Housing Retired Pairs Together

I have a few older pairs of Parrotlets I want to retire from breeding. I have a large outside flight that is 8' X 20' X 8' tall. Can I release them in it together. They have been faithful parents and want them to retire happy. Thanks for your help,


Thank you for your email. It has not been my experience that more than one pair of parrotlets (male and female) should be housed together and that includes birds that may be too old to breed, especially Pacifics, which I assume these are. Green Rumps or Spectacles maybe but not Pacifics. They are too aggressive and territorial and that instinct does not fade with age or time. I had tried to house retired pairs together in large flights although I confess they are not as large as the ones you are proposing – mine were 6’ tall, 6’ wide and 10’ long and were planted and I still had aggression problems. The most dominant pair attacked and bullied the others and no matter how many feeding stations, perches, enrichment items, plants and other things I placed in the flight, nothing stopped their instinct to drive away the ‘intruders’. This is very reflective of their behavior in the wild so I would doubt having a larger flight would make it safer. However, they are your birds and you certainly can do whatever you want to with them but my almost 30 years experience has proved that the instinct that made them such good parents, probably does not diminish when it comes to setting up territory and defending it from others. If you do decide to put them together I would love to know how it works out for you.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.