bunch of cooped up 5 yr olds under foot getting into everything. I think Nigel would make a perfect companion for Linus dont you? just kidding but a thought He is not wanting to have any part of lumie now that she turned him down in the beginning but is very respectful of Riki and follows her around like a love sick puppy. What would happen if you had a huge cage like that one I just got for the macaws and all your cockatiels were together? Aren't they a flock bird ? That cage is big enough for tons of different areas , feeding stations , bath , perches I think you could grow a small tree in it. Would they all get along with a lot of space ? My little lumie and max hang out together in each other's cages with just the occasional spat and beaking. Several of mine have become uncommon frenemies . Talk later Patti

[Pajarita]

Yeah! I win because I have more cages to than you - so there!

All parrots are flock birds but the bigger ones imprint so deeply to humans (I believe it's because they take them way too young from the nest to handfeed) that, although they can learn to live with one another and share a space (which has to be big enough so they are not crowded at all, of course), they never stop needing human company. That's why sanctuaries, as good as they sound, are really not the best answer for them UNLESS they go there already bonded to another bird, are lucky enough to bond with one OR it's a small operation with a number of the same people taking care of the birds (not likely!).

[liz]

I think I win. Most of the birds came with cages. If I set them all up there would be no room to walk in the house. Most have been folded and put away. I leave a big cage in the cockatiel room. They like to hang out on it. They use the cage for protection when they tweet to me. Many of them do not want touched but do want to make contact with me. I can touch them through the wire but not when they are in the open.

[Pajarita]

Ahhh, but we are talking about cages that need cleaning and scrubbing, Liz. Not cages that are not been in use (I have many cages in the basement, too)

[galeriagila]

All I can say is...

WOW.

[liz]

I have sort of done away with cage cleaning. There is no bottom on the cage that the
cockatiels hang out on but I have paper under it. Myrtle does not have a cage. Rainbow only has his sleep cage (a tiny cage that came with budgies). It sits on a counter and does not have a bottom but paper to catch his poop. It is easy to just replace paper every day. Since they do not eat in their cages I don't have food mess to clean up.