Pairing two green cheeks whom both have ownership of me

[jadedvixen]

Hi everyone,
My name is Miley and I've just created an account today.
I work in a pet store to which my position requires tending to all of the live animals in the store. About 2 year ago I had the responsibility of training a Pineapple Greek Cheek Conure, Bella. Bella and I created a bond being as the other employees were too afraid to handle her because at the time she was aggressive. Needless to say I ended up purchasing her. Here we are a year later and the same situation happened to me yet again with a Black Cap Green Cheek Conure, Felix.
Bellas enclosure is currently set up in the living room while Felix' enclosure is set up in my bedroom. The two cages are approximately 40-50 feet away from each other.
My plan to introduce them is as follows...
Being that Felix is in a new home I am giving his first week to adjust to his new surrounding away from Bella because moving from one location to another can be very stressful, especially considering Felix has moderate-high anxiety. I plan on my next step being to relocate Felix in the living room where Bella is at the beginning of week too, but to where the two of them can only hear each other, rather than see each other. The following week I plan to house them to where they can visible see each other while scooting their cages a few inches closer each day. During week four I plan to interact with Felix on the couch since he is aggressive towards my roommate while my roommate interacts with Bella on the other end of the couch, of course offering several treats.
However here is he tricky part.... Since I trained them each separately at the pet store & they have never met before, they both have a deep bond with me and feel ownership over me.
I've never been in a situation like this before so can anyone possibly predict and outcome and brainstorm with me and help decide what techniques to use in order to have them instead friendly?
Thanks those of you who took the time to read my novel and respond. Looking forward to hearing from some of you.

[Chantilly]

Hi Miley! Welcom to the forum
I have not had any actual experiences with introducing birds, so I cant be of help... however I am sure a lot of other members will be able to help you


I think it is lovely that you took home the birds you became colse too ... I am not trying to be a nag, but I would love to see some photos of your babies!!!! (please! )

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

A one month quarantine is required. The new bird may be healthy but you don't know what it could be carrying and just has not shown an illness.
They should be in separate rooms but within hearing distance so they will learn a little about each other and be curious to see each other.

You can use this time to get the new one on a good feeding schedule with healthy foods that they don't get in a pet shop. I started by giving mine every fruit and vegetable that I have. It has also helped my eating habbits by buying and eating produce much more than before.

Wash your hands after touching the new guy or his stuff. It is after all called quarantine.

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum, I hope that you find all that you are hopeing to find here and more that can benefit you and the birds.

So are you saying that Felix is a Black Capped Conure/ Green Cheeked Conure hybrid ? Or is he a Black Capped Conure. I do know that there are hybrids of these two species of parrots living in the wild, but was not aware the they were being crossed in a captive breeding program any where. Pictures and stories of and about your bird are very much in demand on the forum once you work out haw to post pictures.

Please don't take this in the wrong way, but I do not like your current plan for bringing these two birds together. It is not that it is actually such a bad plan as it is well thought out as far as it goes, it just doesn't take certain things into consideration enough. I am not generally in favor of speaking against something without having a better plan or at the very least without having some suggestions that would improve on the one being proposed or in effect.

Please read and consider what I am offering you as an alternative, along with my reasons for the suggestions that I am making and then make a new plan.

The very first thing that needs to occur when you bring a new bird home is a period of quarantine of at least 30 days. It should actually be for 60 to 90 days to be as effective as it should be. This quarantine period is really the only thing that we have to help defend and protect our birds from the transmission of some very nasty diseases of which some are fatal for the birds and/ or that have no known cure. And if such a disease is introduced into your birds and any of them survive, they become carriers and while showing no symptoms themselves they are a life long hazard to any other bird that they come into the vicinity of. This quarantine should be with the birds in separate rooms that are closed of from each other and with the door sealed and with an air purifier running to protect from airborne transmission of disease. It also means that at the very least that you wash your hands after visiting with the new bird, before interacting with your older birds. Most of us just do a minimal 30 day quarantine due to the high level of stresses that both the birds and we ourselves experience while the quarantine is in effect.

