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Play gyms and multiple birds

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Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby lzver » Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:46 am

For those of you with multiple birds, do you let your birds out at the same time to play?

We got Lucy first and when we got Jessie and introduced them after quarentine, Lucy was very aggressive towards Jessie and ever since I've never let them out of their cages at the same time. I'm afraid one of them is going to get hurt so they have their own play time out of their cages. Even now if Lucy flies over to Jessie's cage, Jessie becomes aggressive and tries to bite her legs - I wonder though if its just a territorial thing - like he's telling Lucy 'Hey this is my cage'.

With them being 5 and 4 now, how would you recommend I introduce them to each other and maybe get them to a point where they could hang out together without trying to hurt each other. I'd love to get them to a point where they can hang out and play together.
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Laura's Bird World Blog - http://laurasbirdworld.blogspot.com/
Jessie - Senegal
Lucy - Red Bellied
Kylie - Meyers
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lzver
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Location: Guelph, ON
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby Lisa » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:05 pm

lzver wrote:For those of you with multiple birds, do you let your birds out at the same time to play?

We got Lucy first and when we got Jessie and introduced them after quarentine, Lucy was very aggressive towards Jessie and ever since I've never let them out of their cages at the same time. I'm afraid one of them is going to get hurt so they have their own play time out of their cages. Even now if Lucy flies over to Jessie's cage, Jessie becomes aggressive and tries to bite her legs - I wonder though if its just a territorial thing - like he's telling Lucy 'Hey this is my cage'.

With them being 5 and 4 now, how would you recommend I introduce them to each other and maybe get them to a point where they could hang out together without trying to hurt each other. I'd love to get them to a point where they can hang out and play together.


hello:

I have learned though the place I got my conure, as they specialize in Parrots, also another list that I belong too. we have been told that we should not allow birds, to use their cage to hang on as it will cause agressvie behaivor, also that is why they also say you should not get a cage that has a play stand on top of the cage.

I have also learned that birds do not come into themselves until any where between 3 years and 5 years, depending on what type of bird you get.

I would think what is going on is that your one bird that is protecting his cage when the other bird comes onto it, the other one the first thing your first bird did was to show the other one that they were number 1, the same thing would happen with dogs, as I am a behaviorist with dogs, trainer and show.

now understand I do not have the experience as the people who are showing me, diffrent things about birds, if you are located in NJ or PA and you are not to far from burlington NJ, you should pay a visit to Bird Paradise. I would not get a bird any other place.

hope this helps, and please let me know

Lisa
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby pchela » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:37 pm

I let my guys out together. They do not like each other but they leave each other alone for the most part. Pippin, my senegal, is a bully and the other two usually just get out of his way. Of course, I supervise them because you never know what might happen but they are able to hang out and not fight for the most part.

I only have playtop cages and wouldn't have it any other way. Cage aggression is not a problem with my guys so I don't worry about letting them play on their cages. Do make sure that your first bird knows he is number one like Lisa said. Let him out of the cage first, feed him first etc. Give him a special privilege that the other bird doesn't get. This can minimize jealously and aggressive behavior towards the new bird.
"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" ~ Jack Handy ~ Deep Thoughts
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby lzver » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:26 am

Thanks for the suggestions pchela and Lisa.

I think I'll give it a try on Sunday morning and see how it goes. I can bring the laptop into the room and keep a close eye on them. I'm sure I'm the one making a big deal out of it and they'll surprise me.

I never really thought of doing everything for Lucy first to try to minimize any jealousy or aggression. I'll definitely keep that in mind.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura's Bird World Blog - http://laurasbirdworld.blogspot.com/
Jessie - Senegal
Lucy - Red Bellied
Kylie - Meyers
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby kellybird » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:22 pm

Hello, right now I am trying to get my greenwing macaw used to my bluefonted amazon. I have had many, many parrots over the last 16+ years and within those years have had all my birds eventually become friendly with one another. I have my bluefronted amazon with my senegal and 2 meyers parrots right now. Took a while of introducing and lots of time, they are not lovey dovey with one another but tolerate each other. They do not fight (on occasion one will be in a mood and "growl" if you will and then the other just flies away. They have all been together now for at least 4 years. I am slowing working on the macaw to be in the same cage as all the little ones but that may take months or even years. I would not recommend anyone just trying this. I put a lot of trust in my birds and know whether or not its the right time to do so. I have just a wire dividing the two cages (indoor aviary) to start, its been a few weeks and everyone is doing well. Both food bowls on each side are on the divider so technically they are eating together and can physically touch each other through the bars. I then take each bird out for a half hour or so on a playgym at seperate times. Then I leave the less dominate bird out and put the more dominant bird back on. Stand and watch. As soon as I see one of them leaning toward each other I intervene with some sort of object. I also put lots of toys around to take less attention from the other bird. I only do this for 5-10 minutes each day and not everyday. So far this has worked for me and again, I would NOT recommend doing this with just two totally different species of birds or even the same species if you do not know what you are doing or don't trust the bird or cannot keep a close eye on them. I do NOT leave them alone for even a second when I do this. I know it is possible and I wish you luck! Kelly
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby Natacha » Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:18 am

