2 problems with my budgies

[marinos]

hi again and happy new year!
i am having 2 problems with my budgies.
1. i have two budgies in a cage. a female and a male. inside the cage there are two places for eating. when my male budgie is on one of them, the female goes and push him and she stands in front of him. if he goes to the other place, she goes there too. what can i do?

2. i have put a nest in the cage and they never go inside. i put them myself inside and they shout and seem not to like it. what can i do to make them sleep in the nest? i think it's warmer in there. in my country is winter now. i also tried to put some food in the nest without success. any ideas?

thanks

[ozzie]

i'm not an expert but I think that first there is nothing you can do about her following him except to put them in seperate cages then maybe he would get a chance to eat, second I think that maybe they aren't attracted to each other, you can't force them to breed, maybe they will come to like each other later if they aren't forced to like being put in the nesting box.

[Tammy.w.]

firstly are you sure there male and female? and i'm not to sure on the following, how long have you had them? if not that long maybe the female is just showing your male who's boss and may stop, but keep an eye on them if she doesn't then put them in seperate cages.
And if you just want your budgies to sleep in the nest box and stay warm then they probably won't. if you are worried about the cold put a heater in the room there in and cover there cage at night to stop any drafts. hope all goes well,

[AngelWings]

1. Females are evil :) they like to bully the males & other females :XD: there's nothing you can do to help :XD: but if she does start hurting him (drawing blood etc..) then you should separate them for a while.. or re-arranging the cage :) put everything in a different place and the female might stop being mean for a while :)
2. sorry i can't help you :( i'm not a breeder..

[homebird]

:p all the above are good replies. :D

Maybe:
~ they aren't m/f.
~ they are too young to breed - females that are young will not appreciate attention
~ the hen is not in season - again they will tell the male to bug off
~ they don't care for each other - it happens

- even male Budgies will run from feeder to feeder - mine did until I was almost cross-eyed.

Why are you offering a nest? - they don't need to breed - even if male/female. Once they start you will have to separate them to stop the hen from overdoing it.

Are you offering liquid calcium for their bones? Hens really need it &males too. Google Calciboost. It is really hard for them to process Vit D3 naturally. If you have an avian lamp that is Ok - they they won't need it.

Could you post their portraits?

[Pippin's mom]

How long have your Budgies been in the same cage together? Some bickering is normal in the beginning and usually smoothes over with some time. Also females are known to be bossy. As long as they aren't drawing blood or injuring each other I would let them work it out. Is their cage roomy enough for two Budgies?

It sounds to me from your post that your intention with the nest box is not to breed, but to keep them warm right? If that's the case I would remove the box. There are better options to keep them warm such as a heat lamp or turn up the heat in your home. besides you don't want to encourage them to breed.:)

[marinos]

thanks for your replies.
They are male and female for sure.
they do not fight for food, no blood, nothing. she just go and push the male away from food all the time even if she doesn't want to eat. Male sometimes eats fast before she comes :p

Yes, Pippin's mom, you are right. I am not interested in breeding. I think in the nest box is not only warm but they will rest better instead of standing.

[ronsig]

Yes, Pippin's mom, you are right. I am not interested in breeding. I think in the nest box is not only warm but they will rest better instead of standing.

Your intentions are good:)...but budgies in the wild do not use nests either after they leave it when they learn to fly.
They rest by standing on one leg on their branches, and that's how they sleep too.
Don't worry, your birds will know how to rest:p
Just offer different size branches in the cage.

Sigrid

[pal0m1n0]

When the female goes and pushes the male out of the way, does she actually eat or just keep him out of the way?
Are you sure you have enough food out for them? Do you check to see if the seeds in the dish are actually seed or just husks? Budgies may have emptied a dish of food and you won't see any difference in volume. I am guessing you are a fairly new owner of budgies and that is a common mistake.

Try putting a large sprig of millet in the cage and see what happens. If she eats at one end she should let him eat at the other.

If none of the above turn out to be an issue you may have to separate even if only for short periods of time so he has a chance to eat, but I would be inclined to house them separately, even if only for the nights.

Also, are you sure the cage is big enough? And yes, I would recommend removing the nest box.

[marinos]

pal0m1n0 when she pushes the male away she sometimes eats and sometimes she just stands there. she might stand somewhere else and when the male goes to eat she goes next to him and pushes him.
The seeds are OK and not just husks in both places.
I have this couple for 9 months and this behavior started about 3 months ago.
OK I know she likes eating a lot but I don't understand why she leaves her own dish even if it's full of seeds. sometimes the poor male is eating too fast (approx 1 seed per second) before the female comes LOL
I'll try the millet trick.

thanks for your reply

[homebird]

Budgies are a bit squirrel like - they will gobble up food to work on later. I hope you have removed the nest. IF they ever get started breeding you will have a hard time to stop them. You should not offer bedding materials either.


Hens & males love to tear balsa wood apart - if they have a few activities perhaps they would be less in each other's face. Of course offer either a big piece or clip a few to the cage so they won't compete. A friend of mine offers small pieces in a woven basket & her males love to forage but again with a hen a basket would not be a good idea.

[skthurley]

If you do not plan on breeding, I'd like to reiterate that you remove the nestbox. Birds stay perfectly warm perched on branches. If you're like to give their feet a break from gripping, offer some flat shelf like surfaces in their cage. I have that for my Parrotlet. I cover the grate at the bottom of the cage with newspaper so that when he goes down there he will walk flat footed. This can be a little messier, but it's not very difficult to change the paper quickly every other day. I just lay down 5 or 6 layers and peel one off every other day. Takes 5 seconds.

I definitely suggest the millet spray idea. And also hiding food throughout the cage. This way the male may have other places to look for food. The female may just be wanting his attention. I would just keep an eye on his weight (perhaps weigh him every day) to make sure he's still eating and staying healthy