Rainbow

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.

I've pm'd you ... please check.

I've gotten it before, but it was prescribed and given to me by my vet. Have you checked with him/her yet? It is an oral medication (fun-fun-fun) and needs to be kept refrigerated. I don't remember whether it was once or twice daily dosing. If your vet can't or won't get it for you, ask if s/he knows of a veterinary pharmacy you can buy directly from. I don't know for certain, but in order to get the correct dosage for your bird I think you would be better off getting it by prescription.

Mine eat it every day for breakfast. They absolutely love it. It took about 3 weeks for them to try it, but now it doesn't matter which flavor I use. They complain if they don't get it.

:hap: How old is the baby hen? If under 4 months, in my experience the feeding behavior is completely normal. Even when still in the nest, the older babies will feed their younger clutchmates. It normally stops by 3 months of age, but some babies do not want to grow up. I had one that was still occasionally being fed at 4 months of age. If Sheldon is a very young bird, Buttons may not be fighting back because older birds do not normally fight with babies (babies meaning not sexually matured yet). Once Sheldon begins to mature a bit, you might find Buttons not tolerating the behavior as much. The behavior you describe sounds completely normal to me. I agree that you need more seed cups - with two hens in the same cage I would put out three food cups, and two water cups. Space the food cups throughout the cage. This way Sheldon may be able to protect two seed cups at a time, but will not be able to do three. Keep them all at the same level-higher up dishes will be the preferred ones and most defended. The standing up tall behavior is pretty much a standoff...one bird wants something she thinks the other one has and the one that has it is not quite willing to give it up. This may not be anything more than a perceived better perching spot, or being near a favored toy. If you find they fight over toys, place two identical ones in the cage. I find that budgies don't really display "dominant" behavior over another, it's more an issue of "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine" - like toddlers. Hens can appear perfectly content until one starts to eat, play with a toy, move to a higher perch, or is getting attention from a favored human and all of a sudden the other hen thinks she is being left out of something good. It can even be something so benign as one hen starts to take a nap, will get comfy, draw up the foot and tuck back the head, and the other bird will act like all of a sudden that occupied spot is the only place worth sitting in in the entire cage! All perfectly normal. I am down to 4 hens now that share a cage (at one time there were more) so I can tell you all kinds of stories, and post up some interesting videos LOL. Just keep perservering, interact with them both at the same time, and for now when you play with them seperately mix up how you do it - play with Buttons first then get Sheldon out of the cage to play with before you return Buttons, or sometimes remove Sheldon first. I think I would remove Buttons first more often, since she was the first bird. When you put Sheldon back, give them each a bit of millet or other treat to take Sheldon's mind off of being the picky one. I find food is a both a great motivator and distractor for unwanted behaviors. Good luck!

Blossom loves to do that too, only when she does all that flapping, she usually angles herself so she is facing perpindicular or slightly downwards to the perch, and sometimes she flaps while she's almost completely upside down! What a funny girl.

I answered this in another post, I think. She is fine, if she is going out of condition Loverboy will quickly bring her back in with his singing and attentions.

You can leave it in. If she is "going out" of condition, the attentions of the male will bring her back into it shortly. If they don't show interest in the box, or no eggs are laid within 2 weeks, take the box down for a month, then try again.

When the cere in a female is dark brown and a bit wrinkled-looking, they are in condition for breeding. If it is white, whitish-tan, or whitish-blue, then she is not. But remember hens that are too young to breed can appear to be "in condition" too, so always go by the age of the bird too before you decide to breed. The brown color is due to elevated levels of estrogen, and this happens at around 5-7 months in hen budgies. She should be at least a year old, preferably 18 months or more before you breed an indoor budgie in my opinion.

Good Kirby. It's nice when forum members can help each other out like this. And it takes a good bit of the worry out if you know they will be well-cared for after leaving your house. I'm glad you found a good solution for you and your Tango.

Does that cage have a nest box door? If not and you don't want to cut a hole in the side of the cage you can leave the box inside. The problem with that is cleaning and inspecting is much more difficult without outside access to the breeding box. If you don't mind cutting a 3" x 3" hole in the side of the cage, do that so the top of the nest box is flush with the top of the cage, and the nest box hole is centered in the hole you cut in the cage. Depending upon how sturdy the cage is to begin with, you may need to set the box on something to keep the cage from tipping.

