Bird enthusiasts encourage rescue rather than breeding, given that many conure species are endangered, and their numbers are declining over time. Also, inbreeding results in the loss of the pure breed and may eventually cause their extinction. However, breeding conures from different species will result in a hybrid, which is why you should know which species are compatible.
So, what conures can breed together? Different species of conures can breed together as long as they are genetically compatible, like the green cheek and pineapple conures. This is mostly possible in captivity, as in the wild, conures will mate within their species. At the same time, getting conures from different species to mate can be harder, like sun conures breeding with green cheek conures will be difficult, as they are of a different genuses and species.
Breeding will require lots of preparation, including setting up a nest box, as most will remain unbothered to mate without one. You will also need to introduce them gradually to each other as conures easily get jealous over each other and fight. This makes such mating very complicated compared to that of dogs or other pets.
If you want to know what conures can breed together, this is the ultimate guide for you. We will help you know whether you can breed a green cheek conure with a pineapple conure, a sun conure with a green cheek, a jenday with a sun conure, and a nanday with a sun conure. Read through the rest of the sections to find out all the answers you need.
Can You Breed a Green Cheek Conure With a Pineapple Conure?
The pineapple conure is a variation of the green cheek conure from the yellow and cinnamon conure’s mutation. It is small-sized with a color variation from both the yellow and cinnamon conure. These birds usually attain maturity between one and three years and weigh an adult weight of about 60 to 80 grams.
Both the green cheek and pineapple conure belong to the same species and breeding them is possible to bring forth healthy and fertile offspring. Breeding these birds will also help in bringing forth males and females of desirable color.
Before breeding the green cheek and pineapple conure, you will first need to establish their gender given that their males and females have similar features. The males are more aggressive and territorial than the females.
Females are more tender and sweet. Since conures have different personalities, you cannot rely on these differences alone to establish their gender. Thus, to be sure of the genders before pairing them for mating, you should have your vet do a DNA test on them.
Breeding the green cheek and pineapple conure is relatively easy. To start with, you should prepare a sizable nest box with varying dimensions depending on your bird’s preferences. On average, the female will lay a clutch of 4 to 6 eggs with an incubation period lasting between 22 to 25 days.
Both the male and female will share in the incubation until hatching. However, you should note that the resulting offspring is not a hybrid but is usually healthy. Also, you should avoid overbreeding your birds and stick to one round per season. This way, your birds, especially the female, will remain in good condition, prolonging their lifespan.
Can a Sun Conure Breed With a Green Cheek?
The sun and green cheek conures are similar in needs and personality, but their plumage is different. Generally, they are calmer and more affectionate than other conures, but this feature varies given that each conure is unique. They also enjoy the company of other birds and manage their relationships with humans very well.
Both sun and green cheeks belong to different species and genuses; therefore, it is not advisable to breed these two species of birds. Sun conures belong to the genus Aratingas together with Jendays and Nandays. On the other hand, green cheek conures belong to the genus Pyrrhura. Taxonomically, members of different smaller groups have a distant relationship and cannot freely interbreed to give forth healthy and fertile offspring. Thus, it is safe to state that the sun conure and green cheek are not compatible.
However, you can still breed these two conures, but the result will be unhealthy offspring. This explains why the crossbreed of these bird species usually dies at a young age. However, if the crossbreed is lucky enough to survive, it will have health problems, including foot deformities, high chick mortality due to cancer, and other health problems.
On a positive note, the crossbreed is usually adorable with its attractive color. However, experts discourage this breeding, as it is unethical for these birds to continue producing crossbreeds that will eventually die due to genetic abnormalities.
Can a Jenday and Sun Conure Breed?
Experts do not encourage conure breeding given that some species are becoming endangered and adopting them may help preserve their kind. However, if you plan to do professional breeding or allow your birds to mate in the cage, you should know your motivation for breeding, carry outbreeding in the right way, and know the sexual maturity for the species you want to interbreed and the temperamental and health implications surrounding your breeding decision. Therefore, let’s find out if you can breed a sun conure with a jenday.
A jenday and sun conure can interbreed in captivity. This is because they belong to the same genus and have common characteristics. Therefore, breeding these two conures will result in a healthy and fertile hybrid. However, breeders still encourage that the birds remain as pure as possible.
If you have these birds in captivity, you can start by determining their gender before pairing them. To do this, you can have your vet test them. After mating, the female will lay her eggs, usually in a clutch of 3 to 4 eggs. You should then check the eggs for viability through egg candling before giving them to your bird for incubation. Generally, both the male and female will share in the incubation.
