Characteristics of a Bonded Pair

[jonash]

once i finally brought my male and female budgies home, they would always sit in perches directly across from each other, rarely together. It was like they "claimed" sides of the cage. Well, they've been together for at least 3 weeks to a month now, and they have become much closer. They nearly always sit together now, the seating arrangements could have something to do with a new arrangement of perches in the cages, and maybe they just both like the same one (they sit on the rope perch most often aka- most comfortable). and only recently have we noticed the female preening the males feathers. However, it seems like when he tries to reciprocate and preen her too, she pushes him away and continues preening him. We have also noticed the two locking beaks occasionally, this seems to have started around the same time the preening started, which means feeding each other i believe?

Are there more characteristics that "define" a bonded pair? :love2: Specific behaviors and such...? Im really glad they seem to actually be enjoying each other more than i originally thought, but Im also wondering about the likelihood of babies, even without a nesting box I have heard it is a possibility. :ohno:

Side Note: He has a distinct white ring around his eye, which, from my research, i've gathered to mean at least 1 year in age. She does not have this white ring yet, which means younger than a year. (although i have heard of specific types of budgies never getting the white ring). Im not sure if age really matters much, although i've heard sexual maturity is about 3 months, so i dont see it being an issue.

the male does not seem to eat nearly as much as the female, which is completely opposite from how it was when we first got them. I was worried about how little she seemed to eat at first, and now its him im worried about. I have heard that when bonded pairs lock beaks, the male feeds the female. It seems that they lock after SHE eats, which would be female feeding male. Any ideas?

[enicol6]

Yes they sound bonded :):) Hopefully they will not breed but yes it can happen without a box. It happened to mine. A few tricks to try to keep them from getting in the mode are to change the cage around frequently, cover them by 7 p.m. and offer no nest or nest substitute(big cups). If they don't start you may get lucky. I had sets all my life that never bred until now.

As far as her ring, what does she look like? Can you post pics? A recessive pied never gets iris rings.

[jonash]

Good to know about preventing breeding. I'll try to make sure they never get the opportunity to even think about being parents =)

The female could be a recessive pied, im honestly not sure, and actually she looks a little different than the ones i've seen in stores. Shes not blue or yellow or green. She's white and gray. The male is white with a blue back and blue areas of his body, but he's not too colorful either.

http://i39.tinypic.com/20qj32e.jpg

I've seen albino before but she is one of the first really just gray ones i've seen.

[softie]

Judging from those photos, I say the female is a Dilute Grey and the Male is a Dominant Pied Greywing Sky Blue :) Both very beautiful!

[Sweety&Tweety]

They are both beautiful. I have a pair that is bonded and the female tolerates him when he feeds her. He absolutely adores her, but she is grouchy and runs him off a lot. She never preens him even though he preens her. He found another one of my female budgies to preen him, but he loves his first woman the most. The love triangle seems to work for them.

[jonash]

Thanks for the info! its interesting. Although i do NOT want babies right now, maybe i should research into what the babies might possibly look like one day. :) Thank you!

[jonash]

I wish I had a third party to preen Bo! Lol I think he likes her but is tolerating her when she gets so aggressive in his face. It's very sweet when they get along, isn't it? Good luck with the love triangle!

[ETAHoffman]

Well, if they do breed and she produces eggs, simply throw them away. Even though it does happen, occasionally, it is most unusual for hens to lay eggs unless she has a nest box in which to lay them.

Re: Bonding. Parakeets are very fickle. As long as they don't fight, I wouldn't worry too much about them getting along. Hens have a tendency to be a little fussier than males. If and when you start to breed parakeets, you can "mix and match" mates. They very quickly adjust to a new mate. I've used certain pairs one year, split them the next year and used different mates, and then rejoined them the third year and they never refused to mate and produce young.

Good luck.

[BuBu&Chik]

LOL ... my male is dominant so he has a white iris, but my female is recessive so she will never develop that white iris.... have you ever seen your male do the "mating dance" for her? its sooo cute... usually when the male wants to mate he will do a lil dance with some head bobbing, signing, and get his beak super close to hers and kind of tap her beak with his beak and move backwards and bob his head while signing... and if you look closely, you may see his eyes all "dilated" where the white part of the white part iris gets even bigger and does some "twilight" effect.....its sooo hilarious and funny... if you see that that is the "mating dance" ....
anyways, mine never mate, my male has tried numerous times to mate with her but she refuses. He used to preen her but stopped after he gave up on trying to mount her. He still regurgitates and feeds her all the time like almost everyday and as a result... she weighs much more than him~!!! she is much heftier and bigger and scarier so she will get moody a lot and peck at him and dominate the cage.... but he lets her have her way because he loves her... and half of the rest of the day they sing and kiss each other all day.... so in the end, i think they truly are bonded and love each other... and i believe though youre worried about your male he is eating for two! in the wild, there is a saying that that is "all a budgie has to give" to show his love! and that is true! :p;)

[jonash]

Lol its so funny how most everyone has a story of a bossy female. Mine seems to dominate the male, too, however, she is the one actually wanting a relationship, and so far he tolerates her. If she gets too pushy in his face, he'll just move away from her instead of actually pushing her away.

Im not sure if a dilute grey is a recessive pied? but if it is, she may never get the white iris and she may be older than i think. but right now i see her as the annoying little kid, and he is the adult putting up with it :)

and its does make sense that maybe she seems to be eating more, and he seems to be eating less, because she is feeding him and herself. lol. they can be so strange. :p

[Sweety&Tweety]

My Tweety who is always being bossed by Sweety does the mating dance for her all the time. It's so funny because his eyes do get dialated and he bobs his head up and down and looks so serious. I have never seen Sweety allow him to mate with her. She is really heavy like BuBu&Chik said her female is. My avian vet even said she is too heavy. Tweety loves to feed her though.