Hi, I am posting this for a friend as I am not sure what to advise her..really hoping someone can come up with a solution or advice so here goes...she has always had two budgies...some time ago one died and she was left with one lonely male budgie, anyway she was going to replace him but never got around to it. One of her close friends had two males and couldn't really look after them so she offered to take them on. She brought them home and after a couple of days put them both in with Tweet her budgie...her cage is big and there's ample room for them all but almost straight away Jamie has started fighting Tweet. Jorge the other male is fine but Jamie is going for the kill all the time. I have told her to take Jamie out and put him on his own for a while, which she has done but can't think of anything else to advise her to stop it happening...feel so sorry for Tweet. Will this eventually stop or is Jamie going to be at war with Tweet from now on. All help and advice appreciated. The birds are all young..Tweet about two years and the others about a year and they are definitely males. Thanks :budgiedance:

It is always best to slowly introduce new birds together especially I believe older birds. The fight probably started because the budgie prior in the cage felt threatened.

 

It is always best to quarantine any new addition even if she knew where they came from to ensure the new addition is healthy. Illness can be carried by birds but not seen visually until it is too late. During quarantine period the birds will usually hear each other and call and this is a slower way of introduction. After quaratine is over it is always best to keep the new addition in a cage next to the existing flock and then only let them out together during flight time. As you monitor their behavior you can slow work on adding them together. When I intro my 2 birds they would check out each other's cages but I always but them back in their own cage during the day and night. Once they stopped any bickering out during flight time and saw that they were getting along well I would let them together during the day but not night where many fights can break out.

 

Slow process but it eliminates the fighting.

So do you think that eventually they will get on without fighting? How long should she keep them apart before trying them in a cage together? Thanks for your help :rip:

Minimum quarantine is 30 days. Basically she put two "strangers" in her first budgies "apartment" and said "Live together" . The original budgie has owned that "apartment" for along time and suddenly has to share.

Apart from quarantine which is a MUST as we have all lost budgies by not quarantining in the early days when we didnt know any better.

Apart from all that, a gradual awakening of the original budgie to the fact that he could "hear" from another room that there were " possible new friends" in the vicinity, that he would meet "soon" ( 30 days )...might have given him reason to be hopeful and happy and anticipate some new friends. But he has had two "strangers" thrust upon him in his own well ordered apartment which may or may not be suitable for three budgies.

Others on here will give you some better advice for introducing the newcomers to the original "homeowner" , but my thoughts also is the first budgie has his territory...the cage....and now has to share. Maybe not enough space. The "furniture" is all still in the same places, which makes the cage HIS and noone else's.

So, quarantine FIRST, then the gradual introduction, and prior to communal cage living...an assessment of "apartment size" and a switching around of all "apartment furniture" would be in order.

The problem with us humans is we sometimes get impatient to see how the new birds will get along with the other guy and we skip a few very very IMPORTANT steps

So do you think that eventually they will get on without fighting? How long should she keep them apart before trying them in a cage together? Thanks for your help

 

 

I would intro them as I stated in my previous post and yes they probably will start to get along if she does quarantine and gradually does the introduction.