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Question:

October 5, 2020

Female Budgie Agressive Towards Mate


Hi there,

I’ve talked to you before, thank you for the amazing advice!

I have a male budgie and a female who have had 6 babies (hatched and growing)!

All of a sudden, we have seen the female get really aggressive towards the male, pouncing at him, and I’ve noticed her crest/front feathers rise.

We had made a cardboard toy for them to play with which they loved, but we noticed for the past two days the male was constantly playing and paying less attention to feeding the children, while the female continued to feed the babies. We then saw her getting agitated and aggressive towards him.

They’ve now reached a point where both stuffed themselves with food, but neither will feed the babies, and she keeps glaring at him and chas I no him down if they are in the cage together. She also kicks him out of their nesting box, and hisses at him evenif she is inside and he is outside, or vise versa.

We are not sure whether or not to interfere and if this is normal or dangerous for the babies. Is this a hormonal phase, or is something upsetting her, should we do something? Please help!

Thank you so much,
Hiver


Answer:

Hi Hiver,

Congratulations on the chicks! Sometimes mate aggression can happen when breeding birds. I would remove the toy you mentioned. And anything else that either parent seems obsessed with. Toys, and especially something like cardboard which can be shredded, can be a hormone trigger if the bird gets obsessed with it. My best guess is the male has decided he is ready to mate again. The toy has become a surrogate mate for him. The female is not ready to mate as she is still tending to her chicks, so she is being aggressive to the male. She may also be jealous of the toy. She may also sense he could be a threat to the chicks. In some cases, one parent may kill the chicks in order to be able to mate again. When one bird gets aggressive, sometimes you have to remove it. This can be a problem for the remaining bird, since both parents help care for the eggs and chicks. But I would try taking him out to see if she will tend to her chicks. Sometimes you can rotate parents, but that is generally when the eggs are still being incubated and it lets each parent take turns sitting on the eggs. You can try to remove the chicks and hand feed them, but if you have never hand fed before, you run the risk of accidentally killing them. You should definitely never, ever force feed a chick. Hopefully the hen has resumed feeding them. As soon as these chicks emerge from the box, take it away. This pair needs to be rested for at least 6 months. You should refer to my previous replies for more details on this. You can try to breed this pair again after their rest, but if the same thing happens again, with the male losing interest in caring for the chicks and the female being aggressive towards him, then I wouldn’t breed them again after that. Some birds do not make good breeders for various reasons. I don’t think you ever mentioned their ages, but if either bird is on the young side, this can cause issues like this. A younger male can get in a pattern of only wanting to mate but not settle down and care for eggs or chicks. I hope the female can finish weaning these chicks if the male refuses to cooperate. Good luck with the new family.

Thanks for the update,

Brenda

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