Irish Got me Thinking...

[amesoto]

Ok, I have no idea how Lambert would react to another Macaw. If in the future I would like to get him a buddy how would I go about doing that? How could I determine how he reacts around other large parrots?

[mmr]

No clue. All I can tell you is that my U2 was fostered for 3 years in the same hose and room with 5 macaws! All were her buddies.
Then when I got her it was just her. Then teal came along and now she is out for BLOOD!

That is the bad thing. You never know if they will or won't get along

[PenelopeGem]

I think you should ask Irish. I read a lot of her posts because it is so interesting to hear about her lovely macaws. Although each has a buddy, I don't think they all get along with each other (aside from their buddy), in all instances. Maybe she will come on line and share about it.

[svolk]

I definitely don't have any macaw experience, but for what it's worth, I do strongly believe that having another bird in the house is beneficial. Birds learn from watching their flock members and when they can't always hang with the humans of the flock it's nice for them to have a same-species buddy. I think it'd be great if your current macaw would be able to interact with and play with another macaw, but as someone said, there's never any guarantee that they'll be best buds. But even if they can't phyiscally interact I still believe having another bird around is beneficial for their mental well being (not that I think single birds are a bad thing, just that another bird buddy is even better). My tiel does NOT like to interact with my budgies but they are all still strong flock members. They all contact call back and forth when they're in separate rooms and they sometimes sing together and they've all definitely learned many things from each other. I think birds are so different from us humans that having another or other birds around is a comforting thing for them as well.

[jenseits]

It's a crap shoot. I brought Stewie with me when I went to go see Mika and he seemed really curious about her; he called to her, made his nice noises, didn't lunge...

I brought her onto his turf (i.e. my home) and he wants to dismember her. He even flew onto her cage when she was inside and bit her toe so hard she bled. Now I have to watch him like a hawk... even when she's inside. I don't dare take them out at the same time because he will go kamikaze on her. {bangs head on keyboard}

But she is learning tons from him. She screams much louder than she ever had before thanks to the Stu-monster's tutelage. {grin}

[Xen]

Really is down to the individual. Also I've found that just because they accept a certain new addition, doesn't mean they'll accept another.

Lily(sun) met Mimi(hahns) two or so weeks ago... love. She met the new lovebird this week... thinks she's dinner.

Good luck! If it works out well then it's the sweetest thing to witness two birds enjoying each others company.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by PenelopeGem

I think you should ask Irish. Although each has a buddy, I don't think they all get along with each other (aside from their buddy), in all instances. Maybe she will come on line and share about it.

You're right--they don't all get along, although some can tolerate others if they're in the aviaries. It kind of goes like this:

Buddies are:

Rowan and Bowie
Bob and Arthur
Mikey Blue and Ceilidh
Kenobi is on his own for now.

Rowan, Bowie and Kenobi share the smallest aviary by day. It's 10'Lx10'Wx6'H. Rowan and Bowie will gang up on Kenobi, but there is enough room for him to escape their ornery advances. They can all fly, and none of them can be bothered to keep chasing any other bird for very long.

Bob, Arthur, Mikey Blue and Ceilidh share the big aviary by day. It's 15'Lx10'Wx6'H. They are basically 2 pairs who hang out in opposite parts of the aviary. Occasionally, just for fun, one will go looking for trouble, and his partner will follow. They all know the "game" and no one gets hurt.

Bob et. al. and Ro, Bo and 'Nobi can't share spaces. Both groups despise each other, and it's my opinion that somebirdies would get hurt if they were mixed up and put together. Mikey Blue, especially, can be very aggressive towards the birds he doesn't like.

It is my hope that Kenobi and Patrick can be friends. However, if they'll even just tolerate each other, that will be good. Everybirdy needs a buddy, imho, even if they don't share a cage or hang out and allo-preen each other. If, however, they despise each other, that's a whole 'nother story, and I have no way of knowing until quarantine is over, and multiple, careful introductions have been made in neutral territory. I'll keep you updated.

That's the thing about macaws. They're flock creatures, but not in the same way that, say, starlings are. Macaws generally pair up but get together as a group a couple of times/day. They like and need the group for protection, food searches, and basic social order, but they tend to only get really close to their mates and offspring. As a human being, I have no idea why some macaws adore another one, or why others sometimes take one look and want to remove the other's head! Perhaps there are others on this board with more insight into the social order of macaws than I have. Certainly, there are many people, here, who have a LOT more experience with them than I do.