Introducing new birds

Question
Hi, i have just been given a male 5 year old green cheek and am trying to introduce him to my 5 year old male cockatiel. i have recently tried by taking one bird out at a time and while the other is still in their cage letting the bird walk on top but the green cheek bit the cockatiel through the wire. When i had both out the green cheek kept on doing a weird dance where all his neck feathers were raised and he kept going around in circles. Can you please give me some tips. Also is it true that you only cut the first seven feathers when wing clipping? an on only one or both sides?

Thanks
Rebecca

Answer
Hi Rebecca,

I too have a Green Cheek and will be the first to tell you that Green Cheek Conures are like terrier dogs.  Most of them think they are a much bigger bird in a little bird's body.  My baby bullies my Amazon... and my Amazon is scared of him!

Unfortunately, it's fairly unlikely for these two to get along at this point.  For one thing, they are two totally different species... but most notably, they are not young babies.  Introducing goes much smoother when the birds are very young.  

The dance the Green Cheek was doing was a full on dominance display toward the cockatiel and you should definitely not allow him to get near your 'tiel.  He will most likely attack and injure (or worse) your cockatiel.  if you allow your 'tiel on the top of the GCC's cage... the GCC will likely bite his toes off!  But don't get upset with the conure for this behavior... he's settling in a completely new environment, with new "parronts" and some strange new bird that he's likely never seen before.  It's completely natural (and ok!) for him to defend himself.  

You can still try to introduce them... but you'll have to do it over a long period of time and under constant supervision.  I have 8 birds and there are only two couples that actually get along with each other.  Ironically, my GCC and my Nanday are in love (introduced when they were both very young) and of course my Lovebirds are a couple.  Other than that, all of my birds do NOT get along with each other and they are all caged in the same room together, only a few feet apart.  They are used to one another now and there's only trouble if one should somehow get to anothers cage, but that rarely happens as I'm always supervising them when out of the cage.  

Of course, it's easier to keep them in the same room (separate cages) when their wings are clipped.  As for how many flight feathers to clip, that depends on the species and size of the bird.  If you have never cut wing feathers yourself before, I highly recommend you take him to an AVIAN vet or a bird shop and show you how it's done.  If you accidentally clip new blood feathers coming in on the wings, that could result in disaster.  I stress taking them to an avian vet because most regular vets that don't specialize in birds give HORRIBLE clippings.  If you want to try to do it yourself, be sure you do plenty of research and be confident you know what you're doing.  Search for proper wing clipping instructions on google or better yet, join a bird forum (like www.theperch.net) and specifically ask someone there.  How ever many are clipped on one side, the same needs to be done on the other.  The goal with clipping is to make sure the bird cannot get any height... not necessarily to prevent him from flying at all (you don't want him dropping to the floor like a rock).  With a good clip, my GCC can gracefully "float" himself across the room, but he must eventually find something to land on or it's going to be the floor.  He cannot get any height.  

Green Cheeks can still fly quite well clipped, so also be mindful of that.  

After they are both clipped, you can let them both out of their cages at the same time and just allow them to sit and play on their own cages.  Over time, they may grow to get along, they may not.  But I would definitely not force it.  Observe the Green Cheeks (or the 'tiels for that matter) body language.  If you see puffy feathers, standing tall or swaying of any kind, that's a sure sign that he's not really into it.  

Good luck, I wish you all the best!