? about adding a parakeet

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:06 pm

We have one diamond dove, one Zebra, one Society and one Shart-tail in a big cage. I would like to add a parakeet to the flock.

I am not worrying about our Zebra. She thinks she is the master of the flock, LOL. But our Society and Shaft-tail are v. peaceful and sweet birds.

Do you think introducing the parakeet would be a good or bad idea?
Did any of you try this or maybe even keeps parakeets together with finches?

~ Thank you ~

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:16 pm

Well, I searched this forum for parakeets and I see now that adding a parakeet would be only asking for trouble. So I guess I need to add another finch.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:19 pm

I wouldn't suggest keeping finches with hookbills unless you have an aviary and a fairly large one at that. That way everyone has their own space and can escape when/if the need arises. If kept in a cage, no matter how big, the smaller birds could be chased down and attacked.

I have met people on my budgie forum who safely keep budgies and finches together, but these are birds that were introduced to one another at a very young age. And nearly all are housed in aviaries.

The Zebra thinking she is the boss would put her more in danger not ensure her safety as she will not be as likely to back down. Knowing how pesky Zebs can be.,I can easily see the budgie becoming annoyed and taking a nip out of that finch.

Hoji · Post by **Hoji** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:33 pm

What is the budgie forum address, I would like to check it out.

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:06 am

Thank you Tammie.
Yes, after reading several posts regarding keeping parakeets (or any other hookbills) along with finches, I see clearly now that it would not be a good idea. I do not want any of my fids get hurt or even chased after.

Thanks for your advice.

raghavan88 · Post by **raghavan88** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:34 pm

I have seen Budgies alongside Finches in the same pet store.I have even housed them together without any problems.

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:08 pm

I went ahead and bought my first budgie last week, kept her for a few days in a separate cage and now she is with my finches and a dove.
They are all doing great. They sleep together, our budgie often eats together with the Society finch from the same seed hopper, and they played with the same piece of rope today.

Society is v. interested in their new cagemate. Sometimes she has that really funny look in her eyes as she was not sure if getting closer to our budgie or OK or not. LOL

Our budgie is not aggressive at all. She is v. young.

Hoji · Post by **Hoji** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:48 am

Keep us up to date on this, please. I hope it works out for you and yours of course but also because I would love to add a budgie and would prefer to keep it with the rest of my fids! Good Luck!

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:26 pm

I hope things continue to work out for your birds.

I personally would not keep finches and budgies together even in my 6' L x 7'T x 4'W avairy. I have been bitten by both my male and hen budgie and it hurts like hell! I can only imagine what they could do to a tiny finch. For me, the risk to the finches is too high.

Boothcreek · Post by **Boothcreek** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 3:28 pm

I wouldn't keep a budgie with finches, I find budgies are too impatient and attack too quickly if something bugs them. At least all the budgies I've known were like that.

I must admit I am keeping a pair of cockatiels with my finches tho, but I have found cockatiels to generally be calm and will warn a few times first before they do anything. My 2 tiels tolerate the finches until they get into about a 1 inch distance, then they just put their crests down and hiss and the finch usually goes no further and the tiels keep on doing their thing.

I guess it also depends on the Finches as well. I have weavers and weavers are considered pushy/agressive, but they aren't social birds and avoid being closer than an inch or two to their own kind(they don't fight or anything either they just stay apart) or any other of their aviary mates.
To be able to have the opportunity to keep their distance like that you need a good sized aviary.
Only birds I was worried about was the societies, being so social and all, luckily even if the got a bit too close to the tiels, the tiels just hissed and opened their wings a lil and the societies got the hint and would stay at the safe distance.

There are alot of different factors to keeping Hookbills with Finches together in harmony.

I hope it will work out well with your budgie, if its still young it will probably learn how to deal with the finches and to give them the right signals to back-off without getting offensive right away.

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:11 pm

Hoji, I will keep you all updated on how my fids are doing together.
I bought another budgie 2 days ago and let's see how he does when he is introduced to the rest of the flock.

Again, a very young budgie.

When I choose a budgie, I stand in front of their cage for a long time, first keeping a good distance to see how a particular one interacts with other budgies. I observe if she is aggressive, not to mention of course checking her overall health.

The two budgies I bought were v. playful but kept a distance from the other budgies. If another one was getting closer, mine would go away.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:47 pm

My budgie hen was also docile when I first got her, but as she matured and settled in she became more territorial and would bite when being handled. When she was about six months old I got her a friend, a two year old male. Even though he is older, he defers to her always. I have since learned this is typical as the hens are more confrontational.

Even though your birds seem to be getting along, I strongly suggest you keep a very close eye on the budgies for the slightest sign of aggression. The finches have no defenses to ward off an attack when a budgie gets mad. And believe me, she will get annoyed sooner or later.

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:21 pm

Tammie, you are right about budgies biting. Many do bite hard, that is why I keep a very close eye on my fids. ANY smallest aggression and they will be separated. Thank goodness I have an extra cage.

Mine, however, do not bite at all. At least not yet. They only nibble at my fingers. I was very surprised when I held each.

When I asked an associate in a pet store to let me hold the one I chose before she placed her in a travel box, she said that they were ALL mean and bit hard. I said I did not mind that, I had a very strong feeling that the one I wanted would not bite. And I was right.
I hold her for a minute and the associate's eyes got really big, LOL, like I was doing some kind of magic.

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:24 pm

"My budgie hen was also docile when I first got her, but as she matured and settled in she became more territorial and would bite when being handled."

Tammie, you have just answered my question I was about to ask.
I wanted to know if young budgie which is not biting at all can turn into a mean bitting one.

Thanks.

plantsandbirds · Post by **plantsandbirds** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:33 am

Congratulations on your new budgies, Anneka!

I have two and they are in their own flight cage. When I was a child my Mom used to let our canaries and our parakeet fly loose together but they had their own cages. Our parakeet at the time was exceptionally nice.

My two are male and female pair and are mature birds - they do have disagreements once and awhile and I think if your two get angry or do the squawk and flappy thing (wait until you see THAT

) that the finches will have little heart attacks.

Please be very careful housing them together.