Five Dangers of Putting Two Different Species of Parrots into one Cage

By Bonnie Dater Jay

1. Mated pairs of parrots can certainly be kept in one housing but in truth, parrots should never be locked up in a cage or housing other than an aviary. They are beings of the sky and it is cruel and inhumane in every possible way to lock them in a cage. Even with a mated pair they need to be allowed to come and go freely as they wish, not be locked in together. Every had a row with your significant other? Did you want to stay in the same room? Not likely. Neither do they.

Mated pairs will not ever accept another bird in their space and it is highly unwise to even consider such an action. It will not go well and there will be an attack from the resident male against the newcomer. The pair could very well kill the introduced bird and often do that.


2. Parrots who do not get along have no option to get out or away from the other offending or annoying parrot if they are stuck inside a locked box that is likely not even large enough to offer the opportunity to  fly to a different location in the confined area. The smaller parrots can do much better in an aviary as opposed to the larger species. A large cage is not an aviary

Aviaries allow for more movement certainly than a cage but are still a confined area. But with a large enough aviary, filled with toys and various interesting places to sit birds can be quite comfortable. Always remember that more space is better. You cannot really have too much space when you are confined. This is especially true with in-home aviaries or bird rooms

You cannot make birds like one another so if it does not go well after a bit of time with a new introduction then remove the new addition.

3. Larger parrots of different species can manage in a large aviary with plenty of room to fly around and lots of places to land. But as with all things, observing your birds very carefully everyday for a more than just a few minutes, and at different times during the day, will allow you to see the different kinds of interactions that are happening and get a better sense of what is possible and what is not and what is really going on.

4. Do not ever mix large species with small species. It’s just asking for bullying and aggression for the most part. There are bullies in the parrot world just like there are among humans. If you have made a rescue of a different species than you already have, then a new home will be necessary to keep them happy, healthy and busy. New to you birds rarely get along with resident birds and aggression is likely.

5. Another problem with trying to force different species into the same housing is bar spacing or wire sizes as well toys sizes being different, the inability to monitor food intake which is critical so that one is not eating so much that the other bird does not have enough food, stepping into droppings because there will twice as many and toys. Toys need to be size appropriate for each bird which means more toys per housing and less room to play and move or stretch their wings and certainly far less room to fly.