Bonjour alll!
I'm thinking about finding another small sized parrot to possibly befriend my quaker. Reason being... I feel he is not getting as much attention that he would like. Now I am wondering from past experience what is the best situation; (a) Try a bigger cage first or (b) attempt to find a conure, quaker or sennie to stimulate a "flock-like" environment?
To be honest, since my 'zon came along, my little quaker has not been getting as much attention as it has been split. Add a puppy to the situation and now my quaker is starting to scream and become aggressive towards me (does not let me take him off his cage but will accept pets). Moody little bugger! I will never re-home him (just to set it straight). Just want him to be as happy as he can be!

Obviously with his territorial issues, he'd probably peck another bird to death once it came near his cage, so they would be separated (currently frequent toy change and placements done in cage). But do you think they would play on a new play stand? I'm not very sure about interactions between parrots since my zon and quaker never got along so any advice is great!

Thanks!
Kristy

How long has the zon been with you? Maybe cut down a little on it's attention and devote it to the quaker. I was fortunate in a way in that I knew mine would react poorly to a change in attention so I major limited it from the get go with the new grey (which isn't so new anymore). But it resulted I think in two fairly happy and content birds. Both are quite happy entertaining  themselves and only get one on one time with me for a half hour or less each day. But everytime I pass them they get talked to and beaks and toes stroked. And they also entertain each other because I keep their cages close to each other.

This post was last modified: 01-31-2010 09:40 AM by hahns owner.

Emma (my zon) will be 3 in June and I've had her since she was a baby, so around 2 and half years. Willy my quaker is about 6 or 7 I'd say. I was thinking about building him a stand in the kitchen but he is absolutely terrified of Emmas and will refuse to sit there for any amount of time when Emma isn't around.
Emmas cage is so large that it has to go downstairs and Willy's is upstairs.
I will try to take him out more, but he seems to resent me now with the addition of Emma and the new puppy. I was just looking out for his best interest and if the pros of bringing in a smaller type bird would outweigh the cons I would seriously consider getting a new little guy.

Pros
They bond
(play together, keep eachother company)
Happy bird!
Give a parrot in need a home.
If they dont bond, they could chatter at eachother I suppose.

Cons
May not even like eachother
If same sp. they may breed (don't know sex of Willy)
May have two even unhappier birds

Well this is my list, if you have anything else to add to it, please, by all means!
Kristy

In my experience pairing them up is a positive thing (if they accept each other). But honestly my birds just enjoy the company of other birds being in the same room. I would get them DNA sexed if you get another Quaker since they are rather prolific breeders and you could potentially have a nursery on your hands in no time! lol

Thanks Amira,
So far I've had a family contact me in regards to a 7-8 year old quaker that they are trying to re-home. I've asked her if I could babysit the little guy for a while to see how my quaker and hers get along.
I'm thinking this is the best way to handle this... She ultimately wants the best for her guy as well.
What is the best way to introduce two new birds together?

This post was last modified: 02-06-2010 12:31 AM by ksmith.

When I introduced my two OWA I started by putting their cages next to each other. Then, when I felt comfortable with that, I let them out on their cages next to each other. After I felt like they were okay with this I tried putting them on the same cage together. In the end I had to put them in a new cage because one wasn't big enough and the other one was Loca's cage and she was far too territorial about it. Although you may not even want to cage them together so you may not have to deal with that specific issue.

Alrighty... well I'm scared but I feel this could potentially be a good thing. I think I'm going to go pick up the quaker next week with cage and all.
How long did it take until they started to react positively to eachother? Or negatively in that matter?

I think it was a couple of months. Good luck!