help with new parakeets

Hello everyone. Two days ago my son was given a beautiful young parakeet. He was so excited about it, he wanted to get it a friend. Not knowing what I was doing I took him to the pet store and we picked out another parakeet. We asked for a young one, but we werent watching as she boxed it up for us. When we got it home I immediatly put it in the same cage. I now realize that was a mistake. The new bird bit me very hard, OUCH. It was very frightened and has been breathing very heavy since, Im a little concerned. The cere on the new bird is a dark brown and does look a little crusty. She hasnt eaten anything and is just on one perch. The other bird seems to like the new one and tried to go over and make friends, but the new one is doing nothing. I realize now that I made a mistake getting a new one so soon and not seperating them from the beginning. Do you have any advice?

 

Most of the time when I've brought new budgies home (especially ones from the pet store) they're nervous. At the pet stores, with the number of budgies they have, they have no time to socialize the budgies so when you get them home they're not used to being handled and they're scared of their new environment. I'm almost always bitten by new pet store birds when I bring them home.

When Kiwi was first being introduced to Buster and Chick he never wanted anything to do with them. I ended up getting another cage and keeping Kiwi in it. Kiwi was much happier that way then being in the same cage with the other two.

 

The bird with the dark brown crusty cere is a in breeding mode female and can be very aggressive.

When buying a new bird never put them in the same cage as your old one they should be kept seperated for a few weeks so that if the new bird has any viruses or illness they will not be passed to the old bird.

It is advisable to remove the new bird and place her in a cage of her own away from your old bird but in view of each other so that they can still chat to one another.

As with all birds they need to be kept in a quiet place to allow them to settle into there new surroundings as too much stress can be fatal.
They are usually very quiet for the first few days sometimes they do not eat or drink anything.

The reason she will have bitten you is through stress and anxiety so do not take it personally.
Another problem you may have with having 2 birds is that its harder to hand tame 2birds than it is one.
The upside of having more than one is they keep each other company when there is no-one at home..

So for the first 2-4weeks keep the new bird seperated from your old one just to be on the safe side.
Some petstore owners and workers only know the basics of the animals and most do not even know that so they do not know what problems the animals have or what is best for them..

If you would like anymore help or advice please feel free to ask ....

Mike

 

I am just wondering, did you ever reintroduce kiwi to the other cage? Thank you so much for the quick reply.

 

When Chick died both Buster and Kiwi seemed lonely. I bought a new cage (about a month ago) and Buster and Kiwi are living in there together and they seem to be getting along quite well. The reason I took Kiwi out was because Buster and Chick (I had them first) were already bonded (male and female) so they started to pick on Kiwi.

I have 2 new budgies (still in the quarentine period) that will hopefully be introduced to Buster and Kiwi in a few weeks.