Once the quarantine period is over then I would move their cages into the same room as each other and place them so that they can not only talk to each other like they will have already been doing from the different rooms, but so that they also have a good view of each other. Many people either do not know or just don't realize that birds communicate with each other visually as well as vocally and that this visual communication is just as important as the vocal communication. The visual communication takes place through the use of body language. This is what happens when you live surrounded by many other birds that are screaming to each other as loud as they can trying to be heard over all of the other screaming birds. Then after a couple of days without any signs of aggression towards each other from a distance move the cages near to each other but with enough distance to keep them from touching he other bird cage. In my opinion anywhere from 12 inches apart to about 3 to 4 feet apart is pretty much an ideal placement for them on a more permanent basis.

Now as unfortunate as it is we have absolutely no idea as to how any parrot decides what parrot or even human that it is going to like and get along with or to bond with. We do know that there is a better chance of them at least bonding as a flock if they are of the same or at least of a compatible species and of the opposite sex. We know that introduction need to occur at the individual birds pace without any more interference from a human than needed to prevent any actual fighting. We also know that if one or both of the birds has established a bond with you that it is much better if they do not see you making physical contact with the other bird at least in the beginning or there will be jealousy and probable fighting due to the physical interaction taking place.
They will both need to have a substantial amount of time out of their cages each day, a minimum of at least 4 hours is the usual recommendation. It is beneficial if both of these birds are able to fly during this part of their introduction so that one or both of them can escape from any aggressive behaviors from the other bird. Do to the nature of these species, they will both likely be Velcro birds, preferring to spend much of their out of cage time attached to you or possibly on your roommate. Still it would be a good idea to have placed several perches about the room so that they have plenty of places to fly to and perch if they need to so as to avoid fighting. And for the first several times that they are out together at the same time it would, indeed, be a good idea for both you and your roommate to be present with them until you are pretty certain that they will get along in the large area of the room, sort of like a flock setting. Unless they develop at least a flock bonding it may not be advisable for them to be out at the same time. Now given the nature of these birds it is very likely that given some time that they will be fine with being out in the same room and with even more time possibly with even closer interaction between them, but only time will tell. It is even possible that they may even mate bond, but there is no one that can predict these things.

I do hope that I have given enough information for you to revise you current plan so that it reflects the natures of these birds a bit better so as to take maximum advantage of their natural behavioral traits at least at the species level.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Bella, Felix and Miley! Both Liz and Wolf are correct. Quarantine needs to be, at the very least, 30 days and it should never be done in the same room because most bird diseases are passed on through inhaled aerosolized poop so washing your hands after you handle the new bird and before you handle the old one is also required.

The process of introducing one bird to another, as Wolf described, requires a gradual approach with constant supervision -but you kind of play it by ear on this through observation of both birds reactions (body language) when let out at the same time. Another thing you need to take into consideration is that one is an adult while the other is a juvenile (thankfully, in your case, it's the male that is the juvenile which makes things easier) so extra caution is required.

I never had any trouble getting GCCs to accept one another but there is a member who, having a male, recently acquired a female to be his companion and, apparently, it did not work out - at least not yet.

[seagoatdeb]

Hi everyone,
My name is Miley and I've just created an account today.
I work in a pet store to which my position requires tending to all of the live animals in the store. About 2 year ago I had the responsibility of training a Pineapple Greek Cheek Conure, Bella. Bella and I created a bond being as the other employees were too afraid to handle her because at the time she was aggressive. Needless to say I ended up purchasing her. Here we are a year later and the same situation happened to me yet again with a Black Cap Green Cheek Conure, Felix.
Bellas enclosure is currently set up in the living room while Felix' enclosure is set up in my bedroom. The two cages are approximately 40-50 feet away from each other.
My plan to introduce them is as follows...
Being that Felix is in a new home I am giving his first week to adjust to his new surrounding away from Bella because moving from one location to another can be very stressful, especially considering Felix has moderate-high anxiety. I plan on my next step being to relocate Felix in the living room where Bella is at the beginning of week too, but to where the two of them can only hear each other, rather than see each other. The following week I plan to house them to where they can visible see each other while scooting their cages a few inches closer each day. During week four I plan to interact with Felix on the couch since he is aggressive towards my roommate while my roommate interacts with Bella on the other end of the couch, of course offering several treats.
However here is he tricky part.... Since I trained them each separately at the pet store & they have never met before, they both have a deep bond with me and feel ownership over me.
I've never been in a situation like this before so can anyone possibly predict and outcome and brainstorm with me and help decide what techniques to use in order to have them instead friendly?
Thanks those of you who took the time to read my novel and respond. Looking forward to hearing from some of you.

