Can I put six lorikeets in the same aviary?

[birdlover321]

Hey everybody.

I have six beautiful rainbow lorikeets. Currently I have three separate large aviaries and in each I have two lorikeets. I am not sure what their sex is but each pair are very happy together and get along very well and show each other a lot of affection. I know that in one aviary both of the lorikeets have laid eggs meaning they are both female, but they are best friends!

Now my husband and I are tired of having three separate aviaries because it is too hard to keep going in and out of each feeding them everyday, cleaning etc. The aviaries are quite some distance a part too so it would be nice to put them all together.

So my question is, if my husband built a very large aviary, would all six of them be able to live in harmony together in the same aviary? I know that they are very territorial and can get quite viscous so I wanted to ask on here about what people think. The aviary will allow lots of flying space but do you think this will cause a lot of issues if they are all together?

Another idea my husband had was we could still build a large aviary but we could divide it in to three using wire. So the pairs would be next to each other but they would not be able to fight or be in contact with each other. Would this be better?

Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much, any help will be appreciated.

[avinet]

Lorikeets are pretty social parrots, and generally a group will get along OK in a good sized aviary, as long as they are not breeding. There will be some squabbling at times, but I've never had any serious problems.

In the wild they tend to be in bonded pairs during the day seeking food, and only coming together into flocks around a particularly good food source, but towards evening the join up into the large roosting flocks, which can have hundreds of birds in the flock.

My suggestion is to build an aviary as three adjoining flights, but make it easy to remove some of the wire panels between the flights. After the pairs are settled in then you can let them flock together but if there is a pair that cause problems then it is easy to separate off one of the flights to separate them again.

That will give you flexibility - if they get on OK then they can all flock together but is there is a problem pair, or a pair want to breed, they can be separated.

I have a block of aviaries which can be modified in this way - I'll try to post a plan and photos later in the day.

cheers,

Mike

[avinet]

This is how my aviary I mentioned before is set up currently. Originally it was 5 separate flights used for breeding - these days it is used as a retirement aviary. Each individual flight is 0.9 metres wide and 3.6 metres long. The end flight has always been kept separate to quickly house birds that need to be separated for any reason. As the aviary changed from breeding to retirement some of the wire was removed allowing birds to fly between the flights, but with wire remaining at both ends, and feeding stations near each door, thus allowing a degree of separation and privacy for those that needed it.



Currently the far end remains empty, and the one nearest the door to the safety corridor is separated to allow a pair of aggressive canaries to have their own flight. Yes I know - aggressive canaries sounds like a contradiction in terms, but the male canary was bashing up a Cuban male finch pretty badly so they had to be separated

So the middle three flights are connected and currently house about 20 to 25 old and retired birds. But if I wanted to return it to breeding flights it is a simple matter to replace the removed wire and have 5 separate flights.

Such a design would work well for your 6 lorikeets.

cheers,

Mike

[anzac]

Nice set up Mike. I had some aggresive canaries once but it was 2 females attacking each other and it wasn't even breeding season, they just hated each other!