Can I Put a Hand-Fed Lovebird Together with a Parent-Raised One?

Lovebirds are very social birds who can benefit from the company of a companion, especially if you do not have a lot of time to spend with your bird every day. Choosing the right companion for your lovebird is essential to creating a harmonious relationship. Consider a few things before putting two birds in the same cage.

  1. Lovebird Personalities

    • Every lovebird has his own unique personality. An individual bird may get along beautifully with one potential companion and fight horribly with another. The distinct personality of each bird will be the primary factor in determining whether any pair of lovebirds can live together in the same cage, regardless of how the birds were raised.

    Hand-Raised versus Parent-Raised

    • A hand-raised lovebird is generally going to be more tame and friendlier toward humans than a lovebird raised by its parents. With that said, lovebirds tend to become more reliant on one another and less friendly toward humans when they are caged together. Having another bird for company eliminates much of the bird's need to bond with a person. If one of your birds is not particularly tame, you risk having that bird revert back to wild behavior when he is caged with another bird, because he will have little motivation to interact with you. Your hand-raised bird may also become less social and less likely to interact with you when he sees that his companion does not approach you.

    Factors to Consider

    • If you are OK with the likelihood that your birds will become less social with you once they are put in a cage together, you still have several other aspects to consider before you introduce the two of them. Your birds will be more likely to bond if they are juveniles. Birds who are less than a year old are going to be more likely to get along with one another than adults who have already become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Evaluate your birds' unique personalities. If both birds are aggressive, they may fight, but a mellow or timid bird who is in with an aggressive bird is likely to be bullied or picked on.

    Introducing Birds

    • Place each of your birds in a separate cage and allow them to spend several weeks seeing and interacting with one another while still living in separate cages. If everything seems to be going well between the two, you can try placing them together in the same cage. Make sure both birds can be handled easily. You may need to reach into the cage and remove one bird from the situation if things do not go well. Leave birds together if they seem to get along, but keep an eye on them. Make sure they are not attacking or picking on one another. If you see signs of trouble, remove the newer bird and place it back in its separate cage.