Some Good News

[sadie]

Thank you to all who extended their sympathy when my Indian Ringneck died last month from teflon poisoning. It really helped to know that so many people were sending their thoughts our way. An old friend of mine came into town about three weeks ago and asked how our bird was doing. She had given me tons of advice via email when we had biting and aggresion problems. We spoke for awhile after I explained our bird had died and she offered to give me two cockatiels she had with her (she travels with all her birds). They had bred once a couple of years ago and had a son which was part of the flock. I was overwhelmed at her generousity and accepted immediately! Fast forward to today and we have two eggs in the nesting box and can't wait to see the babies. I think the female will probably lay two more over the next few days. My husband is experienced in hand feeding cockatiels so it will be interesting to be taught. I still miss the personality of India, but love these gentle sweethearts. The are in a word- gentle - I still want to add more birds to the flock and would love to get a bigger bird at some point, but have become totally captivated with these incredible fids. Can big birds and small ones get along?

[Monica]

I'm glad to hear that you are doing better and that there might be babies in the house!

My cockatiel Casey lives with my cherry head conure (my avater), and its hard to seperate them! Cockatiels can live in a home with larger birds, though depending on the birds depends on how one can house them. Macaws should never be housed with cockatiels (because they have sensitive respiratory systems, and tiels are dusty birds), and well this might be the same for aratinga conures (don't know for sure though).

If you are interested in a medium sized bird, there might be a chance that the medium sized bird and the smaller tiels could get along together, though otherwise, a large bird and the tiels would have to be kept seperated from eachother, i.e. not being able to interact with eachother.

[sadie]

Thanks Monica for your reply. I was thinking about either a Goffin Cockatoo or another Indian Ringneck. It is funny - one of the cockatiels was a hand raised baby and the other one was bought at a bird show I understand the difference, but it seems so weird when the hand raised one wants nothing but love. I am so used to handling a bird with kid gloves. I really miss the challenge. Our boy bird that was bought at the bird show is a bit of a biter, but it doesn't break skin. As soon as we got him my husband who I call the animal whisper had him kissing. One of the reasons I married my husband was the way he is with animals. My dog was so shy with people and took to him very quickly. We have a lot of time before we can consider a bigger bird - we have to raise those babies first!

[greyburd]

Sadie, I'm glad things are turning around for you. It sounds like you're having a good time. Please keep us up to date on the eggs from your tiels.

[Greymom721]

Congrats! I am so glad to hear a happy update! Please keep us up to date on the new babies! :eusa_clap

[Amanda]

I have a cockatiel that plays with my 2 alexandrines and my 2 ring necks, they all get along fine. They are caged separately, but get let out together all the time. It is just a matter of getting them used to eachother slowly (under close supervision) and the cockatiel being able to get away from the others to start with if they need to.

[Franciscus]

[quote=sadie]I was thinking about either a Goffin Cockatoo or another Indian Ringneck. QUOTE]
Boy, talk about extremes! Goffin's cockatoos (cockatoos in general) are REALLY needy birds and ringnecks are relatively independent. Perhaps you should consider an Alexandrian parakeet. They are very similar to Indian ringnecks but larger and I have been told their personalities are similar to macaws.

[TooLover]

Sadie, thanks for the good news! Congrats!
And yes, I was thinking the same thing Frank expressed about going from one extreme to another. Before you consider a cockatoo please do a lot of research and soul searching!
Good luck and keep us updated on those eggs!

[CKD]

Wonderful news sadie. Make sure we get pics of those precious babies.

[willowbirdy218]

That's great news! Congrats on the new birds!! Good luck with the new babies and please post lots of updates and possibly pics when they hatch!!