Ask Lafeber

Green cheek conure and sun conure

Hi, I have recently fostered in an emergency situation 2 conures. These beautiful birds have been together in the same cage since very young (they are around 6 months to a year exact dates are sadly unknown) although they are together the female is incredibly tame and eager for human attention the other male is friendly at a small distances but likes his own space. My question is would the birds given the history of being left alone together thrive better in separate cages or remain together. I would prefer they didn’t mate but also very aware that they are very much bonded and would hate to be the cause of any trauma or upset for them.

Hi,

I would go ahead and separate the birds. If they really are male & female, they are too young to be together. You don’t want the female trying to lay eggs at this age. She would be at a high risk of becoming egg bound. If you separate them, they will both be better pets. You can try letting them interact some out of the cages. But it’s best to work with getting both birds tame and discourage any bonding between them. They should not be bred as they are different species. Unless they came with DNA sexing certificates, they may not even be male & female. They are young now, which is why they can still be handled. But if left together for much longer, both birds will revert to being wild and won’t be interested in humans as companions.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda