Parotlets - Multiple females with one male - non-breeding

[ArtS]

Hi,

With parotlets, is it possible to keep more than one female together with one male if the the birds are in a large cage (5ft + long by 3 ft by 3 ft) and not being bred? I have seen pictures of this but want to find out how realistic it is to do.

Thanks,

Art S.

[Cindy215]

I would say never do that. First of all imo and ime the hens are always the aggressive and bossy ones. Especially in Parrotlets or say, Lovebirds. That poor male.

Second Parrotlets are said to have killed even their own clutchmates. Every site you can read including breeders, message boards etc warn of the dangers of even keeping two. It has to be done with extreme caution and guidance. Like Two in THAT size cage.

Third I personally never keep odd numbers of anyone. Always in pairs odd numbers are bad imo, someone is always left out. And in cages, not all birds can get along even in twos.

I have a male and female living together in one cage. I am always on the alert for complications. For example I cannot keep this one hen anywhere near this other particular male budgie that lives here. She LOVES him and vice versa and gets mean to her own mate if she's around the budgie for too long. Parrotlets are famous for a wierd characteristic that they cannot be allowed to visually see another pair especially mating. They then can do things like pluck themselves naked or attack their own mates. I see some of this when they bathe and are having fun they start nipping each others feet it's like stimulous overload.

I havent seen photos of the group setup you mentioned online...

Is your cage custom made? I'm specifically looking for one that is 5' wide with half inch spacing and really cannot find one....or did you mean 5' tall including a stand?

[ArtS]

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the reply. I'm still doing research and will not get the other bird unless my wife and I are comfortable we can give the bird a very good home. I've heard of lots of horror stories including not keeping 2 birds together. We have had our birds for almost 8 years without any serious problems. We had the birds in adjacent cages for a year or two early on - they were usually kept fully flighted and generally hung out together on top of their cages but would always try to sneak into the same cage at night. After a while we let them and have not had any real problems.

The new cage is not custom but commercially available. It is 5' 4" wide; the other dimensions are roughly 3' high (plus the stand) by 2.5' deep. It is powder coated but otherwise is very basic. It has half inch bar spacing and a removable center divider. We are very happy with it! The birds took to it almost immediately and seem more relaxed in it. In fact, even though the cage is normally open, they spend most of their time inside. I am creating a Plexiglas center divider instead of the bar type provided but thus far we have not had to separate the birds - they have enough room to fly away from each other if they need to.

I see you are in Bucks Co., PA. It was ordered through 'Basically Birds' in Hamilton, NJ. It was surprisingly affordable considering it's size - probably because it is no-frills. I believe the brand is Laviva.

Regards,

Art S.

[ArtS]

By the way, this is what I posted on a couple of other forums:


Hi,

I've just joined this forum (and one other - hopefully someone will be able to help).

We have two Pacific Parotlets, a hand raised brother and sister from the same clutch. They are coming up on 8 years old and are still as sweet and fun as when we first got them.

We have two issues with them:
1. 99.5% of the time they get along, 0.5% they fight (looks like thumb-wars).
2. Over the years the have plucked themselves or each other (funny to see, because when they sit together, the plucking patterns line up!). Presently, the girl - MeMe is plucking the boy Sparky.

One of my thoughts is to change the dynamic by introducing another female. My thought is that these birds naturally flock and another female would not cause the kinds of problems multiple males would.

I've seen lots of commentary about keeping 2 birds together being problematic but I have not found this to be the case with our birds(we have a 5.5'X3'X3' cage and spend plenty of time with them).

I have also seen commentary stating that more than 2 birds in a cage is a no-no but the reference is usually associated with breeding, which we are not intending to do.

I have seen pictures with multiple Parotlets in a cage but cannot find any info about the do's and don'ts. Does anyone here have experience with more than 2 Pacific Partotlets in a cage? If so, i would love to hear your experience.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Art S.

Here are a few old pictures of the beasts:

Pic 1: MeMe posing with her flowers


Pic 2: Sparky and MeMe checking out one of their old cages during disassembly for cleaning


Pic 3: a little kiss (note: their plucking patterns have changed since this picture was taken)

[Cindy215]

Art thanks so much about the cage. I'm excited to go over there and check them out.

LOL about thumb wars! Plucked or not their photos are too cute. Especially the kiss lol. And MeeMee looks gorgeous posed in that window.

Sandee Molina was the expert here but I dont know if she's still here, I'm new myself. You can find her on the web, though she has a site and is somehow affiliated with the Int'l Parrotlet Society.

I understand where you're coming from with the hen versus another male. And of course you may end up with three pluck-ees. In my heart I'd be afraid of the male pairing up with the new one and the sister being completely overwrought. Or just plain old hen fighting dynamics. You could probably keep the breeding behavior slightly diminished by following a strict natural daylight schedule. Good luck

Cindy

Originally Posted by ArtS

By the way, this is what I posted on a couple of other forums:
Hi,

I've just joined this forum (and one other - hopefully someone will be able to help).

We have two Pacific Parotlets, a hand raised brother and sister from the same clutch. They are coming up on 8 years old and are still as sweet and fun as when we first got them.

We have two issues with them:
1. 99.5% of the time they get along, 0.5% they fight (looks like thumb-wars).
2. Over the years the have plucked themselves or each other (funny to see, because when they sit together, the plucking patterns line up!). Presently, the girl - MeMe is plucking the boy Sparky.

One of my thoughts is to change the dynamic by introducing another female. My thought is that these birds naturally flock and another female would not cause the kinds of problems multiple males would.

I've seen lots of commentary about keeping 2 birds together being problematic but I have not found this to be the case with our birds(we have a 5.5'X3'X3' cage and spend plenty of time with them).

I have also seen commentary stating that more than 2 birds in a cage is a no-no but the reference is usually associated with breeding, which we are not intending to do.

I have seen pictures with multiple Parotlets in a cage but cannot find any info about the do's and don'ts. Does anyone here have experience with more than 2 Pacific Partotlets in a cage? If so, i would love to hear your experience.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Art S.

Here are a few old pictures of the beasts:

Pic 1: MeMe posing with her flowers


Pic 2: Sparky and MeMe checking out one of their old cages during disassembly for cleaning


Pic 3: a little kiss (note: their plucking patterns have changed since this picture was taken)

[ArtS]

Cindy,

Thanks for the response. Just so you know, they do not keep the cages in stock due to their size. Mine had to be brought in from the distributor. Also, due to their size, the cage arrived unassembled and the directions consisted of a picture and some arrows. Even with all of these issues, the cage was worth it!

Regards,

Art S.

PS. Thanks for the tip on who the expert is and the complements on the pictures - even though they are not as pretty as they were before the plucking, they are still very cute to us.