Hey all, I'm a very new budgie owner/lover, so forgive me if I'm asking something stupid or that has been asked over and over!

 

So i have two hens, Sy, about 7 months and Cilla, about 5 months. Sy was alone for 2 - 3 months before I bought Cilla to be a companion. The two of them were instant friends and became inseperable from day 1 as they still are now. They will tweet away like crazy if they're even a few metres away from each other.

 

Back to the topic of the "angry noise" - Sy has been making this sound since I got her..you know the sound, the little fast repetative cheeping sounds..? I first noticed it whenever I disturbed Sy's sleep..she's the most gentle bird, never even tries to bite, but the second i lifted her night cover and poked my finger in, she would make this noise and try to peck me. Until recently, this was the only time I ever heard Sy make the angry noise..over the past 2 weeks or so, she's been doing it more and more. If my housemates are loud from another room after the birds have been put to bed, Sy will make the angry noise. I've been watching them all day for the last few days and have noticed Sy now makes the angry noise regularly, especially now at Cilla even though they hate being separated. If Cilla tries to touch or play with whatever Sy's got or Sy's near, she'll make the sound and give her a little peck or shove...if she tries to eat from their seed trough at the same time, same thing happens. A lot of the time it's even just when they're sitting round on the perch and Cilla goes close to Sy....really random...they're still affectionate with each other as they always have been - they groom each other, sometimes feed each other, etc...the only thing is that Sy seems to have turned grumpy!! Cilla's response is to stand up tall, open her beak and make a croaky growling kinda sound right in Sy's face, often with some pecks as well. haha...it's quite funny, but it's happening more and more and I'm a tad concerned..?

 

So can anyone tell me if this is normal or just a dominating thing or whatever??

 

Thanks heaps!!

 

Renae

Hello and welcome

 

Thats a noise mostly made by hens, its quite normal and its just their "bossy" sound. They normally do it when there is something they dont like or if they are feeling intimidated. They also do it as a part of their play and communication. Its completely normal and nothing to worry about

Hey Nae!Has anything changed lately in their daily routine? Anything at all? Sy may be hormonal and may need more hours covered. I dont know the exact details but someone else will. My other concern is that Sy may be sick or sore - but I do not know my love.Good LuckPS. How weird is it calling Sy a SHE! hehehLIV: But the fact that she is doing it more often... shouldnt that be of more concern?

Could Sy be starting to moult?

My females make the same noise if I put my hand in the nesting box.

Merlin makes it too if you disturb him after he is covered, I can understand that. It is like someone poking at you first thing in the morning and you are sleeping.

 

As with the 2 of them together as long as it is not breaking out into a fight it is very normal. My 2 boys would do it also as a way of communication saying hey I want my alone time but I still want you by me.

 

I wouldn't worry about it unless it was constant fighting.

Jessie: BAHAHA!! It is soooo wierd calling my baby a she! For everyone else, I thought Sy was a boy until a few weeks ago when Jess looked at a photo and told me I was wrong!! Too funny! I still call Sy "him, he, his, Sy-boy, blue-boy," etc, etc, to his face, but I thought I should say she on here so that ppl could give me accurate advice!! It's sooo hard to switch my mentality after so long! LOL!

 

As for daily routine, nothing has changed that I can think of...they have been left in the care of a housemate for the past couple of weeks, but she's just been doing the basics like feeding them, changing their water and occasionally taking them out of the cage...nothing too different, that I know of...all I can think of is that I have noticed Sy's droppings have been looser than normal...they're normally very well formed and the vet had commented that they were very good..lately there's been liquid around them tho...she still refuses to try other foods...I have started putting vitamin drops in the water again because I'm concerned about lack of nutrition, but otherwise they seem very happy and healthy.

 

Hills: Sy has just finished her first full moult. She's still moulting a bit, but nowhere near as much as she was! And she still has pin feathers coming through here and there, but it's definately coming to an end..she's been at it for sooo long..seriously about 4 months now I think!! And throughout the whole thing she's beem fine. Lethargic at the beginning which was also partly due to a chest infection she had poor little darling has been through alot in her little life! It was kinda just as she was recovering from being sick (and very sick, I thought I would loose her because her weight fell so low and she was so unenergetic) that she started to moult. I actually thought she was sick for longer than she was because it all overlapped and took me a long time to figure out what was going on...the lady in the pet shop helped me out with that one!

