# She bit his beak



## Ciralaine (Jul 27, 2012)

Nemo has always been a bossy Queen Bee so she has nipped and shoved Raz around before but she's never made him bleed before. Lately though it seems she's been more aggressive when she is in her bossy moods. I've seen her jump on top of Raz then pull out some neck or cheek feathers, he screeches and jumps away then they sit on opposite sides of their cage. Sometimes she'll chase him around a little a little and he'll fly away to avoid her. These only last for couple seconds. Later they'll be all lovey dovey with Nemo snuggling up to him and them both preening each other or Raz feeding her.

Yesterday while sitting with the budgies Nemo lunged at his face, he screeched and jumped away. I didn't think much about it as she does this from time to time but as I was talking to Raz (who was sitting next to me talking to me) I realised his cheek feathers were red. He was bleeding.

It looks like she punctured his beak or something, as the blood is clearly coming from his beak which has a scratch/dent in it. I didn't realise beaks could be broken and bleed! And more importantly how strong is Nemo's bite that she was able to dent/puncture Raz's beak!? 







I washed the spot with luke warm water. He didn't like that obviously but he seems okay otherwise. I tried to separate them but as said before they really are very lovey dovey usually and were screeching for one another.

I'm keeping an eye on them though so if it happens again, I'll separate them. I'm not sure what made her so aggressive that she bit through his beak. Like that must've been a really hard bite!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*It is very important that you separate the budgies into different cages now.
The time for observing their behavior is already past.
You simply can't have them in the same cage anymore - no matter how "lovey-dovey" they are.

Nemo has now proven to have violently aggressive tendencies and she may hurt Raz even worse than she already has or even kill him.
I suggest you put the two cages in different rooms.*


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## Therm (Aug 2, 2015)

You should realise there is a difference between 'bossy' and being violent. 

This is an act of violence on one of your birds. 
From how you have described it, poor Raz is terrified and bullied on a daily basis and you can not allow this behaviour to continue. 
She's already bitten him and mad him bleed- why are you waiting to see if she does it again? 

Please split these two bird up. 

Raz does not deserves to be kept with another bird that terrifies him.


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## Ciralaine (Jul 27, 2012)

Oh wow thanks for the quick response. I didn't realise it was so dire 

I'll separate them now. Omg


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Sharday, I'm glad you were able to catch this before it progressed further  

I agree that they must be separated right away, so I'm glad you've done that now. 

As "lovey dovey" as they are, it still does not cancel out the bullying from Raz, and even though they act affectionate, Nemo very well could do something worse next time. It simply wouldn't be fair to Raz to keep them together at this point. 

I'm glad Raz is okay and you were there when it happened! :thumbsup: Let us know how he's doing soon


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## Ciralaine (Jul 27, 2012)

Well now that they're separated they've been squawking non-stop for each other. Ignoring them is going to be hard for me :embarrassed: as I feel like I want to give in and let them together but I'll stick with it since I don't want anything happening to my boy. 

This also means that I'm going to have to buy a new cage as atm Nemo has been moved into a single cage and it is such a small cage in comparison. I get a bonus from work soon so I was already thinking of buying a new cage for them as even the larger cage I have I feel is too small. It's a breeding cage that I was told was a flight cage when I was shopping for a larger cage for them. This time I was/am thinking of getting one of the large stand/wheeled cages and now I think it would be good to get one of the large cages that have a separator or divider. That way they'd still beable to hear eachother, easier for me to maneuver and clean and they can/will be separate. Does anyone here recommend any large divider/separator cages? Or should I keep them well and truly separated? As in completely single large cages in separate parts of the house? Which will be harder to do :001_huh:


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

I'm very sorry that your Raz has been attacked with such severity. 
Plucking the feathers on the neck/head area is considered a vicious act and when measures aren't taken to separate the budgies, this plucking can and will progress into vicious biting on the head/face areas where the eyes, cere/beak are included. 
At the first signs of feather plucking, immediate and permanent separation should have been implemented.
There are no excuses for this kind of aggressive behaviour and your Nemo should be housed solo in a cage indefinitely. 

I would not recommend a cage with a divider. Most if not all dividers are barred just like the cages and this hardly offers protection if the bullied budgie happens to stand on the divider, a budgie can still be attacked on the feet, beak and get feathers plucked.

It's best to get a new cage for Nemo and when Raz is completely healed and the tempers are more settled, later on you can place both cages on the same room and see how they go about it, if Raz seems stressed, then you can keep Nemo on a separate room. 
It's best to keep a safe distance between the cages, again to prevent them from getting close enough that an attack can happen.

I'm wishing your Raz a steady and full recovery.


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

You've been given good advice in posts above Sharday. Please set up another cage immediately. Yes, this is serious. Even without blood, when feathers fly it is more than just harmless bickering, and is a precursor to something serious such as what just happened. Next time Nemo might not let up. Please don't let there be a next time, as it can only get worse. Best wishes for Raz's recovery.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*A divided cage in a situation where one of the budgies is aggressive is not a good idea. 
Just think what could happen if poor Raz landed on the divider and Nemo decided to go after his toes! 

They should be separated into cages that are of sufficient size for each bird. 
I would recommend cages no smaller than 30"x18"x18" for a single budgie.

Housing them in separate parts of the house would be the best under the circumstances. 
As aluz mentioned, in time you could try having the cages in the same room.*


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