Hi folks, I need some advice. My two lovely budgies, Tommy and Beaky keep squabbling with each other to the point Beaky drops off his perch. Not sure exactly what Tommy is doing but he's attacking Beaky with his beak in enough of a way to make Beaky squawk and fall off his perch to the floor. Beaky also seems to be quite threadbare around the front of his neck, perhaps Tommy has been pulling his feathers out?

 

They got on fine when I first got them but poor little Beaky had an accident a few months ago and injured himself so I had to separate him although the two cages were next to each other so they could see and talk to each other. Beaky has only in the last month or two got his strength back enough to perch and climb so he's gone back in the main cage with Tommy. One minute they're getting on fine with each other and preening each other's head feathers, the next minute I hear a few squawks and then the thump of Beaky dropping to the bottokm of the cage.

 

Is there anything I can do to teach Tommy that his aggression is not acceptable? I have tried immediately taking him out of the main cage and putting him in a much smaller cage I use for taking them to the vet and leaving him in there for half an hour but it doesn't seem to teach him much, he just looks at me with those beady budgie eyes that make me feel sorry for him. I don't want to have to separate them permanently as the main reason I got two budgies was so that they could keep each other company while I am out of the house at work and as I say, they get on fine most of the time. Is Tommy just picking on Beaky because Beaky is still a little weak?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Gary

Hi Gary,

 

Training him out of it just isn't going to work. What you're dealing with here is just a budgie being a budgie. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don't. The best way to deal with this is to adjust their environment and as you mentioned, consider that the other budgie may still be weak.

 

Some budgies will, in fact, attack one that is weaker. After one of mine had an accident (which caused her to lose many feathers) she wasn't accepted back into the flock until she was well. It may be that Beaky still isn't quite healthy yet. Has he seen an avian vet?

 

Another thing to consider is the size of the cage. Sometimes (not always, but sometimes) getting a larger cage can reduce or eliminate bickering between budgies. Generally, if birds have enough space to get away from each other, they will be much less likely to fight. They should also have multiple food and water dishes to avoid altercations at meal times.

 

Also, it is quite possible you have two birds that just aren't going to get along. The fact that one is missing feathers around the neck is a bit of concern though usually, a budgie picks at another budgie's head instead. I would keep an eye on this and definitely seperate these birds, not just because of the fighting, but so you can see if those feathers grow back in. If they don't, the budgie may be plucking those feathers itself. In budgies, this is most often caused by a medical issue. A parasite called giardia is a common cause of plucking in budgies and cockatiels.

 

I wouldn't feel too terrible if you have to keep the birds separate permanently. While they may not be able to physically interact (though this might still be possible during out of cage time) birds still benefit from being in the same room with other birds. You can put their cages side by side and they can chatter to each other without the fear of fighting. Just leave enough space so that they can't reach each other's toes.

 

I hope things work out with your budgies.

Hi Gary, as Beaky has been out of the cage for a while, Tommy may be trying to protect what he sees as his own personal territory. I'd probably separate them again as eterri suggested, until you know what is happening with Beaky's feathers (I had a balding budgie I had to separate for a while too).

 

While he is out of the main cage, start changing the cage around every now and then (I do mine fortnightly), moving perches and toys etc. This should help make Tommy less territorial. Then when you are sure that Beaky is better change it again when you put him back in, so the cage layout is new to both birds. This may help.

 

Feathers.

I agree with Eterri and Feathers. When you initially seperated your birds, Tommy kept the main cage. Now he sees it as his, and does not want to share. What are the dimensions of the cage? If you want to continue to try to cage them together, I would suggest a larger cage that both are introduced to at the same time. Meanwhile, seperate them, because if Beaky is getting forcibly removed from the perch, you are probably not far away from some bloodshed. Tommy is really ticked off. Normally I would say if Beaky is losing feathers from the front, he is plucking them himself. He still might be, but since Tommy is physically fighting with Beaky too, he may be plucking them from Beaky as he tries to remove him from the cage. If Beaky is losing feathers around the throat, I would certainly split those two up NOW. The throat is not a good place to be attacked.