Advice for introducing a new bird (DYH) to my CAG

[vitog123]

Hi all.. Im semi-new to the board. Ive been a reader for a while and just recently registered to be apart of the waynes parrot stuff talk. (you know the rip-off artist)... anyways...


I have a 10 year old Congo African Grey named Einstein. Ive had him since he was hatched basically.. Hand fed him and weaned him. Sex is unknown.

Id like to know what is the best way to introduce him to a new bird that i rescued? I now have a DYH amazon named Carmen, Female... 6+ years old and VERY sweet although very shy. It supposedly has never tried to bite anyone and never bitten me or all the people that i have personally seen try to pick her up. Ive heard that its rare for a DYH to be so friendly @ that age or at all.

My congo is also shy, but will bite some people.


So, with 2 shy birds what would be the best way to get them to know each other? Id love for them to get along and hang out on a perch all day!

Right now they are in the same room, separate cages. I have held them both @ the same time and had them face each other @ a distance. They just stare @ each other and do nothing. No aggressive movements. Just being shy and wanting to go back to their perches.

[angelicarboreals]

The first thing is to make sure that you have two healthy birds on your hands. The rescue that you have taken in, did you quarantine it and/or have it vet checked before housing it in the same room as your Grey? With rescues especially it can be very hard to put faith in the fact that the bird is healthy, since you really cannot gauge much of its history before coming to live with you. If you have not had the amazon checked by your vet that is the first step before thinking about introducing it to your grey. (And at least a 90 day quarantine if you have not done so already. Although, if you have had the two guys living in the same room since you brought the amazon home then it may be a little late for that.)

I have successfully introduced both of my amazons together as well as my conures. With my amazons it was a matter of pushing their playstands closer and closer together until they were touching. The key is to give the birds enough room to back away from each other if they decide that they do not like one another. My conures are flighted and introduced each other themselves, my sun was out playing and my GCC decided he wanted to go say hi. Not intended, but it worked. They had been living side by side in my birdroom for several months before the introduction, and often would sit on perches nearest to each other in their cage, so I had a feeling they would be okay before the introduction ever happened.

The biggest concern is to stay very close by so you can separate them if necessary, watching for any signs of aggression. Your birds may like each other, and they may not- it is a crapshoot. Good luck!

[Newticus]

It is sort of all luck. When I got my second amazon I also had them out at the same tme and they were both really curious about the other. eventually when we moved, we put their cages side by side. I let them out and they both climbed around on each others cages. They are not friends really - they don't preen each other or sit close together but they do talk to each other and usually don't bother one another. I have had more isses with my smaller birds getting along.
basically be realistic. Let them get closer together, see how they react. You are right there to separate them if they don't click. If they don't get along, you will just have to have separate play stands or different out times.

Melanie

[vitog123]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Originally Posted by angelicarboreals

The first thing is to make sure that you have two healthy birds on your hands. The rescue that you have taken in, did you quarantine it and/or have it vet checked before housing it in the same room as your Grey? With rescues especially it can be very hard to put faith in the fact that the bird is healthy, since you really cannot gauge much of its history before coming to live with you. If you have not had the amazon checked by your vet that is the first step before thinking about introducing it to your grey. (And at least a 90 day quarantine if you have not done so already. Although, if you have had the two guys living in the same room since you brought the amazon home then it may be a little late for that.)

I have successfully introduced both of my amazons together as well as my conures. With my amazons it was a matter of pushing their playstands closer and closer together until they were touching. The key is to give the birds enough room to back away from each other if they decide that they do not like one another. My conures are flighted and introduced each other themselves, my sun was out playing and my GCC decided he wanted to go say hi. Not intended, but it worked. They had been living side by side in my birdroom for several months before the introduction, and often would sit on perches nearest to each other in their cage, so I had a feeling they would be okay before the introduction ever happened.

The biggest concern is to stay very close by so you can separate them if necessary, watching for any signs of aggression. Your birds may like each other, and they may not- it is a crapshoot. Good luck!