Does Your Parrot Need a Friend? Part II – Friends for larger birds
One of the difficult points of being a pet psittacine owner is when you decide to purchase or adopt another hookbill in the hope of it becoming an acquaintance to your existing bird. This can be especially difficult if you own a jealous or possessive type of parrot.
If not undertaken carefully, such a move can bring discord into a normally calm avian home. However, there are certain species of psittacine that often may be better accepted as the ‘newcomer.’ When dealing with the medium and larger kinds of psittacines, it is usually necessary to move ahead with even more caution, as the bigger the parrot, the more dangerous could be the interactions between prospective companions.
I have introduced or counselled many larger hookbill friendships over the years and have developed some favoured species for bringing into a birdkeeper’s home. Each species and gender has its own advantages both for the owner and for the birds themselves.