Ask Lafeber

female budgie from a bonded pair became aggressive.

Hi everyone!

I have a pair of bonded budgies for 4 years and they are around 4.5 years old. The male is slightly younger and they’ve been in the same large cage (1 meter x 1.3 meter x 1.5 meter professional parrot cage with sufficient amount of toys, food, water, squid bone, and millet treats occasionally). In the cage there’s a metal enclosure for them to hide but not too suitable for nesting.

We’ve observed them mating each year without the female budgie laying any eggs. These year the female became more interested in the metal box and often came in and out while scratching the bottom with her feet. Her mate would stay out curiously and bring her food often. Also they are kept in an environment with similar temperatures and lighting conditions all year round. But we are trying the method to discourage them by having longer night time.

Today the pair had a huge fight for the first time, where the female chases the male to the ground and tries to bite him. The fight was stopped immediately yet the male still tries to stay by her side and therefore causes more fights. After seeing this, I’ve taken the male out to a slightly smaller traveling cage (50 cm x 60 cm x 80 cm) for his safety, but they could still see and hear each other just fine.

Should we be concerned about the female’s odd aggressive behavior? Even last night they did their mating thing just fine but today it was tense.

Is there anything we could do to help like taking out the metal box or supply them a special diet? I’m just afraid that she already has eggs in her body and taking the box out would cause her to be frightened.

Both of them were rescues from local pet stores and weren’t hand raised. Therefore, they are kinda the only companions for each other. We do try entertaining them everyday with talking to them or play the music they like. The male is more brave and would act interested when we put our hands in from the side with millets. We’ve also tried supplying them with fresh veges and fruits but they seems to not like it and would only eat bird seed blends. We change the choice from time to time while mixing both kinds during transitions for them to have more variety.

Please let me know if any further information is needed and thank you very much to your time!

Hi,

I would take out the metal box. As you have already described it as not suitable for nesting, then it should not be in there. Birds are going to view anything they can get inside of as a nest. So this box is definitely a hormone trigger. I wouldn’t worry about her having eggs inside her. Each egg is formed separately and take about 48 hours to be formed and then laid. Then the next egg is starting the process, so they lay eggs every other day. If she was going to lay eggs, at most she might have one forming, and she would lay it whether she has a nest or not. It’s odd that they have exhibited so much breeding behavior with no eggs after several year. Possibly she isn’t fertile, but also, if conditions aren’t perfect, they might mate but not produce eggs. Budgies breed when they have warmer temperatures, abundant food, and a safe, stable, private nesting area. Reversing these conditions can discourage hormonal and breeding behavior – nothing to nest in, sit in or get inside of, limit fresh foods, move the cage and rearrange toys, limit light to 8-10 hours, don’t keep the environment too warm. As for the aggression, some hens do this, especially when they are hormonal or nesting. Take out the box and see id she calms down in a couple of days, then try putting the male back with her. Spats are fine, but if feathers are pulled or blood is drawn, they have to be separated. If she is pinning him down, this is alarming because she can kill him quickly. Unfortunately, it isn’t understood why females turn on their mates like this, so all you can do is try to take hormones and breeding out of the equation and hope she settles down and takes him back.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda