I had 2 parakeets and recently lost 1. Will my remaining bird have a problem if I get another?

Question

I "adopted" a couple parakeets, a male & a female. The female recently died-no apparent cause, vet said old age probably. We have no idea of age & just recently figured out gender. Anyway-I think the male is lonely. He like wandering into my cockatiel's cage, but she isn't real happy about it as she has been an "only" since I got her. I was thinking about getting another keet to keep him company-but I have questions. 1) Would I get a male or female? (I also recently lost a keet to a sort of eggbinding-it was stuck hanging out. The vet removed it, but she died a few days later. I really don't want to go thru that again, it was very hard for me to lose a "baby". 2) Would my male be mean to a new "friend"? I guess those are my main concerns-but any advice would be helpful. I purchased "Parakeets for Dummies" but was disappointed in the content. Thanks. Dianna

Answer 1

1.  He may compete with the male and vie for dominance, so I'd get another female.

2.  Would he be mean to the new bird?  There's really no way of knowing.  In many ways, two birds living together is like two people living together.  Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don't.

My personal advice to bird owners is to just get one - to make sure that it bonds to the human instead of to another bird.