If you want to breed a jenday and sun conure, note that breeding is possible throughout the year as long as the birds display breeding symptoms, but you should avoid the cold and warm months. You will need to prepare a nest box by lining it with wood shavings or sawdust. The nest should be sizable and deep enough to ensure privacy.
After hatching, the young birds will stay in the nest for up to seven weeks, but they will be independent of their parents from the tenth week. You should also exercise care to ensure your birds do not overbreed if you want to attain healthy offspring.
Can Nanday Conures Mate With Sun Conures?
The nanday and suns belong to the Aratinga species and are closely related. Some taxonomists, however, put the nanday as a stand-alone member of the Nandayus genus.
Nanday and Sun conures have a lot in common, and they can mate to bring forth a healthy and fertile hybrid called a nansun. However, suns are less common than nandays, which is why experts discourage breeding to prevent suns’ extinction.
One of the things that will perhaps be of concern after interbreeding nandays and suns will be the noise. Generally, these birds are nice and sweet but very loud. This means that their offspring will be louder, as it will inherit traits from both parents. Thus, before you consider interbreeding a nanday and a sun, ensure that your household and neighborhood can stand the noise from the hybrid.
Nandays enjoy emptying their nest and getting a deep box of about 18-inch depth may help deal with this problem. You should determine the sex of the birds through a veterinary test before pairing them. After mating, the female will lay their eggs, usually in clutches, after which both the male and female will share in the incubation.
Is it better to have one or two conures?
Conures are social birds, but their personalities vary depending on the species. Some will prefer staying alone, while others do not mind a companion. Whether it is better to have one or two conures depends on several factors.
The decision to have one or two conures will mostly depend on the personality and gender of your pets. Calm and peaceful conures will coexist in one cage compared to aggressive conures. Housing conures of the same gender in one cage is likely to trigger a fight. On the other hand, if you house male and female conures, they are likely to bond and breed, and if you want to keep more conures, this might be ideal for you.
If you want to know if it is better to have one or two conures, this is the ultimate guide. We will help you know if conures can be kept alone, whether you can have two conures in the same cage and if you can put two green cheek conures together. Read the rest of the sections to find out all the answers you need.
Can Conures Be Kept Alone?
Conures are social birds, and in the wild, they prefer to live with their flock mates. Keeping these birds in captivity will require you to mimic their life in the wild to ensure they are comfortable.
It is not advisable to keep a conure isolated in its enclosure. Therefore, if you want to keep a conure alone, you must be willing to give them time for social interaction. This is because these birds will get bored quickly if you leave them alone for longer periods. Your pet may also need some entertainment to keep them lively throughout the day.
Therefore, if your schedule is so tight that you cannot give your pet the company it needs, then a conure may not be the ideal pet for you. Alternatively, you can have someone stay at your home most of the time to give your pet company for most hours of the day.
If you have adopted a single conure, you should place it in the center of your home where most activities and interactions occur, preferably your living area. You can also leave your pet’s cage door open to allow them to interact with everyone freely. Among the things you can do to interact with your pet include petting it, talking to it, or placing it on your shoulder while you do your usual activities in your house.
Should I Get One or Two Conures?
Getting one conure will require you to keep them company given their social nature. Your pet will also be unhappy if you leave them unattended. Thus, a two-hour daily interaction will serve them right after which you can go on with your daily business.
If you have a tight schedule, it may be wise to get two conures. The conures will keep each other company while you are away, giving you more freedom to work on your schedule. With time, they may even get used to each other’s company and forget about you.
You can also leave your radio or TV on if you are going for longer hours to give your pets the illusion of company. This is because conures have a toddler’s intelligence and can be temperamental if left for hours alone. Your pet may even throw tantrums at you when stressed or bored.
You should note that staying away from your home for more than eight hours will make your pet feel lonely. Your pet will learn your schedule and extending beyond the expected hours will deprive them company, turning them into a troublesome pet.
Can I Have 2 Conures in the Same Cage?
If you want to accommodate two or more conures in your home, you may wonder if you can house them in the same cage.
As a pet owner, you can have two conures in the same cage, but this is dependent on how sociable they are, whether they have lived together before, their gender, and age. Some conure species are friendlier while others are quiet. On the other hand, some may be aggressive and fight other conures if you place them in one cage. Thus, if you want to put two conures in one cage, placing an aggressive species in one cage is not advisable.
