Should I get another cockatiel? Opinions Please.

[My Peanuts]

If you don't know my story here is the quick rundown. Alex (female) & Danny (male) lived together, but Alex had egg binding problems. At the vet's request, Alex and Danny are separated. Here's the problem, Danny won't SHUT UP! He's only quiet when he's covered, and I don't like keeping him covered all the time. He misses Alex, but he gets to see her for supervised visits. Danny is so lonely and I don't know what to do for him. We got Danny because he must have escaped from a house and my boyfriend found him in a friend’s yard after a tree was cut down and gave him to me. I don't know much about his background, but I think he was housed with a lot of other birds. Danny lives in a big cage that could easily house more than even 3 birds comfortably. Danny has always been loud, but now that Alex is in another cage he is SUPER loud. My dad made a comment about getting rid of him, but I put a stop to that immediately. I told him if we couldn't handle him no one could and he would die. My dad agreed pretty easily. So I'm looking for another solution to the problem. Danny has lived with my recently decreased tiel Pretty Boy & Alex. He liked Pretty Boy, but is literally obsessed with Alex.

Anyway, my question is, do you think I should get a male cockatiel to live with Danny? I know it won't replace Alex in Danny's mind, but do you think it will help him to be quieter?

[My Peanuts]

Also, is it ok to get cockatiels from a pet store? I looked on petfinder and there are none anywhere near my house and I can't find any decent breeders. The pet store where I get some of my supplies had some that they were hand raising, what do you all think?

[ComedyDevil]

Hey :)

I've never had cockatiels, but they're sociable animals right? My friend just got a mate for her cockatiel a few weeks ago (both females) and they get a long great.

As long as the cage is big enough, etc, then I'd say go for it!

Heres a link that might help: http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/behavior/secondbird.html :)

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I had a cinnamon- pearl Female "Sunny" which died about a year ago from being egg bound. She was in a huge cage with 1 other female (lucy) and 2 males (Skye and Casper). I then rescued another male (Doodle). The 3 boys started to get a little to friendly with Lucy, so I separated her. Lucy was very unhappy being alone. I too let her have supervised out time with the boys, she loved that but was still so sad while in her cage. It just so happened that my best friend has 2 females and 1 male cockatiel and she was having the same problem. We decided to "trade" birds. She took Lucy and I took her male, Max. It worked out great, Lucy is so happy and I know she is well cared for and I still get to see her. Max is awesome, he was a rescue of hers that I had even named (when she got him) after a character in a book.

With all that said, I would say that another cockatiel would be a great idea. They are such social birds I'm sure he misses having a companion.

I have 3 rescued cockatiels none of which are hand tame. My only hand tame cockatiel is Casper, who I had bought. I find that in most rescue cases the owner didn't have the time for the bird and therefore they aren't hand tame.
I would say getting one from a pet store or a breeder would be best. But be careful buying one from a pet store too. I have seen pet stores selling "hand raised" birds which is different from "hand tame". Often "hand raised" means the babies were in a box and getting a syringe shoved in their face several times a day, never actually having hands-on contact. That's not everywhere, but I have seen it. Of corse be sure to check for cleanliness.

Good luck!!

[My Peanuts]

Thanks you guys. I'm starting to get exciting thinking about a new addition. Alex was "hand raised" and I got her at Petsmart. She is the most well mannered animal I think I have ever owned. I called the pet store to ask about males, even though I already knew the answer. They have some babies, but they are not ready to leave and I would have to DNA test to see if it was a male. I'm going there today to talk to someone about it. I defiantly want a male though; I can't deal with all the egg binding stuff with another bird especially since Alex isn't out of the woods yet.