Can different birds live together?

[bhood]

Can finches and parakeets share a cage? We have four parakeets and were just given two finiches. We are thinking of acquiring other birds and making an aviary, but need to know if birds get along togehter. Please advise. Also would like to give sun conures, cockatiels & love birds a home. Any feedback will be appreciated.

[Lora, Archer, & Kira]

Budgies are really too aggressive to be housed with finches, and lovebirds are more aggressive still. I would not recommend housing any of the birds you listed together.

[Monica]

Lora, Archer, & Kira is quite right, however, I'd like to add a bit of a different view here..

Budgies and finches cannot share a cage as budgies are too aggressive. It's best to keep hookbills with hookbills and softbills with softbills. However, there is an exception to this rule... If you would like to keep any type of parrot with finches (or any other softbill) your best bet would be to go with grass parakeets (such as scarlet chested, turquoisines, bourkes, etc), and only parakeets of the class neophema. Any other type of small parrots are usually TOO agressive with finches, and again, best to keep softbills with the like, and not with hookbills.

With that said, now onto lovebirds... Lovebirds are known as the bullies or bulldogs of the parrot world, especially saying the peachfaced lovebirds. Peachfaced lovebirds can and will attack any other bird not of its species and try to kill it. They must be kept separate from other birds unless you would like a high vet bill, for either the lovebird (if he/she went after a conure or cockatoo) or for the other bird (saying the lovebird went after a budgie or finch).

You can keep budgies and cockatiels together, however, the budgies may bully the cockatiels around as cockatiels are usually more calm and plassid (s/p) than budgies.

For conures, it's best to keep only the smaller conures, under the classification of pyrrhura, to be kept with 'tiels. Most aratinga conures are too large to be kept with cockatiels and can do considerable damage to a 'tiel (however their are exceptions here to this rule as well, as I've got a 'tiel and aratinga conure who live together, though, I don't advise it unless they were either raised together, or both are extremely tame birds who enjoy eachothers company).

The only birds that I may recommend to house together that you have listed are the budgies, and cockatiels. All others should be kept away from eachother so as not to injure one another.

[BrianKing]

I had a Parakeet and a Finch in the same cage for over five months. They never had a problem with each other.

[Joel]

Brian, there is always an exception to the rules but IMO & IME, you were given great advice, please don't do it as there may be a problem someday and we should not be gambling with the rules.....Good luck.....

[BrianKing]

I did that before I was told not to. Also what does IMO & IME stand for?

[Monica]

In My Opinion, and In My Experience.

I keep two budgies with four bourkes. Bourkes are similar in personality to that of finches. They are more aviary type birds that if tame enjoy human contact, however, they are very calm birds with a sweet melody of tweets and chirps. Cosmo, the oldest budgie, will peck at the bourkes if one were to get in his way; otherwise, he'll usually tend to stay to himself now a days. Smurf, the other budgie, he doesn't bully around the bourkes much, however, he constantly flirts with them especially the male bourke, and will tassel him until the bourke preens Smurf himself. Smurf also feeds the male bourke.

It's not just keeping budgies and finches together, it's keeping FEMALE budgies and finches together. Female budgies tend to be much more bossier than the males and will pick fights with other birds. Males usually tend to flirt too much, and females tend to be TOO aggressive, especially with other birds of a different species. The difference with keeping budgies and bourkes vs. budgies and finches is that finches are smaller, they are softbills, and are more fragile than that of grass parakeets (bourkes, scarlets, etc).

There are people who do keep finches with budgies, and sometimes even cockatiels, though they are usually kept in a large flight where everyone has room to escape. I do not recommend keeping finches with any parrot larger than that of a grass parakeet, and only to be kept with grass parakeets for that matter. Some can successfully keep finches with budgies; however, one MUST watch out for the finches’ safety and make sure that the budgies DO NOT bully the finches.

[Lora, Archer, & Kira]

Originally Posted by Monica

For conures, it's best to keep only the smaller conures, under the classification of pyrrhura, to be kept with 'tiels. Most aratinga conures are too large to be kept with cockatiels and can do considerable damage to a 'tiel (however their are exceptions here to this rule as well, as I've got a 'tiel and aratinga conure who live together, though, I don't advise it unless they were either raised together, or both are extremely tame birds who enjoy eachothers company).

My pyrrhuras (green cheeks ;)) are a bit smaller than my tiel, but still loooove to pick on her every now and then. They are known to be almost fearless, and they really live up to that. Archer and Kira will bite my cats if they get to close to their cage. It's kinda funny to see cats scared of 10" birds.

I would still not house my tiel with my GCs. They kick her off the perches, making her stay on the bottom grate. :?

[Monica]

LOL, they sure are feisty!!!

I suggested pyrrhura conures because they are smaller and can do less damage to a cockatiel, however, they are still birds and can have a good bite! The aratinga conures are usually too large to be housed with cockatiel's, especially those of the green and red variety (x-mas conures).

One might be able to house cockatiel's with conures, however, it depends on the birds, and the situation, as well as the cage and its setup.

[JTG]

It is also not good to put finches with hookbills as finches commonly carry lung mites. The mites do not seem to bother the finches but they will damage a hookbill's respiratory system over time. Doves and button quail do well with finches though.
It is also not a good idea to have birds from different countries housed in the same space unless they are all say, softbills or passerines. Although even some of the more exotic finches such as orange weavers and whydahs are so agressive that you can not house them with anything other than their own species and even then you may loose a few to serious fights. Orange weaver males will only allow females of the same species in their territory and they are willing to die in order to keep it that way. Do some homework and research each species before you acquire more birds than you can handle. In the long run you and your birds will be much happier and healthier.