I let all of my guys together at the same time.

I have one who is 2-3 years old, one who is 4, two that are 5 and one who is 14-15 years old.
I have several play gyms, both in our living room and in the bird room. Generally, we bring them out with us in the living room area, but we do also let them out and spend time with them in the birdroom, where the cages are located. While I close the cage when they are out (to prevent the "pigs" to eat the other birds' food and to prevent in/out cage aggression (biting toes through bars as an example)), they do play nice on top of their cages (play tops) and also use the hanging playgyms present all throughout the room, so they are rarely side by side if they don't want to be.

In the living room, I have more stands/perches/hanging play gym than I have birds...they are free to go where they want to be. Again, enough space that they don't need to be next to each other if they don't want to. I can have 3-4 birds on the java wood tree and they are doing their own thing without noticing the others.

With all this said, I still keep an eye open on what they are doing when out since it happens that there might be the occasional tiff between two birds, which I can easily break up if I need to.
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby Michael » Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:03 am

Since you have a dedicated bird room and all that stuff, would you consider leaving them out in it on their own? Would you consider letting them live cageless in the room like that?
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby Natacha » Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:08 pm

Michael wrote:Since you have a dedicated bird room and all that stuff, would you consider leaving them out in it on their own? Would you consider letting them live cageless in the room like that?


Not cageless, no. That room is in no way "bird proof". Left there alone for too long, I wouldn't count on them not trying to chew something they shouldn't.

I do leave them out in the room alone at times; not everyone together though. I might leave one or two that get along in there when I have others in the living room and rotate them during whatever time out. When I do this, I make sure to go check on them once in a while to make sure they stay out of "trouble"; but since they have so much to do and play with in there and that they spend a bigger chunk of their time out with us in the living room, the toys in the room generally retain their attention and they don't try to go for stuff they shouldn't.
My blog http://poiworld.blogspot.com/
Videos of my birds http://www.youtube.com/user/poicephaluslady
Piper ~ Lovebird
Shade ~ Senegal
Joey & Pixel ~ Red-bellied parrots
Petey & Zuri ~ Meyer's parrots
Léa ~ Cape parrot
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Natacha
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Location: Ontario, Canada
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Types of Birds Owned: PF Lovebird, Senegal Parrot, Red-bellied Parrots, Meyer's Parrot, Cape Parrot
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Re: Play gyms and multiple birds

Postby alight15 » Sun May 16, 2010 12:02 pm

Our parakeets tend to come out at different times since they belong to 3 different people,but usually in the evenings they get to run around and forget about me Image(and not let me play with them)

ok well here's something unique..i guess..

My sister doesnt have time for her Guinea pig anymore,so her friend who adores it is gonna take over as it's owner,and she already has a place for it.

I've been letting my parakeet go outside into the kinda windowed and doored patio we have where this cage is, but it only has mesh screens on the windows and no glass, anyway,recently it was pretty windy and one of the older meshes blew open,I've been hesitant to take my budgie out there since he HAS to go to the patio in the afternoon when he hears birds chirping,and he takes flight more than half the time after chirping happily with them in there(its adorable cause the birds are probably half a mile away and he thinks his voice can carry :mrgreen:)

Now, we have an empty cage,and I have a fussy bird I cant get to focus on anything,and flys when I dont let him out there.

SO I was thinking I'd clean it out and maybe use it as a play gym,my sister's and mom's parakeets might benefit from it too

Oh btw did I mention this cage is 25x13x12?Image
The only thing is the bars are 1/2 inch thick,and I know budgies can squeeze if they want to,I was hoping I'd be around the whole time he's in there to keep watch,but now sure about any other parakeet that might be supervised...

any thoughts on this(without seeing all the neat built in places for toys and stuff)...it'd be great if anyone had ideas on lessening the space on the bars
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