That hole is about the size of a nestbox hole, and I'll bet she finds it nice there is a perch coming out of it too. It's good you closed it up. She is protecting her nesting site, and may be a bit grumpy with the boys because they are not interested in starting a family right now. Two years old is a good age to start a family, as she is fully mature both physically and emotionally. The behavior will pass, but she may be like this for a month or so. I would give her new toys, and change up her routine a little if possible. She is such a pretty girl.

For now I would try rearranging everything in the cage. It may stop the aggression long enough for you to hear from the new potential owner if that is what you want to do. Hopefully you find a solution that benefits everyone. Also, did the other birds feed her? Being the baby, they may have recently stopped feeding her (even if they were not the parents), and that is ticking her off. When my birds were small, they would solicit food from their hatch-mates, and every one would feed the others. Watch to see if she is still trying to solicit food from the other birds.

You should be able to get milk thistle from your vet. It is a liquid, you will have to give it in a syringe. It has healing properties for the liver, and if your bird can tolerate it (most do) might help. Have you had luck feeding softer foods? I would think fruits would sting the raw place on the beak where it was cut too short... If you haven't already, rinse well and soak some of his seed for about 24 hours in a strainer. There should be little "tails" appearing on the seeds then. Rinse well again, and feed. If your mix has any colored seeds, try to remove those first because the dye will come off in the water if you soak those. You can also cook up some brown rice or couscous (without the butter) and chop up some cooked carrots into small pieces to mix. He might eat that.

It sounds like she wants out. Probably to go see the other bird. If you can move the cage so she can't see the other one, the behavior may lessen. Are they seperated to prevent breeding or due to quarantine? I'm moving this topic to a more appropriate forum where you may get more answers.

She is entering adolescence. That explains some of it. It sounds like she all of a sudden decides she wants whatever the other bird has, whether it is his perching spot, nearness to a toy, food, or another bird, or whatever. The other bird doesn't want to give it up. Otherwise they wouldn't fight, the bird she is showing aggression to would just grumble and move away - especially if it is a male bird she is picking on. Some of that you have to let them sort out themselves, but if they are fighting so much there is blood, that is obviously another issue. The safety of all the birds is most important. Is there a certain spot in the cage these altercations seem to happen in most often? Like, can you rearrange the toys, food, or perches (or all three) and have the aggression stop? Are there enough perching spots high up in the cage? Can you post me a picture of what your cage setup looks like?

Kirby, you may already have the issue of your green hen worked out, but if not, how old is she? And when did the aggression start? What seems to set it off? Is it food- toy- or territory-related? How many of each sex do you have in the cage? Is she fighting with only females, or either sex? Even if you end up rehoming her, your experience might help others recognize some warning signs that things are not okay in the cage.

Hi! Mine love sprouted seeds, and they are so much more nutritious than dry seed. First get a good sprouting mix, or you can use the dry seed mix you feed your budgies as long as it doesn't have any seeds that are artificially colored. I just use a strainer/sieve and set it in a mixing bowl. First, rinse the seeds well, then cover them with water for about 24 hours. Dump the water (it will be a golden color) and rinse very well again. You should already see little white sprouts coming from the ends of most of the seeds. You can feed them then, or let them begin to dry and rinse them every 6 hours or so for another 24 hours. The trick is to get as much of the water OUT as possible after each rinse. I shake them several times and spread them as thin as possible in the strainer. If too much water is left on them, they will go 'off' very easily and begin to grow mold. If you sniff them, they really shouldn't have much of an odor at all, and will smell fresh. Make sure they are not very wet when you refrigerate them after you are finished letting them sprout and they will last longer. As far as vegetables, mine really like baby spinach, baby carrots, parsley, carrot tops, and kale. They will also eat broccoli, green and red peppers, and some apple. It sometimes takes awhile before they will try a new food. Don't put a very big piece in at first...with things like broccoli if it is as big or bigger than their heads they usually are afraid of it until they know they can eat it and not the other way around. If you can get them to eat a cooked diet (you can buy these, like Beak Appetit or Crazy Corn) that is very good for them also. Mine eat cooked foods for breakfast every morning. It can be tough, but persevere! Best of luck.

