How young a peer can be?

[eldiel]

Hello budgie lovers!

So my budgie is big probably hen and around 5 months old. When I will be sure that it is female 7-8 months, I would like to have a new male budgie which will be 2-3 months old. Is it an okay match or will the female be aggressive to younger one?

Just to let you know, my budgie simply doesn't go out from the cage. I seduce her sometimes with food, she flies to my hand (around 50-100cm away from the cage), takes the seed and generally flies back to the cage. She bites everything in the cage such as, wooden sticks, rope, cage itself, etc.). When I was young, we have had many parrots and also budgies but I have never seen a budgie with a such hard character. She sometimes becomes angry towards the toy even and hold it with beak and hit it to the cage. So her aggressiveness is my only concern.

Also I hope that younger male one would be more friendly to us. However, I think that the queen of the cage will be very dominant on him.

[Hezz]

What do you mean by Is it an okay match?? If you are looking for a companion/friend for your other budgie, this would be fine; if you are looking to breed, you must make sure that both your birds are at least 12 months of age.

[eldiel]

I am aware that they need to be at least a year old and I do not intend to have chicks immediately. What I asked is when my female budgie will be 7-8 months old, is it okay to have a male budgie which will be around 2-3 months old to be in the same cage? After a year being together, if I make the conditions possible for breeding, would it be okay, or the age difference will make everything complicated?

[Marianne Marlow]

The age difference should not matter as to if they get along. It's all about their individual personalities.

[grumblebum]

On the matter of matching up for breeding, if birds are purchased from a store is there a way to possibly assess the rough age of a bird. I have one of our regular breeding males(Aussie), that I would like to match up with a recently purchased bird. If the hen is under preferred age is it still safe to have the 2 together? Appreciate any help.

[Hezz]

Yes, it is safe. Don't give them a nest box, or anything remotely like it, though.