Adding a bird to the flock

I adopted Scooter the CAG rather suddenly and unexpectedly last April. Everything has gone well from the start as far as Ralph's reaction to having another parrot in the house. He sort of shrugged it off-- "Another parrot? OK-- no big deal." They do take an interest in each other, but there really isn't any direct interaction. They still get separate out-of-cage time mostly because I suspect there might be squabbles if they were out together, and they both need close supervision whenever they're out-- and I haven't yet figured out how to be in two places at once to keep a close watch on two parrots in different rooms at the same time. 

Hi Everyone, 

So I decided to take the leap and have added a beautiful 3.5 month Princess Parrot to the family. Her name is Elsie and she is just so sweet and chilled out. I actually cannot believe how relaxed she is and how docile. I took her straight to the vet where she did a thorough inspection and said it was safe to keep them in the same room but to still quarantine them in different cages for about two weeks. Norms is very curious when i first walked in with Elsie but all I got was some squawks and thats about it, he calmed down really quickly (much quicker than expected!!). Once I had Elsie all settled in her cage, I let Normy out and we went and had a look together, pretty far away from Elsie's cage, and he didn't seem bothered at all.


When I had cuddles with Elsie, Norm did start to act up a bit and make LOUD noises but he calmed quickly when I talked to him and told him I love him the best haha. I think we can call this a successful first day!


My plan from here on out is to keep Norms routine as normal as possible and move very slowly with the whole introduction thing. I want Normy to feel secure in his place in the family and not feel threatened at all - he is still number one bird!


Hopefully things continue to go well! 

Hi Holly, I meant to reply earlier but was too busy. I have two princess parrots in an outside aviary. In the last few days or so I decided Bonnie needed more natural light/sunlight, so I've been taking her outside in a little cage and putting it in front of the aviary. Well, the princess parrots are super curious and fly straight down, climb up the wire and peer in at Bonnie! However, the blue princess parrot (female) does NOT approve of the green princess parrot (male) looking at Bonnie and actually attacks him each time he tries to look at her. Weird, huh?

The other thing is that the princess parrots can imitate most of the sounds our other birds make, so it's not surprising to me that Elsie has started imitating Normy.

Just thought you might be interested.

First of all, congrats on the new fid!

I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but you probably shouldn't let them close to each other at all until the quarantine is over.  The purpose of the quarantine is to protect your other birds from any illnesses the new bird you're introducing to the home may have.  Some illnesses may not present themselves for multiple weeks, which is why a 30-45 day quarantine is reccommended.  Some of these illnesses are airborne, which is why a proper quarantine involves seperate rooms, and washing your hands and arms after handling the new bird, or any of the new birds belongings.

That said, I was unable to do a proper quarantine, due to my living arrangements.  I put the cages the furthest apart I could (about 30 feet, but in the same room).  I did wash my hands every time after handling the new bird, tho.

After about two weeks, Yoshi was starting to fly over to Mellys cage.  He was still molting, so had new flight feathers coming in and I wasn't on top of them.  He did this a few times, and after about 3.5 weeks I decided my quarantine attempt was shot anyhow, and introduced them.

Our princess parrots like eating cooked peas and corn, also pieces of apple and pear, silverbeet and corn on the cob (they go CRAZY for that!). In our aviary there is a bath (it's actually a plastic base for a plant pot) which we have a hose running into and it's on a water timer. So they always have fresh water to bathe in and drink - yes, they insist on drinking their bathing water! From what I've seen they do use the bath, but they probably learnt it from watching the other birds (canaries, Bourke's parrots and, until recently, plum-headed parrots).

I would definitely not introduce them while they are on you, and would not force them together at all. This article has some good points on introductions, though you would have to adapt it because they are already in the same room. I really like the advice to create positive associations. I would approach it as a training exercise and break it down into smaller increments, rewarding calm behavior. Don't turn your back on them, but try not to convey any anxiety you might feel about it. Good luck with it!

www.thespruce.com/introducing-new-bird-to-your-parrot-390234