What to Consider When Flocking

Flocking birds is not as easy as most may assume. You think that just because they’re two amazons that they will get along because they flock in the wild right? Or maybe you get them all as babies so they “grow up together.” Simply put, successfully flocking birds is not just picking two birds and putting them together; you can get lucky, but most of the time, it’s not that easy.

You have to consider many variables in order for success: age, species and sub species, gender, wild caught or hand raised, confidence level, how skittish the bird is, level of socialization with other birds (and what kind), and if they are resource guarders to name a few.

My flock is so successful because it’s taken me 15 years to get to this point. I bring birds into my permanent care based on how they will effect the flock, not because I just want them. I’ve been offered thousands of birds, a lot of my dream birds as well, but I declined after hearing more about the individual bird and considered them in my flock. Yes, you can always train birds to accept each other. But, in order to thrive, interact, and benefit from flocking, the birds have to enjoy each other and be matched well.

Another point is hand reared birds from a lot of breeders and large facilities naturally are horrible at socializing properly with other birds. Baby birds are taken from the parents too early, sometimes as soon as 10 days or less, which means they never learn how to be a bird and communicate with birds. Imagine if we did this with puppies... imagine how unequipped they would be with no other dogs around to learn from. One thing I find successful is pairing hand raised birds with wild caught, or aviary, or properly socialized as a baby bird from select good breeders birds. That way one can teach the other how to communicate effectively with each other.