Parakeet and Cockatiel

Question
I have a parakeet and i am bringing home a baby cockatiel as soon as it is ready to leave its parents, i was wondering it it would be ok to put them together, i have asked a few pet store owners and they say yes. I wanted another opinion, and i was also wondering if i did put them together if i would still be able to tame the cockatiel cuz i am having a hard time with the parakeet. If you have any suggestions on that , that would be great too. Thankyou

Answer
Hi there,

The answer is tricky - and pet stores telling people that yes, definitely they can be put together is rather infuriating to me and quite irresponsible.  The real answer is; it's going to depend.

FIRST - when you do bring your Tiel home... be sure you quarantine him from your parakeet for a MINIMUM of 30 days.  This is soooooo important and should be considered mandatory.  This means - house the new bird in a separate cage in a separate room as far away from the parakeet as possible.  With the recent outbreak of Psittacosis and everything else some birds are exposed to - you don't want to take a chance in getting your budgie sick.  Be sure you get your new bird to an avian vet for a check up within that period of time as well.  Trust me here Brandy, take precautions to be safe.  I've known far too many people who didn't quarantine (even a new bird from the same store) and lost all their birds because the new one was ill.  It's really hard to tell that a bird is sick until it's at a very serious (and often too late) point.  ALL birds instinctively hide illness as long as possible because in the wild, they are easier prey or are picked on by their flockmates for attracting prey.  

So, when quarantine is over and your new bird gets a clean bill of health, bring the tiels cage out near your budgies cage.  Provided the house is safe (no other pets, no open windows, no boiling water, and they are supervised at all times) let them both out of the cage simultaneously and watch them closely.  Some birds will go and immediately say "hey, I've been hearing your call for a month now (quarantine) and I couldn't wait to get to know you, c'mere!" or they will bicker and fight.  If they fight ferociously immediately - then it's not looking good.  So that's why I say - anyone telling you that it DEFINITELY can be done is irresponsible.  It really depends on each individual bird and how they do together.  My African Grey LOVES little birds... she's sweet to them, feeds them, preens them, etc... but loathes anything bigger than a large conure or caique.  Whether these two can live together will vary on their individual personalities.  I have seen a budgie and a cockatiel live together and I've also seen them fight horribly.  You just have to wait and see.  

As for socialization with you.  If the two of them bond, and you do not spend a couple of hours with EACH of them every single day - it's likely they will bond more with each other.  Wouldn't you?  But again - this too is a generalization and may be different depending on how friendly your birds are.  Continue working with your parakeet!  Don't give up... building trust with a bird does not happen over night.  It can sometimes take months!  It took me 2 years to build trust with my cherry head conure - who really only prefers to be near my 10 year old daughter.  But since I am the one who feeds him, cleans his cage, bathes him and spends time during the day... I had to take that time to build that trust with him.  It just took him so more time as his previous home was with a woman, with dark hair (like me) where he was horribly neglected (kept in a dark back room covered 24/7) and screamed at all the time.  So he's come an incredibly long way.  Patience, love, understanding and consistency are necessary.  

So, I hope I've better prepared you for any and all possibilities here.  If your birds don't get along - that should be ok too!  I have 9 birds that do fine being housed in the same room together with their cages only being inches apart!

Good luck and let me know if you have any further questions!