What To Do With Ricki?

[Guest Peta]

Well Ricki has gotten really angry now.

 

When i change the seed and do anything in or around the cage she bites me. I can't believe the change in her behavior. she has finished her molt and is getting worse.

 

Well it started a couple of weeks ago. Ricki started acting out and nesting anywhere she could- in with the videos, in the roof, under a towel. and well all of this happened in playtime and whenever i tried to put her back in the cage she bit me really hard.

 

After seeking your wonderfull advise I isolated her and limited her daylight hours but she only got worse, she would attack me when i changed the seed and water and was trying to pull on the bars and lift the grate on the bottom of the cage and she has now finished her molt and the behavior is getting worse.She has drawn blood 5 times now.

 

Anyway on sunday, i woke up and she was making noise while breathing and I rushed her to the avarian vet that happened to be 1 and a half hours away. I put her in a travel box with a towel on the bottom with water and food. 30mins into the trip she started tearing the place up and trying to get under the towel. She had stopped making noises and did not look like a sick bird.

 

The vet did some tests after she bit him and said there is nothing wrong and that the noise was because she was ready to lay- less than a week away from laying. also from her behavior lately i agree.

 

The vet suggested letting her breed as that would give her somthing else to focus on.

 

I'm a little unsure about this. I used to breed budgies before i moved interstate and had not planned on breeding ricki as she was my favorite tame budgie. but i do have the set up waiting for my breeding pair in a couple of months. she has a "mate" sort of, he is about 1 year and 4 months old and they groom each other. and i do have space for more birds.

 

what do you think?

Is this a good idea? or should i keep her isolated until she gets over it?

[Elly 0]

I really can't believe a vet would suggest that you breed because she is hormonal, it wouldn't help the situation and could even worsen it. There are right and wrong reasons to breed that is the wrong reason.

 

I would keep her isolated until she gets over it. If you find she is good on her own would you be able to keep her as a lone budgie in a cage and then let her out to play with the flock or finding a good home for her with a person that only wants 1 budgie.

 

You are caught between a rock and a hard place but breeding is not a solution it only causes unwanted babies (unless you were willing to keep them all) but then you might have 4-5 budgies and still a nasty adult.

 

When she bits you is she doing it out of fear?

I can't remember if you said she was hand tamed or ever tamed before?

 

In the end she may be a bird bird and not a people bird that is something to consider.

 

Do you keep her high up or eye level in her cage?

 

Just brainstorming ideas here on what could be wrong or what could help.

[Guest Peta]

Thanks Lovey

 

 

When she bites it feels like she is telling me to get out of her space.

 

She was tame, my most tame. up until about 4 weeks ago, if there was a finger within 20cm of her she would have to get on it. she would stay on my shoulder all of the time and if she was bored she would fly to the cage and only the cage, she also did numerous tricks.

 

currently i have her isolated. in a cage at the same level as the other birds so she can see them and talk to them, which is on a stand 40cm off the floor in a cage that could easily house 4 budgies. Should I put her in another room?

 

I have given her playtime with the others and she only seems to act out at me now, not the other birds.

 

The only reason I wouldn't breed her was cause she was so tame, I do have another breeding pair that I will breed in a couple of months, I do have the space for babies and the setup, but I don't want to rush into things when i'm not sure what will happen to her.

[Elly 0]

is she nasty to the other birds when she is housed with them?

 

maybe she is being nasty because she wants to be with them and she can see them, if she is nasty to them then I would take her in a different room so she can't see or hear them. That is like a group of childern playing and another child in the house who isn't allowed to go and play with them torture.

 

I don't know metric here in the US, (Laughing out loud) but is she eye level to you or above your head cage wise? I keep my birds eye level at all times.

 

Does she like millet? If so I would use that each time you visit her with your hands so you can reform a bond with her.

 

Did something happen 4 weeks ago that could have scared her? Did you grab her for a nail clipping, bath, did she hit the sides and panic and get scared?

 

Again trying to brainstorm reasons other then just hormonal on why.

[Guest Peta]

Thanks again, I'm trying to rack my brains about this, I had budgies for 7 years on the gold coast and breeding, then moved to sydney and have had them for 2.5 years and never had this happen before.

 

Ricki is just a little pushy when housed with the others, she might have a little squabble with one of the girls but it lasts about 1 second and she pushed the boys around, she wants the pirch that dale is on so she will push him off, its not too bad unless he wants it too.

 

 

But i have let some of the birds out and not ricki yet and they climb on her cage and she tried to bite them, but no damage yet, and now i let her out first so that can't happen.

 

The cages are about 1.5 or 2 feet off the ground so below my eye level, but at my eye level if i'm on the couch. should i move her up higher?

 

I have been going to her cage with millet and putting it through the bars and she does not eat it she attacks it like she would if it was my finger.

 

nothing has happened lately exept her nesting in odd places and me not letting her go to those places or takeing her out of them.

 

I just want her to be happy, and she can't be happy acting like this.

[Elly 0]

you know you may want to pm eterri she gave me some really good advice about Pretty when he was hormonal, I know she won't mind let her know that lovey said so .

 

The cages are fine. Gosh I say other then pm eterri, it is hormonal give it another month and continue to work with her dailey.

[Guest Peta]

Thank you Lovely

 

I will be keeping her alone and praying this is a phase, and hoping that she doesn't hate me

[Elly 0]

keep us posted

[Guest Phoebe]

Good Luck to you, who would have ever thought that budgies could have so many hangups!

