Friend for a conure?

[jrlink00]

Hi everyone!

I adopted a 9 month old female (DNA tested) Peach Front Conure about 4 months ago. She is incredibly sweet and will already climb onto my arm for time outside of her cage, and she loves taking Nutriberries from me. It's been a very easy process bonding with her, but at times I feel like she may be a little distressed until I am present in the room with her and giving attention to her. I am starting to feel that although I have plenty of time for her in the evenings, it may be best for her to have another conure friend so she isn't alone during the day and isn't deprived of knowing another of her species. I can also imagine how wonderful it would be to see her enjoy grooming and interacting with another conure. I realize that housing her with another female conure may be disastrous (no guarantee they would get along) and will likely result in losing a bond with her, but would this be the case if she were to be housed in an adjacent cage to her friend as opposed to being housed in the same cage? Would this better allow me to bond with both birds, allow them to communicate with and see each other during the day, and then play together when I am home to supervise? Is this just a bad idea all around? I am just looking for the best way to make my little bird have the happiest and most fulfilled life, and let me know if having a conure friend housed next to her may be a good way to do this. If this is the way to go, should I consider this now at her age or wait until she is older and has had more time to bond with me? Would there be any difference in having her adjacent friend be a Sun Conure vs a Green Cheek Conure? Thank you!

[Wolf]

I am not really sure of how to best answer your question, in part, this is due to my own lack of knowledge concerning this species of parrot. It is very close in size to a GCC and a bit smaller than a Sun Conure but it is also of a different family/ genus than either of the other to birds and it is listed as more of an aviary bird than of a companion type bird.

Normally if you have a bird and have established a bond with it then although the nature of your relationship with it may change with the introduction of another bird, the bond is rarely if ever lost. There is no way to know before they are introduce to each other haw they will respond with and to each other.

[Pajarita]

I have a male Peach Front, he is an old wild-caught ex-breeder and highly handicapped so it cannot compare at all to yours but, just as information, he is bonded to a female GCC so I would think that a GCC would work out.

Now, I ALWAYS recommend people have more than one bird of the opposite gender and same species or a similar one that would allow them to mate-bond. It is what nature ordained for them and the only way they are really happy in captivity. Having said that, if you are not able to keep them at a strict solar schedule (I understand from your posting that you work full time and interact with your bird at night when you get home, please correct me if I am wrong) and with a low protein diet, if they do bond, you might end up with aggression from one or both of us but, then, on the other hand, you can end up with aggression with just one single bird if the poor thing gets sexually frustrated and ends up with chronic pain from it.

Now, if you do get another bird and they do bond, it would be cruel to keep them separate all day long...