Sounds like you are doing very well with it, taking your time and going slowly. GGC usually do accept each other eventually and get along fine, so just give them time, and go with what is working for you.

[Bird woman]

I always quarantine 45 days and at the end of that period full blood panel at vet. A bird may not show any illness as this is natures way. But a stressed bird for what ever reason may shed disease even when showing no signs of illness, possibly being a carrier. It's pretty tricky business . I agree with you about the introduction and you must remember to set some boundaries so all have a place with you to feel safe and loved. I am fortunate to have a large house as bird friendly as I could build it so there are lots of different areas for the kids to get away from each other if they want. One thing I know to be true ,every time another bird enters the picture the whole dynamics of the flock changes,sometimes for the good but most of the time jealousy has to be addressed and dominance will be established . This is the time to be very careful so nobody gets hurt. I never leave mine unattended at this point. I have several outdoor avairys ( large ones ). And I always know who can be with who. At the point of introduction of your birds , they should have had plenty of time to relax and call to one another and be curious. Careful cause I've seen the human get kicked out of the equation and the birds bond right away. That doesn't happen very often at least not in my flock but when it does your going to be SLOPPY SECONDS AT BEST ! Then you will be retrained by them . lOL. Hope this is helpful. Bird woman

[Wolf]

Please explain this dominance that you are speaking of in more detail and perhaps provide an example of this. I am asking about this as parrots do not usually live in a dominance based hierarchy, so I would like to try and get a handle on what you are referring to as dominance. I also hear more about this as pertains to captive birds and have a couple of thoughts on it but they are not yet clear enough in my mind to talk about much at this point,.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I would love for you to elaborate on that, Bird woman. Because, in my experience, the dynamics do change when you introduce a new bird and it can be a pretty drastic change as well as a protracted one which can take up to two years to get resolved but I don't think it's so much actual dominance as the fact that some birds are more self-assured or aggressive than others so there is a 're-arrangement' in the flock (the bigger, stronger, more self-assured, aggressive or whatever bird takes over a spot that belonged to another bird - that kind of thing)

[seagoatdeb]

I see dominance too and have seen it many time or maybe its parrot politics....but it is there, no matter what name you give it. They are more intelligent than birds who have a pecking order,and more like humans where one has a stronger personality that the rest follow. It can depend on the parrots personality and the species too.

Gaugan has always been a dominant parrot and she has always made sure that all the other parrots learned to have a realtionship with her where she was the one who made the rules. She is that way with people too, except for me. She has a real hard time with cockatiels, becaue she would think she let them know what she would allow, but the cockatiels being what they are just assumed she made that rule one time and it would be okay to do the same thing again. She would get frustrated and grab a cockatiels tail and Gaugan was not one to want to attack, she much more perferred the use of body language and posturing. on the ground or on a level surface she can run so fast in a lunge type fashion, she can scare most Parrots that arent that good on the ground, so she easily dominated the floor.

I have seen conures band together to attack another parrot, and in my daughters house the rescue senegal came from a house where the two conures where attacking her and so she was kept imprisoned in her small cage. Once in my daughters house, she was scared of parrots, but she was mostly scared of the small GGC because it was GGCs who had attacked her. She managed to make it into his cage and corner him and bite his eylid making an emergencey trip to a vet necessary. My daughter has to vigilantly supervise because the Conure and Meyers will team up to atttack the Senegal. The Meyers is not afraid of people at all, when a new person comes in the house, he has to be on them immediately, and seems to want to make sure he has a realtionship with everyone.Now the Meyers, wants to be dominate in his house in the parrot world, but he seems to also want every parrot and person to be on friendly terms with him, so he finds the Senegal confusing, and she is the only member of the household who will not have some kind of relationshp with him. Even Gaugan and Sunny have a relationship with my daughters Meyers, he respects Gaugan, and he lets Sunny flock with them.

In my house right now there is harmony. Gaugan, is the dominate parrot and that makes her happy. Sunny is happy to be a flock member and does not care about dominance at all, he just wants to get along. My husaband has a good realtionship with Gaugan, and he is able to pet Sunnys beak.

The OP has two GGCs and the usually do get along well with their own species. But they are individuals so nothing is written in stone.

They are a lot like children really, and the dominance factor is a lot more similar to that.....at least this is my opinion and observations.