Well the birds got about 7 - 9 days separation.

Laker flew into the living room - the sounds of Budgie chatter was driving him crazy. He missed out on his visits to the living room + i was spending hours with the baby in the small bedroom. He was flying from room to room.

After their 'seeing' each other I thought I'd take them out to the balcony in their separate cages. They kept each other company out there but not in contact. The baby was very excited. Laker came to the side of the cage to see him but then he returned to his usual Laker stuff - ignoring the baby. I did this 2 days in a row.

Afterwards Laker was like velcro - he really was hyper as well. The baby was very vocal & wanted desperately to be with Laker. I kept up the separation but i felt like i was just walking thru the motions as they were already in a pretty poor quarantine situation.
Regarding Rio's health ~ I had talked to the breeder about the health of her birds - she said i was the only person who asked to see the birds & whom her mother had let visit the outside of the aviary. She also said her Lovies & one Tiel had been to the avian vet this spring & had a good report.
If i had the cash at hand - i'd be taking the 2 to see a vet for a check-up. I am relying on their apparent good health ~ Not terribley scientific.

Yesterday I put the cages beside each other in our room. Laker can fly where he wants. As has been his routine until now, Laker spends a lot of time on his gym - away from the cage. This has not changed. I gathered a lot of grass seeds in my walks lately & have introduced them to their diet. Here they socialize.

The set-up

Sharing

Rio eating green grass seeds.

The baby still has private flying lessons. He is doing well & will step-up for all of us & goes into his cage quite well. But by then I'm sure he's pretty tired.

It is probably ok. The most serious budgie disease PBFD shows up as french molt in babies. If clutches are all normal the babies will be negative for this.

Ah well, "best laid plans of mice and men", and all that. Sounds like you're doing a great job getting them acquainted with each other. I can see where the baby would be more enthusiastic than Laker, after all the baby's fresh from a multiple budgie situation, and Laker's more used to being the Lone Star. Love the pics!

I'm very excited to see how things play out when they are both out together eventually - it's a learning experience for sure! It sounds like Laker is fairly passive towards Rio, not as excited now that he's face to face with him. Was Laker housed with other budgies at the shelter??

Looks like they will soon be friends! Your pictures are always so beautiful.

Laker was housed alone at the shelter - there were some finches there. It was a really small shelter with little to offer a bird. He was at the front desk.

From his attitude - I'd say he is confused. He's talking to his reflection in the bathroom quite expressively - i think he's sharing his adventure.

The grass is such a hit, on both sides, that it may help him adjust.

Sarah - the Christmas treat wreath is a big hit with Rio - he loves to gnaw on stuff - unlike Laker who has only gnawed on his gym. The popcorn & Nutraberries are thrown to the floor of the cage. I see & hear him digging in his seed dish & then he covers the cage floor with seed - little devil,

Interesting. I asked because Winston was also housed alone and I have no idea when he's been in physical contact with another bird. He beaks Jerry's beak, but will allow no more physical contact, such as preening. And I don't think (at this point at least) that he wants to live with Jerry - when they are in the confined space of a cage, as soon as Jerry approaches Winston he squawks and flies away. And he was attached to his mirror for awhile - and the bird in the mirror was very passive I wonder if he'll simply take more time to adjust to a real bird or if they will remain friends but without the physical aspect. I am fine with their relationship now, and as long as they still play together and enjoy each others' company - I guess in my mind I pictured things a little differently than they've played out. I'm not disappointed at all, just surprised. But I've never dealt with this sort of thing so ultimately I didn't know what to expect..Goes to show that you can never know what to expect with a rehome I guess.

But I know that the situation is similar but also flipped in your case - Laker being from a shelter and a single bird for 10 months, but now he's well adjusted whereas Winston is still learning the ropes.

Yes the situation is reversed but we are both dealing with a loner & a socialized bird. On the up side Laker does go over to the cages when he's bored & that was the main reason i got another bird - for those lonely times.

I'll try them out together this afternoon in the small room. Rio is quite comfortable flying in there & Laker has been in there a lot too in the past. Poor Rio - he really wants to join Laker. He's a gentle bird - from his interactions with me, so i think he'll be OK with Laker. I just hope Laker can handle the sharing. We have also been thinking of just getting another cage like Laker's, for Rio, instead of a big cage. It seems silly having 2 cages for 2 Budgies.

We can only do our best & see how time will change things.

Sarah ~ I know you must be disappointed that i wasn't firm on the quarantine - you had done such an excellent job yourself + the vet visits as well. I was also disappointed in myself. I was dealing with the pressure from my family + the bird's initial reaction. When Laker flew into the living room it kind of escalated - not great excuses but there it is.

I'm not disappointed in you at all! You are doing what you think is best, and I try to do the same for my flock - that's all we can do. I was actually surprised that Dave didn't pressure me more to speed things up, and if he had I probably would have, but we surprisingly agreed on many things. My "quarantine" was far from the best - I do not have separate air spaces and we never went so far as to change clothes between visits with everyone. Washing our hands in between and no sharing of toys was about as extreme as it went.

I know the feeling, 2 budgies and 2 cages I think they are both happy living separately at the moment though. Jerry still plays VERY well on his own, which I am happy about. Whenever he enters Winston's cage it's NOT to play with Winston, he goes straight for Winston's toys!

No Winston adventures in the past week either. And every night he seems content to hop back into his cage.

The other night I felt bad for Winston though - recently I rearranged his perches and quickly realized that the new arrangement wasn't good since he was pooping in his food dish. So I took Winston and his cage to the bedroom to fix the perches differently (cats and dog were roaming at that point, so the birds were in cages). Jerry and Lulu were still caged in their room. The entire time that I had Winston in the bedroom - and it was for awhile because I let him out to fly while I fixed perches - no one contact called to him If I take either Jerry or Lulu out of the room while the others are caged for whatever reason, they contact call up a storm. Made me feel very sad, as if they didn't think he was a flock member yet. He still has a ways to go in all areas though - I know that bringing him in was a great thing, and he is fitting in, but moments like that have me second guessing things.