singly kept birds

not sure where to put this...
so it seems as if rainbow is never content unless she can see us. When we are in sight shes perfectly happy to do her own thing but when I'm in another room I hear her complain and contact call and screech. I'll reply to her contact calls but that never settles her down. to your guys experience, would adding another bird that is at least in veiw of her cage help? and for other one bird households, how do your birds do? I wouldn't be able to get another bird for at least a year (unless I just happened "find" a bird outside..). What species would mesh well with a gcc(and be good apartement birds)? I'm thinking cockatiel, lovie, another small conure, or even a budgie or two.
it seems like some birds or species are just more flock oriented then others (though my 'tiel had no interest in other birds what so ever) and I guess birds in general don't like to be alone..

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when I'm in another room I hear her complain and contact call and screech.

Is there someone there who she dosen't like ? Send them in to talk to her when she starts screeching .We've had good luck with this lately and it works quickly.
[quote]would adding another bird that is at least in veiw of her cage help
I doubt it,a friend maybe.Which leads to your next thought, a companion.I think a tiel would be a good choice ,but consider keeping two birds happy that don't like each other, or one liked the other but not visa versa .i wouldn't reccomend a 2nd bird as a companion for the first,not a GCC,tiel bugie maybe . If the problem goes away i fear you've lost a pet.I'd try and fix the problem if i could,i see miraculous things happen with birds, and if screeching gets attention ,that's why she's doing it.

Some birds I think do fine as a single bird. Some I've come to believe are too social to be alone. I'm not completely sure on the GCCs, but the suns and jendays I think a companion of some sort keeps them calmer. But then again, MandaDPanda's sun is just fine by himself. Ducky has Sam (and now Eric), a tiel, as a companion. I personally like a tiel companion, but my conures have all grown up with tiels around.

Your bird may not like the idea of another bird encroaching in on his territory and family. Would be nice if you could find a "loaner" bird somewhere to see if things worked out. I did that for a lady that got a jenday from me last year. They kept the loaner tiel because it worked out really well for them.

Do keep in mind that some Tiels are VERY noisy..

henpecked wrote:

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when I'm in another room I hear her complain and contact call and screech.

Is there someone there who she dosen't like ? Send them in to talk to her when she starts screeching .We've had good luck with this lately and it works quickly.

unfortunately she likes everyone! she'll let any random stranger give her a scratch. She even likes my dad even though she bites him harder than anyone else, when he walks in she just gets louder. interesting thought though...

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would adding another bird that is at least in veiw of her cage help

I doubt it,a friend maybe.Which leads to your next thought, a companion.I think a tiel would be a good choice ,but consider keeping two birds happy that don't like each other, or one liked the other but not visa versa .i wouldn't reccomend a 2nd bird as a companion for the first,not a GCC,tiel bugie maybe . If the problem goes away i fear you've lost a pet.I'd try and fix the problem if i could,i see miraculous things happen with birds, and if screeching gets attention ,that's why she's doing it.

yeah, I'm afraid of the worst case scenarios... I want the best case scenario to happen where she likes the other bird, the other bird likes her and they both still like me! Well, dunno if that'll happen... would a conure be likely to become less tame if they had a birdie buddy they were close to?
I'm doing my best to discourage excess screeching but its an uphill battle, seems like...

patdbunny wrote:

Some birds I think do fine as a single bird. Some I've come to believe are too social to be alone. I'm not completely sure on the GCCs, but the suns and jendays I think a companion of some sort keeps them calmer. But then again, MandaDPanda's sun is just fine by himself. Ducky has Sam (and now Eric), a tiel, as a companion. I personally like a tiel companion, but my conures have all grown up with tiels around.

cockatiels are supposed to be very social flock birds but mine never showed any interest in the other 'tiels or birds she met. Rainbow on the other hand always seems interested in other birds and likes watching the finches at the bird feeder.

patdbunny wrote:

Your bird may not like the idea of another bird encroaching in on his territory and family. Would be nice if you could find a "loaner" bird somewhere to see if things worked out. I did that for a lady that got a jenday from me last year. They kept the loaner tiel because it worked out really well for them.

I'm tempted to steal one of my friends tiels but they are all so antisocial, I'd rather try it with a bird that was at least hand tamed. maybe I'll bird sit for one of them if they go on vacation...

FWIW, Scooter seemed quite OK when he was a single bird. Even now, I think he has mixed feelings about Scotty. They do occaionally contact call each other when they are in different parts of the house, but I don't sense any great attachment.

GCCs ar just like that, I think. They like to be with people, she sees y'all as her flock. My GCC doesn't give a flying fig about my Quaker or Lovebird, he just wants his people.