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Greetings! New to this list, but LOVE birds! I've had finches, cockatiels, and have had my roomate, Loki (Sun Conure) for two years. I adopted him at 5 y/o. Lovable, comic, brat that he is. My question: I met a lady that wants to re-home her Golden Capped Conure. Yes, I know the noise will increase, but that doesn't bother me. I just want to know if it's a good idea to have two conures of different breeds in the same house. I BELIEVE Loki is a male (puffy eyebrows), and the other bird is supposed to male, too. Problems? Ideas? Suggestions?
My husband had two heart attacks, and is on oxygen 24/7. I had to re-home my cockatiels because their dander was clogging the $8,000 oxygen machine. Found them a WONDERFUL home, complete with an aviary and a waterfall. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Since losing my 'tiels, Loki is lonely. Was mad at me for a week. I HAVE to go to work to pay the bills, and my husband can't play with Loki too much. Loki needs a friend when I'm not home. Too quiet.
Is it a bad idea to adopt a bird as a playmate for another? I've looked at bird shelters, and they all say they won't give a bird away as a companion to another...why?
Please let me know what you think. Thank you! Please reply to the email, and I have dial-up, and it sucks. Don't go on the web too often.
Chef Jackie
jackielee15@netscape.com

My question: I met a lady that wants to re-home her Golden Capped Conure. Yes, I know the noise will increase, but that doesn't bother me. I just want to know if it's a good idea to have two conures of different breeds in the same house.
First of all, it's species, not breeds. Second, there's no way for any of us to tell you how two birds will get along. I have a cherry headed conure and a mitred conure. Both are very similar species, and both are second hand birds. However, the two *DO NOT* get along. Both are special needs birds, one more so than the other. The CH is estimated to be around 19 years old, if not older, and I've had her for just over 7 years. The mitred is going on 15 and I've had for just over 2 years.

With that in mind, birds can benefit from other flock members without any physical contact.

I BELIEVE Loki is a male (puffy eyebrows), and the other bird is supposed to male, too. Problems? Ideas? Suggestions?
Hard for any of us to say. If they are the same sex (I've never heard anything about brows having anything to do with the sex of a bird) you wouldn't have to worry about hybridization. However, there's no telling if Loki will be jealous, happy, angry, or indifferent.

Is it a bad idea to adopt a bird as a playmate for another?
IMO? No. However, it can take more work to keep a tamed bird tame if they have a buddy of their own. With that said, I haven't had any issues with any of my already tame birds even if they live with non-tame birds. One in particular, an untame one, has even decided she wants more one on one interaction, even though it's just me feeding her. But this is done on *HER* choice, not mine.

I've looked at bird shelters, and they all say they won't give a bird away as a companion to another...why?
Because shelters are against breeding. There's a huge overpopulation of pets in America. Breeders refuse to admit it because they are more than willing to take in any surplus animals to put into breeding situations. Not all pets want to be breeders. Therefore, sanctuaries do not want birds going into homes where they will breed to reproduce even more birds which will make the problem of overpopulation worse.

Sorry this is a decision you have to make yourself. I have a gold cap. and they can be VERY noisy indeed. You are experienced enough to know they may not get along. No big deal. Just means separate cages and either letting only one out at a time or constant supervision and that means constant to prevent cage visiting and toe biting.Other than that if you can tolerate 2 noisy birds --it's fine with me-----Yogi

Thank you for your replies!
Loki has not had a DNA test. My Vet said he has to trim a nail too short to get the blood for the test. As I never want to cause any animal pain, I opted out. IF an accident occurs, and Loki bleeds, the vet can get a sample then. I read about the males eyebrows being puffier in a conure handbook, and on "Birdsnways" web site. Never know what will make a females heart throb, so took the info at face value. Loki DOES masturbate on one of his fluffy toys, so I thought that may be more of a male behavior. Male or female, love the brat anyway.
I'll be meeting the golden capped in a few weeks. Planning on quite a few visits. See if the bird likes me, housing conditons, behavior, etc. And, IF I do adopt Yoshi, I'll quarrantine for 90 days. (My friend, Belinda, was a cockatiel breeder, and told me horror stories about bringing in a new bird.) I'm sure the house won't be too quiet! The two kids will HEAR, but won't be able to see, eachother. Perhaps that will make the first introduction easier? People say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but does that pertain to birds?
Again, thank you for you advice. Jackie

I've got a female cockatiel that masturbates! She has female behaviors, female coloration (she's a cinnamon pearl pied - cinnamon and pearl being sex-linked mutations - and well, she's never lost her pearls!), and she's laid eggs! I've also heard about a greencheek conure that acted female in how she was trying to masturbate, but DNA said male!

As for a birds introduction, well it varies so there's no way for anyone to tell you how two birds will get along together, with or without quarantine procedures.


As for sexing... well, they can also withdraw blood. Can I safely assume you've never had your sun taken in for a full CBC panel? Do you have plans on doing a CBC panel on the gold cap, or not? CBC panels are good because it can help ensure a birds health. Without them, a bird may 'appear' healthy but may be having organ failure, perhaps a bacterial or fungal infection, or who knows what! I had an avian vet tell me that one of my birds (a second hand plus bird) looked healthy and was not concerned about excess urine or the fact that her droppings had no form to them. At the time I wasn't concerned either so I opted to not get anything more invasive done. Later on, I was concerned about her health and had a blood panel done on her. Turns out she has elevated uric acid levels (kidney problems), which results in the abnormal droppings. Without getting the blood panel done I wouldn't have known that.



If you do plan on getting Yoshi, then I wish you the best of luck with the two!