Hey guys! I'm new to the forum. In some sense I have been recently reunited with my little guys as they have moved into my summer theme house while I take a few courses during the summer. They've gone months without being handled back home, so I'm slowly trying to regain their trust. Here a background on my two birds:

 

I purchased two parakeets during the summer of 2002, named Pluto (the male) and Buttons (the female). Well, after almost a year I lost Pluto, because he was a 'seed-junkie' and developed scaly mites. Pluto had quite a bit of personality, but I always wrongly labeled Buttons as the 'dumb one' because at the time she seemed to have no personality, at least compared to Pluto. I switched Buttons diet to Harrison's/seeds/vegs and began to work with her as much as possible. Eventually she came out of her shell I guess (for the second time, haha). But, I thought it would be beneficial to get her a mate, so I purchased Sheldon. I thought 'she' was a 'he' (she has since developed a nice brown/bronze cere) and after a quarantine period I introduced her to Buttons. At first the two birds were thrilled to have each others company, but as time went on, Sheldon became more demanding of Buttons, and would sit and beg like a baby bird to be fed, and Buttons would regurgitate her food to feed her although she could eat well on her own and was well past fledgling stage. Sheldon continues to demand being the dominant female although she still acts like a baby. When I take out Buttons to interact with her and leave the room Sheldon will make a huge fuss and cry out of her, but when I put Buttons back in the cage she kind of pecks at her and 'chews her out' for leaving. She also chooses to squabble with Buttons over food. For example, I put some carrots in their dish today and when Buttons stepped up to eat Sheldon knocked her off, and took the carrots from her mouth and dumped them on the floor. Buttons never fights back and just waits until she can try again, and often the same thing happens. Sheldon is also jealous of me and has bitten me when I have tried to interact with Buttons. For this reason, I guess I'm not the greatest fan of my younger bird. Does anyone have any suggestions on curving this annoying behavior or is Buttons stuck being the one who gets bossed around? Also, does anyone have suggestions on how I can work with Buttons without having Sheldon scream for her across the house?

 

 

I forgot to ask what this may mean. Many times Sheldon goes up to Buttons and pushes up against her (breast to breast)

 

Like this:

 

O><O

() . ()

 

and kind of rears up (stands up taller) forcing Buttons to stand up taller herself. At this point Sheldon will kind of open up her mouth as if demanding food or something. She does this all the time. What does this mean? Is it a dominance thing do you think?

Edited July 6, 200619 yr by brunof

Hi Brunof, hopefully soon somebody will come along who has had a similiar experience. Welcome.

The joys of two hens :(Laughing out loud):

 

All 'flocks' have a top bird and it seems like Sheldon is it in this case, the standing tall is a domanace thing, the birds sizing each other up if one wasn't willing to back down a fight will break out. I would make sure there are two seed and water dishes in the cage (i believe they are sharing one?) so one will not be blocked from eating by the other, and when giving vegges offer on two small plate or two dishes to hang on either side of the cage, of cuase then they only want to eat out of the one the other is. :bluebudgie:

 

What toys to they have? Try and swap them around once a week as well as changing the lay out of the cage often.

 

As the the training/playing with buttons - what is wrong with doing this with the other bird at the same time? If buttons is still willing to be with you, as in sit on your finger, then Sheldon should start to see you as a friend as well and join in the fun. Treats of millet would help too.

 

It does seem as if you know the key to sexing budgies but are you sure you have two hens? Some males depending on their mutation will have a baby pink cere all their life which can be mistaken for a hen. Just wanting to cover all bases here.

Edited July 1, 200619 yr by Nerwen

Hi and welcome! Love to see some pics

: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!

Edited July 3, 200619 yr by Rainbow

Hi and welcome! Love to see some pics

 

Hey! Thanks! I took a few pictures a few days ago, and I thought I would share this one. I'm not the best photographer -- I scared my birds and failed to get a good picture anyway.

 

Again, Sheldon is the blue one, and Buttons is the yellow one. What do you guys think?

 

Since the image is 800 x 600, I'll just post the direct link. pictures of the girls

 

Rainbow --

 

Thank you also for the response. I hope I can somehow figure out a way to live with my birds full time so I can continue to work with them throughout the year because I know it takes a lot of work. I realize that because my birds are fully mature, so perhaps changing them for the better will be impossible. (Sheldon is probably a two years younger than Sheldon, and I purchased her in 2003)

 

From what I can remember, from the introduction on Buttons has taken on the role of being a bossed around. I couldn't believe it when Sheldon started begging like a baby and Buttons actually fed her. It's not this bad now, but I can still see that Buttons does continue to cater to Sheldon, but unfortunately she receives little in return it seems. I'll keep working on them too. Thanks for your advice everyone!

 

P.S. - Going by the cere, wouldn't you say that Sheldon and Buttons are both girls?

Edited July 4, 200619 yr by brunof

Your girls are very pretty, too bad they aren't getting along right now.

Granted, I've been working with Sheldon and Buttons for only a few weeks (kind of starting over after not having them around) but now Sheldon is now threatening to bite me. Tonight I was playing with Buttons, and she likes to touch my face with her beak a lot, and Sheldon, sitting next to her, decided to take a lunge at my nose/face trying to bite me. I am quite sick of this behavior. When Sheldon gets flustered Buttons ends up the same, and will try to avoid me, until she settles down again. Eventually I put them both back into the cage, and they (mostly Sheldon) started squawking and making a fuss. Should I be worried, or can this behavior be modified too?

Edited July 6, 200619 yr by brunof