subject: How to be sure that your pet birds are compatible with each other [print this page] How to be sure that your pet birds are compatible with each other
Of course common sense should go a long way, make a mental note of the size of your different birds and their characteristics. Do they look and act as if they will be fine sharing?
As a general rule birds of a similar size will be fine with each other as long as they have enough space in the aviary to get out of the way should the going get tough. The larger or most prolific of your birds are likely to be the bullies, and will occasionally pick on smaller or less prolific species. For example, in my current mixed aviary I have budgies (lots of them), zebra & Bengalese (society) finches (quite a few), cockatiels and java sparrows (not many though), and a very small number of grass parakeets, but my budgies - although not the biggest birds there - are undoubtedly in charge, purely because they are the most numerous. It's just a pecking order and never results in any injuries.
When I first started out I kept lovebirds in an outdoor aviary but wanted a mixed aviary, however I learnt that because of their territorial nature lovebirds rarely got along with other species. I promptly sold my lovebirds to a private bird keeper and bought a few budgies (they were the easiest to get hold of at the time). Before long I had built a much bigger aviary which housed budgies, cockatiels, turquoisine grass parakeets, rosa bourkes, kakarikis and golden mantle rosellas (Eastern rosellas). They all got along fine and I wanted more, especially more rosellas but learn that different rosella species just didn't get on and would fight to the death. Hasten to add, as I had no desire to build more aviaries I opted for not getting more rosellas.
The basic rules to remember are that most pet birds of a similar size will be fine, but be sure NOT to introduce new birds of the same species as you already have to your mixed aviary during the breeding season, the competition will undoubtedly cause serious problems and can often result in the death of some chicks, and the destruction of some eggs (more details in my bird breeding article out soon). It's always best to observe your birds carefully and deal with any issues accordingly, or you could ask an avian expert for more advice. Be sure to have plenty of food containers about your aviary (less competition for each one), and have an aviary with a few hiding places that's big enough for them to get away from each other.
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