This morning I came out to my aviaries to discover the pair of Greencheeks had chewed through the wire in the internal wall and got into my budgies. By the time I discovered I found it, the Greencheeks had killed 4 baby budgies and wounded another, plus wounded 2 hens .

 

Dead shredded babies were strewn everywhere . 2 hens were attacked while defending their nests and their babies. One hen had her foot bitten up pretty bad, the other had her entire beak ripped off. One of the three surviving babies had such severe head injuries that both he and the beak injured mum had to be put out of their misery by my friend. I don't know if the other hen will survive. The 2 remaining orphaned babies I took in a hurry to my friend who handraises birds because I have no other nesting hens at the moment.

 

I'm so distraught- the attacked hens were 2 my best breeders.

 

Byebye Scone and babies :sad: . (Scone on the right)

 

Aaaaugh! What are these Greencheeks? Mutant wire-chewing budgie killers???

 

Time to move them well away from the poor budgies :sad:

I have a large aviary divided into 2 separated by a door. Budgies in one half, Greencheeks in the other. The previous owner made the divider out of chicken wire, which wasn't too smart. I had no idea Greencheeks could chew through it though :sad: . They did kill and shred up a couple of quails a few months back, but that was when they had babies and were defensive of their territory. But once we sold the babies they left the quails alone.

 

I cleaned up the ugly mess this morning and boarded up the whole chicken wired side of the wall. The Greencheeks are normally really well behaved- I don't know what posessed them to chew through the wire suddenly today when they've never showed any interest in the budgies til now.

 

The remaining living budgies have been moved to another aviary. Sigh.

 

I am amazed that they could chew through the wire and get to the poor budgies. Really sorry you had to go through all that trauma though...shocking discovery :sad:

Oh my god, That is so terrible! I would have freaked out big time, I nearly cried when the cat caught a mouse!..

 

I am so sorry for your lose :sad:

Man do they look MEAN... sooo sorry M.M.

Never pictured them for budgie killers. Very sorry for your loss.

Thanks guys. Greencheeks normally are pretty friendly, but when it comes to nests and babies (Greencheeks or other species) they become totally feral and agressive and seek to anhilate (sp?) the competition, even if it means killing the parents who get in the way. Not much I can do now....

 

It turned out to be a good thing I cleaned out the budgie half of the aviary, because I have a rescued galah coming in today. I'll post him/her in my rescues thread.

 

Thanks for your kind words guys. Those were the last of my offspring for this round. We have 6 fledgelings in the other aviary, and that's it. I gave away the remaining babies to a friend to handraise. Being so cold here in Melbourne now, I'm not sure if the budgies will go down again. We'll see.

Agghhhh how awful poor little budgies

im soo soo sorry for your loss it must have been so traumertising i hope the other hen and the two babies make it :'(

Oh MM, that is SO sad. I hope your injured ones will be okay.

I am so sorry for all your loss

 

it doesn't surprise me that these birds can chew though some thinner guage wire. their bite is nasty!! my niece has one and butter wouldn't melt in its mouth...

 

 

 

I would let your budgies moult and have a rest without breeding over winter, then you can start them up again in spring

sorry to hear about your budgies getting attacked...

i hope the other hen and the two babies make it

The other 2 babies are doing good at their new home. The friend who handraises babies is excellent at it and I trust her with them. I'll show some updated pics when they're older. The attacked hen who survived seems to be getting better. I put her in a hospital cage for a couple of days, and she's perked up a fair bit. Her only injury was the bitten foot (thankfully!), so now it

 

I would let your budgies moult and have a rest without breeding over winter, then you can start them up again in spring

Yes I think that's what I'll do. It's just getting way too cold for them anyway. Melbourne is FREEEZING right now.