Hello,

I have a cockatiel who has become best friends with one of our parakeets. We were given a Goffin Cockatoo yesterday and are trying to keep the too & tiel in the same room (separate cages) & keep the parakeets (2 of them) in another room as I've heard that toos tend to dislike parakeets.

The tiel spent his day "calling" for his buddy which just breaks my heart as I'm convinced that he's suffering due to us separating him them. He seems fearful of the too & visa versa.

Are there any good suggestions about how to ease him into this change in roomates?

Put them back in the situation that was working just fine.

Move the cockatiel with the parakeets. Be much safer in my opinion.

Thank you both for your advice.

The poor tiel (Bozo) is great friends with our male parakeet (Petree) but the female (Twyla) is a mean little twerp. She bullies poor Bozo endlessly which is one reason that we decided to separate the three of them.

If it was just Bozo and Petree, I would happily let them cage together but I am unsure what to do with the female parakeet.

We were hoping that the too (who was caged with a conure in her previous home) would adapt to having Bozo around & visa versa.

I've heard that larger toos are dangerous for smaller birds but this Goffin isn't that large. Do you still think it's unsafe & that our best course of action would be to recombine the parakeets and cockatiel?

The cockatiel is frightened of the large cockatoo and missing the budgie (parakeet). This is why he spent the day calling for his buddy.

Toos also dislike Tiels.

If you are keeping the Too and Tiel in the same room due to dander control as in only having one room or area covered with Too and Tiel dander the Too dander is unhealthy for the Tiel as those little Tiel lungs cannot handle heavy cockatoo dander close by.

Have a large parrot room and a small parrot room. It's the best housing situation all the way around for all the birds.



Then don't separate them. Put them back together.

Also having Tiels and Budgies in the same room as your Too can visually distract your Too when out of cage on you and cause you to get bitten as Toos take out their visual distractions on the nearest person and if your Too is out and on you and the budgies or tiel flaps in the cage or starts to tweet loudly playing and the Too doesn't like seeing this and gets irritated they bite!

Thank you for the input. I never thought about the dander issue being unhealthy for Bozo.

I honestly figured that the Too & Tiel would get used to seeing each other (not necessarily becoming friends) but Bozo's health takes precedent.

I will rearrange the cages tomorrow and put Bozo back with the parakeets.

Thank you for being here. Everyone here was also new to birds at one time just like you and we all learn from each other here all here being both students and teachers.

That is why I joined this forum.

I lurked for about a month when I was researching the G2 requirements & know that people on this board are caring and knowledgeable.

Thank you again!

From experience. I had a Goffins. I also have a Moluccan and an Umbrella. These two have never shown any aggression toward my smaller flock members. The Goffin on the other hand picked on the Moluccan. She also escaped from her cage one day and killed two conures.

I've been volunteering at a parrot rescue for over 10 years now and, while it's important to remember that each individual has their own personality, there are species that are more prone to bird-aggression. Goffin's are near the top of the list, in my experience. I've seen several budgies and tiels who have had beaks and toes removed by Goffin's. Another voice for keeping the larger bird far away from the smaller ones.

I would keep them in the same room for company, IF that works for you, but padlock the Goffin's cage if you do. They are the supreme "Houdini's" of the bird world. Sure, every bird is a unique individual, but there are more escape artists in the Goffin's family than any other. The horror he could inflict on the rest of your flock is obscene. Padlock the food cup doors,too. Don't assume keeping him in another room will eliminate the threat. If he can wander into the little bird's room, there is a danger.

On a lighter note, my Goffin's imitates my Macaw's screams. I would really hate it if my Goffin's imitated a cockatiel's screams! I hope you stopped the poor 'teil's calling. How is the female budgie with humans? Would she be better off separated from the male? I LOVE female budgies and 'tiels.

Bozo is back with the parakeets...much to Twyla's disgust. Bozo does come out to the main room with me to hang out for a little bit...but then he goes back to the parakeet area. The G2 is locked up while Bozo is hanging out with us to ensure Bozo's safety. The G2 does not seem the least bit affected when Bozo is around and Bozo has accepted Dori (the G2) being around.

Birdfriend, Twyla is our only unfriendly bird. She has actually broken skin. I've tried working with her but have honestly gotten to the point where I'm ready to accept that she's just a little meano.

Some of them just are . I was more concerned about your poor male budgie. Lots of people will let a male be hen-pecked just because they think they should keep a boy and girl together. BAH! Sometimes even the hen wants a different situation and can be a good people-pet.
Sometimes they are just nasty. A budgie or cockatiel grinding down on a cuticle can really be alarming. We don't discount the damage a little bird can do!
You should see how a nasty female lovebird can be!

Bozo and Petree were initially hen-pecked by Twyla but Bozo found some kind of bravery in his soul and turned into a guardian protector of Petree. It was funny the first few times Bozo told her off for her behavior. She acted confused.

We aren't sure what sex Bozo is...he could very well be a she. But yeah...a nasty female parakeet is enough for me lol!

The G2 (Dori) has decided that my fiancé is "hers"...so the fun begins! I thought the parakeet bite was bad!

Bozo sounds like a very special bird. Give him a treat for me, please!
If he whistles a lot, or heaven help us, talks english, I would bet he's a boy. Female cockatiels are VERY sweet and chatter a lot, but they are seldom whistlers. What color morph is Bozo? A "normal grey" female will have bars on the underside of her tail (faint stripes that run the "short" way across the tail).

Oh I will and he is! At present he's hanging with me trying to perfect the "Andy Griffith" show tune. So cute!!!

Male. 97% sure. That is also why you don't have any eggs, thank your lucky stars. Egg binding is a crazy bad problem with female 'tiels.
Cockatiels really do love that "Andy Griffith" theme song!

So a boy it is! I had read that males are more vocal than females. Vocal this bird is!

He loves when I put on random tiels doing the "Andy Griffith" song from youtube. He's got quite a few half songs down...he'll start one song, change to another & end with the pretty girl whistle. He's quite the little whistler!