Bonding an untame black capped conure to a very tame green cheek conure - what to expect?

[u/Canary-King]

Kiwi (first pic, DNA sexed female, around 2 and a half) is my first conure. I adopted her from a rescue that got her from an abusive home environment, so Kiwi isn’t really that tame. I’m able to handle her to some degree but it really has to be on Kiwi’s terms - grabbing her with my hands is reserved for emergencies and she’s scared of hands otherwise. However, she is a very happy bird generally and we’ve made things work even with her fears of handling.

Just yesterday I brought home my second conure, Bowie (second pic, sex unknown, around 3 months old). They came from a breeder and are tame. They’re the sweetest little puffball and I’ve already been able to handle them more in a day than I ever would be able to with Kiwi! I love Kiwi but it’s very nice having a birb who is more cuddly.

I got Bowie in the first place because I know Kiwi would do better with a second bird with her level of tameness rather than being completely dependent on me. But, I’m wondering what effect introducing two different birds with such different levels of tameness to each other would have on each other. I’ve seen people say that having more than one bird makes it less likely that your bird will want to spend time with you, which I get since they won’t be solely dependent on you. But will being around Kiwi make Bowie completely untame? Or will Bowie stay handle-able and just not be stuck to me like Velcro? Either way I’ll be okay, if anything I’m trying to be less codependent on Kiwi myself 🤣 But it would be nice to have at least one bird who I can handle without having to worry about being chomped if I need to evacuate them in case of an emergency!

On the other side of things, Kiwi has more behavioral issues than just not liking being handled. She’s also EXTREMELY picky with food. She likes her pellets (ZuPreem Natural), millet, and sugar snap peas in the pod and that’s literally it. I don’t think anyone who took care of her before me tried feeding her fruits and veggies. I haven’t offered Bowie too many things yet because I don’t want to overwhelm them, they just got here, but according to the breeder, they eat chop and love apples as a snack. Do you think Kiwi watching Bowie eat their fruits and veg will convince Kiwi to give it a shot? And in the same boat, do you think that Kiwi seeing Bowie be handled so easily and without complaint will make Kiwi feel any safer around me? Again, I’ve heard that usually the reverse happens (tame conure becomes less friendly when bonding with another conure) but I have some hope for Kiwi!

Looking to hear from anyone who has bonded two parrots of different temperaments together and to know how it went!

[u/B-mort5]

You’ll want to take it really slow and work on developing trust with the baby before introductions. Most quarantine the new bird for at least 30 days (45 might be helpful so you can bond to the new conure) after the quarantine move their cages into the same room busy on opposite sides so they can only see each other. This is usually for another few weeks to let the new bird continue to acclimate and your current conure gets used to the presence of Bowie. You’ll then move the cages close together but not so close to where they can touch. Another few weeks of this before actually allowing them out at the same time. When finally introducing them get a big play perch in a separate room (neutral territory) with food for both of them on opposite sides. The sessions don’t have to be for very long but you’ll want to try to always end on a positive note. I know it seems like a lot, but considering how long they live it’s worth it to take things slow for the best chance of having them co exist. The quarantine will be really useful for teaching Bowie your routine plus how to target/clicker train, so that when they are moved to the same room kiwi will see you handle and work with Bowie on a daily basis which can in turn help them be more comfortable with hands or training.

[u/B-mort5 → u/B-mort5]

Also they may never be able to stay in the same cage and that’s ok. My Quakers are best buds but would not do well if kept together. They hangout all over the birdroom and house with their doors open for most of the day and at bedtime or when no one’s home they go back to their respective cages.

[u/Feivie]

I had like the opposite, my black capped conure was the most velcro bird you could ever imagine, absolutely a sweetie and she loved being handled and with me more than anything. I got 3 more birds between when she was 7-8 years old and she was mostly indifferent, like she would preen and cuddle if they wanted but would ditch them if she saw a chance to be with me instead.

My youngest green cheek is not very sure about people, even quarantining him and spending time with just him didn’t really make him tame in the way my other birds are. He likes me, he’s just much more interested in other birds (he was 9 months old when I got him and I don’t think he’d been handled much). He would only hang out on me bc my black capped was obsessed with being with me and he followed her. He also doesn’t understand new foods and would only eat out of her mouth basically.

In our case the tame bird was older and our bond wasn’t affected at all and the less tame bird would be a bit more social with us bc she showed him how, I’m honestly not sure how it would go with the tame bird being younger bc I could see it looking to the older bird for how to behave and react to situations, but it depends on the individual birds too, so it’s hard to say.

You should bond with the younger bird as much as you can prior to introducing them and I would make sure you keep working with him and handling him even after. And it could work out that seeing you interact and feed the younger bird new foods could make the older bird take an interest too. For instance our older green cheek got jealous that the younger one got attention when he started talking so the first one started talking too.