I was recently asked what to do when living with a mixed flock and wanting your birds to interact. There is no simple answer to this, because all species interact differently and your birds will have their own group dynamics that you need to read yourself, but here’s a couple of things to consider.
The first thing to think about is what species do you have in your home? And then look at their habits in the wild. Many of the South American parrots actually travel in groups of mixed species and perhaps have a propensity to interact without too much fuss. However, African grey parrots travel pretty much exclusively in a flock of greys. They may not have as much tolerance for other species. Does this mean its simple to mix macaws or impossible to have a mixed flock of African parrots? No, but it may give you a way to gauge what your up against in training.
The next thing to consider is size difference. A big macaw can do a tremendous amount of damage to a pionus or some other small parrot. It isn’t unusual for veterinarians to deal with broken and damaged beaks in cases like this. Is it worth it to you to take a chance? Are you that confident that the birds can get along?
Remember too that sexual maturity and the breeding season can change the dynamics of relationships between birds. Just because your mixed species flock is getting along as babies doesn’t mean that this will continue when they are adults. Nor does it mean a steady relationship all through the year.
If you do see aggression, get the parrots away from each other right away. Don’t allow it to escalate. Aggression begets more aggression. If one of the parrots wants the other out their space, make it happen. And make sure that you are not a part of rewarding the aggression. Don’t play with the parrot displaying aggression to distract him, this is only rewarding the behavior.
I do firmly believe that anything can be trained and that appropriate behaviors can be shaped with effort. However, whenever you have animals involved, you never know what will happen. So mixed species, sharing space should always be supervised. You never know what will tip the dynamics in a relationship between two birds. In the wild, one would display agressive body language and the other bird would heed it and get the heck out of there. However, our parrots may be confined or clipped, so offender may get hurt before he can give his buddy space.
So in the end, I suppose you have to ask yourself, do your parrots need to physically interact with one another? If they have a tendency to display aggressive body language to one another, what are they really getting out of being close enough to touch one another? Safety first and then decide what makes the most sense for you in your home. The answer may be different for everyone.
Thanks for posting about mixed flocks. I actually was the one who asked the question earlier. I have a Senegal, Quaker, English Budgie, Indian Ringneck and a Blue Headed Pionus. You are right about not forcing them…the Ringneck does not like to interact with the others at all and the Budgie only likes the Pionus. He constantly preens her. The real pals are the Pionus and the Quaker though. They always manage to get to one another’s play tops and share food and hang out. The Pionus will put her head down and approach the Quaker so he can scratch her neck. The Senegal is fairly new, he is just getting used to having a play top. But he seems to like being around the others and is very curious about them. I know I will need to watch them all very carefully. Any more advice from anyone here would be appreciated. Thanks again, Rebecca.
With my two (BG macaw/af.grey)…. with time comes respect between the two. In the beginning cages were set on different sides of the room. 4 years later they are on the same wall.
My african grey won’t hesitate to waddle down get back up on the Macaw’s cage and eat his food. and my mac puts up with it. On the other hand if my mac gets on the greys cage? i see fluffed feathers and agitation from the grey.
They both do that depending on their moods. but i can safely say my grey is the alpha in this house. And my mac is the more tolerant of the two.
But they do play off each other now, they are siblings. I wouldn’t say pals. but they live happily together, chat together. Squawk together. I even see my macaw trying to talk lately. which is new.
I have since put my cockatiel (flew in last year) in another room. He doesn’t find either of the two bigger ones funny or interesting. he would rather be alone. Both the larger ones seemed to just ignore him. i guess she needs more time… I have to respect that.
If I had to do it all over again, I think we’d stick with greys. Or maybe macaws. But not a mixed flock. In any case, in our house, even with same-species parrots, there is no physical interaction between any of them. We are very protective of and don’t take chances with our budgie since she is so much smaller, but the rest are about the same size and thankfully respect each others’ body language!