Hello All!
I am fairly new to this whole Indian Ringneck "parenting". We have a male IRN who is about 3 yrs old. I got him from a friend who only had him for a few months. I nursed him back to health for her after they sold his companion. He seemed very depressed once he was alone. Then about 2 months ago he moved in to our home. My question is this....we are thinking about introducing a 2nd bird so that he has a companion....any suggestions on type of bird? Age? Sex? We are thinking of possibly a cockatiel or another IRN or Alexandrine. The reason for a 2nd bird is that when we play videos of other IRN's from youtube etc he seems to really calm down and is interested in the video bird. He stops screeching and starts almost cooing and chattering away quietly. I think he still misses his previous companion. Is a 2nd bird the best solution to this situation?
Introducing a 2nd bird
Moderator: Mods
-
ellieelectrons
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:17 am
- Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
Have you considered getting another ringneck? Since he had a companion before, it's likely that he would take to another one?
Ellie.
Ellie.
-
Makailaann
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:40 pm
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
Yes we are considering another ringneck, cockatiel, conure or lovebird. Our concern is that a bird smaller than him may not be a good idea incase he harms it. Just wondering if anyone has done this before & had any suggestions.
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
I have an alex and a Irn that live in the same cage. My two get on pretty well but they are both male and they feed eachother 
They talk (human) talk to eachother all day and are both very tame.
They talk (human) talk to eachother all day and are both very tame.-
Makailaann
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:40 pm
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
Do alexandrines stay about the same size as an IRN? How similar are they to IRNs?
Last edited by Makailaann on Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
Makailaann
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:40 pm
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
Forgot to ask..... what is a good cage size for 2 birds if I do put them together? Or is it better to keep them in separate cages but next to each other?
-
ellieelectrons
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:17 am
- Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
Alexandrines are bigger than IRNs.
If you get anything smaller than an IRN, your bird will probably attack it - especially if left in the same cage.
As for housing them together or separate, it's a matter of trying and seeing. Generally, a female IRN is less sociable than males.
We have 2 IRNs and keep them in the same cage but before we allowed them to co-habitate, we started by keeping their cages in different parts of the house and giving them separate out-of-cage times. We then put their cages side by side and kept the separate out-of-cage times. Then we introduced them to each other during out-of-cage times (I supervised these times very closely). Then, when they seemed to get along, we tried putting them in the one cage together (once again, closely supervised). Books I have read, recommend putting them into a completely different cage - a third cage that neither one is territorial over. We didn't have a third cage to use, so I changed around the perch locations, food containers, toys, the tree branch we have in the cage for them to perch on, etc. to make it as close as possible to a new cage.
That seemed to work ok for us... but I was prepared to put them back in separate cages if there were any problems.
Occasionally our male will chase our female around a bit - but that seems to occur mostly out of the cage rather than in the cage... but other than that, they seem to get along well. They feed each other... occasionally they'll preen each other... when they're scared, they'll sit together... and sometimes they'll sleep side by side.
Good luck!
Ellie.
If you get anything smaller than an IRN, your bird will probably attack it - especially if left in the same cage.
As for housing them together or separate, it's a matter of trying and seeing. Generally, a female IRN is less sociable than males.
We have 2 IRNs and keep them in the same cage but before we allowed them to co-habitate, we started by keeping their cages in different parts of the house and giving them separate out-of-cage times. We then put their cages side by side and kept the separate out-of-cage times. Then we introduced them to each other during out-of-cage times (I supervised these times very closely). Then, when they seemed to get along, we tried putting them in the one cage together (once again, closely supervised). Books I have read, recommend putting them into a completely different cage - a third cage that neither one is territorial over. We didn't have a third cage to use, so I changed around the perch locations, food containers, toys, the tree branch we have in the cage for them to perch on, etc. to make it as close as possible to a new cage.
That seemed to work ok for us... but I was prepared to put them back in separate cages if there were any problems.
Occasionally our male will chase our female around a bit - but that seems to occur mostly out of the cage rather than in the cage... but other than that, they seem to get along well. They feed each other... occasionally they'll preen each other... when they're scared, they'll sit together... and sometimes they'll sleep side by side.
Good luck!
Ellie.
-
xx_sheena_xx
- Posts: 748
- Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 11:02 pm
- Location: Victoria, Australia
Re: Introducing a 2nd bird
I have 2 IRN's and one conure, they all have seprate cagesMakailaann wrote:Yes we are considering another ringneck, cockatiel, conure or lovebird. Our concern is that a bird smaller than him may not be a good idea incase he harms it. Just wondering if anyone has done this before & had any suggestions.
they dont like each other but most of the time will tolerate to be out of their cages together