Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

Hello!

 

We are loyal patrons of WCP and look forward to the Sunday brunch every week. Perhaps this topic has already come up, but it is a question about bird species.

 

We have 3 parakeets that get along well although they did not grow up together. All are rescues. We are thinking about adding a cockatiel to the family and are wondering about cages. So, the parakeets have a large cage (approx 2.5′ H x 2′ W X 1′ D) and we have a smaller cage (about 1.5′ HWD) that is just lying around empty.

 

First question: would a cockatiel require a separate cage or could they all sleep together in the same cage?

 

Second: Assuming that they cannot share a cage, would you recommend the keets in the smaller cage or leave them in their current habitat?

 

Third: Would cockatiels and parakeets be competitive/territorial in an open space (like an aviary)?

 

Thank you for any advice you have on this.

 

Cheers,

Gemma

 

Mixing species in an aviary needs to be done carefully.

 

A large aviary is important to make this workout.

 

Your 24″ x 12″ cage that is 30″ high is NOT large enough for adding any more birds, not even another parakeet.

 

This cage would be a fine size cage for your parakeets to live a happy life.

 

Parakeets and cockatiels are not likely to fuss about each other’s presence in a large aviary, they have similar personalities even if they are not interested in each other, Neither is likely to pester the other species. they can coexist provided they have the space available. Neither is likely to pester the other species.

 

But for some combinations, even a large aviary is not enough.

 

For example, Lovebirds are great little birds but I would hesitate to put them with cockatiels and or parakeets due to their pugnacious personalities. They would be best in an aviary on their own.

 

Thank you

Catherine

 

The cage we have is the same one you sent.

 

I wrote 2′ W instead of 3′ W. Our parakeets are happy and have a lot of space.

 

Thanks for the advice. It would be great to get any more specificity on what you mean by being careful in an aviary. What do bird keepers do who have multiple species?

 

Thanks again,

Gemma

 

Oh wonderful, glad to hear they have plenty of space.

Careful Bird Keepers will make sure the species they mix are able to cohabitate well.

Just like in a fish tank with more than one variety of fish.

Parakeets and cockatiels do fine with each other in the wild, both tend to stay with their own species.

However if you get a lone cockatiel it may be lonely with them if they ignore him too much.

 

Thank you

Catherine

 

 

Hi Gemma and Russ,

 

I wanted to add a note to Catherine’s response. I once kept an aviary of keets and ‘tiels. It was huge and only a few birds but I want to share something that happened.

 

Once I let the number of parakeet hens outnumber the males by 1. Just 1.

 

Two female keets fought to the death over partners. And these birds were not set up in a breeding situation at the time.

 

I recommend you match the number of males to females carefully or that you keep only one gender of birds of each species together.

 

For example, if you have 4 males, they will usually get along, so would 5 females, but if you have 2 males and 3 hens, trouble is sure to begin.

 

Also, when I had to give up my aviary and go take care of my elderly mother, she enjoyed birds so much that I got a pair of male tiels that were rehomed due to owners moving and a pair of budgies, male and female.

 

They had the entire great room in which to roam and were out of the cage nearly 100% of the time.

 

Over time, the tenacious male budgie changed one of my ‘tiels until the ‘tiel developed a nervous tic in its foot.

 

I tried calming supplements and it helped but the poor male ‘tiel had been driven to a near nervous breakdown. I then began letting the keets out free for 5 hours in the morning.

 

The ‘tiels had hours out in the afternoon. The tic went away nearly immediately.

 

My point is, it sort of depends on personality because if you get a keet that is too aggressive, the good-natured cockatiels will tolerate and tolerate it until problems appear.

 

Just introduce birds of different species cautiously.

 

On the other hand, I once had a parakeet move in with my beloved sun conure and they got along like best friends for the rest of the parakeet’s life and the sun conure mourned him on his passing.

 

Just use common sense, supervision and a but if caution.

 

Hopefully, you’ll have no problems mixing species, but do watch for bullying, beginning of plucking due to nerves and stress, and be sure everyone is eating well so that no one bullies another from the food dish (another problem I once had and had to remove a bird from aviary life).

 

Best of luck. Thanks for your compliments and loyal business.

 

Written by the Windy City Parrot Expert Staff

 

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