housing multiple cockatiels

Question
Tara,  Thanks so much for offering this service.  My question at this time is...how to house cockatiels, together or separate. I have recently acquired 5 cockatiels from different places.  1 grey female, age unknown,is a rescue, that was being tormented by a ferret; another young lutino female under 1 year old was a Christmas present (Harriett is very tame and loves people); and I just acquired a pair from a lady that no longer had time for a normal grey male and a cinnamon or fallow female about 3-5 years old.  These have been together for about 3 years the lady told me.  I want to tame the ferret tormented girl (and we have made progress in a short time) and have all eventually as tame as Harriet.  I don't have lots of time to spend with them throughout the day, so I am wondering if it is best to house them together in a huge cage and take them out to play in the evenings or is this a no-no as far as taming?  I want what is best for my birds, but I also want to be able to interact with them.  That is the reason I got them to begin with.  I am afraid if I house them together, or pair them up, they won't want anything to do with me or other people.  What would your suggestion be?  I have enough cages to house separately and if I do this, should I place them side by side to be able to interact during the day when I'm not there?  Thanks,

Answer
Hello...the best pet bird is a single bird given alot of attention on a daily basis, when you start with multiple birds you will never have quite as tame a bird as if you only had one...as when there are other birds around weather housed together or not the friendly tame bird will always become less tame as it hears/palys with or lives with these other birds. I reccomend keeping them seperately until they are all finger tame and then they can be hosued together but they will always perfer each others company. Also you need to understand not very bird will ever be as tame as the other...perhaps your friendly loving tiel was handfed weathers the others were parents raised? a parent raised cocaktiel doenst have the same potencial to be as loving or as cuddely as a handfed bird. Keepingthem all seperate all the time for life is not practical...they would all need to be let out each day and seperate from the others for your plan to work there arent enough hours in a day to let each bird out for a few hours to have its play time...also they would genraly be happier housed together with some iunteraction from you.