 

All in all, there's a very noticeable increase in angry sounds...even my housemates have commented about it..and it just doesn't seem like my friendly little bird!!

molting takes a toll on a bird some molts are worse then others, Merlin right now looks like someone plucked his feathers from his head he looks terrible and has been quieter then usual this is normal for a molting bird to be quieter, crabber. As the molt is over you will find the nice little bird come back.

this behaviour seems to be increasing daily...every few minutes Sy is at it unless she's sleeping or in a calm mood...i just don't get it...it's not like her at all!

how long do you keep them covered? I would increase the cover time to at least 12-14 hours a day to decrease the mood swings, I believe you will find this will help.

I will try it for sure!

My budgies make the same noise, i don't think it's anything to worry about. It's mainly Meeple when she's fighting over something and being her usual bossy self

 

Good point Elly, budgies are often more relaxed in a fully or partially covered cage.

Hey all, I'm a very new budgie owner/lover, so forgive me if I'm asking something stupid or that has been asked over and over!

 

So i have two hens, Sy, about 7 months and Cilla, about 5 months. Sy was alone for 2 - 3 months before I bought Cilla to be a companion. The two of them were instant friends and became inseperable from day 1 as they still are now. They will tweet away like crazy if they're even a few metres away from each other.

 

Back to the topic of the "angry noise" - Sy has been making this sound since I got her..you know the sound, the little fast repetative cheeping sounds..? I first noticed it whenever I disturbed Sy's sleep..she's the most gentle bird, never even tries to bite, but the second i lifted her night cover and poked my finger in, she would make this noise and try to peck me. Until recently, this was the only time I ever heard Sy make the angry noise..over the past 2 weeks or so, she's been doing it more and more. If my housemates are loud from another room after the birds have been put to bed, Sy will make the angry noise. I've been watching them all day for the last few days and have noticed Sy now makes the angry noise regularly, especially now at Cilla even though they hate being separated. If Cilla tries to touch or play with whatever Sy's got or Sy's near, she'll make the sound and give her a little peck or shove...if she tries to eat from their seed trough at the same time, same thing happens. A lot of the time it's even just when they're sitting round on the perch and Cilla goes close to Sy....really random...they're still affectionate with each other as they always have been - they groom each other, sometimes feed each other, etc...the only thing is that Sy seems to have turned grumpy!! Cilla's response is to stand up tall, open her beak and make a croaky growling kinda sound right in Sy's face, often with some pecks as well. haha...it's quite funny, but it's happening more and more and I'm a tad concerned..?

 

So can anyone tell me if this is normal or just a dominating thing or whatever??

 

Thanks heaps!!

 

Renae

 

Syd sounds like what happened to Shelfie. She and Dave were instantly BFF's then after about three months she got really cranky. When she molts she's definitely much worse. She's been bad lately but thinking about it I think it might be the food change. I've been trying to wean her on pellets and she hates them and tosses them all out of the food-cup onto the floor. I think I might just give up for now. The funny thing is she's most frisky and sassy when she's being a pill. When she's nervous or scared she's docile as a clam.

 

Maybe a bigger cage might help your birds? I don't know what size you have. I've got a bigger one ordered for mine.

 

Good-luck!

That was my first thought - what size cage are they in? If they both are hens they will need more personal space than if you had a true pair. The fact that the angry dolphin noise is happening more and more frequently is cause for concern. Take a look at the immediate environment from your bird's point of view...is there anything that has been added to the room, anything rearranged differently since before she started making the noise? Is there more than one feeding station? Was Cilla placed in Sy's cage or did you get a new one for the both of them? If she was, did the birds decide she would share the same cage after quarantine or did you? I don't believe it is a dominating thing, budgies are flock animals and there is no dominance in the flock, all members share equally in flock activities, ie looking for food and watching out for predators. Dominance occurs in a pack heirarchy, and a flock is set up differently. I think there is something in the environment or routine that has Sy on edge.

Edited January 12, 200916 yr by Rainbow

I haven't owned a keet (espeically hens) that hasn't or doesn't make that sound. I agree with LIV... it's normal. They express themselves that way. Warnings to "back off", just being loud to be heard and noticed.... I have breeding hens that do it in the nest box to tell their mate get out I don't want you in here.... I have young birds that do it to try establishing dominance... I don't see anything to worry about. Unless there is a chance of rodents or insects that are alarming them... I say it's normal.