Kim,
I must have missed something. How many linnies do you have? I thought you only had Lily. I'm not on the linnie forum much any longer, due to the fact that I got behind and now I can't seem to get caught up.
I saw in Ron's Twitter movie thread that you asked about the differences between splendids and bourkes. I don't want to horn in on his thread, but I did want to tell you the differnces between Stanley and Isaac. I'm sure Ron will give you a great answer about Twitter and Peeper there, though.
Isaac is supposed to be a boy, but he hasn't colored into one yet, so he could be a girl. We know Stanley is a boy. I don't know if there are differences between males and females, but that could be what some of the difference is between these two.
Isaac is MUCH flightier than Stanley. I think that is a pretty universal difference between scarlet chested/splendid parakeets and bourkes parakeets. However, it doesn't have to be the case. We had a member on here who posted quite a bit for a while who has both a male and a female splendid, and I do not think hers were as flighty as Isaac is. I think Isaac could be on the flightier end of the splendid spectrum and Stanley is definitely on the calmer end of the bourkes spectrum.
Other than the flightiness, the birds are very similar. Splendids play with toys more readily than bourkes in general. (Isaac and Stanley actually play equally with toys, but, as stated many times, Stanley plays with toys more than most bourkes.) They like similar kinds of toys.
Splendids can and do climb cage bars. Splendids normal times to be awake are during the day, unlike bourkes who are very active right before the sun comes up and right after the sun goes down. (Which is perhaps why you mention that Floyd runs around and plays in his cage so much when you try to cover him. If it is simply that the sun has set, or he THINKS the sun has set, he is going to play around because that is natural for any bourkes.)
Splendids eat any food offered with gusto! Bourkes are pickier. I'd say it was only Isaac who ate like this, but the other member posted repeatedly that both of her splendids eat anything, and the two other people I know personally who also have splendids have both told me that their splendids eat anything.
Splendids "song" is very different from the noises bourkes make, and very, very beautiful. It is not a true song like a canary, but it is very pleasant. I love Stanley's noises, but I love Isaac's even more. Splendid's sounds are beautiful!
I have seriously considered rehoming Isaac because his fear reactions have been sooooooooooooooo exaggerated. He can get himself into a mess quicker than any bird I've ever seen, and he does it often. He happens to be in a less fearful stage right now, and maybe he is past the worst. I have no idea. It seems to me that the thing that really makes him calmer is Stanley. I might be wrong, but right now, Stanley seems to be the key.
Isaac loves Stanley. He might like another splendid even more. I do not know because to my knowledge he's never even seen another splendid. He was the only member of his clutch, and he may not even have been fed at all by his parents. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know they had to take him away from his parents when he was younger than they like to take away most babies for handfeeding. He was so little the store owner took him with her everywhere she went to keep his crop full. Therefore, he spent the earliests days he can probably remember in a little cage by himself. When he was older and they were starting to wean him, they put him in with Stanley's clutch mates, who were still in the store. He stayed with them until he came home, and Stanley was here, so, who knows, he may think he is a bourkes.
He likes Elisa, the linnie, but he is calmer and braver when he is around Stanley. He isn't afraid of other birds, though, and he will go right up to the Maximillian Pionus and eat right out of the bowl from which she is eating. He will also walk under her tail or her wing. (He isn't afraid of my senegal, either, but I keep them separated because I think she might hurt him.)
Isaac will come to me by choice, and he will climb all over me. He preens me, too.
I know lots of people who have more than one bourkes and who insist that they are not happy without other bourkes. I don't have another one, so I don't know if Stanley would be happier with another bourkes or not.
I also know people who feel splendids are happier with other splendids, and I know lots of people who have both bourkes and splendids. I have been told that splendids are happier if you do not try to mix pairs of splendids. In other words, if there are females around, the males will fight with one another. I do not know if this is true or not, but I think it probably is.
Splendids and bourkes cannot interbreed, so you wouldn't have to worry about a problem there.
I have been told that bourkes are the calmest of all of the neophemas and make the best pets and splendids are the next calmest and that the othes are even flightier, but I've never even seen any of the others. Additionally, I think bourkes have recently been reclassified and are not even now neophemas, but, oh well.
I would recommend splendids as pets, but with some reservations. They are as gentle as bourkes, so if you love gentleness, you can't go wrong. Their noises are very pleasant. They seldom talk, but Isaac actually does say "pretty bird" and something else that I can't for the life of me remember right now. The reservation I have in recommending them is that they can be very nervous. They can become frightened of something small and just keep getting more and more frightened. They are not birds I would recommend for small kids' pets because of this. They are very gentle. They would not hurt a child, but I do not think they would feel safe and I think the child would be disappointed that the bird was afraid. I can honestly recommend a handfed bourkes for a small child, because they are so gentle and they are not as flighty, but not a splendid. However, I have limited experience, so I'm sure there are exceptions.
He is such a little doll, sweet and loves being pet already, he also like being close to my face, he pushes his face into mine, its just soooo sweet. Nanay, I will make sure he knows hes a manly man, Lol. Thats too funny. Its takes a real man to wear pink:rofl:
