Would My Budgie Be Better Of Returning To Her Aviary?

[dash 0]

Hi All,

Sorry this is long but I really need some advice.

I have had previous experience with two pet budgies, one for 9.5 years and the next for 13 years both who became tame very rapidly and pretty much had free range of the house. Both would come when called, would return to their cage when asked and were quiet and contented.

 

6 years ago I was given a young female chick that my friend bred. Budge (unoriginal name I know) bonded very strongly to me and became tame very quickly although unlike my previous birds (one of which was female too) she bites very badly. Her biting seems to follow no pattern but appears to be part of her exploring her world, she will land on a new person and then bite their neck or finger very hard, whatever she can reach she will bite. There is no warning sound ie a 'I am cranky leave me alone now' warning first.

 

When she was a year old I met my husband who she has never bonded with. She appears interested in him ie will actively seek him out and fly to him, but then she bites him very hard. As you can imagine this has not endeared her to him at all. I got around this by only letting her out when he was not in the room. We then moved house to an area with a lot of birds and she has gone from a relatively quiet thing to chirping and screeching extremely loudly for much of the day regardless of whether we are in the room with her or not, if she is covered or not if she has been out for a fly or not. I am sure she is just trying to communicate with the many species of bird outside but my husband thinks she is actively doing it to annoy him as she does seem to do it a lot more when he is in view. We have been struggling with this behavior for several years now and the situation is getting unworkable.

 

We are about to have our first baby and I am very worried that the constant screeching will wake the baby up and I am also very worried that as Budge bites everybody, including me, that she will bite our child if ever she is left out around the baby.

 

My friend has offered me to return Budge to her aviary flock of about 6 mature birds and I am totally unsure if this is a good idea or not. I just want Budge to be living in the best environment she can. Is it cruel to return a tamed bird to an aviary? If we were to return her to the aviary what is your advice on how to do this in the best way?

 

I would really appreciate any advice you may have.

[Elly 0]

From what I understand tame birds will return to an aviary setting just fine because in reality a budgie is not domesticated like dogs and cats they are always on the wild side and we take them into our home and tame them down, some do better then others depending on their breeding, how much they were handled as babies etc....

 

Only you can make the decision to let her go but if you feel that her going back to an aviary setting is best she will be fine.

 

Let's see what other say.

[Dave_McMinn 0]

I used to "rescue" birds, and some people who had them as tame indoor pets gave me their birds. These birds ended up in the aviary with my normal aviary birds and they were very happy.

 

I would say you are going to have your hands full with the baby, so let this one return to the aviary, and see where you are in a year's time.

[dash 0]

Thanks for your advice. Budge must have known I was making inquiries as she has been sooo good for two days now :rofl: