kinda crazy... right?

[ShelbyLRay]

Okay so, I got home from school today to find that one of my friends that I used to play softball with also had a Green Cheek like my Byrdie... the only problem with this is that she never had time for her. Her name is Kiwi, and she is a real sweetheart once she's on your hand or shoulder for a little bit. Yes, she's nippy, but thats only because she doesn't get handled very often. I didn't think i would have time for two birds at first, but now that ive had birdie for a while, ive gotten the hang of how often i need to play with him every day and i now understand his want and need for attention. my friend was about to leave to take Kiwi to the shelter to put her up for adoption, so i called her and stopped her and told her i would take her. she gave me the bird who is healthy as can be, her HUGE cage, and a ton of toys-free of charge. she is an absolutely beautiful pineapple green cheek, and she already steps up on your hand on command and can say "pretty girl" in that messy toddler kind of way. she used to be handled frequently, but when my friend started having a life she decided the bird wasn't for her. now i am very excited to be having another bird in the house, but I'm also concerned about how the tow might behave in the same room as one another. as soon as i got home they were happily tweeting to one another, but as soon as i left the room, Kiwi started screaming and Byrdie freaked out and started flapping his wings violently. as soon as i stepped in the room that all stopped. will they turn each other into some loud birds, or will they eventually get accustomed to having each other in earshot of one another? i would post a picture but like i said in my previous post, my computer will not let me upload pictures to any website ill have the apple store figure it out for me and then you guys can see my two feathered beauties!!!

[Wolf]

Well, well, well, What can I say, but congratulations on your second child, Kiwi. The first thing that you need to know now is that you should quarantine the new bird for at least 30 days, this is so that your new babies can't make each other sick and it also allows you time to get the new bird checked out by the vet/ bird doctor. Since you now have two, you may also want to make certain of whether you have boys or girls. how well they get along with each other may be partly decided by what you have as far as male/ female goes. Then there will be how well they like each other.
It is good that you are able to handle both of these birds as they will place a huge demand on you time as they each want to hang out on you, more than anything else. You may need to start off with them each in separate rooms, mostly for the quarantine period and then while you begin to introduce them to each other.

[Pajarita]

Yep, what Wolf said: quarantine (you can't keep them in the same room), DNA'ing both of them as well as testing for contagious diseases (one of them may be a carrier and get the other one sick), a good diet (no free-feeding pellets or seeds, fresh greens and fruits every day), a solar schedule (always important but more so if you have a male/female pair) and, after all this is done, slowly introducing them to one another. If you have a male/female pair, it will be easier on you because you won't have to spend separate time with each of them which gets complicated in the winter when they go to bed so early but, on the other hand, if they bond, the male will prefer the female to you and might get quite nippy - but it's nothing that cannot be handled and so much better for them.

[Tman007]

Yes you need to watch them after you quarantine them. I have a GCC and he thinks he's nine feet tall and bulletproof. LOL I also have a jenday conure that the GCC is not happy with. A fight can start with out any notice at all. One minute you think everything is ok the next all hell breaks out. I hope they do get along just be careful.

[ShelbyLRay]

I'm not going to keep them together @wolf because I don't have an avian vet near me. They are in different rooms now but they can hear each other. I have two large cages so they're fine apart. The people I got her from were pretty wealthy and they took her for routine checkups every other month or so, so they assured me she was healthy, but the place I got my male from told me to always quarantine birds so I did. She is fully flighted, so it's hard to keep her from getting too skittish sometimes.

[Wolf]

If she is skittish, then she probably need some time to fly about a bit. If she will allow you to handle her, perhaps you could close her in the room she is in and let her out to fly and hang out with you for a hour or two a day while she is in quarantine. It would help her calm down some.

[ShelbyLRay]

If she is skittish, then she probably need some time to fly about a bit. If she will allow you to handle her, perhaps you could close her in the room she is in and let her out to fly and hang out with you for a hour or two a day while she is in quarantine. It would help her calm down some.

Ive been trying to do this for an hour now, but she won't fly but once or twice. while i was on my computer last night, i opened her cage door and gave her a piece of an apple, and she sat on top of her cage for about 30 minutes and then scared me to death when she finally flapped her way over to my shoulder... but then she freaked me out by playing with my hair because I'm so ticklish. she nips a lot, and she only likes scratches on the top of her head. if i try to go anywhere else, she freaks out and bites me the person i got her from told me that i needed to be careful because she has never been handled without a glove, but she knows step up, so i said it and she hopped right up on my hand like it was a perch. they didn't have any sand perches in her cage, so i had to get some of the little sand covers to put on a dowel to put in her cage, and thats the only thing i have to groom her nails since she won't let me purposely touch her feet... so far she is doing really well, and ive found out that she can mimic my whistles to some extent, and since I'm ALWAYS whistling (my brother is a music major and i am always picking up tunes) maybe she will learn a few tunes too she screams so loud sometimes though, almost like an ear piercing screech... i think she may have been around a noise like that at her old house.

[Pajarita]

NO SAND OR DOWEL PERCHES, PLEASE!!! They are terrible for their feet, a bird can get bumble foot from them! Think about it, how would you like standing on a surface that has had gravel stuck to it?

Also, although it's great that they took her to the vet, it doesn't mean she was tested for a contagious disease like psittacosis (people that have only one bird hardly ever do) so get the name of the vet and call to find out but even if she was, yours wasn't so that still needs to be done - unless you are planning on keeping quarantine for the rest of their lives which is a HUGE hassle as you have to make sure they don't use the same bowls, that you wash your hands and even might need to change your clothes when you go from one bird to the other, etc. Plus, if they took her to an avian vet, then there is one near enough to you because the girl who owned her went to your school so she must live near you.

If she is used to screaming, it's not because she heard it in her previous home, it's because she was lonely.

[liz]

She could also be screaming to the other bird she knows is in the house. If any of my cages get separated they all call to the missing one. I tried to separate my cockatiels to separate parts of the house but I couldn't stand the screaming all day. When I put them in the same room it is alright.