Hi so as some of you may know when I began my search for a Quaker parrot, I had one in mind: a blue one that talked and I ended up getting a beautiful green one that doesn't talk at all (but I wouldn't trade her for the world ) And right now I am thinking of maybe looking into adopting a second bird that would be a talking blue Quaker. Now Pickles takes up a lot of my time and I have lots of things to think about before I make such a big decision, and if you guys can give me your opinions on some or all of them that would be awesome! Here are my issues/thoughts:

~ Would getting a second bird take up so much of my time that I wouldn't be able to pay equal attention to both of them? I will not get a second bird if I honestly think it would take up too much of my energy to love both of them.

~ Would Pickles get along with a second bird? I figure they would be in seperate cages but probably in the same room so maybe that won't be an issue and even be beneficial to Pickles if she can interact with another bird.

~ Timing. I just turned 18 years old and am taking a year off before going to college and I have NO intention of giving away Pickles just so I can further my education, and getting a second bird right now might jeopardize me being able to keep them while I go to college. (Hopefully Pickles can be in my dorm room or I can get an apartment). So maybe it would be better to wait until I have a solid place to stay first

~ Bonding. Pickles is a formerly abused bird and we have been making huge progress together (she is bonded to me and she even plays with one of her toys now!). Would introducing a second bird disrupt this? Or would Pickles just bond to the second bird and not to me anymore?

Right now it's looking like I should wait until I have finished college and have a permanant residence which is fine with me as long as I have Pickles But can people with two or more birds share what it's like in your house? Do you feel overstretched with two birds or are there other benefits to having a two-bird household? I need to put a lot of thought into it and obviously wait until the time is optimal for Pickles, me and the new birdie too. It wouldn't be fair to either of the birds to rush into this and get one only to have to rehome him/her because I wasn't prepared for him/her.

Okyrah - I really don't have an answer to your question or enough experience to offer my opinion based on experience but this article might be of some help in making your decision:
http://www.petstation.com/only-bird.html

New QP Dad

I had my mr Kiwi for about 4 yrs before I got another bird. When I first got Kiwi I had a cockateil and she died, I waited for about 3yrs and I got Miss Gidget my little green cheek conure. Kiwi and Gidge do not get a long, but both would be lost if their cages wre not together. I spend the same amount of time with both.....they are in different cages and it works out very well.

Just my humble opinion, but I think you are going to have enough going on in your life without adding to you flock at this point in time. Going to college and moving will take time away and add stress to Pickles as it is and adding to the flock will take time away from her naturally. I know it is hard to wait when you really want something but it might be a good idea to wait until you are done with school, and who knows maybe with all the attention she gets from you without competition Pickle may still begin to talk.

I would wait till your life was at a more settled point before taking on another bird. Currently with school and friendships / relationships and moving about in the next couple of years I think you should just hold off getting another bird for a while. You have a lot of huge changes coming your way in life plus work and what not that maybe you should hold off to a more quiet time in your life where things are gonna be less hetic. Two birds is a lot of work and a lot of noise for dorm life and Quakers do live a long time and being a young woman you may be starting a family in the next 10 years so that is something to consider too.

I agree with the others that you should wait.

Two birds takes exactly twice as much time as one bird and three birds, three times, etc. Twice as much cleaning up, twice as much attention time, etc.

There is no guarantee that any two birds will like each other.

I think you really know about the timing question. ...Just hoping someone can convince you otherwise.

Very likely, Pickles would feel threatened by you giving attention to another bird.

I wish I could tell you more of what you'd like to hear but at eighteen, you have a long time to see which way life is heading for you and make your decisions based on that.

Ok I have made my decision to wait...at the beginning of my post I was in the "ooh MBS" stage and then when I wrote about the timing thing I was like yeah I should wait, and that's what I'm going to do, all I wanted was to hear other people's thoughts on it and their experiences because I have always just had one bird, not two. To those of you who think I wanted to hear something different, that wasn't the case and I agree with you. Besides I want to get Pickles more comfortable in our house first too. When I have my own place I will definitely reconsider this, but for now our home is a single Pickles home. Thanks to all of your replies; I'm glad that I made this post, it gave me the chance to lay out all my thoughts and see the issues before they came up.