At work, a nursing home, we have a birdcage with parakeets. Well, parakeet. They were in together for a long time, no one is still around when the birds first came to the facility. The male died recently and now the female is by herself in the cage. So my question is- is she lonely? Does she need another parakeet for company, a male or female? I am quite ignorant of bird care and socialization.
She is almost certainly lonely.
She needs social contact from either
- Another bird, or
- Human beings
From her viewpoint, another bird would likely be best, but if you get another parakeet it will most likely be young, which means when your current bird dies you’ll have the same problem all over again.
Human contact can work, but what sort of contact matters. If she’s just in room with activity happening around her but no one paying attention to her that’s not really best. It’s slightly better than putting her in a dark closet to be totally ignored. Parakeets are highly social animals and need social contact.
Is she hand tamed? (if the answer is “no one knows” the answer is most likely “no”)
Does anyone talk to her for more than a minute or two at a time?
Does she have any toys to play with?
Who takes care of her?
Do any residents interact with her? If so, how?
It’s hard to get a really clear idea of her situation from what you’ve said.
Maybe try to find someone in a similar situation, with a lonely “left behind” parakeet of their own that you could pair up? Craigslist is excellent for this kind of stuff …
I do not know if parakeets tend to accept strangers as adults easily or not, however. Broomstick? Floaty? Either of y’all know if they’d be likely to fight?
For what it’s worth, this is a common problem for rat owners, too - highly social animals often kept in pairs or trios. The last man standing, so to speak, often goes downhill quickly health-wise because no matter how much time you spend with them it’s no substitute for 24/7 companionship from a cagemate.
Is the cage big enough for 3 birds? Maybe add a pair, especially if all you can find locally are young. The more, the merrier … assuming they’re not crowded, of course, but I’m sure your residents would like the extra movement and chatter.
Yeah, what Broomstick said. If the bird isn’t getting stimulation from people, adding bird(s) would be great. Offering novel foods can help (fresh millet, pieces of cornbread, broccoli, etc). Foraging toys that make the bird work or solve puzzles for a treat are great.
Parrots of all sorts are social animals and need to be bonded for best results.
This of course doesn’t mean you can just throw another bird in and they’ll be BFFs.
There are a lot of Youtube videos which show you the processes for introducing birds to each other. I like Animal Wonders Montana channel (they do rescue animals). Jessi who runs the channel will give you the starting point, to see what is needed.
Sometimes you get lucky and the new and old birds bond quickly, usually it’s like cats, it’s a lot of work.
Lastly I’d like you to remember, though your bird is likely lonely don’t take that as a bad thing. In the wild, birds who are bonded lose partners. This is life and your bird would go through this in nature. However finding a new friend is easier, since they travel in flocks. So don’t be in a huge rush to find another bird, as losing a partner is natural. Just be prepared for potentially a bit of work making them buddies
I disagree slightly with this. Budgerigars exist in the wild as a flock, or pandemonium. They do not really “bond” like other psittacines might. My gf has a flight with six budgerigars and they all come from various backgrounds. A meal will mount a hen, do his thing, then go have a drink. As soon as he finishes, another male will mount the same hen, no problem. If one dies tomorrow, we’ll find another healthy budgie to take its place, no big deal.
As far as the OP is concerned, I’d suggest either placing the existing budgie in a more appropriate setting and then maybe getting a bird that does better solo, maybe a canary or cockatiel. Or, if the cage is large enough, getting several more budgies.
Eh. We had a deeply bonded pair who were each others’ entire universe. We also had a solo who yearned to flock with some cockatiels while she was boarded. I suspect there is some variation in gregariousness vs pair bonding among budgies.
Can’t speak to canaries, but I’ve known a number of cockatiels and would never characterize them as doing well solo.
The cockatiels I’ve had experience with were birds I bred. I removed chicks from the nest on day 5-7 and hand fed from there. They were strongly imprinted on humans and preferred interacting with people versus other birds.
I would expect parent raised birds to be different, but cockatiels are so easy to hand raise I can’t imagine allowing them to be parent raised.