Hi,
This is very normal and typical behavior of a female budgie once she has a mate. Even though these birds are captive raised, they are still an exotic species and their behavior is driven by instinct. In the wild, budgies may live in flocks, but once they bond with a mate, they have little close contact with other flock members. And when they nest, they have their own territory, and any flock members that get too close will be attacked, and killed if they do not leave immediately. Female budgies are particularly territorial, and can be extremely vicious. They can kill another budgie in a matter of seconds. By letting the birds have free roam, this triggered their nesting instinct because it mimics searching for a nest site. The cage itself is her nesting territory, including the nest box of course. Since she just had a clutch, the nest box needs to be removed and not returned to the pair for at least 6 months. If you do not force her to rest, she will lay eggs again soon, and continue the cycle until it kills her. Captive birds do not receive the environmental changes that signal the end of breeding season until the next year. So it is up to the owner to help them stop nesting. Of course if you don’t want them to breed again, then you do not need to give them a nest box. During this time when they should not be nesting, you should make some changes to discourage more egg laying. I will post those below. As for her behavior, she may settle down some without a nest box and with some changes, but she may never be a pet again. Generally, breeding birds can’t be pets – or won’t be pets. It goes against their instincts. Once they have a mate, they lose interest in humans, and eventually people become rivals and intruders. Now that she has started attacking you, she has made her choice. And the problem if you try to tame her again is it will cause her a lot of confusion. If she wants to be handled again, she could turn on the male and attack or kill him. I know this seems sudden, but they all do it once they bond with another bird – even if she bonded with a female, she would be like this. I’m sorry you lost your pet before understanding what giving her a mate could mean. But you need to be careful around her now. If she gets agitated with you, but can’t get to you to make you go away, she may turn around and go after her mate. It seems strange, but this is how pairs keep rivals away, and in the wild, the rival would simply fly away, and probably wouldn’t approach a bonded pair in the first place.
These changes can help with egg laying and hormonal behavior, but again, be careful because you don’t want her to go after the male.
Keep in mind that to lay eggs, she needs longer daylight, warmer weather, abundant food, and a quiet, private environment. The goal is to reverse these conditions.
Limit her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening
Do not give her anything to use as a nest – no bird huts or tents, no box, bowl, etc. If she decides to sit in a food bowl, remove it and replace with smaller cups.
Do not give her anything to shred such as paper or cardboard.
Rearrange the toys in the cage frequently.
Move the cage to a different place in the room. Move the cage about once a week, or whenever she shows signs of nesting – settling on the cage floor for example. This disrupts her idea of having a stable place to lay eggs and raise chicks.
If you feed a lot of fresh foods, stop offering any for a couple of weeks, and then only offer them in small amounts about 2 or 3 times a week. You can resume normal feeding later when the birds aren’t being hormonal.
If she is let out of the cage, do not let her get in any dark cozy places and don’t give her free roam. When you let them roam around, this mimics searching for a nesting site.
When you handle her, limit any petting to only the head and neck – do not pet a bird on the body. Only a bonded mate is allowed to groom the body. We can’t be a mate, so touching the body is off limits. This is assuming she lets you handle her again.
If there is no metal floor grate, then do not use any bedding or paper in the cage tray – leave it bare and clean it daily.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