It won't hurt anything that you removed her shredded paper. I would have done that too. Some hens occasionally get "broody", and if she is in breeding condition and content might lay an egg, but not necessarily. The pacing on the perch is normal, she is happy and burning off some energy.

I feed mine Harrison's, which is a completely organic pellet with no icky preservatives. They get the superfine and the mash, but the pellets probably only comprise about 15-20% of what they eat. Maybe 15% is made up of dry seeds (they don't get them every day), and the rest is a combination of cooked foods (Beak Appetit), fresh vegetables, sprouts, and wheatgrass. I think the greater variety you can get them to eat, the better. Thanks for the link from hath, Daz, I had missed that one.

Tracey, how long have you had her? It sounds like she has decided the cage is a safe place to be, especially since she wants to return to it after a few minutes of being out. I think when she starts to get nervous is when she wants the security of her cage. It's also normal for her to be nervous about going out. What kind of door is on your cage? Mine turns into a platform, so the birds can just walk out and sit on it if they want. If yours doesn't, you could try to get a platform that hangs on the side of the cage. Something like this would allow her to venture out when she gets brave enough, without the fear of falling to the floor. (I'm guessing her wings are trimmed?) You can hang it when the door is open, and remove it or hang it elsewhere outside the cage so she can play on it. Since she is getting brave enough to be near the opening, I think if she had somewhere to perch at the door she may come out more willingly. You will have to be patient. Some birds are just more shy at first. The nibbles are normal, she's got no hands so the beak is the only way for her to explore things. I have found that budgies bite more out of fear than just to be ornery, and since your's sounds a little shy I think that is why you've gotten bites that hurt. That little beak can draw blood. Most birds will give some type of warning they are going to bite, but they don't always give you much time to react before it happens. Just ignore it as best you can, because you don't want her to learn the way to be left alone is to bite. Otherwise it can become a habit, as there will be many times you want her to do something and she has other ideas. Keep us posted on your progress.

You don't want to be a proud grandmother yet. It's okay if BooBoo feeds her, in fact when mine were babies I had one little one that demanded to be fed even at 16 weeks of age - long after she was weaned. And Rainbow complied, LOL. Only if you notice them mating please place them in seperate cages. Bessie shouldn't be allowed to breed for about another year.

No Kirby, I didn't sell them, but gave them to other loving homes. Someone took 4 birds, so I gave them one of the big cages. I thought it would help them adjust to another home, having something familiar to them even though they are in different surroundings. I loved them too, but circumstances dictated I rehome them. And yes, the nice fresh clean look doesn't last long!

If you leave the door open will she come out on her own? I got mine into the (bad) habit of just opening the cage top and front door and they come out on their own. They will go back in on my finger, but when my hand goes in the cage they get nervous because they think it is because I am going to catch them - which is usually the case. If she will come out on her own, maybe let her do that for a week or so, then try again getting her out with your finger. You might have to just leave the door open while you are in the room until she gets brave enough to venture out on her own. Once she realizes good things happen when she is out of the cage she may cooperate a little better. While she's out, practice step ups as often as you can. I think since she hasn't been with you very long, she is still settling in, is a little afraid still, and doesn't know what you expect of her.

Most budgies don't like to be held, so it's not surprising he wants nothing to do with that. It does look reddish on my monitor - could it be from something he's eaten...strawberries, red peppers, anything like that? Does it look like dried blood, or more like you can see the skin underneath the feathers? To me it looks like the feathers are thinning there for some reason. If you really don't know, a closer look is probably in order. You will just have to catch him. You'll probably end up chasing him around the cage, so it would be easier to take out most perches and toys. If necessary, use a tissue, paper towel, or washcloth to put over him as you pick him up. The washcloth will be the only thing that will protect your fingers though. Have you ever held a budgie for examination or to give medicines? Make sure you don't compress the diaphragm, or he will suffocate. If you keep his head between your thumb and index or third finger you should be able to prevent him from biting. Just be gentle. If it seems to stressful and you find yourself unable to catch him and frustrated to boot, then a call to your avian vet is in order and see what they have to say.