We have two new budgies (2 days since they arrived), Sunshine and Cutie. Sunshine seems quite settled already, by Cutie seems more skittish, hops away from a hand in the cage but then when held, burrows into an armpit or palm, hiding his head. and snuggling into whatever small space he can find. Is this okay?

 

Anya (new to forum)

The actions of Cutie sounds to me like a baby who has only recently come out of the nest box. When they are with their siblings IN the nest box they burrow in together and "hide". When they have recently come out, they do this also, but on the floor usually in a container of some sort - icrcream containers work well with one side cut out, and these are placed in the bottom of the cage for them

 

Maybe it was taken from its nest too early? Not sure, one of the more experienced members will be able to help more than I can

hi,

do You know how old they are? Cutie might still be very young and might still want to go to a dark warm place to sleep.

Are they eating on there own?

The actions of Cutie sounds to me like a baby who has only recently come out of the nest box. When they are with their siblings IN the nest box they burrow in together and "hide". When they have recently come out, they do this also, but on the floor usually in a container of some sort - icrcream containers work well with one side cut out, and these are placed in the bottom of the cage for them

 

Maybe it was taken from its nest too early? Not sure, one of the more experienced members will be able to help more than I can

 

 

I agree baby birds tend to do this quite often. How old is he?

The actions of Cutie sounds to me like a baby who has only recently come out of the nest box. When they are with their siblings IN the nest box they burrow in together and "hide". When they have recently come out, they do this also, but on the floor usually in a container of some sort - icrcream containers work well with one side cut out, and these are placed in the bottom of the cage for them

 

Maybe it was taken from its nest too early? Not sure, one of the more experienced members will be able to help more than I can

 

 

I agree baby birds tend to do this quite often. How old is he?

 

Thanks everyone - really helpful. Intuitively I thought it might be something like this but we dont know their exact age. We bought them from the shop on Monday, already 'hand reared' . Will try to find out how old they are. I'd already given Cutie a little box from espresso cups to hide in, to see if that helped, and both he and Sunshine were found snuggling in it together. Good that this seems like the right thing to do. We are happy to help with the cuddles anyway.

We are happy to help with the cuddles anyway.

 

 

You are lucky, I would do this a lot, to encourage it. You will probably end up with really fun birds.

 

Oh, and welcome to here.

I find that when you have 2 bird together that one will be more shyer and hide behind the other one or in the snuggle, the snuggle is very cute but when they get older especially if it is a female they could find this as a place to nest so it should be removed as it can cause behavioral issues. Also you may want to use the snuggle as a reward system too when you are taming your babies, if you let the one hide all the time when you are interacting with them you will find he or she will be the harder one to tame. So in leui of taming aspect, I would say yes okay when you are not around but when you are around and want interaction not okay to hide.

if they were hand reared then im guessing five weeks at oldest make sure they are eating enough not just eating

We are happy to help with the cuddles anyway.

 

 

You are lucky, I would do this a lot, to encourage it. You will probably end up with really fun birds.

 

Oh, and welcome to here.

 

 

I find that when you have 2 bird together that one will be more shyer and hide behind the other one or in the snuggle, the snuggle is very cute but when they get older especially if it is a female they could find this as a place to nest so it should be removed as it can cause behavioral issues. Also you may want to use the snuggle as a reward system too when you are taming your babies, if you let the one hide all the time when you are interacting with them you will find he or she will be the harder one to tame. So in leui of taming aspect, I would say yes okay when you are not around but when you are around and want interaction not okay to hide.

 

 

Elly, I'm not sure what you mean. I was meaning that if Anya were holding the bird, and it was snuggling into her arm or hand, she could encourage the bird to enjoy petting and cuddling.

 

If you meant about providing a hiding place in the cage for them, then I thought it was only because they were fledglings, and Anya was meant to remove the hiding place when the birds get a little older.

Early here I 1/2 read it I was meaning more if she provided a snuggle in the cage, yes I believe it is okay to have them snuggle when out but not out of fear which is what he is doing, she is encouraging the fear by letting him snuggle when he is in that mind frame, I would work on having him overcome his fear and looking for a hiding spot vs letting him look for a hiding spot because he is scared it is just encouraging that state of mind. Does that make sense?

 

okay to snuggle yes but not because he is fearful becaue you are encouraging the fear state.

 

If you encourage this behavior when the bird is comfortable and not fearful yes it is cool.

Edited January 13, 201015 yr by Elly

That makes sense, thank you

Early here I 1/2 read it I was meaning more if she provided a snuggle in the cage, yes I believe it is okay to have them snuggle when out but not out of fear which is what he is doing, she is encouraging the fear by letting him snuggle when he is in that mind frame, I would work on having him overcome his fear and looking for a hiding spot vs letting him look for a hiding spot because he is scared it is just encouraging that state of mind. Does that make sense?

 

okay to snuggle yes but not because he is fearful becaue you are encouraging the fear state.

 

If you encourage this behavior when the bird is comfortable and not fearful yes it is cool.

 

 

Thanks Elly this exactly my concern - when Cutie hides in his cage, do I gently bring him out and encourage him to interact? Or do I leave him on his own for a bit? When he "snuggles" when he's out, I guess we slowly encourage him to move out of his hiding place? We are finding that if we have both birds out together, it works well because Sunshine is so confident - so Cutie follows Sunshine around. They meander around on our bedspread nibbling at us. This seems like the right thing to do?

Yes that is what I would do. Continue to interact and try and give him treats that he like by hand that works well in helping with gaining trust.