Companion bird?

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Watto
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:44 pm

Companion bird?

Post by Watto »

Hi guys,

We love our IRN, Pesto - he's great to have around, fully tame, and has no real behavioural issues, besides the one I'm asking about today. The problem is, he's a real company bird, and squawks like mad if you leave him alone at all. That's not an issue a lot of the time, as we love having him with us, but even the most passionate bird-lover would like the occasional alone-time!

This has lead to our family talking about maybe getting another IRN as company for Pesto, who we're pretty sure is a male, as he does the heart shape when flirting, and is getting a dark-ish ring already. I've attached a photo of his cage, which is a pretty standard one - would that be big enough for two birds? We don't want to get a second cage, so that would rule out the idea straight away (although we might consider buying a bigger one - we just wouldn't want two cages in the house).

If the cage is big enough, what are the potential problems with getting another bird of either gender? Pesto is about a year old, from memory.

Has anyone successfully bought a second IRN a year after the first, and do they get on well?

Cheers!

Watto :)
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Nerissa
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:47 pm
Location: NSW
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Re: Companion bird?

Post by Nerissa »

The only thing i would be worried about, would be if he was so attached to you. How would he react to another bird?
I dont know much but i am getting a second bird in a couple of days and im going to keep them seperateuntil i no for sure they like eachother if they ever do! but otherwise im not sure:)
Hope you get some better info :)
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Lolly
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:18 am

Re: Companion bird?

Post by Lolly »

We go a female (green ) she was 4 yrs old from a petstore .
We had her about 3 years untill my daughter bugged for a boy .
Took 2 years to train lolly without biting my daughter .
So we got a young male ...and just put him in the cage with new stoops that he claimed as his own and lolly didnt sit on .
She was very mean to him ,we clipped her wings so he could move faster then him .
It took about 2 months and him being really "pesty" if you ask me lol
They get along great ,lolly had laid about 8 eggs all duds because he hasnt actually mounted her ,but they both retire together to the nesting box every night together and I think it has made them closer .
When there is no eggs we open the box and cage and they have run of the room .
She just laid an egg a few days ago ,I will grab it in a week or 2 and toss it and open the cage again .

I have put our blue pair next to them in hopes I can put all 4 together in a huge cage .
and once I tame the grey pair to step up I will also like to add them with the other 4 .

If you do get another I would definately clip the aggressive one until they get along .
This way the other can run faster .....
Lolly seems to go for the feet so watch for that .
I sat right there with them for hours on end telling lolly to "be nice"
I am not sure how 2 males get along together ....I could test it out lol
but I can only guess 2 females together would be a bloodbath lol

Note ..... when we put them together it was a new cage one that lolly had never been in before as I was afraid she would be to territorial with the cage she was in for 7 years .
she was in a strange home the same time as him ,to make it even :-)
Good luck! hope this helped
Watto
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:44 pm

Re: Companion bird?

Post by Watto »

Thanks guys! Some food for thought there :?
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