Cockatiel Baby

Question
Hi.  I have a male cockatiel at home which is real tame but not loveable.  He does not like to be touched at all.  We can hold him and kiss him but can not pet him.  He was not hand fed and we purchased him from an aviary.  We are purchasing a hand fed baby from a home breeder and are wondering how to introduce the two birds safely.  Thank you.  
Sarah

Answer
Hi, Sarah.  Thanks for posting your question.

A lot of tame parrots do not like to be petted on the head or down their backs, particularly if they weren't handfed as babies and/or socialized well to humans at an early age.  This is because in the wild, predators capture birds by landing/jumping on their backs and/or catching them by grabbing them at the back/around the wings with their talons/feet/mouths.  Since their head is a very vulnerable place on their bodies, this is another reason for this behavior.

It is always good practice to quarantine a new bird away from other birds for at least 30 days.  This quarantine period is to make sure the new bird is healthy enough to introduce to existing aves.  The theory is that during this 30-day quarantine, if the new bird has any disease/illness, it should show itself during this period.  When a bird is moved to a new home/new people/new environment, the bird becomes stressed.  Most disease/illness is shed during times of stress via air, droppings, and/or shared drinking vessels.  Because the new bird is quarantined away from other birds in the home, any disease/illness is confined to the quarantine area and not spread to other birds.  Some birds stress and others don't...depends on the bird.  Usually, the younger the bird is, the less stress that results (a younger bird isn't set in it's ways yet or have become accustomed to a certain environment).  

The method by which you introduce these 2 birds to each other depends on the personalities of the birds.  You can put them together right away, watch them closely, and see how they react to each other.  The older bird may sense that the new bird is young and the older bird might take the younger bird "under his wing" so to speak (or be jealous...explained below).  If they get along together right away, great.  Another method you can use is to place each bird in it's own cage and place the cages right next to each other.  This will allow the 2 birds to get used to each other gradually and at their own pace, but the cage wire will keep them from fighting, pecking, and/or hurting each other.  Another way would be to have them in their separate cages, but not right next to each other, then at least once per day (more often preferred), take them out of their cages and let them interact with each other with you supervising.  Again, it depends on the personalities of each bird how you decide to introduce them.  

In my years of experience with many tiels, I can't think of an occasion where I had difficulties introducing 2 birds to each other.  You would most likely run into problems if you were trying to introduce a new tiel with a bonded pair.  The older bird most likely will be happy to be with one of it's own kind!  

Be aware that birds prefer other birds to humans, even if the bird(s) is tame.  You might lose some tameness in one or both of these birds once you have more than 1 parrot in your home.  In other words, the 2 tiels might get along so well together (right away or eventually) that they won't have any/much use for you any more!  This also depends on the individual personalities of each bird.  Also, your older tiel may be jealous of the new bird because you will most likely shower the new baby with more attention, where the older tiel is used to having all of your attention.  Be very careful here and share your attention equally between the 2 birds.  If you want them both to remain very tame, be sure to continue to give them much attention.  A lot of times what happens is that once a single bird is given a companion, the bird owner doesn't interact with either bird much more since the 2 birds have each other, and then the bird owner wonders why his/her birds are no longer tame.   

Handle your new baby bird as much as possible, particularly stroking/petting s/he on the head and down the back, play with it's feet/toes, etc.  This will help eliminate problems when you want to pet the new bird, clip wings/toenails, look at injuries, etc.  

Once you have the 2 birds together in the same cage, be sure the cage is big enough for the 2, so that they can flap their wings vigorously when they need to without wings touching anything in the cage (top, bottom, or sides), so they can play without having to dodge items in their cage, etc., and still have room for perches, feed dishes, and other items.

If you have other questions or need clarification, come back.  Good luck with your new tiel baby!  Thanks.

Chrys