Hi

 

I'm looking at getting a friend for our bird Stewie, who we actually found getting attacked by other birds at a local park. We've been told that he's around 1-2 years old & I think he may have escaped from an aviary as he isn't hand tamed & is quite scared of us. I would like to get him a friend as I don't want him to be lonely especially if he had come from an aviary where he would have had lots of birdie friends.

 

My question is, what would be the pros/cons to getting him a friend that was hand tamed? I would love to have a budgie that we can have out of the cage & interact with, but if its better that I just get another untamed bird then thats fine as I just want Stewie to have a friend. Would having a hand tamed bird change the way that Stewie is, would that help him to be more trusting of us & want to interact?

 

Any feedback on anyone whose had a similar situation or just any advice at all would be great

 

Thankyou

I think your idea is great. If I were just going to have two budgies, I think I would like to be able to play with at least one of them. You should quarantine the new one for at least 30 days, and that will give you time to bond with him or her. Then when you put them together, the tame one should still like you, even if he does bond with the other budgie.

 

Plus, budgies do copy off of each other, so there is the slight chance that the old one will learn to be less afraid of you when he sees that the new one isn't afraid.

 

I have one budgie that I hand raised from the day she hatched, so she started out very tame and friendly. When it was time for her to go live in my hen cage, she did lose some of her tameness. For instance, she won't sit on my hand any more. BUT, she still really likes me and comes to "chat" with me at the side of the cage. Well, after she was in with the other girls for a while, and they saw her coming over to see me all the time, some of them got curious, and they also learned to come over to see me. There are now four girls in that cage that will come over to see me, and compete for my attention, and give me kisses through the bars!

Yay! Thats what I wanted to hear. I love Stewie, even if he isn't tame he's still a beautiful happy birdie & I'd love for him to have a friend

 

Thanks for your advice

 

 

Yep I think getting another budgie is a great idea. Im sure he would love the friend especially if he isnt tame & doesnt come out the cage. I would personally go a tame/baby to tame that you can get out. Theres no harm in just getting one out. My first budgie I used to get out alot and my brothers he hardly ever got out and they were both happy together and mine was very tame and happy to come out. Love the name Stewie by the way!