# Separation of Budgies



## Zoadric

Hi, this is my first post so I am sorry if I am in the wrong section, but here is my situation.

I have 2 budgies, male and female (Astrid and Skye). When we first adopted them we picked out 2 females, turns out Astrid is a male with a pink cere, oops.

So they have been living together for almost 2 years now but have recently been displaying mating behaviours (female raising vent towards male, etc).

So because we do not want to deal with baby budgies we have seperated them. The question is, should I seperate them or should I just keep them together and deal with eggs when and if that happens.

If separating them doesn't cause any damage, should I keep their cages side by side, apart in the same room, or in different rooms completely?

They clearly hate being seperated and it breaks my heart to have them apart and hear them calling each other and standing on the sides closest to the other and staring with sad faces. (They are also not hand trained)

So to summarize; 1) Should they be seperated in the first place 2) Where/How far should they be from each other.


----------



## Therm

You did the right thing in separating them. 
If they are happy in their cages besides one another, you can keep them like this for now, but they will probably still want to be together.

I'm going to assume Skye is in breeding condition. If you didn't remove her, you can try rearranging her cage and cutting daylight hours which will help get her out of breeding condition. Read the post below for more information.

If they seem unsettled you can remove one of the cages and keep it in a different room, giving the pair a chance to cool down a little.

http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/90584-when-we-dont-want-eggs.html

It is a better idea to keep them apart for now as laying eggs takes a toll on the females body and it's best not to let it happen if you can prevent it.

I had a pair that when they first came into condition would start mating. I split them up for about a week and moved the hen into a different room. When I bought her back they had calmed down and I haven't had any other issues with breeding so far. 
You can see how they do and just split them up it and when needed. I found that a weekly move around of the cage helped as well.


----------



## aluz

Welcome to the forums! 

It's great that you are aware of the potential risks that come with exacerbated breeding behaviour and are willing to take measures to prevent your budgies from trying to raise a family.
In most cases by not having any dark, hiding areas nor anything that your budgies can use as a nest will keep their hormones more under control.
Limiting the amount of daylight hours as well as protein intake and rearranging the cage often will also be helpful. For all the detailed information, you can check this link: http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/90584-when-we-dont-want-eggs.html

Knowing your budgies and how determined they are with wanting to potentially raise a family, you will be in the better place to judge if it's best to keep them separated for a while (at least until their hormones are under control) or not.
If your female budgie is currently in breeding condition (dark brown coloured cere), you can keep her separated from your male till her cere reverts to the creamy white colour (indicating she's out of breeding condition).
Later on, you can place her back with her mate and follow the recommendations on the link.
If despite all measures taken, they are still very much enamoured, then you can house them on separate cages permanently and allow closely supervised out of cage time together, provided no breeding behaviour is exhibited during play time.

During the adjustment period to being apart, you can cover each cage on 3 sides and have some background music on for them in order to limit the anxiety/stress on them. You can also spend one-on-one time with each of your budgies and take this time to strengthen the bond you have with them. In the early stages, you can place one of the cages on a different room and once they are both more settled and used to the new reality, you can then gradually do the re-introductions and place back the cage on the same room depending on how your budgies behave.


----------



## FaeryBee

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

You've already received excellent advice with regard to your questions, so I don't need to re-iterate what has been said. 

Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.

These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.

Site Guidelines
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/333106-posting-forums.html
How-To Guides
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Budgie Articles
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295001-list-stickies.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295033-prepared-veterinary-care-expense.html
Avian First Aid
Why Quarantine?

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/227841-50-common-budgie-dangers-watch-out.html

http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-forum-members-new-old.html

http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/24411-cage-sizes.html
http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/31719-essentials-great-cage.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/339826-resource-directory.html

When you upload pictures as thumbnail attachments directly from your computer, tablet or phone, the forum automatically defaults to landscape.

To upload full-sized pictures with the proper orientation, please use a photo-sharing service such as PhotoBucket and follow the steps in these instructions:
http://talkbudgies.com/how-guides/175818-how-post-pictures-photobucket.html

For gender and/or mutation help - Lighting and Angle DOES matter

By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them! 

If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:*


----------



## StarlingWings

Hi there and :welcome: to the forums!

It's great to have you with us, and you couldn't have come to a better place to learn even more about the best of budgie care! 

I'm glad you're doing all you can to ensure your budgies do not feel the urge to breed; the links and information above will help. 

If you have any questions after reading though all the links provided, be sure to ask as we'd love to help  

Cheers! :wave:


----------

