Aggressive Behaviour

[floppingfish 0]

I have 6 budgies - 3 males, 3 females. Within the last month, my eldest male budgie has fallen ill. We have been to an avian vet and sadly, he has a growth on his liver (cancer). He is separated from the other budgies as I was already noticing that two of the other birds were starting to pick on him & I don't want him to get hurt. He is at home for now as he is still currently eating and I have kept him with his "girlfriend" in a smaller cage as she is still being nice to him (though I am keeping an eye on the situation should that change).

 

This leaves the remaining 2 males and 2 females in the original cage together. It is important to mention that this cage has enough space for at least ten birds to live comfortably, but I have noticed a definite change in the dynamic. Even though my ill budgie was the most gentle out of the lot, I'm assuming it's because he was the oldest, he had the "alpha male" position. Now that he's not in the cage anymore, and the other birds clearly know he is sick, it seems as though there is a competition occurring between my remaining two males as to which one will be the new "alpha male."

 

From the point that I removed my other budgie, my 2 males have been flying around chasing each other and having "face offs," which is what I call them standing on the perch beside each other trying to see "who can be taller." As of yesterday however, beaks have been getting involved and there was blood in the cage. The injured budgie was actually on top of the other one. We separated them, examined both birds to see who was actually bleeding. I then caught the injured bird - he had cuts on both his feet (one worse than the other) and a small cut behind one of his eyes. After cleaning him up, I kept him out of the cage for a while, then let all the birds out of the cage so there was plenty of flying space & they weren't stuck in the cage. A couple hours later they were all placed back in the cage together as I was having guests come over, and it seemed as though peace had returned.

 

There was no blood this morning, but once more the pecking/fighting/aggressiveness started again. I currently have one of the males outside, with the other male kept in the cage. Another minor issue to mention is that the male who is currently outside (the one who actually injured the other budgie) has now started to bite people, whereas he never did before - I am working on curbing this as well.

 

My questions:

1. Am I correct in assuming that this is what is occurring?

2. Will it stop eventually?

3. Am I going to have to separate them permanently?

4. How can I make it better?

 

My apologies for such a long post, but I felt there were a number of details that were relevant in order to explain both the cause of the behaviour and the new behaviour itself.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice and replies.

[Dave_McMinn 0]

There are many reasons that behaviour may change. Changes to a flock, moulting, breeding season competition and so forth.

 

Unlike other animals, I imagine it would be hard to train a budgie not to be aggressive.

 

If you say there is another space in the cage, enough feeding positions and so forth, I am not sure why this is occurring.

 

You say the males are fighting, but there are 2 males and 2 females? Fighting often occurs with an uneven number so this is also strange.

 

I would suggest altering their environment, as in moving perches/branches, adding new toys and the like. This will provide them with some distractions.

 

If they are moulting, some moulting aid in their water might also assist.

 

Others might have some more advice.

[floppingfish 0]

There are many reasons that behaviour may change. Changes to a flock, moulting, breeding season competition and so forth.

 

Unlike other animals, I imagine it would be hard to train a budgie not to be aggressive.

 

If you say there is another space in the cage, enough feeding positions and so forth, I am not sure why this is occurring.

 

You say the males are fighting, but there are 2 males and 2 females? Fighting often occurs with an uneven number so this is also strange.

 

I would suggest altering their environment, as in moving perches/branches, adding new toys and the like. This will provide them with some distractions.

 

If they are moulting, some moulting aid in their water might also assist.

 

Others might have some more advice.

 

Thanks for the response, Dave. Currently in the cage there are 2 males and 2 females. Before I removed him though, I did notice both of the other males trying to "flirt" with my sick bird's "girlfriend." Like I mentioned above, she is in a separate cage with him at the moment, but perhaps the other birds still remember she is there? Do you think this will mean that I will likely need to get another male budgie (or elsewise keep this hen separate after Jack passes)?

 

I will work on switching up the cage tomorrow and alternating some toys as you suggested - hopefully this helps improve the situation. Although yes, there is a ton of extra space and there are 6 feeding troughs in the cage currently, which should be plenty for 4 birds. They are not undergoing a moult at the moment. In terms of training them not to be aggressive, I pretty much have just been trying to separate them when I see them becoming aggressive. It works while I'm home, but is only a short term solution as I certainly can not be home 24/7.

 

Thanks for the advice.

[Dave_McMinn 0]

I think you should have an even number.