Should I buy a companion for my lovebird ?

[MariefromCanada]

Kiki is alone in the daytime because I am at work. I am sad to think that he might be lonely without me. I am thinking of buying a companion for him.

I Did some research on the internet and it said that one bird makes a better companion than 2. Is this true ?

[NickyBeth]

Well, Marie -- it depends on what you are looking for.

If you want Kiki to remain MAINLY bonded to you, then I would not buy another lovebird. If you want Kiki to have a friend and just be "another friend", then you could indeed get another lovebird for Kiki. However, there would be no guarantee that they get along -- and then you'd have to house two birds in two separate cages and then give each bird time every day. Plus, unless you are sure that Kiki is a male -- you would have to have Kiki DNA or feather sexed to make sure Kiki is a male and you would want to BUY the right gender to go along with him. (Not sure if you would want a female or another male. And even then you'd have to know what the bird of the opposite gender is.....)

My aunt has a cockatiel that is currently at least 20 years old from what I remember. She leaves a small TV on in her kitchen when she goes to work so that Woodstock can see it from his cage in the living room and think that someone is in the kitchen, making dinner or something like that. It also provides Woodstock with some background noise and he's cool with that!

Why not try leaving the radio on for him? See how that works!

[RicosPoppy]

I own a single lovebird and this topic has often been something I've considered.

let me say that Rico has been my bonded companion going on 5 years now and while I still to this day feel sad about leaving hime alone and not being able to see him for many hours during the day, there is absolutely nothing that compares to having the type of trusting and bonded relationship that has developed between us during this time. This may not have been possible had there been another bird in the house.

I am the center of my birds life and just knowing that when I come home he will immediately start calling and pacing for me to come get him out of his cage is something i look forward to every day. The fact that he follows me everywhere I go and has to know where I am and what I am doing all the time makes our relationship very rewarding.

if possible, now is the best time to start developing that relationship. It takes time but the payoff is absolutely amazing. More so than any relationship i've ever had with a non-human. :)

You may always feel a little guilty about leaving your little guy alone, but as long as you know that the time you spend with him is quality time, then it all works out for the best in the end. Just my :2cents:

[Janie]

If you want Kiki to remain MAINLY bonded to you, then I would not buy another lovebird. If you want Kiki to have a friend and just be "another friend", then you could indeed get another lovebird for Kiki.

I disagree with that, at least from my personal experience. Oliver could not be more bonded to me but he has blossomed with the addition of two more buddies. All three (they are males) would choose to come to me over each other every single time. While I am home for the majority of the day I still felt guilty every single time I had to leave him. I don't feel that way anymore because he's made it obvious that he's happy with the birdie company, too. :)

I do agree that DNA sexing is very important before adding another one if you should decide to do that. It really is a personal decision that only you can make but be prepared for more mess, more expense (i.e. vet care, toys, seed) and more time to spend with both birds if you should decide to add another lovie.

I do want to add that I think a single lovebird can be very happy, too, if it is well cared for, has plenty of cage activities while you're gone and gets loads of attention from you while you are home.

[butterfly1061]

Ditto to Janie's post. I had a single and now I have six, but Molly is stil very bonded to me. Seeks me out but still plays with his cage mate Piper. :2cents:

[Chickobee]

So, here's the other side of the coin.

We have ten adult lovies and two of them are single birds and the other eight are paired up.

Three of our pairs also pace back and forth in their cages when I get home from work waiting for me to take them out for a while. They want to be together, but they also want to interact with me. They will rush to jump onto my arm and then walk up to my shoulder where they will chitter-chatter and tell me about their day. They will stay out with me as long as I will let them.

The fourth pair will have absolutely nothing to do with us and these were both very tame birds before they began breeding. We don't know what they will be like when they are finished with their clutch of babies.

The birds who have mates do seem to be more content for longer periods of time in their cages than the two who are by themselves even though we are careful about changing their toys frequently and they have the other birds to talk to. They make a whole lot more contact calls and do more pacing to get out.

The ones with mates also always have beautifully preened heads because they do that for each other. The other two single birds have pinfeathers on their heads and they don't really like how we preen them.

(For some reason the single hen (Cricket) and one of the paired hens (Sophie) love each other and will preen and allo-feed each other when we have them out together. We think this is odd, especially since Sophie raised a clutch of babies recently.)

As stated above, there is no gaurantee that two birds will get along. That's why we have two single ones--because the one male (Quigley) doesn't get along with any of the females except his own clutchmate/sister (Ariel). Being with her was not an option we would allow. Ariel has a mate and is currently finishing raising five chicks. We tried pairing Quigley up with three different females and he wouldn't go for any of them even though they all thought he was great. (brazen hussies!)

So, there are pluses and minuses both ways. This will just give you a bit more food for thought. We went overboard and got our birds lots of friends!!! :whistle:

Linda

[MariefromCanada]

Thanks everyone from the great advice :o)

I realized it's not the quantity but the quality of time I spend with Kiki.

I will for now leave that option out because I don't think I will have enough time for 2 birds.

Again, thanks for the advice