Ask Lafeber

2 birds

What is your thought on keeping 2 Rosellas together as pets in a cage not a breeding pair. Will this work

Hi Pam,

As long as the birds get along, this is fine. If they are opposite sex, they are going to mate at some point and probably lay eggs. But without a nestbox, they won’t be able to keep the eggs warm so the eggs will never start to develop. But you also do not want to give them anything that could be used as a nest like a large bowl – nothing the hen can sit in and of course this is assuming the cage has a metal grate.

As far as the pet part goes, when you cage two birds together they are generally going to bond with each other more than with people, regardless of whether they are opposite sexes. Rosellas are more on the shy side when it comes to being a pet. They have to be handled a lot on a daily basis to remain tame. Some will always be hand shy and flighty, even if hand raised from an early age. It’s just their nature. So most likely they would not remain hand tame if caged together. There can always be exceptions, but again in general even a single Rosella will be more hand shy than other hand raised parrots.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda