3's a crowd??? HELP!!!! :)

[Erinalane]

Hi everyone. I have a question about owning 3 birds. I just went to the bird shop with my two very young budgies, Kiko and Kina, and they were able to confim the sex of each of our budgies. They are both females. Originally, we had wanted a male and female. We knew females could tend to fight. The great thing is, they don't so far. BUT I wanted to know if I were to get a male to add to our pretty big cage, would 3 be a crowd and upsset the dynamic of the cage? Would they fight over him? Is three a bad number for budgies???? Thanks for your help! :)

[Budgiekin]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I currently have three birds, however two of them are male and only one is female and they are all housed separately, but they do come out for play time all together and for the most part get along very well. Skyla (my girl) will occasionally nip Aries' feet, but so far, she hasn't taken off any toes! Skyla and Kiwi have tried to mate, but their relationship seems to be a love/hate one; sometimes they want to bond and sometimes Kiwi would rather hang out with Aries, leaving Skyla alone which she doesn't seem to mind.

I do know that people have managed to house multiple females together in the same cage without any problems, but I don't think you'd want to add a male to the group.

I have heard of situations in which one budgie in a group of three gets left out when two of them bond with each other and one doesn't. That may lead to a situation in which you have one budgie with quite an aggressive tendency; aggressive to enough to seriously harm another fellow budgie, or possibly even kill. Conversely, you may end up with the "left out" budgie being depressed because he/she hasn't bonded with the others. Having a depressed budgie just isn't good.

Good luck with your decision! I am sure others will offer their own insight too. It would be nice to get other people's perspective on this topic to help you make your decision.

[Bea]

I wouldn't add a male to the mix personally, more males than females is always the way to go in a group of budgies because females will fight if there aren't enough males but typically the males don't seem to mind sharing. :rolleyes:

[Erinalane]

Thanks for your replies. I have decided not to get a third. If I do get more budgies, I will probablly get what is called a "flight cage"??? which is used for Cockatiels, and get two more males. If they didn't get along, I would be prepared to separate them. I don't really want them to breed. They won't breed usually unless you have the right stuff in their cage... I just want to see them make out!! haha THX guys

[Bea]

Are the flight cage you're talking about the 18"x18"x30" ones? If so i LOVE those and really want to get one for Blinks.....yep, just for Blinks, spoilt rat! That sounds like a good plan although if there is mating you need to be ready to seek help as there are a few things that could go wrong: the hen could get eggbound which can become fatal, you could end up with babies even without the right equiptment...someone on another budgie forum has a pair of budgies that have raised two clutches of babies on the floor of the cage and they now won't stop laying eggs, even with hormone shots!! Budgies who really want to breed wont particularly care where they lay their eggs, mine will lay in seed cups, on the floor, anywhere! Having said this of course plenty of people keep male/female combinations and never have any of these problems.

[Erinalane]

I gueess I have been lucky in my life with the "female/male no laying egg combo" haha. And yes... those are the dimensions of the flight cage. I also have an outside cage, with a HUGE jungle gym. I'd like to take a pic and show you, but I haven't figured out how to upload from my camera phone onto the computer yet.... but these two females are VERY SPOILED! I have Manzanita and Eucalyptus branches that come out of a large pot typically used for plants... then all these ropes and toys and swings are attached to the branches. They have a bath nearby. Then I take all kinds of fruits and veggies and place them on the branches with rubberbands... yup...they are spoiled rotten too!!!! HAHA. I'm crazy about them... very lovable birds.:budgie:

[Bea]

These weeny little budgies sure know how to eat through our money hey? :P

[Erinalane]

That is one thing that they are REALLY REALLY good at! haha. :D

[Kiko&Kina]

Yup. I'd say that's Kiko and Kina's hobbie! lol. I love Kiko and Kina. SO CUTE! I just wanna hug tham and squeez them....I'd kill 'em.....OH NO! lol.