We purchased 2 budgies two weeks ago. They were extremely lovable to each other in the store. 3 other birds were also in the cage with them. Since day 5 they have started fighting, chasing each other around the cage, flapping wings and have left dozens of feathers on the floor. Why? Any hints would be appreciated.

how big is the cage you have them in?

do you have more then 1 feeder in their cage?

are they fighting over a particular toy?

Are they the same sex.The cage may be to small & 1 a bully.There could be other reasons.But not being able tp look at them,I would be only guessing.

i would say that the cage may not be big enough or one of them is just pickign fights with the other for something to do maybe... or they just are not the best of friends you could say

in my opinion 2 weeks is not long for all to get on.thisw varys from flock to flock. make sure you have a few feeders and do the same for water this should hopefully cut down disagreements.good luck

Do you have any mirrors or plastic birds in the cage? My boys are great friends, but add a mirror or plastic bird into the cage and Blinkie will spends ages trying to keep Ozzie away. Make sure the cage is large enough for them to get away from each other (i'd recommend a cage approx. 30" long, 18" high, 18" deep or anything that is about equal to those dimensions).

Do they feed eachother after meals? If so the problem is to do with cage size or shortage of food containers. If not, your budgies don't like eachother or one is a bully.

Thanks for all the hints and tips.

 

okay so the cage is about 16" x 14" x 20" high. We only have one feeder, one water dish and one gravel dish. There is a swing and a mirror thingy with a bell. I'm going to remove the mirror thingy and see what happens. We have two other perches. one runs the 16" length of the cage. The other is on an angle from front to back.

 

I don't know the sexes. The pet store said they are too young to tell but the yellow and turquoise one has a blue beak top with white circle (a cere?) The other white budgy has a pinkish cere.

 

We generally cover them at 9PM and uncover them at 7AM when we get up.

 

I've only been feeding them the premium seed and the hanging seed stuff. I'm going to buy baby food tomorrow and mix them together as I've been told it's good for them. YES?

 

The turquoise one is the noisy and bossy one.

 

Any suggestions???

 

Thanks again.

My first suggestion would be to get a much larger cage for them. It's barely large enough for one and definitely not big enough for two. I would remove the mirror and add in some shredder toys. You can even make these yourself out of paper strips. Your budgies will love ripping the paper to shreds and it will keep them occupied. From your description it sounds like the white one is male and the other is female. Rather than baby food, try getting them to eat fresh veggies like broccoli, grated carrot, bok choy, etc.

I agree with everything Bea said especially the cage that is your biggest priority you need 2x the size cage here are examples of our member's cage set-ups http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...=132&artlang=en

 

I do not know what your budget is but you can get a decent aviary style cage for between 100-150 US dollars. I got my cage for 100.00 US dollars and I can fit at least 4 budgies in it and I know that Nathen has the same cage and lives in Canada so you can get it out there.

 

That would be your first priority again is a bigger cage ASAP.

Hi Jakev:

If you haven’t had much experience with Budgerigars before, are you sure they are in fact fighting. Budgies when healthy are extremely boisterous & at times fly madly about their cage chasing each other & flap their wings in crazy ways, because they are excited & really enjoying life. Especially when they are doing things like that, you will get some feather losses at all times, especially if the birds are moulting at all. Just a thought for you. Also like the others have told you, maybe a larger cage would be better & it’s better to have a perch at each end of the cage, out from the wire enough that they don’t damage their tails, so that the birds can have more exercise flying from one end to the other, instead of a perch the whole length of the cage.

if you are restricted for a budget for a new cage,here in england we have a paper that sells good seconhand goods.i have sold cages in there many a time and brought from there too.for 1/2 price.