Female Budgie Behaviour

[Clouds birds 0]

My previous budgie, Dash, was a male. A very inquisitive, smart, talkative bird.

He was not handreared but came from a breeding cabinet.

When we went to have a look at the budgies that day, Dash spotted us and hopped on the wire and followed us around.

It was love at first sight :-D

From the moment he came home, he hopped on our fingers and would hop on the wire when he saw you to ask for attention.

He was unclipped and learnt to dodge windows, walls etc very very quickly.

He responded to my call and would fly down onto my hand within two days!

At 5 months of age he knew about 10 words and sentences and continued to pick up new ones very easily after that.

He would talk non stop during the day, scream if he was upset but never made those cute little warbling budgie sounds ;-)

He was loud and would talk to his bell, food dish, toys, honkey nuts that were part of his playgym :-D, a clothes peg (he would mate with the clothes peg too lol) etc etc

In other words, highly entertaining and never shy.

 

Our new bird is roughly 8 to 9 weeks old now and the cere is a colour that indicates female inside the house but male outside in bright sunlight.

This bird is very very quiet (still) and scares easily, not inquisitive at all, does not hang on the wire to greet you (yet) and makes mainly the normal budgie calling sounds with the occasional screeching and occasional cute warbling (I want more of the latter haha).

 

I am starting to suspect she is a female so I have some questions as I have never owned a female budgie before.

- She does not bite (at this stage), most stories I hear are about females being nasty and nippy, is this as they get older or are there indeed some sweet girls around? ;-D

- Are females indeed less curious, bold and inquisitive as the males?

- Are females not as keen on human contact or does it all come down to each individual bird?

 

I know I have only had her for two weeks and need to have patience (not my strongest point lol).

This little one was not handreared either but parent raised. Mum was going for the second clutch and our baby was the only baby so the breeder decided to take her out of the aviary and had started handling her.

How long does it normally take for a new baby to be completely confident around his/her new owners or does that once again totally depend on each individual bird?

I guess Dash was a unique little fella and I need to really try not to compare the two birds :-/

 

Thanks guys

Edited July 18, 2012 by Clouds birds

[Bird Junky 0]

Hello. Re your questions...All answers are, in general no bird comes with a guarantee.

 

.- She does not bite (at this stage), most stories I hear are about females being nasty and nippy, is this as they get older or are there indeed some sweet girls around? ;-D

 

A bird should be invited to interact with owner not forced. Owners who ignore this have nippy pets be it

male or female. In general females are more nippy. They usually want human contact on their terms,

more so than cocks who tend to be more laid back than hens. Added to this hens are more hormonal &

you know what that means. An owner who reads & reacts correctly to a hen wont get bitten.

 

- Are females indeed less curious, bold and inquisitive as the males?

 

I expect you mean with regard to humans. The short answer to this is YES.

 

- Are females not as keen on human contact or does it all come down to each individual bird?

 

Again the answer is yes.

 

I know I have only had her for two weeks and need to have patience (not my strongest point lol).

 

You will have to accept that if she doesn't want to, then she don't.

 

How long does it normally take for a new baby to be completely confident around his/her new owners or does that once again totally depend on each individual bird?

 

Yes.... but the most patient owners end up with best birds

.

I guess Dash was a unique little fella and I need to really try not to compare the two birds :-/

 

Thanks guys

 

My final suggestion would be to read though my post on bonding. Click on the link bellow.......B.J.

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=32044

[Clouds birds 0]

thanks

Forgot to ask if females are less likely to regurgitate on their toys??? Dash used to regurgitate on pretty much anything he was "in love" with lol

[Bird Junky 0]

Hi like it say's on the bottom of my posts. SOME WILL, SOME WON'T, ETC, ETC......B.J.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Bird Junky

[Clouds birds 0]

hmmm fair enough

Thing is, read somewhere that birds that regurgitate a lot on toys etc are more at risk of getting crop infections as they swallow most of it as there is no other bird to take the regurgitated food. I do clean their toys obviously but not religiously every day or anything that often. I would obviously like to have this bird around for a lot longer than Dash was :-(

I must admit, I freak out when I see Jazzy bob her head or even yawn :-/

So far she has not regurgitated yet but then again, she is only a baby ;-)

[Bird Junky 0]

Hi She's just a budgie doing budgie things. Your not cleaning the toys often enough

is something you should address, asap. The bacterial build up in dried on regurgitated

food is not a good thing for any bird to re-ingest..

It might help if there was more interaction between you & your bird, click on my bonding

post bellow then perhaps you could graduate onto a couple of tricks to keep you both

entertained...B.J.

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=32044

Edited July 19, 2012 by Bird Junky

[Clouds birds 0]

HELLO!! What makes you imply I do not have enough interaction with my bird!!!!!!!!!

How dare you imply that!

I lost my previous bird, he died as he was very very ill.

I know it was NOT because I did not clean his toys often enough thank you very much!

This NEW bird has only been with us for two weeks and is NOT regurgitating yet as I wrote

Please do not reply to my posts if you are going to be one of those I-know-everything-you-know-nothing type people!

I am 39, not some inexperienced kid!

I have had pets ALL my life and have had cockatiels for quite a number of years too.

My questions were relating to differences in female budgie behaviour to male budgie behaviour.

I do not feel the need to read your bonding tricks as I have already been through a bonding process with my previous budgie and various cockatiels.

[dillster 0]

That's bird junky for you he is like that that's why he has to put a no insult intended on the bottom of his posts he has not been the nicest to me either and for the record I'm am not an inexperienced kid

[Clouds birds 0]

Sorry Dillster, the inexperienced kid comment was not directed at anyone in particular on this forum ;-)

[Bird Junky 0]

Hello Apologies all round. For any upset I tend to look at things from the birds point of view. I'm told

I'm always putting my foot in it. I'm not a people person as the wife's always telling me.

Sorry to all the others who haven't complained.... I know... I'm just a silly old bugger who worries

more about birds than people....B.J.

[Clouds birds 0]

Apology accepted.

You have the birds well being at heart, that is great :-) but please don't judge people you don't know the first thing about.

I love my birds, they get spoilt rotten.

I am still devastated I lost Dash.

All of those who knew him, know what he meant to our family. He was amazing.

 

Our new one will get there, I'm sure. I just don't think I will ever get the "conversations" Dash had with his toys and our cockatiel out of her lol

[dillster 0]

Sorry Dillster, the inexperienced kid comment was not directed at anyone in particular on this forum ;-)

I know

 

Apology accepted.

You have the birds well being at heart, that is great :-) but please don't judge people you don't know the first thing about.

I love my birds, they get spoilt rotten.

I am still devastated I lost Dash.

All of those who knew him, know what he meant to our family. He was amazing.

 

Our new one will get there, I'm sure. I just don't think I will ever get the "conversations" Dash had with his toys and our cockatiel out of her lol

Here here

[Clouds birds 0]

Jazzy will run around the carpet and occasionally she stops and "scratches" the floor (like a chook does in sand ;-)) Is that typical female behaviour or do male budgies do that too?

Edited August 4, 2012 by Clouds birds