If your pets have lived together before, it will be easier to continue housing them in one cage due to their already established bond. However, if you have raised one of the conures individually, they are likely to have territorial dominance and will be difficult to accommodate a new member in the cage.
Younger conures can coexist peacefully in a spacious cage. If you house your conures together from a younger age, they will build peace amongst themselves and bond up to maturity. However, you should note that it may be difficult to pair two conures once they mature.
Also, while same-sex pairing works in most cases, this may be short-lived when they are young, after which your pets might turn against each other due to hormonal changes. Thus, when you notice this, separating them is ideal as you cannot force them to love each other.
Finally, the gender of your conures is an important consideration. Male conures will fight each other if you pair them. Also, you should avoid pairing siblings of the opposite gender as they may mate with each other. While you might pair them to encourage mating, you should also understand the breeding behavior of your conures. Some conures are solitary while others are social.
For solitary conures, pairing will breed aggressiveness as they like to be left alone. On the other hand, sociable conures have no problem pairing as they would see the other conure as members of their family. However, if your male and female conures compete during breeding, then paring them is not advisable as it will result in fights, and the conures may kill each other.
Can You Put 2 Green Cheek Conures Together?
Green cheek conures love human interactions and will survive alone in captivity. They are also quiet compared to other conures and will learn a few words, though their talking abilities are not applauded. If you have a busy schedule, you might find yourself neglecting your pet’s bonding time; hence, it is wise to welcome the idea of having two green cheek conures.
You can put 2 green cheek conures together. However, whether or not your green cheek conures get along with each other will depend on their personality and other factors. Your pets might get along or may hate each other. You should also consider the size of the cage and shared facilities such as water and feeding bowls. If the cage is small, your birds will overcrowd, and this will encourage feather plucking.
To prevent this, you should have a bigger cage or allow your birds to spend more time outside the cage. You should also supply multiple food and water dishes to minimize squabbles.
While green cheek conures have a calmer personality, keeping them together in one cage is still dependent on their gender and age. Keeping two male green cheek conures is likely to result in fights as each seeks dominance over the other.
On the other hand, females can stay together but may also find each other intolerable and fight over food. Younger green cheek conures can peacefully coexist, but they are likely to fight each other once they mature. Thus, if you notice constant fights, biting, and squabbles among your pets, you should separate them.
Before you introduce your new conure to the older one, isolate the new conure since it could have a potential illness that may spread to your existing pet. After a month, you can keep your birds in cages next to each other to allow time to familiarize themselves.
You can also let them out of their cages and allow them time to play with each other while observing their interactions. If you show your pets equal attention, they will likely get along with each other, and you can then put them in one cage or place their cages next to each other to give them a sense of community.
Finally
Breeding should not be done with a selfish motive but rather professionally, as a poor selection of the parents will result in an unhealthy offspring’s birth. This may result in more birds dying after birth or a few weeks or months later. To prevent this, you should ensure that you are mating birds belonging to the same group, either genus or species, since they have more characteristics in common and their offspring will be healthy and fertile.
As a breeder, you should also avoid inbreeding by buying unrelated birds. You need to rule out all the possibilities of mating siblings as this will result in health complications even after successful breeding. Such complications include general ill health and organ failure. While this may not manifest in the first generation, it will show up in the subsequent generations.
Other considerations include the sexual maturity of the species and their temperamental and health concerns. Successful breeding will comprise two healthy and mature conures. If one of the species takes longer to mature than the other, you will likely have compatibility issues.
Also, you should ensure that you bring two birds with a good temperament and traits as the offspring will inherit these traits. For instance, if you breed an aggressive conure with a noisy one, you will likely have a loud and aggressive offspring that may be difficult to manage. If unsure of the combinations you want to make, you should consult with your vet. You should also consult for gender tests before you pair your conures to ensure successful breeding.
Conures are social birds and love to interact with their flock mates in the wild. If you adopt them, you should be willing to give them attention to prevent boredom. However, if you are unable, you can bring in a companion for them. While doing this, you should note that these birds are territorial and may resist their new partner. Thus, you should slowly introduce them and only allow them in one cage if they can peacefully coexist to prevent fights that can result in the weaker one’s death.
When pairing your conures, you should consider their age, gender, and temperament. At a younger age, your conures will live peacefully, but this will change as they age. Also, you should not put two male conures in one cage as this will result in constant fights with each seeking dominance.
Finally, while bringing in another conure will give your pet some company, you should continue giving your pets the attention they need, given that conures love human interactions. By spending adequate time with them and ensuring they peacefully co-exist with their cage mates, your pet will be much happier and healthy.
