Single or Double Pet Birds?

by Semih
(Turkey)

I am thinking of getting a Brown-Headed Poicephalus, but there is a couple (male and female) at the petshop right now, and they seem very involved with each other. I don’t want to be a bad person tearing a family apart, so here are my questions:

– Is it possible to train and tame two birds together as well as one bird? Do they interact with people around, or do they feel disturbed by people when there is already another bird they can play with? Can I make them love me as if they were single and so they somehow “have to” interact with me?

– If the answers to the questions above are positive; what kind of differences and difficulties there might be while raising two birds compared to raising a single bird?

Thanks in advance…

Semih

Answer:

Hello Semih,

Great question! This truly depends on a couple things.

Firstly, is this your first medium sized bird? If so, I highly recommend started with only one.

Secondly, how old are the birds and are they siblings? If they are young, it is fine to adopt only one. If they are young siblings, it is also fine to adopt only one.

Fourthly, are they an older mating pair or siblings that have been together for a while? If so, I would recommend not adopting them. Mating pairs can be very territorial and not looking for companionship with you – only each other. And if you adopt only one, depending on how long they’ve been together, it can be traumatic for them. However, it is still possibly to adopt only one in this situation.

My recommendations are solely based on my experiences and doing your own research and making an educated decision is still the best thing to do.

Hope this helps!

God bless,

Michelle Jay