Crazy Budgie

[sammiestar 0]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a budgie who has just recently started exhibiting rather peculiar behaviour. That is to say, stranger than normal as she was pretty bizarre when I got her.

She is a young hen, violet yellow face who has had chicks in the last 2 months. The chick are blossoming however, she began to attack them once they left the nest and it was pretty vicious. So much so I separated the chicks from my modest flock. She began to run up and down the bottom of the cage, turn somersaults in all corners and kicked all the seed out of all the bowls. She did this until I got tired of cleaning up the mess and paying for wasted seed. I put her in the smaller cage with my other hen (who was also attacking the chicks) and placed the chicks with the males in the big cage. The males love the chicks and treat them rather well. However, the violet hen is still exhibiting this mad behaviour where she is constantly picking up the seed or water container in her beak and up-ending them.

I wonder if it is possible for budgies to develop mental illnesses and I am obviously worried that my other hen will starve to death/dehydrate because her cage mate is getting rid of the food and drink.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[**KAZ** 0]

The female would have begun to attack the chicks as they would be begging for food at a time when the dads usually feed them or show them how to eat. The females at this stage are trying for another round and dont want to know about the chicks begging for food off them, and all they want is to start the next nest. Dads are generally the chicks primary feeders from around the age of two weeks onwards. Often chicks just fledged return to the nest and the hen is not amused by this as she has had enough of them and they are now the dads responsibility not hers. Your hen has turned feral over wanting to start another nest. She has attacked any chick wanting anything from her as she was becoming focussed on another round of breeding whether she could or not. Where was the dad during all this and do you have them colony breeding at all ? Just wondering what your setup is All in all, the chicks would have been best left with their father in a cage they began in ....a breeding cage....and the mother removed. Its seems you had others in the same cage ? or not ?This would have been best........dad and his chicks, no others. Your female is angry as you have blown her plans to breed again to smithereens Best she has time out in a cage on her own till she settles down.

She is a young hen

How young ?

[birdluv 0]

l noticed that this is your first post Sammiestar. Welcome to BBC

[sammiestar 0]

The female would have begun to attack the chicks as they would be begging for food at a time when the dads usually feed them or show them how to eat. The females at this stage are trying for another round and dont want to know about the chicks begging for food off them, and all they want is to start the next nest. Dads are generally the chicks primary feeders from around the age of two weeks onwards. Often chicks just fledged return to the nest and the hen is not amused by this as she has had enough of them and they are now the dads responsibility not hers. Your hen has turned feral over wanting to start another nest. She has attacked any chick wanting anything from her as she was becoming focussed on another round of breeding whether she could or not. Where was the dad during all this and do you have them colony breeding at all ? Just wondering what your setup is All in all, the chicks would have been best left with their father in a cage they began in ....a breeding cage....and the mother removed. Its seems you had others in the same cage ? or not ?This would have been best........dad and his chicks, no others. Your female is angry as you have blown her plans to breed again to smithereens Best she has time out in a cage on her own till she settles down.

She is a young hen

How young ?

Thanks Kaz. I have left them with the father and he's been doing great with them as have the 'uncles' they have been showing them how to eat and climb it's been fun watching them. I have the mother in 'time out' as you have suggested but she's still pretty troppo The chicks never attempted to return to the breeding box. She just seemed to resent them from day dot. I have had to intervene lots of times to save their lives. I have a small colony and the chicks were born in this environment. The other males (2 others besides the father) have been very attentive to the chicks since before they fledged and that has been a comfort to me. I had to remove the other hen because she also was attacking the chicks. Life has settled down now for the chicks and the three males love their company. I won't be returning the mother and the other hen until I have found suitable homes for the chicks I want to give away and the one I am keeping is a little bigger. All in all this has been an interesting first time breeding experience for me and next time I will be a little better prepared- having breeding cages for example. Out of a clutch of 4 only one chick was lost and I have three very curious little ones exploring their home, which is nice to see them active and playful. :rofl: The mother hen I think is around 2 years old, which given her immaturity might explain alot....but she was quite insane when I got her. I chose her because she was the brightest and most active of the hens around her but when I got home, she turned out to be quite loony so some of the behaviour she is displaying right now is not out of the ordinary for her- just the general trashing of her cage and the frequency of it all. Ah....birds.....they're all so wonderfully different. That's why I love them so much I suppose.

l noticed that this is your first post Sammiestar. Welcome to BBC

Thank you birdluv I have been reading many of the forums here over the past months to find help with my budgies and breeding advice. I thought it about time I joined!

[defieldsfamily 0]

I have a hen "in solitary" right now because of similar behaviour...attacking the male to within an inch of his life and then the babies too once they had fledged. The babies are now about months old and doing well in the juvy cage and the male survived (althoug I still don't know how). The hen spent a good 3 months tipping out her seed cup over and over and over again and was laying about an egg a week but I think it has finally stopped now as her seed isn't being trashed anymore. I'm not sure she'll ever be sane enough to put back with the other birds (I have 25 budgies) but time will tell.

 

Good luck with yours and congrats on the young ones!

Edited June 20, 2010 by defieldsfamily