I Wish I Knew "Parrot" Better

[MarcusCAG]

So here's the deal...

 

I exited the boys' room for one minute and left them both in my hubby's care. I forget what I was doing in the kitchen because suddenly I heard my husband's sharp tone of alarm, and repeated, and then I was running back in there as quick as I could. I found him just putting Beaker back in his cage and my "What happened?! What happened?!" was ignored for a moment too long for my liking. But then:

 

Apparently, as he reported it, he had Beaker on his shoulder and he was walking across the room. When the two of them passed by Marcus' cage, Beaker--who is growing in his flights quickly--flew up off of his shoulder and landed on Marcus' cage next to him. (Keep in mind, Marcus is a CAG and Beaker is a little Quaker parrot.) Apparently my husband moved quickly to pick Beaker back up, but Marcus lunged at him--not the interloper Beaker--to keep his hand away, and then when my husband tried again to get Beaker to step up, Beaker wouldn't budge. (And that was when I heard his tone change and get louder, "Step up! Step up!")

 

So... what does this mean? Are they buddies now? When Beaker flew onto Marcus' door-perch when his door was open the other day (he's enjoying his feathers growing in, obviously!--a trim is in order soon), Marcus lunged at his head and tried pecking at him before I was able to intervene, freaking out the whole time. Since then I've tried to keep them out of their cages at separate times for the most part, because with Beaker such a flying green bumblebee I don't want problems between them! But now I have to wonder, would tonight's actions indicate that they are kind of friends? As in, on a "we want to socialize next to each other out of our cages" level?...

 

Thoughts???

[birdhouse]

Birds are hardwired to be in flocks with their own kind. But we're able to use that to get them to socialize with us, usually when there aren't any others of their same species around.

 

Birds are for the most part hardwired to protect their nesting territory. It can be a big part of our pet's cage aggression. Beaker invaded Marcus' territory & that triggered a need for defensive aggression. Unfortunately, your hubby also invaded it when he went for Beaker. Maybe he was animated enough to be the bigger perceived threat, so Marcus went for him.

 

Birds are hardwired to be curious. Combine this with the need to socialize & some pet birds will attempt to interact with other species. Sometimes they just want to find out about the other guy. Sometimes they want the company. Sometimes, they're bored & just want to stir something up which would most often be the case with my quaker.

 

It may be that these 2 can become friends but they will both have to agree. It's difficult to socialize most birds with other species. Greys aren't often the most social & quakers are kind of opposite. Greys are big birds & quakers only think they are.

 

One other bit of "parrot", here. If you're going to investigate socializing them, start in controlled sessions, on neutral ground. Make sure they're supervised at all times, even if they eventually become friends. The little guy is the one who's going to lose if it comes to blows... always.

[Birdnut]

I'm going to guess that Marcus lunged at your husband because of his quick movement and alarmed state, more than any attempt to keep your husband from picking up Beaker.

 

I agree with Birdhouse. It would be fine to give the boys an opportunity to see if they might hit it off, but be sure to supervise, especially if you are going to trim Beaker's wings back. I have also read that Greys don't tend to be very sociable with other species, but every bird is an individual.

 

We have a variety of parrots which cohabit our bird room, and most of the time they are out loose together. So there is a parrotlet, a pionus, several conures, medium cockatoo, and sometimes a lovebird loose together in the room. I think it works out because they are all flighted and can easily approach or retreat from each other, as needed. I would not feel at all comfortable with them all having unsupervised access to each other if they could not fly. Given this arrangement, several relationships have developed between various birds, especially the sun conure and the cockatoo, who are BFFs. Our Grey does not live in the bird room, and so far, has not been very friendly toward any of the others and vice versa.

 

Usually, dissension between our birds occurs when one of the humans is present and jealousies are aroused. This is something you will have to watch for when you bring your birds together. These kinds of jealousies are also the reason for many nips and bites directed toward the humans. For example, my sun conure loves me, but does not like the Grey. If I am holding the sun conure and make any move to approach the Grey, the conure will nip me hard. So be careful of this type of redirected aggression if you try to bring your birds together.

[MarcusCAG]

Oh, the parrot wisdom that can be found here in the forums!

 

Thank you both for your replies, I really do appreciate your input. I want my boys to be happy and safe, so for the time being--especially considering what you've both said--I really think it's best to keep them separated for the most part. My hubby would like to try to socialize them more but I don't think we're really at that point yet.

 

Better to be safe than sorry!

[Lambert58]

Birds are hardwired to be in flocks with their own kind. But we're able to use that to get them to socialize with us, usually when there aren't any others of their same species around.

 

Birds are for the most part hardwired to protect their nesting territory. It can be a big part of our pet's cage aggression. Beaker invaded Marcus' territory & that triggered a need for defensive aggression. Unfortunately, your hubby also invaded it when he went for Beaker. Maybe he was animated enough to be the bigger perceived threat, so Marcus went for him.

 

Birds are hardwired to be curious. Combine this with the need to socialize & some pet birds will attempt to interact with other species. Sometimes they just want to find out about the other guy. Sometimes they want the company. Sometimes, they're bored & just want to stir something up which would most often be the case with my quaker.

 

It may be that these 2 can become friends but they will both have to agree. It's difficult to socialize most birds with other species. Greys aren't often the most social & quakers are kind of opposite. Greys are big birds & quakers only think they are.

 

One other bit of "parrot", here. If you're going to investigate socializing them, start in controlled sessions, on neutral ground. Make sure they're supervised at all times, even if they eventually become friends. The little guy is the one who's going to lose if it comes to blows... always.

 

Spot on. We have 3 sun conures. One of those, Merlin, the middle one (age wise), is the sweetest thing ever. Until the sun goes down. Once that happens and we put the kids up for the night, you are not allowed in his cage. He defends the little flock of 3: puffs up, weaves like a king cobra, flexes his wings, and lets everyone know that this cage is HIS and you are NOT welcome. Only at night. During the day he does nothing of the sort, and is happy as a clam if you reach in the cage to pick him or his other 2 buddies up.

 

Flock dynamics are intricate and we're all better off if we spend a LOT of time trying to understand them.

[Luvparrots]

I have three different kinds of parrots. A 2 1/2 year old female Timneh; a 2 3/4 year old male BFA and a 10+ year old male ekkie. My grey is my only fid who was raised by me. The two male fids are both rescues. I only have them out all at once under my supervision. All three are flighted and all have different personalities. My grey is the smallest of the three and usually eggs the other two on as she invades their space. Luckily she is very quick and very agile and the BFA and ekkie are both cumbersome in their flight. Some parrots can live comfortably with each other, my three are of that nature. Of course, I also don't leave me sweet pug alone with any of my parrots as anything can happen and I don't want any mishaps ever. Better safe than sorry.

[Birdnut]

Spot on. We have 3 sun conures. One of those, Merlin, the middle one (age wise), is the sweetest thing ever. Until the sun goes down. Once that happens and we put the kids up for the night, you are not allowed in his cage. He defends the little flock of 3: puffs up, weaves like a king cobra, flexes his wings, and lets everyone know that this cage is HIS and you are NOT welcome. Only at night. During the day he does nothing of the sort, and is happy as a clam if you reach in the cage to pick him or his other 2 buddies up.

 

LOL! I think this is a conure thing, especially. And especially when you have more than one. We have a pair of blue crowned conures who are the same way. Only it's not just their cage they become aggressive over -- it's anywhere they have settled to roost. So if you haven't gotten them back in their cage in time, and they start settling into a spot and saying, "Night, night," you just better let them roost in whatever spot they've chosen! We say they go into "Chucky" mode when the sun goes down.

 

But seriously, to the point of the discussion, I have noted that the pair of conures can be rather dominant and aggressive toward the other birds at any time. I think having a "mate" confers more dominance. They will sometimes bully the other birds. This is something to keep in mind if you want to allow birds loose together and have more than one of a particular species that might tend to gang up on the others.