Need opinions for new bird.

[Chico's Mom]

Hi. I want to get another bird, but need some advice. Here's the situation:

I get up for work at 3 am Mon-Fri, so my bird's cage is in another room so she's not disturbed. She gets plenty of daylight, and her cage is not covered. I get her out the first thing when I come home from work, and spend an hour or two with her, she's just hanging out with me. Then bedtime again. Understandably I put her back by 7:30 because getting up at 3 am I have to go to bed early

I don't want babies, so I don't want to get a male cockatiel, and I don't want another female because I want something with a different type of personality.
I would like to know if a conure would be dangerous for my tiel, (they'd be supervised when out of the cage), also if a conure would be ok with only one or two hours of interaction daily.

I am a nurse, and when I am on-call, there are days when I don't come home until after dark, so the birds wouldn't get attention from me until the next day, meaning they'd go perhaps 24-48 hours without "human" contact.

Also, thought about parakeets.

Oh, one more thing, I'd like a bird that wants to be cuddled (my tiel is very picky, loves hanging out w/me, but not too keen on cuddling.) And talking would be nice too.

Am I asking too much...is this possible?

Thanks for any advice!
Sue

[Nazir's]

Hello Sue,

Just wanted to throw something out there... Most cuddling birds require that human interaction that you (at times) may not be able to provide. Really, all birds require it but some may do away without it better than others (i.e. A Cockatoo or say a Sun Conure certainly wouldn't be a good choice). In addition to that, most birds that will learn to talk thrive on and learn from that constant human interation. Again, sometimes (not all of the time, but sometimes) you may not have the time to provided that.

I really don't know how to say this but in my opinion (with your time being so unperdictable and limited) I wouldn't know any bird to suggest. Best wishes with whatever you decide.

[birdlady49]

A green cheek conure might be a good option as they're about the same size and the GCC has a relatively calm disposition. I have ringneck doves and rosellas in the same flights as my cockatiels and they get along just fine.

[Chico's Mom]

I went to the bird store today and fell in love with the sweetest little GCC. Sooooo affectionate! I went back home and brought my tiel in to meet him/her to see if they'd get along. One or two little "pretend" nips by the GCC and a half-hearted hiss or two by my tiel, and they settled down. They didn't play, didn't pay attention to each other, but were able to share the same perch peacefully. I couldn't help myself, I bought the little thing!
The bird shop said their vet checks their birds and they're all healthy, but I have an appointment next week to bring my new baby to my avian vet for blood work, etc.

I read the posts about quarantining the new birds (after I got the birds home), but the birds were together in the bird shop for about 1/2 hour, and shared a small carrying cage for the ride home. I hope that the vet's visit says that my new one is healthy and that I haven't exposed my tiel to anything.

I named him/her "Rico", so now I have "Chico and Rico".

Nazir's, I do manage to spend at least an hour a day most days of the week with her (and now it will be "them"). But there are days when that won't happen, mostly about every two months or so I go on call for a week at a time, so there's a day or two in there that they have to go without me.

By the way, what is the expected life span of a GCC?

[Nazir's]

Congratulations with your new baby. I hope all goes well for you. I looked up the life span of a GCC and came up with all types of different ages; however, what remained consistant was the average lifespan of the Green Cheeked Conure is 10 years, though their potential lifespan is well up to 30 years.