Ask Lafeber

What is the best option for my siblingbudgies?

Hello there,

I have two budgies, a male and female, that are both from the same nest. I hand reared them because they were thrown out the nest by their parents and their owner didn’t want to keep them. They are now almost 5 years old and the female is not very nice. She’s a typical female budgie, a bit aggressive and territorial towards me but also towards the other budgie. She seems to tolerate him but they don’t seem to really be mates. I can tell that the male budgie tries to engage in social budgie behavior be she won’t have any of it unless she’s breeding, than she’ll accept food. They don’t mate at all even though the male tries. I’m afraid that all of this is to the detriment of the male budgie. He was born with only a top beak so he can only digest special soft food, which he doesn’t really like as much and he keeps trying to eat seeds even though he can’t crush and digest them. But then he gives the little food he does consume and would be able to digest, to the female, because she laid eggs five times the past year (which is a problem in and of itself). I also think it’s sad that he can’t really be a happy social budgie with the female. I’ve had another male budgie to mitigate this relationship, but after a year of having the three of them, the female fought that one over food (even though I have several food spots and the cage is certainly big enough ) and he eventually died from that. Which was very sad because he was good buddies with the other male. What would be the best course of action? I could separate them and get another male budgie for the one I have now. But then I would be afraid of the female being lonely or them calling out to each other constantly. I don’t think getting another budgie to go with the female would be wise, since I’m afraid she’ll kill that one too, but on the other hand they might be a good match. The third option is putting the female in the big aviary I’ll be having in a few months, with other budgies, hoping the space is big enough for her to be satisfied. I don’t think I would put the male there because he’s attached to me, and with the cage being outside, I think he would miss me. I would very much like to here your opinion on all of this because I would like the best situation for both my budgies and this is not ideal.

Hi,

You definitely should not allow these birds to breed – related birds should never be bred. It causes genetic issues and results in sickly and deformed birds. It may be that the parents were related and that’s why the male’s beak didn’t develop normally. And if that is the case, any chicks resulting from this brother and sister likely wouldn’t survive at all.

Another big no is having an odd number of birds in a cage. I think you learned that the hard way, sadly at the cost of the third bird’s life. Female budgies can be more territorial than males, and she basically bullied the poor bird to death. It might be better to separate them, especially because of his beak issue. But if they stay together, do not let them have a nestbox, tent, hut or anything she can go inside of or sit in like it’s a nest. So no large food bowls. Laying eggs 5 times in a year is too much. If he is tame with you, he doesn’t need a budgie companion because you are his companion. As for moving her to an outside aviary, whatever you do, do NOT give those birds any type of nest. You can only have one pair of birds per cage for nesting. Budgies can live well in a colony, but once you introduce nests it can result in fighting, nest raiding and a lot of bloodshed. A large cage with budgies is fun as ling as you maintain an even number of birds, regardless of sex, lots of fun toys and no nests ever! You may have to try different things to see what works best for her. A lot of captive female budgies are perfectly happy alone, with their own toys and foods and not having to share anything. Since she has already bullied one poor male, it’s not a stretch for her to kill other budgies if she doesn’t like living with other budgies. In the wild they choose their own mate, so they often do not like the mates we choose – it’s basically an arranged marriage and many have strong feeling about what they want in a mate. Also at 5, they aren’t particularly young, especially if their parents were related. Most budgies these days only live 5-8 years due to in-breeding.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda