2 budgies + 1 Forpus in a cage: is it possible?

[Deleted]

Hello everybody,

I would like to ask you if it is possible (worth trying) to have two budgies and a forpus together in the same cage.

Both budgies are adults, male&female, I have had them for around six years now, and they get on very well with each other from the beginning. The forpus is an adult male that has recently lost his female partner. He seems to be okay since, you know, he is mostly outside and many sparrows come to talk and visit him (and to kindly accept the food he sprays around his cage ). The forpus is not mine, he is not in my house.

The thing is that I wonder if the three of them could live together, as long as it was positive for them (i.e. make them happier). My budgies' cage is 74,9 x 38,1 x 54,6 cm. The other cage is smaller, so they would live in mine.

Any advice or link to how to make this procedure, or personal experience on this, will be very much welcome!

Thanks a lot! I feel this is a great forum (I had a user time ago but since I have not entered very much it seems my user was deleted, that is why this is officially my first post ).

[BudgiesBuddy]

Hi and welcome to forum



Are you referring to this parrot? I think that your is cage good enough for two budgies but not more, but of course you will get more advice about it

[Deleted]

Hello BudgiesBuddy!

Yes, that is the kind of parrot I am referring to (the one in your photo). Thanks for replying.

Would it help if the birds would have some time (say half to one hour) a day of free-flying in a room?

[BudgiesBuddy]

Yes it would help considerably but the question is, would they go along. If you bring the forpus to your home, there should be a quarantine period from 4 to 6 weeks. Forpus's cage should be in a different room during quarantine. Then you can place the cages together for sometime to let them get used to each others presence. At last you can put them together under supervision to see there are no quarrel or so.

[Hezz]

I would be unsure about adding another species to a cage with budgies. I think your cage is fine for your budgies, but no more. Could you have the forpus in his own cage beside the budgies' cage (after quarantine, of course), so that he would have the company of the budgies, and allow all three outside fly time together, being supervised by you, to be sure they don't start fighting or bullying each other??

[Marianne Marlow]

I agree with Hezz, I wouldn't put the Forpus in with the budgies. It might be different if you had an aviary. Is that the large Hagen Vision cage that you have?

You say that the bird isn't yours, whose is it?

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

Hi and welcome. I agree with what has already been said. I would keep the forpus in his own cage where the budgies can provide company, but not together. Your budgies seem happy and you don't want to upset the balance. Quarantine is important in case the forpus has picked up any mites or bacteria from wild birds that you are as yet unaware of and wouldn't want to pass on to the budgies!
When you clean the budgies and forpus' cages out each day during quarantine; always do the budgies first, then the forpus so you don't carry anything between the cages.

[Deleted]

Hello again, thanks for all the responses.

I was unsure about why the quarantine was necessary, didn't think about the sparrows bringing any mites to the little forpus The thing is I also get my birds' cage outside when there is good weather, they love to talk to other birds (you of course know how talkative these birds can be!).

The forpus is my brothers'. I was also unsure about the feeding, since you can find different food packages for budgies and for forpus, but that might have more "marketing" strategy than other reasons.

My cage is exactly that: the Hagen Vision, Large size. It is not perfect, but overall a good cage, and my two birds are quite ok inside, with enough space.

Having them to "live" together although in different cages and letting them fly together seems to me a good advice. We may try that, as long as any of us is willing to do the cleaning of both cages .

Best!

[BudgiesBuddy]

May 15, 2012 16:18:54 GMT @ilikebudgies said:

I was also unsure about the feeding, since you can find different food packages for budgies and for forpus, but that might have more "marketing" strategy than other reasons.

That's right.
They can have the same seed diet as budgies with the addition of a few bigger seed.

[Hezz]

You will get the cleaning down to a fine art, I am sure. I find it takes me about the same time to clean my large cage as the smaller one I used to use. I have gotten better at waylaying the grot/poop before it builds up or sets like concrete. Newspaper is a wonderful thing. (If brother is living with you, said brother has to contribute to care and cleaning! Only fair. )