New Budgie.. Moving To Main Cage? Options

[wezzaman]

My new budgie is still in quarantine at the other end of the house, he's got about 2 weeks to go.
I'm starting to have second thoughts about moving him though.
I think the two birds I have left in my main cage... well are in love. When they were at the vet the other day, she said that they looked like they were in love if I go and add my new budgie to the mix in a few weeks time.. will that upset them? Or is it okay to put the other budgie in and the other two will still have the same relationship.

Also, the number of each sex, there will be 2 males 1 female, is this an okay mix?

[Karyn]

It will be okay in the beginning but once the younger male gets older he may start competing with the other male for the female, I've had that problem in the past. Would you have room for another young female so you have an even match of males and females.

[wezzaman]

i would, the cage would hold up to 6 budgies comfortably i'd have to wait 2 weeks though, put dunkin in the main cage, get a young female (providing it really turns out to be female) and then quaratine it etc. would be nearly 2 months before it got into the main cage. is that too long?

main reason why i'm thinking about this is i'd like to breed the two that are in there in a couple of months time, and they seem to really like eachother so i wanna use that as an advantage

[mattdog2]

Or, you can have 2 cage's set up with a pair in each.... otherwise have 2 pair in the large cage you got.

[wezzaman]

So Duncans quarantine is over, all seems well with all birds so i've moved him to the main cage.

The other two seem to be picking on him a bit, not obsessively but just a little like sneaking up on him and getting his long feathers and i found them all on the side of the cage one either side of him and one of the birds was having a go at him a bit.

Is this normal and will he be okay? Will they all get used to eachother in a couple of days for example?

[budgiegirl]

So Duncans quarantine is over, all seems well with all birds so i've moved him to the main cage.

The other two seem to be picking on him a bit, not obsessively but just a little like sneaking up on him and getting his long feathers and i found them all on the side of the cage one either side of him and one of the birds was having a go at him a bit.

Is this normal and will he be okay? Will they all get used to eachother in a couple of days for example?

Any pics?

[renee]

So Duncans quarantine is over, all seems well with all birds so i've moved him to the main cage.

The other two seem to be picking on him a bit, not obsessively but just a little like sneaking up on him and getting his long feathers and i found them all on the side of the cage one either side of him and one of the birds was having a go at him a bit.

Is this normal and will he be okay? Will they all get used to eachother in a couple of days for example?

I am afraid this is quite normal. Your original 2 budgies have bonded so Duncan is seen as an intruder ... I'd get a few more to even things out but even then you are going to find that a couple of budgies are more popular than the others - this happens in an aviary situation, there is always a "pecking order" ... and sometimes some budgies can be bullies.

[Dave_McMinn]

Having an uneven number of birds is the main problem. You need a couple of pairs, rather than 3 budgies. There will always be squabbling with 3 birds.

The other issue is that this new bird has moved into their home. Imagine you were married and had a home and some total stranger moved into your house, sat on your stuff, ate out of your food supply. Would you be annoyed?

Solution - get another bird, quarantine it for 30 days. Whilst quarantining, put the solo male in a separate cage. If possible move the bonded pair out of the cage. Rearrange the new cage. Reintroduce all 4 birds into the big cage. Make sure there are plenty of perching spaces as well as plenty of feeding stations.

This should mean that all birds can partner up as well as having plenty of space and room to just hang out.