Ask Lafeber

My male is obsessed with on of his chicks

My two budgies ended up having two chicks hatch about 2 months ago. The first 2-3 weeks, our male, Sunny, didn’t want anything to do with them, and if he got close, our female, Luna, would chase him away. The little ones are older now and are more independent. Ever since they began adventuring out of their box, he has not left one of them alone. He doesn’t interact with our blue/white one at all, but he is obsessed with our yellow one, to the point where he chases Luna away or fights with her. He constantly has to be near or have the yellow one in sight and will keep getting right in it’s face. We have seen him feeding it only a few times, but not the other. We have the little ones in a separate cage where Luna can go feed them in peace. When Sunny is closed up in the other cage, which is just a few feet away, he goes crazy – jumping from perch to perch, climbing the walls, flipping around a low perch, and trying to escape. We have gotten a larger cage, but it hasn’t helped. Is this normal? A hormonal issue? Could the yellow one be a female he is interested in? He’s never acted like this before. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi,

Breeding birds in captivity can be very tricky, even with small birds that breed more readily. Owners make mistakes such as letting their birds breed too soon – for budgies, they should be closer to 2 years old before breeding. Other common mistakes are the cage not being large enough – something you have tried to address. Not enough privacy – if you try to continue to interact with breeding pets, it causes confusion, territorial behavior and protective behavior which can get misdirected towards the mate or chicks. Allowing breeding parents to come out of the cage – they need complete focus and privacy when incubating eggs and raising chicks – they should not be let out or taken out of the cage while they are breeding and raising chicks. Other important things are a balanced diet – not a seed diet – greens, veggies, egg food – the right type of nest box is also important.

Of course sometimes the parents are not good at being parents. Both the male and female help with the eggs and chicks, so his lack of interest has caused more work for the female. Now if he is a younger bird under 2, this can explain his behavior because young males would rather mate than settle down and care for eggs and chicks. But, some birds simply are not good breeders.

If you have not taken the nest box down, you need to do that. It’s too soon for the parents to nest again, and honestly, it may be best that you not breed this pair again. If you do, and the male is still not helping, then they should not be breeders because the female is having to do too much. Even if it is due to her not allowing him to help, this is still a fault at being a breeder. In captivity, sometimes one parent or the other will turn on its mate and not let it near the box or eggs or chicks. The nest box should always be removed and the parents rested between clutches. Once the chicks are weaned, they should be separated from the parents. It is the parent’s instinct to chase away independent chicks, which ultimately prevents related birds from breeding. In captivity, we have to make sure related birds do not breed. As for why he seems obsessed with one chick, there’s no way to know for sure. It may be something to do about the color. If he’s not hurting it, then that’s fine, but you definitely don’t want him to bully it or try to mate with it. If you keep the chicks and try to cage them with the parents, never provide a nest box or there will be fighting, and with budgies, they can launch a fatal attack on another budgie.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda