New feathered friend?

[emgart01]

Hello! I've been thinking about getting a new feathered friend, except I already have a wonderful female cockatiel named Duchess. Duchess is about four years old and I absolutely love her. Thing is, I'm not totally sure how to go about getting another bird, or even what kind of bird to get. I would honestly like to have another species of bird, I love cockatiels, but I think it would be a lot of fun to get a different kind. That being said, I know that cockatiels tend to get bullied a lot by other birds. I wouldn't cage them together, but it would be really nice to have the ability to have them both out at the same time to play with me and each other. I know each species is a little bit different, and obviously every individual is different! Can you guys think of any species though that may be okay to have with her? I would get another cockatiel if that's really the only species that could be friendly with her, above all else I want her to enjoy the addition to the family as much as I do, she was here first so she needs to be comfortable with the change! I don't have any dogs or cats, so duchess pretty much gets to roam free around my apartment and I just clean up after her, so it would be nice to be able to have both the birds able to roam and not be cramped up in their cages. Duchess only goes into her cage when I'm not home, so having to cage her while I'm playing with another bird would probably not go over too well!

I hope this post is in an okay spot, I'm really new at this! Thanks for any advice you guys can give me!

[koa]

maybe a cockatoo? but i am not to sure do you want to get into big birds or stay with the small size?

[Macaw Lover]

It is always best to get another bird of the same size so the littler one does not get injured or killed by the bigger one. I have really no experience which species would work out, sorry.

[2birds]

I think what you are after is that you don't want another bird attacking your little one. There are a few species that are known for being aggressive with other birds and actually a couple are quite small but I can't remember which ones right off hand. Probably for the most part they wouldn't play with each other anyway but would tolerate or even just ignore each other. That's ok, they would be there for each other to talk to when you are away. I would just get what you want, what would fit into your life style, and what you know you could handle.

How about a little Indian Ringneck. They are cute, pretty good talkers for the most part, a little bigger than a cockatiel, and come in a few colors. They are known for going through a bluffing stage at puberty, so you would have to research how to get through that.
Also, there have been records of them living up to 50 yrs but the average is 25 to 30 yrs

[koa]

you could get a new tiel

[kendrafitz]

I love caiques, they are so funny and their hopping cracks me up. But they are rough players, so that probably wouldn't work. I also have a super soft spot for male eclectus, but I'm not sure how they do with smaller guys. Steve has both, ekkies and budgies, so he may be able to offer advice on that.

I think you got some good advice. Indian ring necks are so sweet and another tiel would be just the right size.

[Mare]

From my experience with having two cockatoos and one cockatiel is,, the cockatiel would love to be friends with the larger birds but they would tear her to pieces if they had the chance :(. I've seen different species get along well but NOT in my house! If I were you, I would go with either another cockatiel or something comparable in size.

Oh!! Welcome to the forum! Nice to have you here, let us know what you decide on :)

[plax]

As others have stated, it's not advisable to allow intermingling among birds of vastly different sizes. It can even be dangerous if they're nearly the same size, and in some cases even when they're the same species. Please approach your decisions in this regard with caution.