h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My female budgie has been displaying courtship behaviours just as in "Understanding Budgie Behaviour". Her body goes into a U shape and her eyes pinhole when I simply enter the room (esp when I return from an outing), but she doesn't do this when my male partner comes into the room. I've tried squirting her with a water bottle when she does this but it makes no difference. As a result I have just stopped interracting with her - but she displays this kind of behaviour. Should I just give her to a budgie breeder so she can breed? Grateful for some advice on how to stop this behaviour when she sees me.

I don't think you will stop this behaviour, your budgie obviously loves you! My previous bird was a female and she did this when I spoke to her and eventually started to present me with eggs, even laying one whist perched on top of my head

It depends upon how you feel about her, whether you want to give her to a breeder, or, whether you recognise and appreciate her affection for what it is and let her get on with her life with you.

I never bred from my hen, but kept a watchful eye on her to make sure that she did not become egg bound as this can kill them. So if she starts straining, becomes wet and messy round her vent and sits hunched on her perch take her to the vet as she could have an egg there that she cannot pass and will need expert assistance.

My hen was very tame and quite daft. She would go through the motions of creating a nest scrape in the bottom of her cage, chewing the sanded sheet and spend ages scrabbling, and re arranging the debris together with strips of cut paper. She sometimes laid an egg in her "nest" but more often than not presented me with them in other interesting places! The thing is to swap the eggs she lays with dummies so as she lays you collect up her egg and put a dummy where she appears to want to nest. My hen sat on these quite happily, laying another egg every few days till she had a clutch. If you just take away her eggs and do not give her anything to sit on she may just keep laying, like a chicken and exhaust herself into an early grave.

You can buy dummy eggs from good pet stores, but I found the budgie ones to be bigger than the eggs my budgie was producing so I made up 6 dummy eggs from a plastercine like substance called "Femo" or "Febo" or something similar (bought from a model shop), which once moulded to shape you bake in the oven for 20 minutes to set rock hard.

My hen sat on her nest on and off for a week or two but eventually got fed up when none of the eggs hatched and resumed normal life till the next egg laying cycle kicked in around 3 to four months later. The thing is to make sure she has a souce of calcium (cuttle bone) and a mineral block in her cage. I also gave her egg biscuits from the pet shop every so often.

Good luck

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my question. A relief to hear from some one.

You have given me good advice re my budgie, Banjo (who is actually Banjolene!!) She is a real darling, and I am humbled that she loves me as much as I love her. She has now started flirting with my partner,so she's obviously in love with him too! He thinks she's gorgeous and like you, said it's not a big deal. She is absolutely daft as well and hangs upside down and swings all over the place. She is very happy and healthy but I will watch her posture, etc. No sign of eggs though she does bite her newspaper and sandsheet on the cage floor. She has cuttlefish but I need to get her a mineral block. We had a female budgie when we were young who was extremely vicious, but Banjo is very gentle.

I don't want to give her away but I didn't want to deny her of being a mother. (I thought her signs mean cluckiness).

I giggled at your previous budgie laying an egg while perched on your head!

Thanks again

Just goes to show that owning something as small as a budgie can be very rewarding. I hope you and Banjolene enjoy many happy years together

Thanks Wendy Red Robin. Best wishes for the festive season.

Thanks and all the best to you and Banjolene too

Gosh it's been awhile since I've been on this site. Work has been stressful, but it's always wonderful to come home to Banjo. She's also kept Howard company when I've been away withwork.

Thought I'd tell you that she's started dive bombing us when sitting in the lounge I think it's an attention seeking thing but very funny. I've never had this with past budgies before. Has missed my nose several times, and it gets rather drafty when she flies by - blowing out the candles of course.

Best wishes!

Glad to hear that Banjo has settled down so well with you and Howard. She sounds quite a character! Does she fly to your finger or land on your shoulder? Perhaps she is trying to land on your head and then thinks twice about it and overshoots. My hen used to fly round the house to find me often landing on my head, though sometimes she would miss just do a low pass with feet and / or wings brushing by.

Even though a budgie is only a small bird they are great company and their antics are so amusing at times.

Charlie
Post: 1

Posted 11 Minutes Ago by sharpshooter_m
My budgie Charlie,which has been with us for a month, seems to be quite tame at nights but I don't really know why he tries to escape from me in the morning.I have to go after him for about ten times- patiently showing him my finger to sit on, like he does so obediently in the evenings, until he finally seems to run out of breath before sitting on my finger.
Why does this happen to him in the mornings?

Its probably becuase it is bright in the morning and this will stimulate him to be active. One way to calm a budgie is to darken a room and simulate night time. Also if he has been active during the day he will be feeling tired by the time evening comes around

I'll take that into concideration . Any other suggestions?