[CaspersRose 0]

i recon there might be a market for budgie psychologists!

[Guest Phoebe]

Still looking for a "bird whisperer" for my lovebird PHoebe.

[Guest Lin]

Have you tried reducing the hours of light she gets? This can solve a lot of hormonal problems, as it brings them out of breeding condition. Reduce down to 10 hours, then slowly increase to 12. You'll be surprised at the difference it makes

 

 

 

*Grrr, please excuse the typing, bird poo in keys means that there is a lot of errors!*

[Guest Peta]

Since I noticed the problem she has only been getting 8 hours of light a day.

[Sailorwolf 0]

First off, I recommend that you get a second opinion from another vet. Remember these guys have done over 5 years of training and numerous years of experience in the medical world. Sometimes they get it wrong, but not often, and to compensate for that go to another vet and get a second opinion. Remeber they have had more experience with animals that the average person.

What is wrong with letting her breed? Breeding will not make her less tame. Breeding changes the hormaone levels, so it should help.

 

What do you feed her??

Edited July 7, 2006 by Sailorwolf

[Guest Peta]

I won't be taking her to a vet unless she is sick (too far away), I thought she was sick and thats why I took her.

 

My only concern with breeding is that I am so attached to ricki i wouldn't want her to have any complications with having babies, I don't want to lose her sooner than i have to. Other than that I would be happy to let her have babies if it would ease her stress or whatever she is going through.

 

I feed her normal budgie seed, cuttle fish, mineral block, veggies everyday- Broccholi, spinach, carrot, pear, whatever i have left over, they also get millet ocoastionally

[Guest Peta]

Update:

 

Ricki clearly has a egg inside and is about to lay. She does not care is she has not mated or if she does not have a breeding box.

 

Do you think I should Give her a breeding box so she can sit on them (or a male too)?

 

Or should I take them away?

 

She is a bad girl.

[**KAZ** 0]

I wouldn't give her a nesting box, regardless of whether or not the eggs is fertile. A nesting box triggers a very strong response to lay eggs so it would make all of this worse. Also a nesting box isn't needed in there just as a place to sit. I am guessing the egg isnt fertile since you seem to indicate she hasn't mated as yet. If you give her a nesting box for whatever reason she will try and lay a clutch of eggs and sit on them. It may take her some time to realise the eggs are no good and in that time she may not be looking after herself well enough. Let the egg drop wherever and remove it if broken. Eventually she will stop. I dont think you should breed her for the reasons the vet said, if that is not your wish. But the choice is yours.

 

She's not a "bad girl" ....just confused

Edited July 10, 2006 by Bubbles

[Guest Peta]

Thanks Bubbles

 

I'm just a little angry at her today as she took a chunk out of my thumb this morning while changing her food.

[**KAZ** 0]

Thanks Bubbles

 

I'm just a little angry at her today as she took a chunk out of my thumb this morning while changing her food.

The little tart !!

[Bea 0]

I don't think you should take her eggs away. If she's determined to lay even without a male or nesting box i doubt she'll stop until she has a full clutch. If you keep taking them away she'll keep laying to replace them.

[**KAZ** 0]

Agree with Bea....as I said in my posting....remove the egg only if broken. :fear

[Elly 0]

What a confusing time for Ricki I really feel for her because she is only doing what comes natural and if this is her first egg laying it has to be scary. I agree with what everyone said. Let her go through the motions and after she is done laying she may be come disinteresting knowing they are not fertile. Pheobe one of our forum members has alot of experience with this issue so hopefully she will hop on too with advice.

[Guest Peta]

Well I got home from work yesterday and guess what ricki had laid an egg and I don't think she is going to stop, when i woke up this morning she was to busy sitting on it to bite me when I changed the food/water. YAY- no more missing chunks of me

 

So anyway I have been thinking I might give her a boy(dale) and a nesting box and and see what happens. I do have the space for bubs and I think she really wants them. But I don't think she will mate or lay any fertile eggs for some reason, but her favorite little boy loves her so much, and he would make sure she is fed well, as he feeds her whenever they are together.

[Rainbow 0]

I wouldn't give her a male now that she is laying eggs. She would have to finish laying the round she's starting now (however many she thinks that should be), all will be infertile, then she would turn around and lay another clutch! That's a lot of calcium being leached from her body for egg production...and oftentimes the first clutch after mating is infertile if the male is inexperienced. I would let her lay what she wants now, alone, try to limit daylight hours (which you are already doing), rearrange the cage frequently, and depending upon how she is fed you could try to portion out her food (if food is not "plentiful and neverending" she may be a bit more disinclined to lay), and remove access to anything that might resemble a nest to defend. By portioning out her food, I don't mean starve her or make her go hungry, but if she normally has food in the cage all the time only give her what she will eat in the morning plus a small amount. Since food will be gone by afternoon, replace a little in the evening. At the end of the night she should have no food in the cage. The conditions of security, enough daylight hours, and a plentiful food supply must be met before your bird will lay, and apparently you've done a great job in that department. Another thing to look at - is there a running water source (washer, shower, fish tank, etc) that your bird hears a lot? I've found that the regular sound of water will make the birdies go nuts to mate.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Rainbow

[Elly 0]

Great advice Rainbow, I learned some great tips here. Remember it is natural when everything is met it doesn't mean she wants babies. Nature is control of her behavior and doing what Rainbow suggests consistently will adjust her behavior and help her come out of breeding condition.