No not really. All the budgies I've had have been full of it first thing and keen to stretch their wings once let out of their cage. They do calm down a bit with age, but you don't want to wish their life away now do you

Also bonding does take a while, try imitating your bird's whistle ... sound like a budgie. That gets their attention, budgies are very curious little birds and love to investigate things ... even strange human beings who sound as if they should be another budgie!

Thanks for the advice.
Nowadays when I bring him out in the morning he starts stretching on my finger then I put him on his cage at this point he starts doing his lapse he flies back and forth the living room about eight times before settling down on his cage again.
We've come to this sort of understanding that he needs his morning exercise and when he's done with his workout he's back to normal- calm and taim. I figure all the little fella needed was his own space for a couple of minutes every day being a 3 month old chick.

You are right there. Good luck with Charlie, sounds like you're both doing well.

Wendy

For the past two weeks I've been surfing the net visiting different sites and gathering all I can on how to teach a budgie to talk.
There appear to be so many different theories that I'm kind of lost.
One claims that birds should be talked to at night and in the dark only with enough light for you to see the bird, another says that a cloth should be put on the budgies cage so that the bird does not hear or see anything for hours during the day so when you finally take the cloth off its cage it's so energetic and happy to see you
that with the energy it's saved up it will start talking.On the other hand there was this other theory that said a bird needs to be free and see a good amount of light everyday and the repetition should be done during the day for it to talk.
Could some one fill me in on the most modern theory there is on teaching a budgie how to talk.
Thank you in advance
Sharp

I don't know about modern theories Sharp, all I can tell you is from personal experience.

If you want to train your budgie to talk, first off you will stand a much better chance if you have a male bird.

Secondly get to know your budgie so he is tame and responds to you.

And lastly just keep repeating the phrase you want your bird to mimic over and over whenever you are with him, using a high voice if possible so that you sound like he would sound, if you get what I mean.

Patience will pay off eventually but you cannot expect miracles in a couple of weeks. It can take months but with luck you will hear a little voice greet you with "Hello darling" .... if that's what you've been saying to him

Then once he has started you can introduce more phrases. I am just so sad that my talking budge developed cancer and died at an early age as he was coming on in leaps and bounds and had quite a repertoire!

ooh, hope theres still some budgie enthusiasts around to read this, i know the last post was ages ago...
I have two young male budgies (Gene and Sam) and i was wondering if anyone has any tips on taming two budgies together, as the posts ive read seem to cater for single budgies. They are quite different characters- Gene really lives up to his namesake (Gene Hunt from life on mars) he is a bossy blighter and is always making a heck of a row (not just panic screeching though, i'm glad to say, he cheeps, clicks, chatters away in his own budgie language). Sam is a bit more timid, but does seem to have a short temper at times.
Ive been slowly introducing my hand into their cage,with a little bit of seed on it to tempt them. I saw a posting on youtube- thelady in question suggested taking the seed away in the daytime and then offering it to them on your hand when you get home in the evening. This has been working quite successfully, though a little hit and miss. I do feel a bit shady taking the food away in the daytime. Does anyone have any tips to help them get used to me? I want to feel more confident about letting them out of their cage (well, trying to get them back in it really!) Thanks!

With two budgies you have more of a challenge as they will be primarily focused upon eachother. If all you want to do is to tame them to be happy to perch on your finger then patience and a soft voice is the best approach. I'd not hold out great hopes for training them to talk.

thanks for the reply! Ive since let them out to fly most days, even though they havent become properly hand-tame. They seem to enjoy it, and Sam (the brains of the outfit) has already found his way back to their cage! Gene is pretty easy to catch- on occasion I've used a large soft net (to catch koi carp with) to secure him ,and he lets me take him out of this and put him back in the cage. So I realise its been a bit of a baptism of fire, but I'd rather do it this way than deprive of nibbles all day! If anyone else has any more tips I'd gladly receive them.

One thing you could try, is to give them sessions of individual attention, so if one comes out for a fly around and you are able to secure the other in the cage, move it somewhere quiet and there with patience and repetition over time you could well achieve your goal.

Sam sounds as if he is the dominant bird and maybe more of a challenge. As Gene is already being handled it may be an idea to start with him.

Also, if your boys have a favourite food, you may find that if you hold some in your hand the temptation will be so great that they will fly to you for their treat. My first budgie had a "thing" for fresh parsley and if I needed her to come to me, a sprig between finger and thumb would do the trick! But as with all things when dealing with these little birds, a gentle voice and patience is the key. You don't want to frighten them, but rather gain their trust.